I've been a longtime lover of Juice Beauty as a clean, organic skin-care brand, so when it came out with a Gwyneth Paltrow-renowned primer, I was immediately intrigued. I like the idea of a primer that comes from a skin-care brand, because while primer should also have beautifying benefits, I like the idea of it being a clean product to protect my skin from the makeup I put on top of it.
Maderich emphasizes the importance of not putting too much product on your skin. In fact, his suggestion is to swap your moisturizer with a primer. "Most people use way too many skin-care products during the day. The more you put on, the more your makeup will move." For Indian skin, Maderich recommends mixing gold tints like this Juice Beauty one into your foundation rather than layering it if you want a more natural look. If I'm not in the mood to put on much makeup, I'll stop after this step alone because the natural-looking gold tint gives my skin the perfect lit-from-within glow.
The product is super lightweight but hydrating, which is perfect for my sensitive skin. While the gold tint blurs the look of my scarring a bit, the first ingredient in the primer, aloe juice, calms the redness I often get on my sensitive cheeks and nose.
Through some pretty basic Google searching and information gathered from my favorite vloggers, I learned it was best to counteract dark pigmentation with orange/red tones. Most I tried were too light on my skin. Others were so pigmented that I'd find it hard not to get the color all over my face when blending the rest of my foundation and concealer on top of it. This one had the perfect amount of pigmentation, not to mention a no-mess applicator.
Makeup artist Amanda Shackleton, who works with Indian brides often, recommends this Cover FX corrector because the brick tone works well with a range of undertones — perfect for Indian skin. "The trick is it's a subtle shade of red which allows more tolerance for dark undertones and combination undertones," says Shackleton.
I use the applicator to swipe a small amount of this under my eyes and press it in with my finger before tapping a small pea-sized brush into the product and dotting it precisely onto my acne scars — like paint by numbers for my face. I used to think that, at this stage, you shouldn't be able to see any pigmentation or scars at all, but like I said, once I started using less product, it lasted longer. It isn't about covering the pigmentation; it's about blurring it. And at this point in my makeup routine, that's exactly how they look.
My pursuit of the right concealer began nearly a decade and a half ago, right when I began getting painful, cystic acne. It took me up until about about a year ago to find the right one for my skin tone. Year after year, I'd go to makeup artists to be skin-matched only to be disappointed by the shade range, or lack thereof.
After years of trying almost everything on the market, I tested the Lancôme Teint Idole concealer on my hand and figured it was worth a shot. The wind-up stick made for easy application, and the redness wasn't totally opaque, making its coverage buildable.
One year later, it's one of the few concealers I trust, not just for its the color-match but also for its high coverage and natural finish. I didn't expect the finish to be so natural. To be honest, the texture feels quite thick. The key, as Maderich and Shackleton reiterate, is to not be too heavy-handed with application.
According to Maderich, a concealer with a thick consistency is actually ideal for pigmentation. "It's really hard to cover acne scars on the cheeks," says Maderich. "If you choose to cover it, you have to use a concealer with a really thick consistency because you don't want it to move. Anything creamy is going to move in an hour, so you want it to be almost a paste consistency."
I layer this very lightly on top of the corrector. At this point, I still see some red tint coming through on my skin. Maderich advises applying two thin layers of concealer, powdering each. When I go in with the second layer of concealer, I'll dot this on the acne scarring on my cheeks and jawline, avoiding my dark circles. For the second layer of that, I go in with a lighter-tinted concealer that has an even thicker consistency.
The skin under my eyes is far dryer than the rest of my skin, and the pigmentation is a lot darker than anywhere else on my face, so the skin here needs something different than the rest of my skin. I came upon this when I was browsing the aisles of Sephora during graduate school, not in the mood to spend much. I hadn't heard or read anything about it, but figured I didn't have much to lose given the low price (and Sephora's great return policy).
I do notice the formula of this sometimes separates, so I make sure to shake the tube before squeezing out a very small amount of product. The consistency is even thicker than Lancôme's, but it is super easy to blend. After I use one round of powder, I go in with a thin layer of this on top of my dark circles.
I chose two shades lighter than my natural skin tone, which sounds like a lot, but because I apply such a thin layer, it doesn't look unnatural. This concealer has a yellow undertone, which Maderich specifically recommends for Indian women's under-eyes. I press it into my skin with my fingers for a more natural look. The formula also contains sunflower seed oil, which keeps my under-eyes hydrated and crease-free.
For something I picked up on a whim, I've considered this concealer a staple in my routine for almost a year.
As a lover of vegan and cruelty-free beauty, as well as the brand's founder, fashion editor Zanna Roberts Rassi, I first fell in love with the Milk Makeup's fan favorite Kush Mascara (possibly the best thickening mascara I've tried). I travel quite a bit, so I found this when I was looking for a travel-friendly loose powder — not an easy thing to find. In addition to the lid on top, this has a second lid inside that presses against the netting through which powder comes through to keep product from coming through when you're not using it.
A pressed powder can be easier, but Shackleton recommends a loose powder for setting makeup because it's lighter and more finely milled. This means it can really get into the skin to set everything with light coverage. Though this does set my makeup, I think a lot of powders out there can do that. What I love most about this is the blurring aspect that gives me the lightly Photoshopped feel. I pat my Beauty Blender sponge into this before pressing it into my skin. I prefer using it over a brush because I feel a brush sweeps product over my face only for it to be easily swept off, while this really pushes it into my skin.
RBI Governor Das discusses ways to scale up UPI ecosystem with stakeholders
People find ChatGPT to have a better moral compass than real humans, study reveals
TVS Motor Company net profit rises 15% to ₹387 crore in March quarter
Next Story