By Sophia Panych, Allure
One of the most important beauty lessons I've learned from my years covering the backstage action during fashion month is that it doesn't matter how expensive your makeup is or how perfectly you apply it, if your skin isn't prepped properly, your makeup is never going to look as good as you want it to.
[post_ads]Smooth, well-hydrated skin is the secret to your foundation looking flawless (or the secret to using less foundation and concealer in general.) Backstage at fashion week, especially here in Paris after nearly a month of back-to-back shows, makeup artists are spending as much time—if not more—cleansing, toning, and moisturizing the models' skin as they are applying actual makeup. And a good moisturizer under your makeup is key. The best ones hydrate, smooth, mattify, or add a glow depending on the look you're going for, and most importantly, play well with makeup. These are some of the moisturizers getting the most use backstage this season.
Sunday Riley Martian Mattifying Melting Water-Gel Toner: Stella McCartney's show starts bright and early at 10 a.m. every season, which means the models need to arrive at 6 a.m. after a late night of fittings and almost a month of living out of a suitcase. It's why McCartney enlists the help of skin-care brand Sunday Riley, who come backstage and offered free mini facials to all the girls who walk the show. Not only is it a nice treat so early in the morning, but it gets the skin in perfect shape for makeup artist Pat McGrath and her team, who kept the models' faces as pure and naked as possible.
This season, Sunday Riley incorporated a new product into their quickie facial routine. After massaging the skin with a blend of the brand's Ceramic Slip Cleanser and UFO Ultra-Clarifying Face Oil and wiping it off with a warm washcloth, the aestheticians backstage then smoothed the Martian Mattifying Toner all over the face. The gel formula, which breaks down into a more watery consistency as it's rubbed in, left the models' skin with the perfect velvety-matte finish—eliminating shiny spots, softening dry areas, and making pores at least appear a bit smaller.
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Sanctuary Instant Illuminating Beauty Balm: A favorite of makeup artist Lisa Butler, this beauty balm promises to hydrate (thanks to vitamin E and glycerin), brighten (with vitamin-C-rich kakadu plum), and give skin a soft-focus finish as a result of the blurring powders in the thick formula. "You squeeze it out and it’s a bit opaque, but as you rub, it goes clear," said Butler backstage at Isabel Marant, where she incorporated the balm into her prep routine.
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Sanctuary Instant Illuminating Beauty Balm: A favorite of makeup artist Lisa Butler, this beauty balm promises to hydrate (thanks to vitamin E and glycerin), brighten (with vitamin-C-rich kakadu plum), and give skin a soft-focus finish as a result of the blurring powders in the thick formula. "You squeeze it out and it’s a bit opaque, but as you rub, it goes clear," said Butler backstage at Isabel Marant, where she incorporated the balm into her prep routine.
"It's really oily but it does soak in a bit, so we apply it and then let it absorb for a minute. It's not as thick as Arden Eight Hour Cream but it’s much oilier than a moisturizer. Because we really want that shine [for the show], I'd rather get a shine from skin care than from a shimmery highlighter, which won't look as natural and effortless." Based in Great Britain, the brand unfortunately doesn't ship outside of the U.K., but I did track the product down on Amazon if you're interested in giving it a try.
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Butter Elixir Face Oil: This all-natural face oil started showing up in makeup artist Tom Pecheux's kit about a year ago after one of his assistants found it at a store in Brooklyn, and he's never stopped using it since. "I love the smell, I love the fact it's oily but it doesn't feel greasy, and that it doesn't feel like there's much left over on the skin after application," he explained. "You know how sometimes when you put on oil it's hard for the skin to absorb it and it's hard for the makeup to stick to the skin and not slide around? Well, this obviously doesn't do that, otherwise I wouldn't use it." And because it features an all-star list of oils—apricot, rosehip, and argan—it's not only intensely nourishing, but it's also good at soothing raw, dry, or flaky skin, even around the gentle eye area.
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Butter Elixir Face Oil: This all-natural face oil started showing up in makeup artist Tom Pecheux's kit about a year ago after one of his assistants found it at a store in Brooklyn, and he's never stopped using it since. "I love the smell, I love the fact it's oily but it doesn't feel greasy, and that it doesn't feel like there's much left over on the skin after application," he explained. "You know how sometimes when you put on oil it's hard for the skin to absorb it and it's hard for the makeup to stick to the skin and not slide around? Well, this obviously doesn't do that, otherwise I wouldn't use it." And because it features an all-star list of oils—apricot, rosehip, and argan—it's not only intensely nourishing, but it's also good at soothing raw, dry, or flaky skin, even around the gentle eye area.
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