Someone once told me that when Parisian women don a bright lipstick (a frequent occurrence, apparently), they pair it with little else in the make-up department. Though I need a little help to airbrush my skin and even out my brows, I’ve wholly embraced that maxim of late, just leaving my eyes unsmoked (!), my cheeks only faintly flushed and my lips bright, blazing orangey red.
Now, you may notice an awful lot of products have gone into this simple look and you’d be right – I do crack out a lot of tubes of this and pans of that while putting together this one, but I use only the amount that’s absolutely required to lift skin colour out of sallow and suffuse a little warmth – there’s a very, very fine line between pale and sickly, tanned and ruddy. If you struggle, bear the tip I was given my make-up artist Sonia Deveney in mind and apply your lipstick first and do your make-up around it – you’ll soon get the hang of striking the right balance…
Primer / Algenist Reveal Concentrated Colour Correcting Drops in Apricot.
Foundation / Nars Velvet Matte Skin Tint SPF 30 in Alaska Light 2 (slightly too dark for my skin but will be fine during summer months – at the moment I blend and blend to try to soften the edges of it – full review here).
Concealer / Louise Young’s Concealer Trio in Light, which is great for colours options and fits nicely into a handbag (especially as it comes with a really good quality brush), but doesn’t have the staying power of Laura Mercier’s SC.
Bronzer / Diorskin Nude Air Tan Bronzer in Amber (no shimmer in this number whatsoever) applied with Ecotools brush.
Highlighter / Perricone MD No Highlighter Highlighter which is AMAZING. Really, really fuses with skin to create a healthy glow.
Brows / Jane Iredale Brow Kit – due to launch soon (I’ll put a review on it up in a post soon).
Eyes / Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Emerge as a base and then RMS Master Mixer blended with a Kiko brush on top – I put the thinnest layers of these down just to lift pinkness on my eyelids.
Lashes / Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler followed by Eyeko Bespoke mascara.
Lips / Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Fiery Orange h- not currently in stock but try to get your mitts on it if you