When i’m talking about your natural beauty here, i’m talking about when you are looking your absolute best without needing much help from your makeup bag. I’m not saying you can’t be naturally beautiful if you love putting lots of makeup on, but it’s about learning how to embrace, enhance and show off your natural skin and your natural brows. You might like the full makeup look like Jamie Genevieve, for example, but if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that i’m all about those bushy brows and my skin’s natural freckles and glow. There are many ways to enhance your own natural beauty, to still look natural even if you use a few makeup helpers!
Look after your skin
If you want to adopt a no makeup or a ‘no makeup makeup’ look, you’ll need to give your skin a lot of care and attention to get it looking its best. Regular exfoliation will help improve your skin texture and pore visibility – I use a daily acid toner and then a stronger acid peel once per week. See what suits your skin type – a physical exfoliant might work best for you if you have sensitive skin, for example. A Niacinamide product is great for minimising pores, Hyaluronic Acid & sheet masks are great for plumping and hydrating, Vitamin C is great for brightening any pigmentation and adding glow, and Retinol is great for minimising signs of ageing and smoothing skin. If you are new to a lot of these ingredients, it’s going to be about trial and error to see what your skin like. Nadine Baggot on YouTube is a good place to start for more information on how to incorporate these products into your skincare routine.
Boost your brows and lashes
You don’t need lots of products or false lashes for your lashes and brows to look their best. If you want a natural look, but still want to enhance these features, try using a brow and lash growth serum to grow and condition your lash and brow hairs. After a couple of months they’ll be fuller, thicker and longer. I’d also really recommend Brow Lamination, which is a beauty treatment that basically perms your brow hairs straight and pointing upwards so that they fan out and look extra long and bushy. Have a read of my recent Brow Lamination guide.
Condition your hair
To get your hair looking its best glossy and smooth self, there are so many natural products that work instead of expensive treatments like Olaplex or artifical SLS or silicones. You can really improve the condition of your hair with very affordable ingredients such as coconut oil and jojoba oil. The chemicals that are likely in your shampoos and conditioners are inherently going to strip your hair of its own natural defenses. Yes, they’ll work in the short term by giving your hair an immediate sheen and smoothness, but in the long run, if you want to really nurture your hair, more natural products are best – such as Function Beauty or just natural shampoo and conditioner bars. Bars are kinder to the environment and last a lot longer than bottles do. You can also manage the application of your shampoo bar much easier as you can use the bar directly on the areas of your scalp that you know have trouble absorbing the conditioner. Many people feel that their crown is difficult to lather up because of all the other hair that gets in the way. Try using coconut oil on your hair as a mask, as it gives such good results.
Learn to do ‘no makeup makeup’ well
Sometimes looking like we don’t have any makeup on, actually takes longer sometimes than just applying a full face; but if you look after your skin, hair, brows and lashes, you’ll have less need to apply more products. I love just using a CC cream, a bit of concealer, a cream blush, a cream highlighter and a brow gel. Alix from I Covet Thee does the most beautiful natural beauty looks where she even adds freckles! I also wrote a post for The Sunday Girl about all my makeup bag essentials to get that ‘glass skin’ look.
You can see more of what i’m loving, and what i’m doing, over on my Instagram.
