Category Archives: Beauty

The Best Makeup Products To Look Awake, Even When You’re Dead Tired

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You’re reading First Thing, the HuffPost UK series helping to make your mornings happier and healthier.

If only there existed a wayback machine that could put you in bed at 10 pm last night, getting all the beauty rest you need. Instead, here you are the next morning, checking out a mirror that might as well be lit with a neon sign reading, “Look who’s tired.”

But all hope isn’t lost, especially if you follow these “fake it til you make it” tips from makeup experts who have been there, done that and still managed to look their best.

If you think your face can’t be fixed with mere cosmetics, experts say there’s hope for even the most tired face.

“Looking dull is a result of lack of sleep, lack of hydration or just life in general,” says Jamie Greenberg, makeup artist and founder of Jamie Makeup. “The right makeup, applied correctly, can help push your face toward what it looks like at its healthiest.”

Makeup artist Marco Campos agrees. “If used properly, makeup can really make you look like you’ve had a full week of the best sleep. With the right concealer, you basically can erase the tiredness around the eyes. A little brush up of the brows, a curl on the lash, and a hint of mascara will open and lift your eye right up.”

A full-face plan for looking well-rested

Remember that even though all you want to do is go lie down in the dark, brightness is your mantra for the day.

“The key is to accentuate features without looking heavy, keeping a fresh feeling to the skin and makeup,” says makeup artist Fiona Stiles. “Products with a soft sheen impart light to the face without it looking sparkly and too highlight-y, so the glow feels as though it’s emanating from you.”

Take a look at your palette and act accordingly.

“I stay away from using dark eyeliners and shadows on my eyes, and I lean into fresh colours and extra radiance to compensate for dull skin and puffy eyes,” Stiles says.

“Warmer colours like peaches and golds give the illusion of health,” says makeup artist Gregory Arlt. He also suggested thinking “upwards” with everything you do: “Applying mascara to just the upper lashes will bring a lift to the eyes, making them look more perky. Next, apply blush to the apples of the cheeks or just above. Adding it lower can drag down the face.”

If you’re running short on time, here’s a quick rundown of the most important areas:

Undereye: Makeup artist Jaleesa Jaikaran suggests starting with a peach-to-orange colour corrector to neutralise darkness.

“A little goes a long way, so use a little at a time, gently tapping the skin with a fluffy brush or fingertips,” Jaikaran says. “Let the colour corrector sit for a second and then go in with a full-coverage concealer to lift and brighten.”

“Don’t over-apply concealer,” says makeup artist Marco Campos. “Apply a small amount on the inner and outer corner of the eye and blend. Add a little more if needed, then gently set with a fine setting powder.”

Makeup artist Jamie Dorman remembered using eye makeup to look more awake in school.

“I used white liner on the inner rim of my eye and concealer that was lighter than my skin all around my eye, so I’d look more attentive,” Dorman says.

Lashes: “I always curl my lashes, because it’s the number one way to make you look more alert and peppy,” says makeup artist Sandy Ganzer. “It opens the eye, giving an instant refresh to your face.”

Colour matters here, too. “A dark mascara like Diorshow Black Out immediately makes dark circles less apparent and helps you look refreshed,” says makeup artist Melissa Murdick.

Cheeks: “Never underestimate the power of blush in the right colour,” Dorman saus. “It can seriously brighten a face and bring out your eyes.”

Lipstick: “Put a drop of bright lipstick on the bridge of the nose to give the face a brighter, more healthy look,” Arlt suggests.

DIY hacks

Even if you don’t have tons of fancy cosmetics, there are ways to energise your look on the cheap.

Ice, baby: “If you don’t have a cool jade roller or face mask to take down puffiness, just rub an ice cube under your eyes with clean hands,” Greenburg says.

Curl with cutlery: “In a pinch, you can heat the curve of a spoon with a blow dryer and very carefully press it gently to your lashes to get a curl,” Ganzer says.

Spoon me: “If you don’t have access to your favourite products, put metal spoons in the freezer for five to 10 minutes, then use them under your eyes to smooth out puffiness,” Jaikaran says.

Coffee (inside and out): “A DIY help for dark circles is to add a touch of water to crushed coffee beans, apply it as a paste, let it sit for seven minutes and then wash it off with cold water,” Jaikaran says.

