makeup

These days, the mark of a truly iconic beauty brand is some level of TikTok fame. From prestige picks to affordable drugstore ones, the makeup community on the popular app wastes no time identifying its favourite products, sharing the good news, and promptly causing said products to sell out—everywhere. We saw this happen recently with a new launch, the KVD Vegan Beauty Good Apple Foundation (£29) (which is still tough to find ever since the app’s top creators deemed it life-changing), but even products that have been on the market for a while can potentially get a resurgence in popularity based on positive recommendations from the internet’s makeup mavens. This has been the case recently for E.l.f. Cosmetics, a certified vegan and cruelty-free mak...

If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s really inside the makeup bags of the most stylish women in the industry, you’re in luck. We’ve created a new column—Inside My Makeup Bag—to uncover the beauty products our fashion friends genuinely keep in their daily rotation and how much their stashes actually cost. I’ll be delving inside their bags on your behalf and totting up every item in there, from the most expensive to the cheapest. Not only will you be left with an incredible shopping list, but you’ll also get a realistic price tag to boot. Is there someone whose makeup bag you’re dying to see? Slide into my Instagram DMs with your requests, and I’ll see what I can do. This month, we’re delving inside the everyday makeup bag ...

There is nothing more joyful than a fun eye shadow look and now is the time to get playful. Spring is the season of new beginnings: the blooming of flowers, the birthing of baby chicks and lambs, the lighter evenings and sunnier days. Spring is full of life and after more than a year of what feels like deep hibernation and gloom, we can finally start to shed the layers of tracksuits and emerge from our cocoon-like homes. Whether you’re getting back out there with gusto or you’re tentatively starting to socialise once more, with masks a must, the best way to add a spring into your makeup look is with eye shadow. What’s great about most eye looks is that, once applied, there is very little need for touch-ups, unlike a bold lip that is as demanding as a toddler on a sugar high. You ...

When it comes to beauty brands that hold a special place in my heart, few come close to rivalling MAC. And while, for many of us, the brand might hold nostalgic memories as the place that we bought our first fancy foundation or experimented with red lipstick MAC are undoubtedly a brand that has continued to move with the times—innovating new formulations, inclusive shade ranges and classic product pairings. At this point, I’d hazard a guess that I have around 15 years of MAC loyalty under my belt and during that time I think I’ve tried a decent amount of the brand’s beauty offering. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that I’ve pretty much tried every single product. But with such an array of products on offer—foundati...

Places, everyone, it’s finally time for the big show! That’s right—the 2021 Academy Awards have arrived (albeit a little later than usual), and we couldn’t be more ready for the epic finale to this year’s awards season. For obvious reasons, red carpets have looked a bit different this year and have taken us on a more digital journey than ever before. But this hasn’t stopped our favourite celebs from serving up some seriously jaw-dropping beauty moments from the Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, SAG Awards, and more. This evening’s Oscar Awards are sure to be even more exciting. As we all know, big beauty moments at the Oscars are nothing new. But after a year spent wearing nothing but sweatpants and with less makeup and hairstyling than ever before, we...

Thinking back to waterproof mascaras of yesteryear makes me wince and I have to be honest and say that I haven’t always been a fan. The first time I tried one I was 17, on holiday and trying to impress a fellow teenage holiday-goer by wearing makeup everywhere, including in the pool. It was such a pain to remove with my terrible cleanser that I had such sore eyes the next day. Honestly, I didn’t touch one again until I started attending weddings in my twenties and it became an absolute necessity. Luckily, since my teens, the formulas of waterproof and water-resistant mascaras have drastically improved—as have the oil-based cleansers that we need to remove them effectively. Yes, the best waterproof mascaras at the moment offer the lift, length and v...

I am far from a makeup lover. While other beauty journalists play with eye shadow palettes, foundations and liners for hours on end in order to refine technique and help narrow down the best formulas around, the very sight of a new makeup product fills me with dread. While I appreciate the wonders of makeup, the sheer volume of products, combined with the fact I’m not very good at applying the stuff, makes me feel totally overwhelmed. Because of this, my makeup collection consists solely of products that are incredibly easy to use. For the most part, I like to be able to apply my makeup with my hands. In order to achieve glowing, convincing results, such products require clever, unique formulas. And such formulas typically come at a price. As a result, for as...

If you’ve ever wanted to know what’s really inside the makeup bags of the most stylish women in the industry, you’re in luck. We’ve created a new column—Inside My Makeup Bag—to uncover the beauty products our fashion friends genuinely keep in their daily rotation and how much their stashes actually cost. I’ll be delving inside their bags on your behalf and totting up every item in there, from the most expensive to the cheapest. Not only will you be left with an incredible shopping list, but you’ll also get a realistic price tag to boot. Is there someone whose makeup bag you’re dying to see? Slide into my Instagram DMs with your requests, and I’ll see what I can do. This month, we’re delving inside the everyday makeup bag ...

Ahh, 2005. I was 16 and living through the golden era of emo rock. Teenage angst was the order of the day, and it was very much reflected in the contents of my makeup bag and wardrobe. Thankfully this was before the days when everyone had a camera phone, so there’s little evidence of my style choices from that time in my life. Any Smirnoff Ice–fuelled moments that were snapped on a friend’s four-megapixel camera were definitely not of a high-enough quality to print as a keepsake and now reside in digital heaven after MySpace lost all content uploaded before 2016 (RIP). Even so, the memories of my makeup bag from that time remain as vivid as ever—likely because it was the first time in my life that I had truly experimented with beauty. Sure, I’d dabbled in orange-toned con...

At last, spring has arrived, and with it comes a flurry of new beauty launches and fresh looks for the months ahead. While in previous years we might have looked to fashion shows or peeked behind the scenes at runways to predict the beauty trends that we’d all be wearing for spring and summer, this year, we’ve gone directly to the makeup artists themselves for the inside scoop. And I have to say, I’m incredibly excited. From skin that’s so glossy, you could see a reflection in it to eyes awash with pretty pastels, spring’s makeup trends are feeling fresh, fun and full of life. Even better? We asked each of the eight makeup artists to create their own take on the trend for us so we can see how to genuinely make these trends work at...

As someone who possesses next to no makeup skills, I spend an impressive amount of time trying to copy other people’s faces. And no, I don’t mean that I sit at home following those hourlong YouTube tutorials that require a million shades. (I admitted defeat on those long ago.) Instead, I save down Instagram looks of my favourite celebs looking their understated, natural, glowing best and analyse every aspect of their makeup so that I can give it a go myself.  Only I never get it quite right, and I think there’s a very valid reason for it (besides the fact I’m useless, of course). You see, the sort of natural-looking, no-makeup makeup aesthetic that I lean toward is actually incredibly tricky to pull off. The whole premise of the look is that you shouldn’t really be able...

When it comes to makeup products, I normally don’t give eye shadows that much thought. Sure, I use them, but I’m not too picky about which brands I use. My makeup priorities revolve around foundations, concealers, and mascaras. I can be pretty choosy when it comes to those types of products. But of course, not all eye shadows are created equally. In addition to the shade choices, there are also other factors to think about, such as pigment, finish, and staying power. You want a formula that won’t crease or cake. And it also depends on the type of eye makeup look you’re going for. Some people might want something natural and subtle; others might want something highly saturated. Whatever the case, I asked my colleagues and a few makeup artists to p...