Quick steps in getting your skin ready and
make-up at home
Many of us, isolating at home, our social peak is having video calls with friends, family and for business meetings, where we may want to look a little bit more presentable. So I am here, to give you quick easy steps in getting ready for your next Zoom meeting, with a few added video tips to getting you looking your best. These products are great to complete a quick, easy, natural makeup look, making you look fresh for your next online appearance.
First things first, your skin, and we should all have a daily skincare routine already. If not, you could use your spare time getting one. You can start with just cleansing, toning and moisturising. This will make a huge difference to your skin.
The camera makes practising good skincare even more important than usual, as the camera can make bad skin habits appear ten times worse. So, if you are one of those individuals without a routine, here are 3 products I use on the daily to prep my skin. This alone will make a positive difference.
Cleanse. Why cleanse skin?
Throughout the day our skin continually comes in to contact with all kinds of nasty bacteria, pollutants, viruses, dirt, and forms dead skin cells, so by daily facial cleansing, it removes these impurities to give the skin a hygienic fresh look.
I use Clarins Cleansing Milk with Alpine Herbs for normal to dry skin. Clarins are great for skincare. Their cleansing milk works perfectly for my dryer skin; it cleanses efficiently lifting away makeup and impurities. It hydrates, with a blend of softening and toning plant extracts, Alpine Herbs, St. John’s Wort, Sweet Almond, Marshmallow and Linden. These ingredients help maintain the skins moisture, leaving a radiant appearance. This gives the skin softness, suppleness and leaves it feeling perfectly refreshed.
Clarins cater cleansers and toners for all skin types and genders, as it’s important for EVERYONE to look after their skin.
Quick tip
I can even be lazy when it comes to my routine, this tip is a super easy way to quickly cleanse, I take two pumps of the Clarins cleanser into my clean hands, rub all over my face then use the cotton pads to remove, cleaning the dirt off my face and wasting less product and Cotton pads.
Price: 200ml £22 or 400ml for £28
You can buy here Normal to Dry skin.
You can buy here Combination to Oily skin.
Toner – Why Tone skin?
Toners help close pores after cleansing and tighten cell gaps, reducing the penetration of impurities and contamination into the skin.
My Toning Lotion is also another Clarins product, as it pairs beautifully with my cleansers. Making, Clarins Toning Lotion with Camomile for Normal to Dry Skin, the perfect pick for me. The alcohol-free Toner completes the cleansing, enriched with plant extracts, Camomile and Linden to ideally rebalance and refresh the skins comfort, leaving delicate skin feeling super soft and looking refreshed.
Quick tip
This quick tip is a game changer when it comes to saving time toning. I pour my toning lotion into a small spray bottle, then spray the toning mist all over my face, then remove with cotton pads. This saves time, product and reduces waste.
Price: 200ml for £22 or 400ml for £28
You can buy here Normal to Dry skin.
You can buy here Combination to Oily skin.
Moisturiser
I use Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream; it is perfect for prepping skin, pairing with Makeup, perfectly creating a completely clear canvas. This cult classic provides up to 24-hour hydration, for soft, smooth, healthy looking skin. The lightweight moisturiser is formulated for all skin types.
Apply day or night on clean face to combat moisture depletion.
Price: 28ml £16 or 50ml £26 or 125ml £47
You can buy here.
Now on to my Quick Makeup Steps to have you camera ready:
Step 1
For your base use Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturiser. Effortlessly, apply a pearl-size amount with fingertips, dot onto your cheeks, forehead, chin and nose, then blend outwards, or, I recommend, using a stippling brush. Then, completing the same motion, give a sheer coverage to the skin, or, for medium coverage, just continue to layer.
Step 2
Urban Decays Stay Naked Concealers, the wave tip applicator makes it easy to get the right level of coverage. Dot on any impurities that you feel need more coverage, and then gently dab with your fingertips, pressing the concealer into the skin until blended.
Step 3
Sleeks Face Form Contouring Palette, to achieve great cheek definition, using a small powder brush, apply the bronzer. Starting from the ear and gently blending towards the direction of your mouth, building definition as desired and blending to ensure all lines are soft, with the remains on the brush, sweep around the face in a figure of 3.
Step 4
Apply blush to apples of cheeks using brush, ensuring you blend upwards in lifting motions and erasing all hard lines.
Step 5
Apply the highlighter lightly to the top of the cheekbones, brow bone, bridge of nose and Cupid’s bow creating a soft, yet sculpted face.
