If you're a beauty lover like me, I'm sure you've wasted hours of your day watching more than your fair share of makeup videos. You can't help but be engrossed in the various demos of how to contour and highlight your skin into the great beyond. But after a while, the more you watch the more your crave to see something different. From my makeup artist eye, there are so many ways to do makeup and trends come and go. While, I'm not against the idea of contouring and highlighting, at some point, when is enough enough?
I see loads of beautiful brown girls with gorgeous features doing the most with all of their coveted eye shadow palettes and concealer wands and pots. They create looks that are photo and film ready and they look absolutely beautiful. But a lot of women shy away from makeup because they believe that in order to wear it, you must wear the foundation and do the contour and the winged liner and the matte lip. I'm here to tell you that for ladies who want to wear makeup, but are afraid, you can wear makeup.
If you are more of a minimalist in your approach to beauty, there are several ways you can let your beauty shine through. You don't have to wear a full face of makeup and you can certainly wear what makes you feel good.
If you don't want to wear a foundation, but you would like a little coverage, try a tinted moisturizer. There are a lot of great options on the market for darker skin tones. These products have a very light texture and provide a polish and natural look to the skin. Your skin and the tinted moisturizers will meld together to give you a natural and soft finish.
Some great options include Glossier Skin Tint, Iman Skin Tone Evener BB Creme, Marc Jacobs Genius Gel Super-Charged Foundation, Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer, and MAC Next To Nothing Face Color
Another way to pair down if you wear a lot of makeup or just getting into makeup is to find great multipurpose products. Using a powder or cream blush on your cheeks and eyes will give you that monochromatic look that's so hot right now. Even lipsticks can be used as blush in a pinch (not pun intended). Some of the best multi-purpose products out there come in a variety of shades that can highlight and shade the skin and lips and eyes in beautiful washes of color.
Some favorites include Nars The Multiple, Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge for Lips and Cheeks, Ilia Multi-Stick
Another way to keep a polished look while wearing a minimal beauty look is keeping your eye brows groomed. Whether you maintain your shape with waxing or threading or you sport a full brow, finding the right product to fill in when needed is key. Brow gels, clear or tinted, can do wonders to keep the hairs in place and can give a natural shading to sparse brows.
Some favorite brow products include Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel, Tarte Colored Clay Brow Gel, and Yves Saint Laurent Couture Brow
When it comes to lips color for a minimalist, this is where you can get creative. Using a clear gloss, a tinted lip balm, or even letting your lips take center stage with a bold color, this is where you can make a real statement.
Some of my favorites includes Ilia Tinted Lip Conditioner, Glossier Lip Gloss, Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Oil