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A good skin day

From your head down to your toes you’re incredible just as you are. Are you a teen with soft radiant skin, perhaps the odd pimple? Or a fully-fledged glamorous grown-up, except perhaps for a slightly uneven skin tone? Whatever, you’re absolutely gorgeous. But we hear you – we all need a confidence boost for the daily grind or a dazzling big do. And don’t we all know, applying foundation can go any which way – from cakey flake to triumphant radiance. There’s a reason why makeup artists are called artists – there’s skill involved navigating the textures, tones, prepping, priming and polishing of the face. Fret not, we’ll share all our secrets on how to apply foundation.

Woman applying foundation whilst looking in mirror

4 steps of applying foundation

Your wonderful face, your communication centre – where every relationship begins with an exchange of smiles. It wants just the right amount of attention. With a little bit of know-how and some good products, we’ll help you master the perfect natural foundation coverage.

Vitamin E Gentle Face Wash

Step 1: Clean your face + moisturise it - start with a blank canvas

As any good artist will tell you, prepping the surface is the key to applying any kind of smooth even coverage. And when it comes to your gorgeous mug, first that means a good wash. Try our excellent Vitamin E Gentle Facial Wash, an all-rounder that suits all skin types. The light, creamy texture helps to keep skin feeling like moisture has been locked in. Next is to let a good moisturiser sink in for 10 minutes. Our Vitamin E Moisture Cream helps restore hydration and gives your natural radiance a boost. Between these two hydrating pros, you’ll have the perfect clean, soft base for foundation to blend into.

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Instablur Primer Mattifyer

Step 2: Use a primer

The makeup artist’s secret to smooth and natural foundation coverage is a ‘primer’ which means a ‘makeup base’. It’s hard to know if every tip and trick we hear about skin care is entirely necessary – it’s always down to experimentation and personal preference. But, most beauty experts tend to agree that a primer helps create an even base and helps foundation go on more smoothly and last longer. We’ve got a real superstar for you, our Instablur™ Primer. It glides on feeling weightless and helps skin feel plumped and appear flawless. If you have more oily skin it can help mattify and reduce the appearance of pores. Apply with your fingertips for skin that feels silky smooth and looks even.

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Fresh Nude Foundation

Step 3: Apply foundation

Time to apply a dreamy foundation onto your well-prepped canvas. For a confident semi-matte coverage head to our brilliant Fresh Nude Foundation range. There’s a great choice in natural looking skin shades, 16 to be exact. It’s a great one for all skin types, enriched with English rose water and Community Fair Trade aloe vera, a blissful hydrating formula helping skin feel smoother and look instantly fresh. 1 or 2 pumps is all you need, dab on with your fingertips and then get all professional with our Fresh Nude Foundation Brush, gently buffing in circular motions around your face from the centre outwards. Get ready for natural yet amplified smooth-manoeuvering gorgeousness.

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Hands holding makeup and brush

Step 4: Set your foundation

Because you’re now a makeup pro, you’ll know there’s a finishing sequence that will seal the deal. All you need is a great face powder and powder brush to set your foundation in place. Our Fresh Nude Face Base compact powder is a beautifully light finale to your gorgeous even complexion. It helps cover imperfections and adds the appearance of a flawless looking finish you are more than worthy of. Grab our special Domed Powder Brush and gently swirl our powder across your neck and face, paying special attention to any areas that may get more oily. Drum roll please… it will help even your skin tone with a natural looking velvety finish that lasts all day.

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Woman applying foundation

The best way to apply foundation

If you’re wondering, what’s the best way to apply foundation? There are plenty of different tools to experiment with. The most obvious and convenient is those fingers of yours. Just make sure they’re clean and don’t have any other makeup on – or else you might find you’ve got some unwanted Adam Ant stripes across your face. The light-touch – dabbing or swirling motions – will help get the smoothest and most even coverage. If you want to go up a pro gear you’ve got our Fresh Nude Foundation Brush which helps with a wonderfully sheer, smooth coverage. Just play around with how you make the strokes, foundation isn’t paint and prefers a gentle dab over an artistic swipe. Or for an uber natural finish try our cool and clever Complexion Blender, its fun spongy texture needs dampening first, then dab your foundation around your face in a circular motion. You’ll be streak-proof with a gorgeous natural mug any makeup artist would be proud of.