Step 6
For eyeshadow use Sleeks Face Form Contouring Palette on the eyes, by placing your finger across the blush to pick up product and sweeping it across your upper eyelid, for fresh peachy shadow, and then creating definition in the crease with the bronzer, using a fluffy eyeshadow brush to make your eyes pop.
Step 7
For eyes, apply mascara using Benefits Bad Gal Bang!
Prepare for lash lift off, brush from base of lashes to tip. Apply one coat to both eyes, then you can repeat, as desired, to build bigger volume.
Step 8
For brows use Benefits Gimme Brow+ Eyebrow Gel, simply stroke brush tip along brow to define shape. Brush through to blend and build. Then clean any excess product, using cotton bud.
Step 9
For lips, apply with MCoBeauty Long Lasting Lipstick, in the shade Flawless. Glide the lipstick along the lips to shape, then pat together and re-apply as needed.
Lastly your makeup is complete and you’re ready to be centre cam. Adjust your camera for the best angle and find some soft or natural light for the Ultimate Online Appearance.
The Base – Tinted moisturiser
I love using Bare Minerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Moisturiser, it’s the ultimate 3-in-1, buildable coverage, 12 hour hydrating skincare and 30 SPF all in one step, giving you a totally effortless, dewy and healthy looking glow.
Tinted moisturiser doesn’t look like you’re wearing a full face of makeup, so it’s perfect for a natural finish. It is hydrating, quick to apply and filled with subtle pigments of makeup, to give the look of an even skin tone.
Available in 20 flexible shades for all skin tones. Oil-free and Vegan.
Price: 35ml £30
You can buy here .
Concealer
Urban Decay Stay Naked Concealer is fantastic for coverage, whilst still looking natural for any areas that need a little bit more.
Stay Naked Correcting Concealer is a real skin matte finish, with full coverage that lasts up to 24 hours. It’s great for on camera, as it gives the appearance of flawless skin, without looking like you’re even wearing makeup.
Stay Naked Vegan Concealer comes in a range of 25 shades, with spot on undertones making it easy for you to find your perfect match.
Price: £23
You can buy here.
Cheeks
Sleeks Face Form Contouring Palette is a three in one, bronze, blusher and highlighter, giving the face contours, dimension and colour.
The matte bronzer creates natural looking contours, whilst the pearlized blusher lifts the apple of the cheeks, giving colour to the face. Then finishing, with the gleaming highlighter, reflecting darkness from around the eyes, giving a natural facelift to your features.
Comes in 3 shades, light, medium and dark.
Price: £10
You can buy here.
Eyes
My mascara, go to, for this look, is Benefits Bad Gal Bang! volumizing mascara. It’s out of this world, gravity defying formula, gives massive volume, quickly lifting lashes, without having to spend time loading product up. The brush is designed to reach a full 360° angle, meaning you can get to every lash. With a 36 hour wear, this pitch black mascara is smudge proof, all whilst nourishing lashes with pro vitamin B5 to promote thickness and strength.
Price: £22.50
You can buy here.
Brows
Gimme Brow+ Eyebrow Gel, is the definition of quickness, when it comes to brows. This gel contains tiny microfibres that attach to skin and hairs, creating natural-looking fullness. Gimme brow volumizes, tames and tints, creating natural fluffy defined brows.
The custom, tiny, tapered brush provides easy, mess-proof application.
Comes in 8 shades.
Price: £22.50
You can buy here.
Lips
MCoBeauty Long Lasting Lipstick, in the shade Flawless, is a beautiful nude, its peachy in scent and colour, with an ultra-creamy matte finish. MCoBeauty’s lipstick is long wearing, feels weightless and hydrating due to its rich ingredients like coconut oil.
Price: £12.00
You can buy here.
Extra added tips to make you a WebCam Winner
Lighting
Lighting can make all the difference to how you appear on camera. Front-facing natural light is best, using natural light minimises imperfections and brightens your face clearly, flattering facial features. Make sure the light is hitting your face straight-on, as having light come from behind ends up drowning you out entirely, resulting in unflattering shadows on your face, making you look tired.
Angles
Getting the right angle is important, so avoid low angles. Keep the camera eye level or higher. The best angle is from above, a little bit elevated over the face; this will avoid any double chin effects and appear the most flattering.
Zoom Filter
It’s worth noting, that Zoom has a filter option that retouches your video display, with a soft focus. This can help smooth out skin tone, to present a more polished looking appearance, when on video to others. Click on to your video settings and click “Touch up my appearance” to apply filter.
Article by Sophie Gell