Back to School / Work Makeup

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had lots of fun throughout the festive period :) Getting back to school and work after having so much fun these past couple of weeks is super hard. Oh well! We all have to do it, right? So here’s my Back to School / Work makeup look along with a few tips to help you recreate this look with the products you already have at home; I’m sure you can’t spare another penny on buying new makeup after Christmas – I know I can’t!

School and work makeup looks are supposed to look as natural and as fresh as possible; it’s that whole concept of ‘this is how I look when I wake up’ kind of makeup. For this look I exchanged foundation for a heavy skincare routine (post HERE), which will make me look healthy and will naturally improve the look of my skin. But that’s entirely up to you, if you need a little bit of foundation that’s fine, just stay away from full coverage foundations as they look the least natural, especially in the daytime.

So after my skincare I applied my Carmex Moisturising Lip Balm (HERE) to keep my lips moisturised whilst I’m doing my makeup, but any lip balm will do. Makeup-wise, I applied the Soap & Glory Kick Ass Concealer (HERE) under my eyes, around my nose and on any blemishes or redness around my face. This is a creamy concealer that comes with two shades and a powder for setting everything after you’ve finished. The lighter shade is great for under eye circles and brightening the eye-area because it has apricot undertones, which counteracts the purple under the eyes; the darker shade is perfect for blemishes because it has yellow undertones, which counteracts redness on the skin. I have this in the shade Medium, in case you’re wondering. This is a really great product to have in your handbag and retouch throughout the day. If you don’t have this concealer, I recommend MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer (HERE – I’m NC30) or Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer (HERE – I’m shade 3) for under eye circles and Garnier Roll-On Anti Dark Circles Concealer (HERE – I’m shade Medium) for blemishes.

Next, I gave myself a bit of colour on the cheeks with the Benefit Bella Bamba Blush (HERE). This blush is a bit shimmery, but if you use it really sparingly you will get a lovely healthy glow without needing to add a highlighter afterwards. If you’re fair-skinned, this blush may be too dark for you, so something like Benefit Hervana (HERE) will suit you more. The key with blushes for a school or work makeup look is not to go overboard; you just want a hint of colour, nothing more!

Moving on to the eyes, I simply brushed a golden shade all over my lids with my finger to brighten up my eyes. I don’t know the name of the shade I used because it’s from a limited edition palette from MAC, but you can get the same result with MAC Ricepaper (HERE), if you have yellow undertones, or MAC Naked Lunch (HERE), if you have pink undertones. I then lined my lower waterline very lightly with the Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil in black (HERE), but any black eyeliner will do. To finish off the eyes, I curled my lashes and I applied one coat of my favourite waterproof mascara, the Maybelline The Falsies Mascara (HERE); this mascara does a great job at separating the lashes and adding a decent (but natural-looking) amount of volume.

Last but not least you can add a bit of shimmer to your lips with a lipgloss; the one I used is the No.7 Liplicious Lipgloss, but any corally-pink shade with a bit of shimmer will do the job. I finished the whole look with a few sprays of Ghost (HERE), which is one of my favourite fragrances for both the daytime and evening.

So this is my Back to School / Work makeup look; sorry it was such a long post, but I wanted to be as helpful as possible and give you guys the reasons why I chose each product along with some alternative products in case you don’t have the ones I mentioned.  Even though this is such a simple look and I don’t think there’s room to get it wrong, let me know if you’d like to see a ‘Get Ready With Me – School / Work Edition’ tutorial and I’ll do a start to finish skincare, makeup and hair video for you guys :)

What are your best tips for school or work makeup? I’d love to know :)