What foundation? It seems as if more and more individuals are saying goodbye to a full face of makeup.
“ By looking more like ourselves, this new wave is encouraging real beauty.”
Gone are the days when the so-called “Instagram Face” ruled the world. For quite some time, it seemed as if everyone wanted to look like they were part of the Kardashian family: a thick foundation base, visible contour, brows that are arguably “on fleek,” and matte lipstick that stays on the entire day. Now, it’s all about the thing many of us might have taken for granted over the years: skin. Even Kim Kardashian herself has migrated to a more natural makeup look nowadays (without ditching her signature contour, of course).
While there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with preferring heavier makeup nowadays, one problem seemed to arise: women were starting to look less and less like themselves and more like clones of each other. Individuality seemed to wane, stemming from that pressing need for more likes—at least, that’s what everyone temporarily thought their followers wanted.
These days, a growing number of individuals and brands are starting to let skin take its well-deserved place in the center stage. In the recent years, the rise of social media-heavy brands such as Glossier and Milk have made us dream of luminous, healthy skin. Working in the beauty industry myself has exposed me to this as well, with numerous makeup artists and celebrities opting to ditch the foundation in favor of a more natural look.
Freckles, spots and moles, lines on the face—these things may sound a little daunting at first, but a fresh perspective on it would point out that it is these things that make us unique after all. Audiences have become more accepting of these features, which is now considered beauty marks by many. By looking more like ourselves, this new wave is encouraging real beauty.
“The hardest thing is to make skin look like skin,” a makeup artist once told me during a shoot wherein she skipped applying foundation on her model, going for moisturizer and a little concealer as her base instead. The result was refreshing—I immediately wanted to remove everything on my face and replicate the look myself.
True to what was said to me, however, going natural isn’t as simple as waking up and heading out the door without giving yourself a look in the mirror. A good skincare routine is essential to achieve healthy skin in the long run. It does require some effort (just a few of the must-haves everyone swears by include SPF, moisturizer, cleanser and serum), but trust me—once you’ve got this down, you will rarely feel the need to apply a heavy base.
So the next time you feel like you want to completely cover up your face, take a little pause and ask yourself why. While how we do our faces is entirely up to us, it is important to remember that makeup can only cover so much. It truly is the little things that make us look like ourselves.
