The 7 Must-Know Makeup Hacks If You’re Not 25, According To The Beauty Nurse
by The Candidly Team
We’ve written a LOT of articles about how makeup’s only job is to make us look fresher, NOT makeupier, as we all start to use the adjective “mature” to describe our skin.
And according to Melissa Berg, aka The Beauty Nurse and founder of @craftedbeauty, the greatest foundation (ahem) for good makeup is…our skin.
So naturally we asked about any must-try makeup hacks she swears by, as well as her exact makeup routine. Because there’s not a day that goes by on her Insta stories (where we lightly stalk her product recommendations) where she doesn’t look completely gorgeous and put together.
Oh, and feel free to scroll to the end for her single favorite products— they. are. good.
1. What’s your single favorite hack for prepping skin for makeup?
Hands down, it’s exfoliating your skin! If you use a gentle exfoliator, you can do this daily.
The ZO Skin Health’s Exfoliating Polish is gentle enough for daily use. It will help exfoliate all your dead skin cells off and create a beautiful, smooth canvas for your makeup.
2. What are some amazing at-home skincare tools make skin look infinitely better under makeup?
Cold Roller: Cold rolling de-puffs your face. Who doesn’t want a contoured face every morning? You can find great ones on Amazon, and Lauryn Bosstick from The Skinny Confidential just launched a cold roller that’s on my list to purchase.
Gua Sha and rose quartz or jade rollers: These also help de-puff your face, contour, and bring blood flow to the surface of your skin, which will give you an instant glow.
3. An aesthetic procedure that allows us to go makeup free forever?
IPL (Intense Pulse Light) treatments will get rid of any sun damage and redness in the skin. It also stimulates new collagen.
4. How do we do our makeup if we’ve have botox, filler, or other cosmetic procedures?
Less makeup is more. I always encourage my patients to do less makeup when they’re spending money on botox, fillers and other procedures.
You simply just don’t need to wear as much anymore. Often times, too much makeup will age you.
5. What’s a low-maintenance, affordable brow treatment lets us wake up everyday with flawless brows?
I love getting my brows laminated. It makes my brows feel groomed for an entire month, so I highly recommend it.
Just be sure to take care of your brows between treatments. I recommend brushing castor oil in the brows nightly to keep them healthy.
6. What’s one easy step to achieve a glowing, no-makeup makeup look?
Since I don’t wear a ton of makeup or foundation, I have found a few tricks for achieving a glowy, no-makeup look.
The Colorescience Sunforgettable Total Protection Face Shield GLOW SPF gives you the best glow. For the summer months, they have the Bronze SPF, which gives a bronzed, sun-kissed glow to your skin.
7. What’s your exact 5-minute makeup routine?
First, I never neglect my skincare, so I will always do that first.
I don’t wear foundation anymore, so I will just use my tinted SPF to blur any imperfections. My favorites are: SkinBetter Science Smart Tone, and EltaMD Elements, and Colorescience Even UP.
I love using bronzer to contour my face, and it can double as eyeshadow. I use the Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder. Looks beautiful in the crease.
I add a bit of blush to warm up my face a bit. My current favorite is Tom Ford.
I never leave home without mascara. So I give my lashes a quick curl, and then apply a bit of mascara. My favorite is Thrive Causemetics.
Luckily my brows are quite full, but I will brush them with Kelley Baker Tinted Brow Gel.
Lastly, lips. I usually don’t wear lipstick and will just put on a hydrating lip tint. I am loving the Tower28 Beauty lip glosses.
Bonus! Melissa’s single favorite:
1. SPF that doesn’t leave a white cast
None of the EltaMD sunscreens leave a whitecast, or pill under makeup.
2. Skin-Enhancing Primer
My all time favorite is the ZO Skin Health SPF + Prime. It blurs imperfections and gives you an amazing canvas for makeup.
3. Foundation for women 40+
I recommend the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk foundation. My mom is 60 years old, and she uses it.
4. Plumping Lip balm/gloss
My favorite is Buxom Full-On Plumping Lip Cream Gloss.
5. Daily supplement for glowing skin
The Nue Co Skin Filter (and their Skin Hydrator) will be taken by me forever. They actually work!
6. Tanning product that doesn't wreck our face
Luna Bronze Illume Spray. Spray it on your face at night after you do your skincare and you’ll wake up with a bronze glow.
7. Favorite exfoliator
Gentle enough for daily use, and creates a beautiful, smooth canvas for your makeup.
8. Multi-Use Bronzer
I use this to contour my face, and as eyeshadow.
9. Powder Blush
I use a little bit of this to warm up my face.
10. Over-Makeup SPF
It’s important to apply SPF every few hours during the day.
And Colorescience has these great brush-on SPFs, which I find do not make your makeup look worse.
11. Bushy Brow Product
Even though my brows are full, I will brush them with this for a subtle tint.
12. Hydrating Lip Color
Since I don’t wear a lot of lipstick, I’ll instead apply a hydrating lip tint like this.
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