Make yourself look 10 years fresher –
Wearable, everyday cosmetics that make you look less tired? Make-up artist Mary Greenwell shows the beauty editor, Annabel Jones, how to get the ‘no make-up’ made-up look – and it’s easier than you think
“I just want to look fresher,” women tell me all the time. Whether they’re asking me if Boots new No 7 serum is worth buying (it is), or which foundation is best for radiance (see below), looking well-rested is almost always the end goal. Skincare matters, of course, but to look good instantly? Then you’d better get nifty with concealer. I want to look Cate Blanchett fresh – her pores seem iridescent. Make-up artist Mary Greenwell is Blanchett’s genie and the person she counts on to make her look good. Before she met the Australian actress, Greenwell was Diana, Princess of Wales’s make-up artist and played a pivotal part in re-defining her look in the 1990s. She’s worked on countless celebrity faces (too many to mention) and with the world’s best photographers. Today,
Telegraph’s
she’s tasked with making my face look less washed-out.
“You actually need a lot of make-up to look like you’re not wearing make-up,” Greenwell explains. That doesn’t mean it’s trowelled on, rather it’s her technique that makes the
Match the colour to your neck not your face
and, once applied, buff it in with a brush difference. She combines dewy textures and light powders that are pressed, tapped and buffed into the pores. It is quick to do – once you’ve been shown how.
This is how to look 10 years fresher – with make-up alone.
Overdo the moisturiser
Apply a clear lip balm, then soak (yes, soak) your skin with a light moisturiser all over your face, neck and decollétage – Greenwell used a gel-textured cream that was absorbed seamlessly despite applying a healthy amount. Massage it in for longer than you think you should, with more product than you think, using the whole of your hands in strong sweeping strokes until it’s properly absorbed. The surface of your skin should feel baby-soft and hydrated, but never slippery.
Pick your primer
“Take time on prepping the skin – you can’t achieve a flawless finish otherwise,” Greenwell says. A make-up primer will help your base glide on more evenly and last longer. Look for one that’s non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores) with added skincare benefits. Mary uses Tatcha’s The Silk Canvas, £51 (spacenk.com), which has soft focus blurring technology and real silk extracts. A little goes a long way, so invest in a good one. My skin looks pearly and plump already.
Add sheer foundation
If you’ve been matching your foundation to your face then you’re doing it wrong, says Greenwell, who finds my perfect tone by swatching my neck. “Your neck is often lighter than your face, so using a foundation that matches it ties everything together,” she explains. Greenwell uses her fingers to press the base into my skin. After applying a light foundation with her hands, she vigorously blends it in with a brush – this is like putting Vaseline on your camera lens, it helps to blur and refine the finish. “You want to buff the product into the pores so that your skin and foundation become one, otherwise it sits on the surface.” The idea, Greenwell says, is “to look like you’re not wearing foundation”.
Invisible concealer
Natural make-up is all about the clever use of concealer. It pays to buy two shades, a lighter hue for underneath your eyes and one that matches your skin for blemishes and imperfections, such as the red veins around your nose. Swipe the light shade over dark circles and tap it in with your middle finger, which Greenwell says is the one that gives you the perfect amount of control. She then presses it into the corner of the eyes, down onto the sides of the nose and onto the tops of the cheeks. “The goal is to disperse
and diffuse the concealer so you don’t know where it begins and ends,” she adds.
Wide-awake eyes
Eyeshadow isn’t just an evening embellishment. Greenwell views it as a way to help your eye colour pop and the whites of your eyes appear brighter. Apply a pale matte neutral shade on eyelids and socket with a flat and tightly packed eyeshadow brush. Follow with a medium nude shade in the middle of the eyelids and into the socket line, then follow with a darker browny-beige on the outer corner of the eyelids and the outer third of the socket line. Then, draw a brown eye pencil into the roots of the top lashes. Tip: Greenwell does this by lifting my eyelid to get in between the lashes – you want soft definition rather than an outline. Blend it in with the spongy end of the pencil. Then apply mascara, using the tip of the wand vertically on the bottom lashes to naturally define without a gloopy finish. Greenwell doesn’t believe in curling eyelashes, which she says makes them look fake and unnatural.
‘Fresh air’ cheeks
Blush should be dotted high on the cheeks and blended upwards and into the hairline. If you apply too low on the apples, your cheekbones will look droopy, says Greenwell. She recommends cream blusher for a dewy finish, which she dots onto the high points of my cheeks, pressing it into the skin from the cheeks to the temples until it’s fully blended in.
A rosy pout
“The top lip should appear slightly fuller than the bottom lip; this gives a subtle lift and accentuates fullness,” explains Greenwell who lined my lips with a peachy nude lip liner to accentuate the shape of the existing lip line, lifting the outer corners a touch, then lining a little in the middle of the bottom lip, leaving out the corners. “Otherwise it looks too done,” she says. A sheer gloss in a wearable pink shade will inject colour (mine have faded with age). A non-sticky gloss in a peachy-pink tone provides a healthy sheen.
Powder sparingly
Stand back in good light, apply a fine veil of powder with a brush underneath eyes, around the nose, on the top and underneath the lips, leaving cheeks to glisten. “A little powder will stop your eye make-up from dropping, creating shadows and minimising any oily patches. This leaves lips and cheeks to shine,” says Greenwell.