Over the past few weeks two events independently occurred that got the cogs in my beauty brain turning. While sardine-packed onto the tube I flicked through Stylist Magazine and came across a rather inspiring article written by Dep Beauty Ed Samantha Flowers on how to bunk off brushes and apply our makeup with our fingers, palms and tips instead. ‘Intriguing‘, I thought, filed the mag for future reference and ended up reaching for my ol’ faithful Real Techniques the following morning. Then over the weekend, while piled onto a bus I watched agog for a full 15 minutes while a fellow passenger blended and smudged on her daily face without a brush in sight and the end result looked awesome. So out aforementioned Stylist Magazine came from storage and here’s the tale of a Buffing Brush-free, hands-on makeup application…
Face cleansed, hands washed I sat in front of my mirror sans my usual brush pot and ready for business. Makeup-wise I handpicked a face-full of creamy, no-fuss textures that I reckoned my palms could handle; my usual base suspects with a few blendable colour additions. First into the no-fibre zone was foundation, and with the interest of making this a fair test I stuck to what I’ve been reaching for my daily dose of the stuff for the past few weeks, Giorgio Armani’s Luminous Silk Foundation. So in I squirted one pump of 4*, with a drip of 6 into my palms, warmed and massaged in as instructed. Then something strange happened, a moment of beauty bouleversement. Foundation + hands = a seamlessly blended, invisibly perfected finish. I got up close and personal with my mirror, inspected in direct sunlight and still barely a trace could be spotted. Now bear in mind that Luminous Silk is pretty special (more on that later in the week), but I was pretty wowed with the results and reckon that from now on I’ll be retiring my buffing brush favourites from daily duty and reserving them for sad skin times when I need to build up a tad more coverage.
Concealer application had less of a fanfare to it as I quite like to blend it in with my ring finger anyway, so Clinique’s Airbrush Concealer in 4* was tapped on the ol’ bags. But it was time to get the trumpets out again for contour. I usually stripe this on with a duo-fibre brush due to my overly large face and the fact that it applies and blends in one, but the article suggested rolling it on with the fleshy edge of your palm that connects your thumb to your wrist. Out came & Other Stories Face Contour Cream and in I pushed the side of my hand to the product and placed directly under my cheekbones, starting up by my ears and working down to mid-cheek. My explanation’s clumsy, perhaps I’ll demo it out in a video, but it sculpted out the little natural dimension I posses so well. The fact that you can feel out exactly where you need the lay the product takes the guess work out of what can be such a tricky step. Another lesson I’ll be whipping out again.
The rest of the application had me a little less giddy. A pinch of colour was taken care of by Bourjois’ new Cream Blush in 01 Nude Velvet* and the pad of my thumb, highlight by the RMS Beauty Living Luminizer and my middle finger, and a wash of lid sheen by Wild About Beauty’s Créme Eyeshadow in Buster* and my index fingertip. A rake through my brows with a comb, the only brush I used in the process (and a necessary one at that, things can get a little Teen Wolf when I dismiss that step) and a coat or two of Maxfactor’s False Lash Effect Waterproof Mascara and all that remained to be given the hands-on treatment was lips. I snub a lip brush 99% of the time anyway, so it was no biggie for me to dip into a balm and slather on. Korres Lip Butter in Jasmine did the job and my tool-free mission was complete.
The two takeaway techniques from my foray into fingertips: foundation looks bloomin’ gorgeous when palm-applied and contour application can really be aided by getting a bit handsy. I think I’ll be feeling up my face more often.
*PR Sample
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