Make-Up Must-Haves

For as long as I can remember, my mother’s make-up kit has consisted of one thing and one thing only – lipstick. Used both for her lips and for her cheeks as a blusher, for years my mother has gone from work to church to fancy dinners with just lipstick.

These days though, the list of make-up products available is as long as my arm and every year, new products are introduced to the market and old products are improved on.

While when it comes to make-up less may be more, often it can take many more products than you’d think to achieve something as deceptive as a ‘natural’ look. And if make-up makes you look good and looking good makes you feel good, why not go all out?

Time is money, though, and sometimes you just can’t do a full face of make-up. In cases like those, it’s important to have a handful of items that can take you from ‘just woke up’ to ‘I woke up like this’ in a few strokes of a brush.

The Weekender spoke to a few beauty professionals to hear what their five essential make-up items are…

For Beauty Zone Spa’s Nadine van Rooyen, nothing is more essential than good sunscreen. Even her lip balm should have sunscreen in it, she said, and the other three must-have products she would pick are a shimmering body spray, shimmery gold eye shadow and, to round off the look, a pretty mani and pedi. With winter officially over, her ideal look for spring is not too bright, but with hot pink lips, orange tones and golden browns definitely making an appearance. Her spring beauty secret? “A good body scrub will give you that beautiful, natural glow,” she said.

Isolda Kazahe from Kalahari Sands Wellness Centre also lists sunscreen as her top pick, with foundation, eyeliner, mascara and lipstick in coral colours rounding off her five essentials. “Winter is over, so we’re moving away from dark lips. For spring, colourful eyeshadows are in while lips will be more toned down,” she said.

Make-up artist Hannah Nangula lists powder or foundation, lip gloss, eyeliner, mascara and eye shadow (“to enhance and define the eye”) as her five essential make-up items. As the temperatures are rising, Hannah suggested you opt for a more natural look and if you do choose to use foundation, pick an oil-free one to avoid sweating and looking like a hot mess. Hannah also stressed that moisturising your skin is of utmost importance.

We took to Facebook to find out from our readers which five make-up items they’d want with them if they were – hypothetically – stranded somewhere…

Ajax May

Firstly, foundation as it is the foundation of it all. Secondly, mascara to make those eyes pop and thirdly, eyeliner to define the eye area even more. Press powder to finish off and set the look and lastly a bit of blush for that natural glow. The perfect look!

Robyn Kleinhans

Eyeliner, mascara, bright lipstick, lip gloss or Labello and pressed powder. A shiny forehead is just yucky and a permanent thorn in my side. You don’t need much.

Hermien Elago

Vaseline. That’s all I use… So I’ll stick with what works.

Bernadina Ousie Buys

My eyeshadow quad (Avon folks will know, LOL), foundation, eye pencil, mascara and my blush. That’s actually all I need.

Jaimee-lee Diergaardt

Sunscreen (preferably tinted, acts like foundation), lip balm of any sort but preferably coloured, mascara, blush and a moisturiser.

Michelle-Denise Ndjoba

Soap (to wash away my tears and day-old make-up); moisturiser (because being stranded and having dry skin are too many struggles to handle); foundation (as was mentioned earlier, it’s the foundation of it all); mascara (to accentuate the eyes after I’m done crying) and lastly, lip balm (once again because dry lips are unacceptable).

Fallon Strauss

Elizabeth Arden’s 8-Hour cream and some Blistex lip balm. And that’s it.

If a beautifully made up face is a masterpiece, your naked face is something of a canvas. And even the world’s most brilliant artwork won’t look good on a neglected scrap piece of paper. Meant to enhance your features, not make you look like a completely different person, all the make-up in the world is pointless if you don’t prep your face first. Here are our five must-do’s to take your beauty from high school art class to Picasso.

Sleeping Beauty

Despite what energy drink adverts may tell you, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” isn’t cute. And does not a cute face make. Getting enough sleep not only means that you’ll feel good, but you’ll look good too. Beauty sleep is no myth. Our bodies go into repair mode when we sleep, which means the more z’s we catch, the more time our body has to make us beautiful. It’s science.

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: Drink at least eight glasses of water a day for great skin and great health. Being dehydrated makes your skin look and feel dry and wrinkled, so make sure that you keep a water bottle on hand all throughout the day.

‘Brows on Point

Your eyebrows frame your face and they can make or break an entire look. If you’re hesitant to go tweezer-crazy on your own ‘brows, get them professionally shaped by a beautician. When they start regrowing, you can stick to the great work your beautician has done and just pluck any stray hairs. Unless you’re really sure of yourself, stay away from DIY waxes. A tweezer, a well-lit room, a mirror and some time is all you need to get those ‘brows from furry to fierce.

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