Tips for applying foundation

Hands scooping Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream from pot

Tip 1 - Always prep your skin

Less is definitely more when it comes to foundation. There are absolute musts when it comes to a natural look, that include prepping with a good cleanser and moisturiser. But then be confident that your natural healthy skin is the champion here and you’re simply enhancing it with foundation. Leave the smothering for when you’re icing your favourite choco cake.

Man applying Fresh Nude Foundation

Tip 2 - Natural daylight is best

The makeup artist’s top tip, always find the best light you have to apply and check your work. Natural light is always best, so grab a makeup mirror and head to a window or else the best lighting at home, you can always have a check in your compact mirror or camera phone when you're outside in natural daylight. Congratulations – you look amazing.

Man applying Fresh Nude Foundation

Tip 3 - Don’t forget to blend

When you’re preparing your work of art, AKA your face, don’t neglect the surrounding areas like your neck and ears – they don’t need full coverage but include them in what’s happening on your face. A little careful blending will prevent the much feared funny-foundation-mask effect.

All in One Face Base

Tip 4 - Touch your makeup on the go

Never stray too far from home without an emergency touch-up-team. Our All-in-One-Face Base – foundation and powder in a one, has a handy mirror and will touch up any complexion imperfection any time of day or night. Remember to pop your favourite powder brush in your makeup bag along with it.

Hands applying Fresh Nude Foundation

“Excellent colour match for my skin. Good coverage without being thick and matted. Excellent product.”

– FranH

About Fresh Nude Foundation

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Woman applying All in one Concealer

How to apply concealer?

We don’t think there’s a human being on the planet who hasn’t reached out for a good concealer in a moment of complexion crisis, then praised its great blemish-disguising powers. But as with foundation, the big question we all want to ask the professionals is ‘how to apply concealer?’ It might be you’ve been burning the candles at both ends and want to hide dark circles under your eyes, and appear all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

In that case, let’s call upon our Fresh Nude Serum Concealer for some help. After you’ve applied foundation, gently dab on with a clean finger or brush. It smooths lightly onto delicate skin and helps restore the appearance of a certain natural flawlessness. Or for medium coverage over imperfections and dark circles, try our handy lightweight Concealer All-in-One stick.

Or if a certain pesky scar or blemish is threatening to get all the limelight, again, after you’ve applied foundation, grab our Matte Clay Concealer and dab on the area of concern carefully with its accompanying sponge, or a clean finger. Its smooth matte coverage will help skin appear clear and even, helping restore your confidence to face the world with a smile. Whatever the skin drama of the day is, you can be certain careful application of concealer will help steady your ship.

Woman holding The Body Shop makeup

Finish off with some colour on your cheeks

Now, as any artist knows, light and shade adds a certain dazzle and three-dimensionality to a surface. So, whether you want to dramatise your cheekbones with a bronzed sun-kissed glow or add a cheeky little pink flush to your cheeks, our Shimmer Waves is your new glamourous best friend. It’s the perfect palette of different natural shades. So, set your inner artist free and go for one gorgeous warm shade or blend a couple together for a unique glow that complements your skin tone.

Or try our All-in-One Cheek Colour, beautifully buildable and blendable, instant cheeky-radiance. Top tip, suck your cheeks in to make the groove beneath your cheekbones a little more obvious, then apply a slightly darker shimmer into that groove with our precision perfect Angled Cheek Brush. 3 or 4 upward swooshes should do the trick. Say hello to highly chic cheekbones. Or for a cheeky flush use our blusher brush to swirl one of the pinky shades around the highest part of your cheek bone.

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