Take it easy

Finally, remember that as tired as you are, less might be more when it comes to camouflaging fatigue. “The techniques don’t have to be drastic,” Campos says. “Small tweaks can really make you look more alert and ready to take on the day.”

And keep these words from Murdick in mind: “If you look tired, it’s OK. Don’t pick yourself apart or give it too much of your focus. We all have good days and off days, but you’re still beautiful, I promise.”

Below are some of the experts’ favourite makeup picks for your most tired days.

First Thing is a HuffPost UK Life series giving you tips and advice on how to enjoy your mornings. Whether you’re an early bird or night owl, starting your day off right will make for a happier and healthier day. We’ll be sharing exercise advice, nutrition guidance, as well as ideas on forming new habits. (And no, the answer to a productive morning isn’t just setting an alarm for 5am!)

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Black Women Are Getting Tired Of Wearing Wigs. Here’s Why

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“Taking pictures, make sure you can’t see no lace, that wig secure like the money in a safe.” So goes the Chloe x Halle song, Do It. And those lyrics signify just how normalised wig-wearing is for Black women. Growing up it was normal to see your mum, aunts and even grandmas wearing one.

But the state of wigs have evolved a lot since they started wearing them.

I was 17 when I first ventured into the world of wigs and these were the days of closures. A closure is your bog-standard wig that usually features clips or an elastic band to ensure it stays in place all day. In fact, they’re perfect for everyday use, because they’re so easy to put on and take off.

Now we also have the frontal wig, which has really taken off in the past couple of years. When Chloe and Halle sing, “Make sure you can’t see no lace”, they are referring to the lace on a frontal wig. A frontal differs from a closure wig as it’s typically glued down to your hairline so it looks more like your own hair.

As Martha O explains on the Natural Girl Wigs blog: “One way to identify frontals is that they are used to recreate the hairline from ear to ear, while closures are used to recreate the natural parting of the hairline.”

Frontal wigs have grown in popularity, especially online. But head to TikTok and you’ll see more and more Black women who are tiring of their wigs, too.

This sentiment isn’t part of the natural hair movement per se – many Black women still enjoy wearing fake hair – but we want to explore different options. Options such as tape-ins, pony-tails and natural hair extensions. The kind of options that have been available to white women for much longer.

This is something that Tendai Moyo and Ugo Agbai, co-founders of Ruka Hair, have also observed. Ruka is a Black-owned hair business that aims to provide Black women with hair extensions in different textures and formats. As well as selling online, it now has a physical shop in Westfield Stratford City and also works with a network of “co-creators” (in its lingo) who test out products.

“What we’ve noticed is Black women having less attachment to a particular style. We’ve seen more people experimenting with their own hair in various formats like ponytails and clip-ins,” Moyo tells HuffPost UK.

She continues: “One of the things a co-creator said in our community interview last year is that, historically, white women can go to a salon and say, ‘I want longer hair that looks exactly like mine.’ But, historically speaking, Black women haven’t been able to do that.”

That more Black women are downing their wigs is due to two Cs, she says: compromise (or not wanting to) and choice (the availability of alternatives). “Three years ago, white women were using things like micro-links. This option wasn’t a thought for Black women then, because it didn’t exist in our texture.”

Agbai also sees the trend for wig-wearing waning. “I think with wigs, especially with frontals, it was something that you only saw in the theatre, or only saw celebrity stylists doing. Then it became extremely accessible and prominent. Now I feel like people are experimenting with other styles,” she tells me.

Wider choice is certainly a factor, but let’s not understate that the maintenance of frontals can be tedious. Wearing a frontal regularly requires a lot of time and effort. You have to glue the wig (which can take ages), then straighten it, apply a lace tint to make the wig look natural. Sure, you get used to it, but it’s not fun.

As the Ruka website highlights, Black women spend six times as much as their white counterparts on haircare products and service. But this could be beginning to change.

“I’ve seen Black women accept the fact that their hair doesn’t have to take a ridiculously long time,” Moyo says. “Especially since frontals are usually done by professionals, if you do it by yourself you’re not always doing it correctly, which causes more damage and time needed. I’ve seen more Black women finding styles that are less time consuming.”

