Makeup - Face

Nars Orgasm Blush

A flush, a rush, a crush… we love this shimmery peach pink blush from Nars in a shade that takes your cheeks from pale to glowing as fast as you can grab your…brush.

Benefit Dandelion Highlighter Powder

Like the first flush of romance or an unexpectedly sweet gesture, this pink powder brightens the cheeks with the same rush of shy excitement. We love this color for day, but have also been known to work it at night to balance a deep smoky eye. We recommend ditching the boxy applicator brush in favor of a 1.5″ synthetic round powder brush (from any art supply store), and applying a generous sweep on the cheekbones from apples to hairline.

BareEscentuals Mineral Veil SPF 25

Few beauty breakthroughs were as welcomed as this translucent setting powder from BareEscentuals. A true multi-tasker, this mineral-based compound minimizes fine lines and minor blemishes, keeps oil at bay, and provides an additional layer of SPF protection. We consider it so essential that we keep a mini vial and trial size brush in our purse for those moments in the late evening when our feet want to keep going but our face is about ready to start over.

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer

We are all too familiar with the typical lifespan of a foundation application. The first 1-2 hours are solid. But nature’s irrepressible functions kick in and, like slow moving lava, oily pores erupt and the very ground begins to migrate.

Rare is the primer that allows skin to breathe while providing a transfer proof base. Makeup setting sprays from Urban Decay made our face itch, while primers from Smashbox and Makeup For Ever left our skin as oxygen deprived as a climber atop Everest. It was a chance sample from Hourglass that changed our mind about what a good primer can do. The Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer extends the life of your foundation so that the first solid hour become 3 to 4, and the back 10 can be handled with blotting film. Oh, and we should mention it has SPF 15. Buy this one immediately and you’ll forget you ever lived without it.

Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer

Even with the most attentive routine, every beauty addict faces a periodic blemish outbreak requiring something close to a miracle. That miracle, which debuted in 2017, is the Nars Soft Matte Concealer. It works like the Photoshop clone tool to hide your problem spot under a blanket of seamless pigment. We recommend applying the product to the center of the blemish using the moistened tip of a beautyblender and then lightly blending the outer edges until even you are swindled by its flawlessness.