Many makeup trends, like fashion trends, are cyclical: What’s trendy now might not be in vogue in a few months’ time. Something that never goes out of style, though, is a low-maintenance, model-off-duty look—think glowing skin, pink cheeks, and a touch of mascara for your lashes. Aside from allowing your natural beauty to shine through, no-makeup makeup is a great option for those days when you want to keep it low-key since it only requires a handful of products. That said, knowing which products to use (and how to apply them properly) is paramount for nailing the effortless, fresh-faced vibe.
Here, we’ll teach you how to do a natural makeup look and show you the best NYX Professional Makeup products for the job. We’ll also arm you with some of our top tips and best-kept secrets for ensuring your skin appears dewy and fresh all day long. So stash your glitter pigments for the time being, and read on to learn how to slay a no-makeup makeup look.
STEP 1: PREP YOUR SKIN
With no-makeup makeup, your skin is the star of the show, so you want it to look its best. After completing your usual skincare routine, spritz your face with a hydrating primer spray, such as Bare With Me Multitasking Makeup Spray, to help hydrate your skin. Then, apply a lightweight makeup primer to help your light makeup look last.
STEP 2: USE A BUILDABLE FOUNDATION
The next step in your minimal makeup look: foundation. For a natural finish, we suggest reaching for a foundation with buildable coverage, like our Total Control Pro Drop Foundation. The natural-looking foundation comes in 30 versatile shades to complement an array of skin tones. If you want a super-luminous look, you can add a few drops of Total Control Pro Drop Foundation Illuminator to your foundation—it’s a must-have for glowy makeup looks.
STEP 3: APPLY CONCEALER SPARINGLY
If you have any imperfections you want to cover—think blemishes, dark spots, or under-eye circles—do so with a lightweight concealer. For an easy makeup application, we’re partial to Bare With Me Concealer Serum, which has a lightweight texture that’s super easy to apply. The serum concealer (which is infused with cica, green tea, and tremella mushroom) provides medium coverage with a natural finish for a healthy-looking glow. Put it on only where you need it and blend it well to complete your base for a your-skin-but-better look.
STEP 4: ADD BLUSH AND BRONZER
Blush and bronzer are the keys to making your natural makeup look appear, well, natural. After all, real skin typically isn’t completely flat and lacking in colour. The former gives you a healthy-looking wash of colour, while the latter helps warm up your complexion to mimic a sunkissed glow—both of which can take your no-makeup makeup to the next level. Because the goal of this tutorial is to look fresh-faced, we recommend reaching for cream formulas that offer a natural finish, like Sweet Cheeks Soft Cheek Tint. The dual-ended blush stick helps define and add colour to the face. It’s available in three color-coordinated shade pairings that are easy to use and blend like a wonder.
If you want a slightly more intense bronze, you can pair your cheek tint with a classic powder bronzer, like our Pressed Glowy Bronzer. It gives the skin a gorgeous, honeyed glow. Just be sure to apply it sparingly—when it comes to natural makeup looks, less is more.
Pro Tip: To emphasize your eyes when you’re doing a natural makeup look without eyeshadow, lightly dust your bronzer along the creases of your upper eyelids. It’ll provide a hint of depth without looking obvious or made-up.
STEP 5: ENHANCE YOUR NATURAL GLOW
After blushing and bronzing your face to perfection, add highlighter to the high points of your face (cheekbones, cupid’s bow, and the bridge of your nose) to help emphasize your features. At NYX Professional Makeup, we have a range of different highlighters to choose from. For the most naturally-luminous look, we recommend using a cream highlighter, which you can find on one end of our Wonder Pencil. Each two-in-one cream contour and highlighter stick features a shade for instant brightening. There are eight options, in shades from Fair to Deep Rich, to flatter an array of skin tones.
STEP 6: BRUSH UP YOUR BROWS
Instead of filling in your brows (which may look over-done when paired with an otherwise minimal makeup look), we recommend brushing through them with a clear brow gel, like The Brow Glue. The transparent, glue-like formula dries down to a natural finish and offers up to 16-hour extreme hold. Use the wand to brush your brow hairs up for fluffy and full brows, or swipe the wand in the direction of hair growth to set your natural brow shape.
STEP 7: SWIPE ON MASCARA
For the finishing touch to your no-makeup makeup look, comb a bit of mascara through your lashes—it’ll help draw attention to your eyes without the need to break out the eyeliner. Both lengthening and volumizing mascaras work well with natural makeup looks, so decide what your lashes need most, and apply one to two coats to emphasize your upper and lower lashes.
STEP 8: SET YOUR LOOK
Once you’ve perfected your minimal makeup look, set everything in place with a setting spray. Try our Plump Finish Makeup Setting Spray, which extends makeup wear and helps keep your makeup looking fresh all day.
Pro Tip: To further lock in your look, use the setting spray to dampen a makeup sponge. Then, press it onto your finished complexion to seal in your makeup.
