My Minimal Makeup Routine Using 4 Products Total
If anything good has come out of this global pandemic, it’s my newfound appreciation for my natural face. Since March, I have gotten fully dressed up or worn more substantial amounts of makeup a handful of times. Most days, I wear little to no makeup (usually the latter!) and have grown to feel completely comfortable in my own bare skin.
This may not be shocking to those who already embrace their natural beauty, but it’s been pretty shocking to me — especially considering my history. Ever since I started experimenting with makeup at a young age (12? 13?), I created a new default look for my face. I only considered myself “presentable” once I had thick eyeliner around my eyes, heavy foundation covering my freckles and zits, and copious amounts of mascara weighing down on my eyelashes.
I slowly lightened up my makeup over the years, but the sentiment remained: I only felt put together or fully “myself” with a mask of makeup covering my pores. The dichotomy here is obvious. In reality, there’s nothing more “me” than a naked face, with all its imperfections and nearly invisible blonde eyelashes. However, I still felt more true to myself once I altered my face.
Yet, something shifted during the pandemic. I began to embrace the natural version of myself — and that became my new standard. So anything extra was just that: extra.
I’m not saying that wearing lots of makeup is bad, or that it’s meaningless to play and experiment with makeup. Not at all! If you find enjoyment in putting on makeup, that’s great. Makeup can be an incredible art form, and I’m always impressed by the work of expert makeup artists (I, too, get sucked into makeup videos on Instagram and YouTube from time to time).
Personally, I don’t necessarily enjoy the process of putting on makeup (and do not consider myself even close to an expert on the subject!), so I’ve dwindled down my “routine” — or lack thereof — to four basic products.
I also have to mention this. My priorities may change over the years, but at the moment, I don’t have much interest in the beauty and skincare world as a whole. There’s a reason you haven’t seen me talk much about it on here! We are constantly encouraged to buy the latest makeup and skincare products to cover up or cure allllllll the issues we have (or do we even have them?). Not to mention, we end up spending lots of money in pursuit of all those wrinkle-solving creams and extra-volumizing mascaras.
This is why I won’t be sharing my go-to makeup products. I’ll simply share the overall types of products I use on the rare days I do wear makeup. Besides, all of them are random purchases from the drugstore — not Instagrammable brands with an accompanying discount code. So I don’t want to steer you in a pretty average direction.
My Minimal Makeup Routine:
CC Cream (with SPF)
Concealer (under eyes and over zits, lol)
Mascara
Eyebrow Pencil
BONUS: If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll put on some lipstick and/or gold eye shadow — always gold, for some reason.
That’s literally it. No highlighter, no blush, no eyeliner! I used to use all of the above — and probably more things — but I ended up preferring the stripped-down version of my makeup as I’ve gotten older. Plus, it took less time to do and I now spend way less money on products I may or may not like. Not to mention, with less products means less tools. Besides one eye shadow brush and eyebrow tweezers, I don’t own any makeup tools, like various brushes, sponges, etc.
Again, my priorities and interests may shift over time (especially as I inevitably get more wrinkles!), but for now, I’m quite content with this low-maintenance approach to makeup and skincare.
Any other natural makeup wearers out there?
I’d love to know I’m not alone! Drop a comment below if you like to keep it simple.