What’s all the fuss about…

Going ‘bare-faced’?

For most women, foundation is a daily make-up essential. Whether we prefer powder, cream or liquid, many of us refuse to go further than the front door without applying it. But there is a fine line between a veil of camouflage and a caked-on mask. The latter not only ages you, but is beginning to feel dated.

After years of overly made-up, Photoshopped and filtered skin in magazines and on Instagram, paring back feels fresh and liberating. Mac’s director of artistry, Terry Barber, agrees: ‘Women don’t want to be fixed or look ‘done’ any more. It’s about pinpointing your problem areas and washing over them with a gloss.’

By ‘gloss’, Barber means the flattering, pearlescent radiance that you get from Mac’s iconic Strobe Cream, which is now available in an array of tints to add warmth to your skin. Whether you apply it alone or mixed into your moisturiser, the finish means you won’t need foundation. Becca’s range of Priming Filters offers a similar effect.

If you battle with redness across your cheeks, around your nose and on your chin, or your under-eye area needs more than just concealer to lighten its dark circles, colour correctors will be your best friend. Most make-up brands launched a colourcorrecting stick or palette last year, but cultbeauty.co.uk’s co-founder Alexia Inge predicts that 2017 will really be their year. ‘Over the past few months we’ve seen a huge rise in both online searches and sales of colour-correcting complexion products,’ Inge says. Urban Decay has lightweight liquids, Cover FX offers balm-like sticks, and NYX has a foolproof, cheap-as-chips palette that evens out skin tone in seconds.

While you do need to follow up with concealer for a seamless finish, these tints and balms will make your foundation redundant – and make you look younger as a result.

By acting Telegraph beauty director Victoria Hall

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