Though you may favour a cat eye and bold red lip, you may not have the time to do that every morning before work or feel comfortable wearing a bold look in the office. If you do, then all power to you, and keep doing you! However, if you are someone who would like a more office appropriate makeup look, that allows you to look bright and refreshed without looking like you have a lot of makeup on, then a “no makeup” makeup look may be the one for you.
Here are a few tips on how you can achieve this simple look, in a small amount of time. It’s perfect for the weekday mornings where you just don’t want to get out of bed. Which, let’s be honest, is most days anyways.
How to Achieve the Office Appropriate Makeup Look
Skincare is key
Any makeup look really does start with your skincare, as any makeup you put on is only ever going to look as good as the skin underneath. Ensuring you are cleansing, toning and moisturizing every day and night, and exfoliating every 2 to 3 days is essential. This will help to unclog your pores, remove dead skin cells, and keep your skin hydrated thus reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and alleviating any dryness.
You may also want to include a good eye cream to keep the undereye area bright and free of dryness, or as suggested by SiO Beauty eye lines can be reduced by reducing your daily salt intake. Diet, of course, plays a big part in skincare and increasing the amount of water you drink each day could lead to firmer and clearer skin, as well as cutting down on overly sugary or fatty foods.
Prime baby, prime
Even though you will be going for a light makeup look, to achieve the appearance of little to no makeup, you are going to want to ensure your makeup doesn’t break up and become patchy throughout the day. A primer can help to smooth the surface of the skin and reduce the production of excess oils, helping your base to stay flawless all day long.
Sheer to medium base
For foundation and concealer, you are not going to want to go for anything too heavy or full coverage. Instead, you could use a BB cream, or tinted moisturizer for a base, or an incredibly sheer foundation like MAC Studio Face and Body. The same goes for concealer, and you will want to go with a shade as close to your foundation shade as possible, rather than using the concealer to highlight. This will complement the “no makeup look” whilst reducing facial redness and alleviating any blue/grey tones under the eyes.
The non-Instagramable brow
For an office appropriate makeup look, you’re going to want to steer clear of the highly defined, sculpted Instagram-worthy brow, and just give your brows a little bit of colour and definition with no harsh lines. Filling in any gaps and just tapering the end of the brow will still give you a strong brow game, but will cut down application time and the obvious presence of makeup. Using an eyeshadow, or a product like Benefit’s Brow Zings Eyebrow Shaping Kit will allow you to achieve this look quickly and easily.
Curled lashes
Curling your lashes is a good way of brightening and opening up the eyes without having to apply a thick coat of mascara. Curling should always be done before you apply mascara, and a good technique is to pulse the pressure of the curlers to help the curl stay in place for the whole day. You can then either apply a clear coat of mascara to lengthen the lashes or a light coat of your favourite black/brown mascara.
Bronze & highlight
Naturally, the sun illuminates and shadows part of your face, so it is ok not to skip this step when trying to achieve a no makeup look. Of course, you will not want to go for a beaming highlight and contoured look, but more of a natural bronzed and glowy look. Going for a light bronzer like Physician’s Formula’s Butter Bronzer, and a glowy highlight like MAC’s Soft and Gentle will help you to achieve this look. Adding a rosy blush just to the apples of the cheeks will help to achieve the fresh, healthy, bushy-tailed look like you’ve had an amazing nights sleep the night before. A totally office appropriate makeup look.
Minimal lip colour
For the lips, you may just want to add some lip balm and your good to go, or you could go for a slightly tinted lip balm or lip oil to give your lips a little more colour. Going for a product like Maybelline’s Baby Lips Lip Balm or Clarin’s Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil will help to give your lips that something extra without having to go for an obvious lipstick or gloss.
Following these simple office appropriate makeup tips will help to cut down the length of your morning makeup routine significantly, while still helping you to look fresh and glowy for the entire workday.
