This week, in a radical new move for a beauty column, I’m recommending not no make-up make-up, but no make-up full stop.
Not for ever, obviously. I’ve sported a full face of slap every day since the age of 11 and have no intention of calling a halt.
But I am proposing a temporary ceasefire. Go bare-faced today, our first May bank holiday – longer if you can. My recent illness meant I managed two weeks.
The beauty in paring back your routine? You find out what your non-negotiables are: core cosmetic you.
It was Dame Helen Mirren who recommended this principle to me, saying: ‘Everyone should just grow their colour right out once in a while, cut their hair short, and re-look at the whole thing, because people get frightened.
I rely on Eylure Dybrow Eyebrow Dye Kit, snapped up on Amazon for £5.19. Given that I get around 20 uses per purchase (miniscule amounts are required), I think of this as the great 25p midlife facelift
‘They’ve done the same thing for the last 20 years and they’re terrified of shaking it up. I shake it up all the time. I have to for work, which is a very good lesson.’
Dame Helen was talking about hair — still, the principle applies to all aspects of grooming.
Switch off your aesthetic auto-pilot and take stock of where you are. What’s good about what’s going on, what’s interesting and what might you like to address with a spot of smoke and mirrors?
Establishing core cosmetic you is vital information to have when decluttering your bathroom cabinet, readying yourself for speed or travelling.
Think of it as a quest for your five-minute make-up, the desert-island non-negotiables that need to be in this summer’s washbag, based not on how you looked at 21, 40, or in the past six months, but who you are right here, right now.
I discovered during my bare-faced stint that what my fifty-something features most require is structure and lift.
Upshot: the moment I was well enough, I tinted my eyebrows, spurring my boyfriend to say that I had clearly recovered. This isn’t about colour (my natural brows being pretty dark), so much as emphasis, plus the impression of youthful luxuriance.
I rely on Eylure Dybrow Eyebrow Dye Kit, snapped up on Amazon for £5.19. Given that I get around 20 uses per purchase (miniscule amounts are required), I think of this as the great 25p midlife facelift.
Next stop, for brunettes like me is concealer. If I want to look healthy in haste, the smallest swipe of Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer (£26, narscosmetics.co.uk) is a must.
This stuff is the business: a softly blurring, natural looking finish that glides over, rather than beds into, furrows. It’s a supernaturally stretchy formula that can easily be fanned into a foundation.
Each pot lasts such an age that you’ll have to replace it while some is still left because things will start to get icky.
The equivalent staple for blondes is said to be mascara. I always come back to Maybelline Colossal Curl Bounce Mascara (now £9.99, superdrug.com), yielding a nice, fat, black, healthy-looking curl, as that’s what will make us look most human.
Still, a few days off the slap wagon made clear that, for tiny-eyed me, eyeliner is much more important as it opens things up and puts me back in the land of the living.
Jones Road’s kohl seriously lives up to its title of The Best Pencil (£22, jonesroadbeauty.com).
Glossy, ultra-dense colour, it can be used for precise, blended or smoky emphasis, yet somehow always retains brand founder Bobbi Brown’s natural look rather than the overtly made-up approach. I think of it as the Goldilocks liner — just right.
Which leads us to my final essential item: Jones Road Lip And Cheek Stick (£34).
Pre-Jones Road, I found cream rouges always looked patchy and were gone in seconds. Bobbi’s brilliance changed all that. And here I am, never to be separated from my beautiful, blendable Royal Plum.
Her game-changing Jones Road Blush Brush (£34) has everything to do with this. Again, there’s that Goldilocks element: bestowing the ideal amount of pigment, rounded at the sides for idiot-proof application, making the perfect flush a cinch.
But, then, this is the woman who can do her face in 30 seconds from a palm-sized palette. No one is better at finding the core cosmetic you than Bobbi Brown.
RACE YOU TO IT
In 2001, ghd gifted the world the chance for salon-sleek hair at home.
Now its biggest ever launch hits Amazon today. The ghd Duet Style Hot Air Styler is heralded as the first hot-air tool to transform hair from wet to styled without damage.
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MY ICON OF THE WEEK
MARCIA CROSS
The 61-year-old actress, who is best known for playing Bree Van de Kamp in Desperate Housewives, is making her modelling debut for e-commerce site Farfetch
The 61-year-old actress, who is best known for playing Bree Van de Kamp in Desperate Housewives, is making her modelling debut for e-commerce site Farfetch.
A redhead, she is scrupulous about protecting against sun-ageing and uses micro-current and red-light therapy at home, and Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (from £27, armanibeauty.co.uk) on screen.
COSMETIC CRAVING
Despite now being cherished as a facial salve, Weleda Skin Food was designed for the body in 1926. Its formula remains unchanged, with natural plant oils – rosemary, calendula and chamomile extracts – giving it its balmy yet melting texture.
Today, one of these rich, organic, multi-purpose creams sells every ten seconds. Models, film stars and make-up artists love it – and I know you adore it because it makes repeated appearances in Inspire’s annual Beauty Awards.
Now Weleda is launching Weleda Skin Food — The Face Range.
There’s a Skin Food Cleansing Balm (£12.95), Skin Food Day Cream (£14.95), Skin Food Night Cream (£14.95) and —joy of joys! — a Skin Food Ultra-Light Dry Oil (£15.95). Eat up!
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EXCEPTIONAL EXFOLIATORS
Yo Glow Wishful Enzyme Scrub
Make-up millionaire Huda Kattan created this constantly selling-out instant dead cell zapper.
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Nip + Fab Glycolic Scrub Fix
Retexturing glycolic acid and zit-busting salicylic acid leave spotty skin bright and clear.
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Emma Lewisham Illuminating Face Exfoliant
Hailed as a ‘facial in a bottle’ for its smoothing, brightening and hydrating brilliance.
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Upcircle Coffee Face Scrub — Floral Blend for Sensitive Skin
Addictive organic scrub made from coffee grounds with chamomile, rosehip, geranium and patchouli.
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MonuSkin Micro Exfoliant
A lovely, gentle, gritty goop bursting with natural actives, leaving skin polished and glowing.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk