No Makeup, Makeup

The title of this post is such a cliche, I know, but what I really mean is lazy makeup; not 25 products meticulously applied at 5am to make your boyfriend think you naturally look like Miranda Kerr. Spoiler alert: most males don't even notice makeup until you start packing on the eyeliner. 

If I'm not doing anything important or feel pretty lazy, I tend to opt for makeup that takes the 'zombie' edge off my appearance without requiring much effort. Lately that has involved no foundation or tinted moisturiser. Instead I've been using Thisworks Perfect Look Skin Miracle*, which is hardly a miracle and it won't make you look perfect either. What it will do is smooth out the skin, keep it comfortable during the day and add a teeney tiny hint of colour. It packs a double anti-dullness factor with hyaluronic acid - everybody's favourite anionic, nonsulfated glycosaminoglycan (say that five times fast) - to help prevent dehydration, and vitamin C and E to help diminish imperfections. The £36 price tag seems crazy when you first use it as it has no coverage at all, but it's essentially a nice skin serum with primer and tint properties. I've found it works really well under NARS Sheer Glow to prolong it's staying power and make the application smoother, but if you are already using hyaluronic acid products in your skincare routine it's definitely not a necessary purchase.

On areas of discolouration, which are almost all in the centre of my face, I dab on a bit of Bourjois Healthy Mix Correcting Concealer in 52 and blend it out with Sephora's #45 mineral powder brush. To put a bit of colour back into my face, Soap & Glory's Cheekmate* stain is perfect. It's a gel consistency making it a lot easier to control than something like Benetint. Whatever is left on my hands gets dabbed onto my lips and topped off with NUXE Reve de Miel lip balm. Instead of powder, I use NARS Laguna lightly across the high points of my face. Laguna languished in my drawer for a few months after I bought it as I just couldn't understand what they hype was about, but now I love it for putting colour back into my face as it's one of the easiest bronzers to build and blend that I own.

For eyebrows, I usually mix MAC's Omega eyeshadow with a little Copperplate but on lazy days it's just Omega, which is dark enough to patch up any gaps but light enough to stop things looking too 'done', sealed in with a little MUA clear mascara. Finally I use a couple of coats of Giorgio Armani Eyes To Kill Lash   Stretching mascara (my favourite, ever).

There we have it. Very low key makeup to avoid zombie-face without the effort, and nobody will ever know unless you get caught red-handed...