Stuff Digital Edition

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Samantha Murray Greenway celebrates the less is more approach to beauty.

Skinimalism: I’m hoping it’s more than just a passing trend. Minimal makeup, natural-looking skin, a streamlining of skincare products many of us are embracing it whether we realise it or not.

ou could blame it on extended lockdowns and the preoccupation with so-called oom-face (Glamour magazine found that searches for “how to get glowing skin” and “face yoga exercises” were up four times on last year). Or maybe it’s an inevitable pendulum swing: after years of beauty ideals involving retouched, over-filtered perfection, skinimalism focuses on letting the real you shine through.

“Natural beauty isn’t perfect, pore-less, photoshopped or filtered,” says Blair James, owner and co-founder of Australian brand Bondi Sands. The company is known for its self-tanning products, but recently launched Everyday Skincare. It offers practical, simply described products that effectively cover all bases because, “Everyday skin looks and feels different to everyone and should be celebrated and confidently embraced”.

Keeping things straightforward is key. Sure there are hyaluronic acids and algae extracts in the facial serum, but to understand if it’s right for you, all you really need to know is the name: Thirsty Skin ydrating serum ($21). I like this refusal to bamboozle.

It’s not only what goes on the skin that counts. There’s been a recent uptick in facial massage tutorials and beauty gadgets. “We’re starting to realise it isn’t just what we are applying that can make a difference, but how we are applying it,” says Lucy Connell, Education Lead at Mecca. “Facial massage is an amazing way to give yourself some self-care. It relieves tension from our overworked facial muscles producing visible results, which has led to the increase in popularity.”

Options range from the relatively simple (such as a Gua Sha stone, $35 from Skintopia, that when worked over the face aids lymphatic drainage, reducing puffiness; a technique and tool that has been used in China for centuries) to the hi-tech (the NuFACE Trinity Device uses a low-level electrical current to tone facial muscles. Five minutes should give instant results as you might hope for $5 ).

It’s reassuring to remember that beauty really is more than skin deep. What we put into our bodies more water, less alcohol, better diet has a knock-on effect. No wonder there’s been

a surge in the popularity of supplements. Smith and Caughey’s number one seller is Advanced Nutrition Programme’s Skin Collagen capsules($ 0).

If you follow beauty news, you’ll know that legendary makeup artist Bobbi Brown left her eponymous beauty label. Recently she started up a new beauty brand, Jones Road Beauty because, “The world doesn’t need more beauty products. It needs better beauty products”. The brand follows stringent guidelines to eliminate hidden nasties such as phthalates and sulfates, and the makeup is multipurpose.

While there’s no sign of Jones Road Beauty hitting our shores as yet, there are some clever New ealand-owned companies with a similar premise. Tronque was launched last month by Tanné Snowden, following two years of development following her struggles with reproductive health and surgery. The debut line focuses on three essential “clean” and organic skincare products: a Firming Butter ($130), Scar Concentrate and Exfoliating serum.

Aleph Beauty is another smart brand from a local innovator. “Everything that we make works synergistically with each other, to create versatile makeup,” says Emma Peters, makeup artist and founder of Aleph Beauty. “We’ve been marketed to that we need 25 different products. Not true. If intelligently designed, the same product can do many different things.”

For instance, you can dab Aleph’s coral coloured Cheek/Lip ($58) where the name suggests, or mix it with Concealer/Foundation to correct dark under eye shadows. Use the Serum/Primer to prep skin and moisturise or blend it with the concealer/foundation to adjust coverage. This concise range is not only built on the kind of creativity that is the bread and butter of professional makeup artists, but by a woman responding to life experience.

“Inevitably our skin changes not only from puberty to child-bearing to menopause, but season to season and day to day,” says Peters. “We aim to suit the widest range of skin. Everything is customisable so you make your own little tweaks without needing to scrap everything just because your skin is doing something different on a different day.”

Looking your healthiest without resorting to a makeup mask is the point. And there’s a bonus, “If you feel like the best version of yourself,” says Peters. “It creates a ripple effect.”

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2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-04T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://fairfaxmedia.pressreader.com/article/283077007533478

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