THE LOOK OF LOVE
If you’re self-isolating with a new beloved, you need to rely on more than just passion. Hannah Betts shares the at-home beauty secrets that will keep you at your radiant best, whatever the circumstances
In these days of domesticity and self-isolation, that prelapsarian era of dressing up for dates or romantic mini-breaks feels very far away. ‘There’s nobody to look good for,’ lamented one friend the other day. ‘Au contraire,’ I informed her. ‘There are two very obvious candidates to scrub up for: first, ourselves, and second, those who are prepared to tolerate us amid the collective cabin fever.’
As a depressive, I know it doesn’t do us any good to sink into squalor; for me, the first sign that any bout of misery is over comes with the impulse to wash my hair. Churchill continued supplies of lipstick during the war to maintain Blitz spirit, and sales are said to be up now.
Nesting needn’t mean negligence, not least for those still in the first flush of love who may suddenly be spending an unprecedented amount of time together. At moments of global crisis, one doesn’t want to look like a self-obsessed maniac, forever racing off to the mirror to engage in some elaborate beauty routine. On the other hand, one still hopes to look sufficiently appealing (and effortlessly beautiful) to confirm one is the right choice of companion for the apocalypse.
Chanel’s perkily pretty Le Blanc Rosy Light Drops are the kind of thing that, in flightier times, I might have smuggled under my pillow and applied in order to look daisy-fresh before the object of my affection woke up (were I terribly manipulative, which obviously I am). They’re an instant reminder of those early days of a blossoming romance, when you would creep into the bathroom to brush your teeth, conceal panda rings and douse yourself in scent before pretending to be sleeping like a princess again.
All of us yearn to look as if we have perfect skin, but very few actually do. The beauty-editor favourite Becca’s Shimmering Skin Perfector is classed as a highlighter; in fact, it’s more of a moisturiser that you can apply for dewily luminous faux-youth. I have loved it for a couple of decades, and never more so than when trying to convince some amorous swain of my skin’s supposed plushness. Naturally, this means that it is set to be replaced, supplanted by the brand’s new Ignite Liquified Light Highlighter. I will not be alone in buying up stocks of the original.
Make-up-wise, doing the bare minimum requires a spot of brow work, concealer and Jane Austen-style pinched cheeks. For a light touch that still does the business, Bobbi Brown’s Instant Full Cover Concealer is not to be bested. Densely pigmented, yet weightlessly supple, it’s perfect for hiris, £113 for 100ml, hermès cloud paint, £15, glossier blending under your eyes to look instantly alive. Hema’s Big Brow Crayons are terrific: thick, pliant, fast. Fill in fine detail with the ultra-slim Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, then blend through with its brush.
Foundations have become so subtle, you shouldn’t look as if you’re wearing one, even if you’re caked in the stuff. Kevyn Aucoin’s buff-in Foundation Balm feels more akin to a salve than slap – barely there, yet drawing a veil over any horrors. Glossier’s Perfecting Skin Tint is sure to be the product of choice among millennial and Gen Z buyers: wonderfully dewy, it minimises pores while leaving freckles exposed in a way that is very Meghan Markle. Alternatively, for the speediest, most surreptitious route to facial perfection, seek out Jennifer Aniston’s make-up artist’s brilliant Westman Atelier Vital Skin Foundation Sticks. After five swipes, plus a couple of seconds of blending, your complexion will look faultless.
Lovers of cream blush will find Glossier’s Cloud Paint, Westman Atelier’s Baby Cheeks and Bobbi Brown’s Pot Rouge first-rate, while those of us who refuse to renounce powder may prefer Clinique’s Blushing Blush Powder Blush, a flatteringly fresh-faced classic that will prove durable even if one is beguiled back between the sheets.
Lashes and lips will elevate matters to a still-dressier level. In terms of mascara, I have found myself increasingly drawn to Maybelline’s the Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara, not – as it sounds – a hyperbolically spidery affair, but rather a glossy, keratin-enriched jet-coloured formula that makes lashes appear naturally lustrous. For lips, it can only be Lipstick Queen’s Hello Sailor, a beauteous, suits-all sheer berry bursting with good health, of such shiny simplicity that it can be applied without a mirror. I have never met any woman it didn’t make look fantastic.
Perfume will certainly be essential to morale – yours and that of your beloved – and this calls for a skin scent with metaphysically lovely properties. Try Hermès’ Hiris, an exquisitely tender iris that brings lovers to their knees, or Guerlain’s climactic Après L’ondée, created to convey the fragrance of hawthorn after rain, and unquestionably euphoric. Whatever your indulgence, let yourself enjoy it. However poor and benighted we may feel, now is not the time to scrimp on small luxuries. Open that bottle of good bath oil you were sent for your birthday, the body cream that felt too extravagant to use, the soap that transports you to the Tuscan hills. We must go stalwartly on, and we must do so beautifully. brow wiz, £23, anastasia beverly hills pot rouge for lips and cheeks, £22.50, bobbi brown