Agbai agrees and suggests that it’s liberating many of us from some long-held habits, in some cases inherited. “All of the language we’ve been socialised to use around our hair has influenced this,” she says. “We think our hair should take a long time, that it can laborious to do our hair. I’m excited to see that shift and see Black women really look for quicker solutions.”

“I felt like I was forcing it… when I put a frontal on myself, I didn’t look like those other girls.”

– Akua Ntiamoah, 26, Essex

The phrase “where’s the lace?” is used all too often in reference to frontal wigs. There’s an obsession with making frontals look exactly like the hair on your head when a lot of the time, they just don’t. This pressure for wig perfection has made some Black women consider other options.

This is the case for Akua Ntiamoah, 26, a civil servant from Essex, who says she didn’t enjoy wearing wigs as her hair never looked like what she saw online.

“I felt like i was forcing it. Maybe it’s because I saw girls on Instagram wearing them, but when I put a frontal on myself I didn’t look like those other girls,” she says. “Black girls always say, ‘the lace is invisible’, but I can see it in real life.”

She stopped wearings wigs two years ago. “I was tired of my wigs not looking natural, so I cut my hair. I wore wigs from time to time, but I still didn’t look right so now I just wear my hair out in a pony.” She says she also enjoys braids.

Moyo and Agbai have received positive feedback about Roka’s ponytails that putting them on doesn’t require much work for the wearer. As they tell me: “We’d get women saying: ‘We don’t have to put much gel in our, we can just attach the ponytail and go.’ That is the best thing!”

While wigs are often seen as a great protective style, wearing them too often can also damage your hair. For Joy Olugboyega, 25, a photographer and director from London, wearing wigs ruined her hairline – so she doesn’t.

“I stopped wearing wigs in 2019. Haven’t worn a wig since,” she says. “My relationship with wigs was pretty much on and off. I hated what it was doing to my hairline but at the same time appreciated the convenience.”

And now she’s made the break, Olugboyega is reclaiming more than her hair. “I realised I looked way better with my natural hair and Afrocentric hairstyles like fulani braids, faux locs, feed-ins. Not only do I look better, but I feel better too, like a queen,” she says.

“I just feel more like I’m more myself when it comes to how I present. It’s the truest representation of me and where I come from.

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We Tried 8 TikTok Beauty Trends To See If They Really Work

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TikTok is littered with hair and makeup tutorials, ranging from the wacky to the “oh, this might actually be doable.” While some of them aim to solve common everyday problems (like a flat ponytail, for example), others are a little more out there (for instance, it’s a mystery why anyone would feel the need to draw fake freckles on their face, but that’s a viral tutorial nonetheless).

While no one should feel pressured to sport faux freckles or contour their face to look like a Kardashian, I wanted to see if these TikTok beauty hacks at least deliver on their claims. In that spirit, I tried eight viral TokTok beauty trends to see how they actually work.

1. DIY skin tint (or BB cream)

The concept behind this trend is mixing creams you already own to create a custom shade of skin tint. See an original TikTok video highlighting the trend here:

BB, which stands for “beauty balm,” is meant to be a lightweight base, so mixing your foundation with other products (primers, SPF and more) makes sense. You’ll note that in the original video above, the creator added sunscreen – but be warned that mixing sunscreen with other products diminishes the SPF factor and offers less protection. For this DIY product to work, you have to ensure your foundation and primer have the same base ingredients – for example, if one has a silicone base, the other should too; otherwise the product will roll right off your face.

Did it work?

It did! It feels like the perfect base for summer. I found it was a little tricky applying with a brush, but it was smooth and easy when using fingers. It’s like “your skin but better.” Plus, it’s great that you can customise how much glow or moisturizer you want to add.

Here’s a video of my experiment:

2. High ponytail for long hair

This popular tutorial creates a ponytail that sits up super high and is extra voluminous. It’s done by twisting the hair tie around the bottom part of the ponytail twice. It sounds like it won’t make much difference to the height of a ponytail, but as someone with long and heavy hair, I’m willing to try anything. See an original TikTok tutorial here:

Did it work?

Not only did it work, but it was also extremely easy! And it doesn’t feel like a ponytail that’ll give you a headache. Here’s a video of my experience:

3. A makeup routine that claims to be sweat-proof

If you prep your skin and apply your base makeup products the way this tutorial suggests, it claims to be absolutely sweat-proof. This was inspired by the way drag queens do their makeup, as are many great discoveries in the beauty world. It goes like this: moisturiser, translucent powder, setting spray, makeup primer and foundation. Here’s an original TikTok tutorial:

I originally tried this trick in March 2020 and found it to be a little cake-y for my dry skin, but I was willing to give it another go.

