Try This 3-Minute Mindless Morning Routine For That Glowy “No Makeup” Look If You’re 40ish And Over It
We’re so very tired. But we demand that our complexion look dewy and radiant no matter what.
by Audie Metcalf
The genius of this routine, if I do say so myself, is that because it’s so unbelievably quick and easy and IMPOSSIBLE to screw up, you will actually do it.
I have no fewer than 43,798 “glowy” and “anti-aging” and “firming” and “skinlike” products rattling around in my bathroom at any given time, and so often I just exit my home looking like a dehydrated sewer rat because I’m overwhelmed by the options.
We all have various versions of what we can commit to or even what our preferences are when it comes to eye makeup or lips or brows. But skin? We all want plumped, gorgeous, unmakeupy skin every day, with little to no effort, with products that are supremely easy to use.
And so I made it my mission to try every single skincare and face product I own until I found the perfect combination for a skin and makeup base that will work for nearly all women. My requirements were thus:
It has to take 2 minutes or less
It must be utterly foolproof such that even the least skilled of us can confidently achieve perfect results every time
It has to work on all skin types including extra dry and sensitive
The results must make our complexion look plump, dewy, fresh, lit from within, perfectly skin-like, and not makeupy
Friends of the internet? believe I cracked it. I can name that tune in 4 products.
Let’s go.
1. Trinny London Tiptoe In
Wildcard, eh?! But this is actually the most important step of “putting your face on” as my grandmother used to say. We’re all so consumed with layering moisture and oils on to hydrate our husk-like over-40 skin, that we’re actually forgetting what is actually the most powerful in terms of helping all those hydrating products actually work: exfoliation.
YES. This is the key. The. Key.
However, for more mature skin, harsh scrubs ain’t it. Especially when our skin is getting older and dryer by the millisecond. But gentle acids? Yes. A thousand times yes. And of the 437 million “resurfacing” products out there, this is the best one to use in the morning before makeup.
The Trinny London brand can do no wrong in my eyes (discover them HERE) and this gentle, perfect-for-morning, resurfacing product will give your skin such a gorgeous glow you might be alarmed. Made from two powerhouse PHAs (one for exfoliating and one for radiance), this product is perfect for sensitive skin, rosacea, and can eventually be used daily. Now that I use it every day before makeup I truly can’t remember a world before it. Here’s a little glimpse of my bare skin with only a couple pumps of the Tiptoe In smeared haphazardly all over face and neck:
It’s essential. It’s not a discussion. They have smart refillable bottles so when you repurchase it’s only $36. It’s truly the game changer you’ve been looking for on your daily routine because you’ve been feeling so blah. Trust me
Price: $44
2. Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base Priming Moisturizer
Welp, I’m a little embarrassed by this. I forgot about this amazing, amazing, amazing cream/primer hybrid. I did. I used it years ago and absolutely worshipped what it did for my skin. It’s literally bursting with vitamin-packed hydration that leaves skin feeling soft not wet, even though almost nothing on this earth feels more soothing and moisturizing. Full of hyaluronic acid and squalane, this lightly citrus-scented cream is possibly the single greatest cream under makeup—everything you put on after it goes on so smoothly. Filtered looking. Pores gone. Fine lines goodbye. It’s almost alarming. It’s a real OG, and the way it smooths on over the Trinny exfoliant will make your skin feel like a tiny baby’s bum. This really seems like hyperbole I know but then you will get both of these products and then try both of these products and you’ll be like gosh darn it that verbose girl from the internet was right!
Price: $67
3. IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream with SPF 50+
Nothing about this brand is cool. Nothing. Oh wait yes there is something.
Every.
Single.
Product.
Is.
Amazing.
THIS is miraculous on rosacea. THIS wipes out shine if you have big pores. THIS covers eye bags like a beast. THIS is literally the only makeup brush you need to own.
But still. They’re not a lusty, gorgeously packaged brand that ignites desire in us where we just have to own it. Cough Glossier. Cough Chanel.
H O W E V E R.
I defy you to find a more natural looking, skinlike product, while still delivering amazing coverage, than the IT Cosmetics CC Cream. It wins every award. It has SPF 50. It never gets cakey. It works on sensitive skin. The shade range is perfection. The formula feels like silk. It covers dark spots and purpley undereyes such that you won’t even need concealer. It doesn’t sink into wrinkles but rather blurs them.
There is sort of no two ways about it, but this unsexy, uncool, not-foundation foundation is sort of the best there is.
Now the hard part. The shade match. It’s very hard to find your perfect shade online, so I encourage you to use Sephora’s shade match tool because it really works. Oh, and while it goes on great with THIS sponge, or THIS brush, fingers will also work just fine.
One pump of this cc cream over your exfoliated, moisturized skin and you will scarcely recognize the Benjamin Button reflection in the mirror. NOT THAT AGING IS BAD, don’t send me hate dms.
Price: $47
4. Tower28 BeachPlease Luminous Tinted Balm
And finally, blush. There is no more skinlike blush than this one from Tower 28. Tap two fingers in the pot and then high on your cheekbones and tap to blend out. That’s it. That’s the big secret to blush. Don’t ever rub. The color MAGIC HOUR is a universally perfect color on nearly every skin tone so if you struggle with figuring out if you should wear coral or pink or mauve blush, just try this one because it will make you look perfectly flushed and après ski and like you have nothing on your skin.
Perfect for sensitive skin, oily skin, dry skin, this blush is truly so obviously perfect, it’s sort of bizarre no one made it sooner.
Price: $20
Ok, so it took longer to read this article than it will to use these 4 things on your face every morning.
Just try it. You’ll see. And even though there’s an upfront cost, everything on this list lasts for months. It’s a small investment in yourself so that the girl you see in the mirror feels like the girl you are inside.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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