How to create a totally natural-looking makeup finish

“Women want their skin to look as though they’ve just had a facial, not spent two hours doing their makeup,” says makeup artist Gucci Westman, who has worked with everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore to Jennifer Aniston and Julianne Moore. “It’s about a beauty that looks like you but amplified – not completely transformed.”

The result is what I like to call ‘Gucci skin’: the complexion is elevated from ordinary to extraordinary while always looking filter-free, fresh and real. It’s the perfect antidote to heavy, Instagram-skin makeup, and is the thinking behind Westman Atelier, Westman’s sleek makeup range – or, as she calls it, “a wardrobe for the complexion”.

Getting this right, says Westman, is the key to real-skin success. “Skin prep is so important,” she says. “Always use the right products for your skin type, plus something that hydrates, like a lightweight serum, because everyone is super-dehydrated today. And make time to massage your skin, as this gets the circulation going.” Just taking an extra 20 seconds to massage in your face cream will make a difference, plus it ensures that the cream absorbs properly into the skin, rather than just sitting on it. “Also, if I have time, I love treating the skin with a micro-current device as it helps sculpt the face – it’s especially good if you’re traveling a lot and tend to hold fluid, as it makes your features so much more refined.”

The Ziip Beauty device is brilliant to work over the face as it’s small enough to hold in the palm of your hand and can redefine cheekbones and the jawline. Alternatively, the Nuface Fix works on smoothing out lines and plumping up skin. My new low-tech obsession is the face-cupping kit from Antonia Burrell: using pliable massage cups to lightly suction and lift the skin (best used over a well-oiled face to avoid suction marks), it’s quite incredible the difference it makes, quickly streamlining puffy, early-morning features.

“I often use highlighter pre-foundation as it looks more sophisticated and authentic, as though you do have that luminous skin,” says Westman. I love her Lit Up Highlighter Stick – rather than giving skin a shimmery, glittery glow, it leaves a natural and beautifully polished finish. Using several shades of foundation also gives the face more dimension, while just one shade all over can flatten out the features. “Use one shade close to your skin tone, and then one a shade darker to blend around the perimeter of the face. I also use a shade lighter as a concealer,” says Westman. “To finish, I love a lightweight setting powder – these are less pigmented than the classic loose powders, so they give skin a beautiful finish without looking ‘powdered’. It’s how I’ve been doing makeup for years and it’s how I get skin to look real but amplified, as though you’ve just had a facial.”

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