There are a few things I always throw into my handbag, whether it’s daytime or evening.
First, a touch-up concealer. Nothing peps me up more than making the under-eyes a little brighter and if I’m heading out in the evening without time to do a new face of makeup, I reach for a creamy, lightweight formula that can layer over my current makeup. It needs to reduce the darkness peeking through and cover any mascara dew that’s melted its way downwards. Lately I’m loving Chantecaille’s Le Camouflage Stylo. It’s streamline pen packaging will fit in a clutch and the texture is nice and dewy.
A lip balm and colour are my next essentials, and I have a few faves. Whether it be Nipple Balm, Lanolips, or this Bobbi Brown Extra Lip Tint, they have to be hydrating and portable. This Bobbi formula is in handy lipstick-style packaging so there’s no finger-dipping required. It also gives lips a lovely natural pink tint. I’m onto my third tube, and that’s saying something. Mecca Cosmetica’s newly repackaged Lip De Luscious is a good alternative.
Lip colour options are endless, Hourglass Confession lipsticks are possibly the most sexy looking things around, and their skinny shape is perfect for small evening bags. They’re super highly pigmented and the small bullet is great for precise application. A good colour product can double nicely as a blush touch-up and I’ll either sweep my lipstick on the cheeks for a perky flush or throw in a lip-to-cheek product like Bobbi Brown’s Pot Rouge. The shade Pale Pink is universally flattering despite looking insanely bright in the pot. RMS also have a lip-to-cheek pot and the shade Paradise is a gorgeous coral.
Last on the list is a little extra that some would swap out for a bronzer or mattifying powder. A little balmy highlighter pressed on the cheekbones, nose and 3pm-dry-forehead can freshen your face up like nothing else – other than 20minutes under a facialist’s steam. I rely on either Ciate’s Dewy Stix or RMS Living Luminizer for that natural dewiness rather than shimmery highlight.