Skincare and Makeup: Give Your Skin a Break
You can have too much of a good thing: here’s why you shouldn’t exaggerate with makeup.
What is skincare-makeup?
If you’re lazy or just want to give your skin a break from wearing makeup every single day but you still want to look put-together, then you should definitely try “skincare-makeup”.
Always start with your normal skincare routine. The products in your daily skincare routine should follow a specific order: cleanser, tonic, serum, moisturiser, sunscreen. For optimal results, invest in safe and professional tools and products: either your makeup will look better or you won’t need much of it.
Go in with a tinted moisturizer or a tinted SPF instead of putting on foundation: it won’t give you a full coverage but it will certainly even out your skin tone. At the same time, you’re getting the moisturizing benefits of the product while protecting your skin from the sun.
Instead of using a brow pencil or a brow gel, use a lash serum or run a small brush over a soap bar and gel your brows up: they will look as if you just got them laminated and won’t move for the rest of the day.
Maybe you didn’t know that tinted under eye cream exists as well: try it out instead of using concealer, you will be amazed by how pigmented it is and the coverage it offers. Moreover, since it’s a moisturising under eye cream, it won’t crease at all and will just soak into your skin.
Apply a color-correcting green cream if you have any redness or irritation on your face. It starts out green and then transforms into the exact color of your skin. It’s great for dry skin and post-pimple skin. Try Cicapair by Dr Jart: it contains Tiger Grass (aka Centella Asiatica or Cica), an herbal remedy tigers in the Asian wetlands have rolled around in for centuries to help heal their wounds, and mineral sunscreen.
If you have oily or combination skin apply a powder sunscreen in your T-zone and in the areas where you need it the most.
For a little bit of color on your cheeks, replace contour and bronzer with the Drunk Elephant D-Bronzi Drops, which contain omega-rich virgin marula and blackcurrant seed oils, together with vitamin F (fatty acids): they help restore the delicate balance that supports a healthy skin barrier function. Apply it where you would normally put your bronzer and blend it out with a brush.
If you have any active acne spots use a tinted spot treatment, like the one by La Roche-Posay. It covers your acne while healing it at the same time.
Finish off with a lip balm or lip oil, that will give your lips a nice glow while nourishing and moisturizing them.
Bad makeup ingredients
There are some ingredients you should avoid when buying makeup products, because they can be really harmful for your skin. All products are tested for safe usage in the short term, but not for long term usage: absorbing them every single day may lead to unpleasant consequences in the long run. Firstly, parabens: anything that finishes with “paraben” in an ingredients list should be avoided (e.g. isobutyl-, butyl-, isopropyl- and propylparaben). Parabens are endocrine disruptors, which means they interact and disrupt your hormones, and that can have an impact on your reproductive system, neurological system and immune system. Then, phthalates: avoid any ingredient which ends in “phthalate” like dibutylphthalate, dimethylphthalate and diethylphthalate, and also the acronyms DBP, DMP, DEP, MEHHP, DiNP. They are used in cosmetic products as stabilizers, but they’re used a lot in plastics as well. Exposure to phthalates has been linked to an increased breast cancer risk, infertility, obesity risk and diabetes.
