How To Get That Classic “Girl Next Door” Makeup With Only 11 Products
Aka glowy, bright eyed, bushy tailed, fresh faced, and above all, NOT makeupy.
by The Candidly Team
First, let’s gaze upon some classic girl next door types:
Girl next door means, above all else, fresh. Freshly scrubbed skin, not bogged down with makeup, bright eyes. It’s sort of like 2-3 ticks past how we look in the morning after a gorgeous night of sleep on a vacation in Fiji. Slightly rosy, a new smattering of freckles, hydrated beyond belief, and impossibly fresh.
Here’s how to cheat that look if a full night of sleep/fiji is not on your 2025 agenda. Yet.
1. Moisture Surge™ 100H Auto-Replenishing Hydrator
We know this moisturizer is old school, but so is the phrase “girl next door” so let’s call a spade a spade. Fun fact: our editor Audie used to be a makeup artist for All My Children and Susan Lucci used this moisturizer exclusively. And we all know how her skin looks. This product is sort of unlike anything else—it’s oil-free, and yet it feels like the richest, softest drink of water for your skin. And the hydration lasts forever. So if you often notice tightness or dryness in the winter, use this. It’s remarkable.
Price: $30
2. SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic
Fresh faced makeup begins, and ends, with skin. This look is 98% skin. And that means you must must must do a couple skincare steps for hydration and glow—otherwise we promise you, nothing you use afterwards will look good. A vitamin c serum is a MUST for radiant skin, and after trying, oh, probably 40ish different vitamin C serums, we always return to this one. It softens lines, brightens complexion, boosts radiance, and creates blinding glow. It’s very expensive and it’s very worth it.
Use the code CANDIDLY to get 15% off.
Price: $182
3. Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint
A wild card! You thought Glossier was for perfect-skinned 26- year-olds, yes? Well it is. But their skin tint is also the most undetectable, glowy, lovely base for aging, textured skin. It doesn’t sink into fine lines, and it just gives you that “your skin but (a lot) better” look. Order a couple shades online that feel like a match. If one is slightly darker keep it for the warmer months and use 2 colors for when your skin is in between tanner and paler. You won’t believe the difference this makes. We just blend it in with our fingers. Easy.
Price: $28
4. Tower 28 Swipe Serum Concealer And Clé de Peau Concealer SPF 27
This is the make or break product. Right here. This can either make us all look like tired witch-hags or dewy, glimmering angels. So first, do not make the mistake of using a thick concealer under your eyes. Anything thick should be used solely to cover blemishes, dark spots, veins. We dieeeeee for Clé de Peau for this because even though it’s shockingly thick and opaque, it’s totally undetectable on the skin. We know the price is staggering, but one stick will last you at least a year. As for under-eye darkness or purpley tones, the serum concealer from Tower 28 has tremendous brightening power, while never, ever, ever sinking into fine lines. It has that light, gorgeous serum texture that’s made for eyes over 40. And the price!
Price: $22 for Tower28, $75 for Clé de Peau
5. Tarte go with the faux freckle stamp
Yes. We’re doing it. It’s youthy, cute, easy to apply, and lasts all day. This one is GENIUSLY designed so that you can deposit 4 freckles at once and then you tap tap tap them all around so they look diffused and natural. It’s the best product we’ve tried. (And we’ve tried an embarrassing number of them.)
Price: $26
6. Merit Flush Balm
Fine, we love this blush. We didn’t want to because it’s so insanely popular and we fancy ourselves misanthropic, independent thinkers. But sorry. It’s great. So easy to use, so glowy, lasts all day, and has a gorgeous (but very easy to understand) array of colors. Our current obsession is ROUGE which is actually a red tone, and tends to mimic a more natural, aprés ski tone of flush. It’s also the color the Victoria’s Secret makeup artist uses on all the models. So.
Price: $30
7. Ilia Limitless Lash Mascara
This mascara is very, very good. It doesn’t smudge or flake and gives you feathery, fluttery lashes. No clumps. (But use a curler because a big, open eye is keeeeey to a fresh faced look.)
Price: $28
8. Soshe Ceramide Refillable Lip Silk And Soft Glide Lip Liner in Speakeasy
We recently discovered this brand and we are hoooooooked. Look at this lip color:
Yep. That’s it. That’s the color. Sort of nude, sort of berry, sort of mauve, but really, it just looks like your lips. The formula is nourishing and comfortable but isn’t too shiny, and it’s definitely not matte (NOT girl next door). And we use the matching lip liner which is also perfection.
Price: $30 for the lip silk, $25 for the liner, 54 for the set
9. Valentino Brow Trio Eyebrow Liner
There is life before this brow contraption, and life after. It has a spoolie, a pencil, and a brushstroke pen all in one, and it’s a dream. We finish with THIS cheap brow gel that works better than anything we’ve ever tried. Bold, feathery brows are K E Y to fresh faced looks. Even if yours are sparse and overplucked from our high-school brow-comma days (same) you can cheat some fluff with this product.
Price: $40
10. Soshe Waterproof Precision Eyeliner
A thick, heavy liner is so very not girl next door. Which is why this verrrrry fine-point eyeliner is the dream. Use it on the ROOT of your lash (not on your eyelid) and watch how your eyes become instantly more defined and doe-eyed. It’s totally waterproof, and if you have oily or heavy lids that seem to always crease with your liners, you have found your new holy grail. Go for brown or burgundy—not black.
Price: $24
11. Rosie By By Rosie Jane
Rosie Eau de Parfum
Fine, a perfume isn’t necessary for a specific makeup look. Except, sorry, this one is. This scent is our newest obsession—it’s clean, white musky, perfectly rose, and it lasts for hourrrrrrrs. There’s a lot of “clean” scents out there, but if that’s the word you gravitate towards with perfumes, you simply must try this one. The science behind scent and memory is wild. Think of how that certain hairspray or flower or laundry detergent can take you back to a precise moment in your life. Our olfactory processes are close to magic, and in fact, as we age, beautiful scents can aid in depression, and exposure to more scents can actually prevent memory loss. Even though we are all, of course, forever the girl next door.
Price: $80
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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