Did it work?

Initially, yes. The base looked very good upon application. But after a while it started pilling (balling up) around my neck. I think it’s one too many layers for me, but I’d still try it again being more careful around my neck area.

Here’s a video of my experiment:

4. The scrunched-up tissue eye look

When I first saw this look, I thought there’d be no way it could actually look good. You take a tissue, wad it up, dip it in random colours of eyeshadow, and dab it on your eyelids to create an artistic, almost tie-dyed look. Here’s an original tutorial from TikTok:

Did it work?

I loved this! Who says you need expensive brushes to create something fun? All you need is a colourful makeup palette and some tissue. Sure, it looks a little messy, but it’s a fun and colourful look I’d gladly wear again. I think brighter colours work best for this beauty trend.

What I used: The NikkieTutorials x Beauty Bay palette. Here’s my take:

5. A quick way to fuller lips

Overlining lips isn’t new, though it grew in popularity thanks to Kylie Jenner. Not everyone loves the overlined look – it can look like too much (it can also look like you have a thin moustache), but this tutorial promises it’s not only easy but very quick, too. Huda Kattan of Huda Beauty recreated it, and she’s also a fan.

Essentially, you purse your lips together very tightly and apply the lipliner around and inside the lips. In essence, because the lips are stretched out, you get a more even overline more quickly. Check it out:

All you need is your lip pencil and a liquid lipstick or lipstick of choice. I tried it with red, as I was feeling adventurous.

Did it work?

I suppose so, but it’s a lot more overlined than I’m used to so it looked weird at first! It was quick and easy, though. I prefer not drawing over my cupid’s bow, and once I cleaned up that part, I liked it a lot more. I used the MAC lip pencil in Cherry and Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip in Creeper. Here’s my video:

6. 10-second contour

All you need is a stick bronzer, your foundation and 10 seconds to the perfect contour. Sound too easy? That’s what I thought, too. You simply contour over the lips, under the cheekbones and chin, and on the forehead, add your foundation on the rest of the face and blend in, like this:

Did it work?

Surprisingly, yes. It was easy and quick and blended in really nicely ― I will certainly use that hack again.

Here’s my take:

7. Using a burnt almond as eyeliner

I couldn’t believe that burning an almond could actually be used as a smoky eye liner/shadow, but apparently it works. I obviously had to try it out, as it seems like an easy and affordable way to do your eye makeup. You just take an almond, burn the tip a little bit, wait for it to cool down (this step is important!) and apply it like you would your shadow when doing a cat-eye. Watch this:

Did it work?

Somewhat so! It was a lot harder to get color out of the almond. Also, let me advise you again to wait until the almond isn’t burning hot! It’s more of a soft smoked outline and though it was a fun challenge, I think I’ll stick to my black eyeshadow and liner for future looks. Here’s my take:

8. Easy and natural-looking freckles

TikTok is full of faux freckle videos, most including fake tanning mousse, which are intimidating and can easily go wrong. However, this tutorial uses Maybelline Brow Tattoo, which is meant for your face ― so I was hoping the colour whould be more natural-looking. Here’s what it claims to do:

To be on the safe side, I picked a color lighter than my hair —colour Medium Brown — and applied it across my nose and cheeks.

Did it work?

It worked so well! It created a very natural-looking result ― I went over my natural nose freckles and did some more over my cheeks. I think leaving it on for two hours wasn’t necessary, but the product’s instructions recommend that for the colour to last three days. I will try it again, for sure. Here’s my attempt:

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Growing A Quarantine Beard? How To Avoid The Patchy Mess Look

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Keanu Reeves’ Girlfriend, Alexandra Grant, Reveals Why She Rocks Her Natural Grey Hair

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The Best Solid Beauty And Skincare Products That Will Make Packing For Your Holiday Easy

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Wearing This Eye Mask To Bed Every Night Has Transformed My Sleep

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Best 30 SPF Face Cream – We Put 7 To The Test

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John Lewis Introduces Recycling Scheme For Empty Beauty Products

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