Style Folder

Hi guys!

First of all, I’m sorry for my absence in the past few days. I was down with flu since my last post and I just wanted curl up on my bed and sleep through this unbearable heat over here in Colombo… Today’s weather is nice… it’s less sunny and kinda cool outside. After some medication I’m starting to feel better…

Today I decided to do a post that a few of my friends requested… “do you know any tricks/tips to look better when you’re sick?”

Okay… When I’m REALLY sick, I really don’t care how I look! I have no intention to wear any makeup even if I look like zombie with my heavy dark circles and transparent skin. I just wanna get better… So when I’m extremely sick, I don’t wear makeup at all!

But when I’m getting better and I have to go back to work, I want to look a little pleasant… You know what I mean, right? And makeup always boosts my confidence. So on such days I’d like to put a little bit of makeup to help me look a little more alive. 🙂

First tip to brighten the whole mood is to be clean. When I’m sick, I’m extra clean. I like to use fresh sheets on my bed, fresh pyjamas, fresh towels, and of course, fresh brushes! As soon as I feel better enough to get up, I’d like to freshen my body by having a nice, hot body wash. (Hot water makes me feel better despite the heat outside) I’d use my favourite scented candles or a nice, fruity body wash. Using something with citrus fragrance always helps me. My go-to face wash is Clean & Clear’s Lemon Extract Face Wash (which is readily available everywhere) Its lemon scent is so refreshing!

Next I would clean my brushes (currently using MAC Brush Cleaner, which takes time to dry, so I suggest you use something like Cinema Secrets Brush Cleaner, which dries amazingly fast) and leave them aside to dry.

Whenever I’m not feeling well, I don’t want to put layers and layers of makeup like on other days. I just want to look well groomed and put together… I don’t have the energy to spend half an hour in front of the mirror with proper contouring and highlighting and what not… My method is simple on such days, and it requires only 7 products (two are skincare)

Sick or not, I want my skin to be moisturised. I love how light this Bulgari Face Cream feels. I’ve written about this in my What’s in my handbag on a long distance flight post. It doesn’t have a strong scent and keeps my face hydrated throughout the day.

Next thing I do is applying this Clinique Moisture Surge Extra Refreshing Eye Gel under my eyes and a little bit on the lids. This is a non-scented eye gel that cools the eye area and gives an extra dose of moisture. You can wear this under or over makeup any time you need. I would let this dry and do my brows in the meantime.

I have scanty, over-plucked eyebrows (that hasn’t grown in months!) In order to look groomed, my brows need to be filled to perfection. I like BH Cosmetics Flawless Brow Trio to save the situation.

Third step is applying concealer on my under eye area. Since I’m not layering a lot of makeup today, I selected the concealer to match the rest of my face. My trustee is MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW25. If you have heavy dark circles that need colour correction, I suggest you to use a MAC concealer in NW series because they have enough peach in it to counteract the darkness on your under eyes.

As I want go light on the face, I’m skipping liquid foundation and using a powder foundation to give my skin the ability to breathe through. Powder foundations are great because they blur lines and pores too. My favourite is MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation in C5.5. I use a powder brush to apply this all over my face, concentrating more on setting the concealer under the eyes.

To give a little bit of colour to my face, I like to put a little bit of bronzer because using just a concealer and foundation that matches my skin tone looks too flat for me. I use MAC Matte Bronze to give a nice, healthy colour on my face. I chose a matte bronzer because on sick days I prefer to keep my face completely matte.

Last but not least I scrub my lips (with a minty toothpaste) and apply Revlon Colourburst BalmStain in Honey Douche. You can apply a bright lipstick to brighten up the whole face too…

For now, I’m happy with this look. If you feel like adding some eyeliner, mascara or eyeshadow, you can go ahead and apply them. The reason I didn’t apply any eye makeup is because my eyes feel hot and tired when I’m sick and I don’t want to contaminate my eye makeup (they’re the easiest to get contaminated!)

If you use brushes, make sure you clean them thoroughly and let them dry.

Eat fresh fruits, drink veggie smoothies and plenty of water and keep your body clean and hydrated throughout the time so you’ll get better soon…

I’ll see you again as soon as I fully recover…

Take care,

Xx

Neth Mi