A Minimalist Makeup Routine for Platinum Blondes | Featuring Glossier

Six products. 10 minutes. Glow up.

When I went platinum I thought I’d have to give up all my makeup and buy everything in new shades. My hair stylist insisted that I would need to switch to cooler shades to compliment my hair, and that my typical routine of warmer, brown-based blushes and lip colors would make my hair look brassy and my skin look sallow.

Well, the man may know a lot about hair, but after just two days of using some of my cooler toned makeup and feeling supremely uncomfortable in it, I switched back to my usual shades. I think that in the case of makeup, your natural skin and eye color matter more than your changing hair color, and since my skin and eyes have warmer undertones, I still feel better in warmer makeup despite the dramatic change from my honey-brown hair to as blonde as $300 could get me.

After I posted my step-by-step platinum process, a lot of you asked me for a post about my makeup routine. Although I typically write about clothing, I really love makeup and minimalist makeup experiments, so I was only too happy to oblige.

I just want to get it out there now that my makeup routine is mostly Glossier, but that none of these products were gifted to me, and this post is not sponsored in any way. I genuinely believe that Glossier is great makeup for someone who wants a natural, no-fuss look that won’t break the bank and doesn’t really require any tools for application.

So, without further adieu, here is my minimalist, six-product makeup routine that I wear every single day (no tools required):

1. Glossier Stretch Concealer in Light ($18). People give Glossier so much flak for only being wearable for girls who already have perfect skin, but let me tell you guys, I have terrible skin, and I still think this is the best base out there. I pat this concealer under my eyes, on and around my nose, and on my chin – basically, I keep it to the center of my face where I have the most redness and blemishes. I love that the consistency of the stretch concealer is very skin-like, so it doesn’t look cakey or fake after I’ve patted it in. This doesn’t cover my blemishes completely, but it does take the redness out of them and make them much less pronounced (again, without looking cakey or flakey – the only thing worse than a pimple is a pimple with huge gobs of fake-looking makeup all over it).
2. Glossier Cloud Paint in Dusk ($18). Cloud Paint is hands down my favorite Glossier product of all time. I remember when they did their huge release of the product and the marketing campaign was of all these stars wearing it at the Oscars – I’d never seen anything like it. I bought myself a two-pack as soon as it hit the online store. I still have both tubes because they last freaking forever.

   I use a pearl-sized amount and pat in into my cheeks just under my cheek bone, really concentrating the color in the hollows of my cheeks and bringing it up just a little bit onto the apples. I pat the excess onto my eyelids (because who has time for eyeshadow?). Sometimes if I’m going out and I want to do a bigger look, I’ll add a pink shade of blush to the apples of my cheeks for more dimension and depth.

   

   
3. NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Taupe ($10). This is the one new product I bought when I went platinum, although I’ve used it on and off in the shade Ash Brown for years. See, when you go platinum but you have inherited your father’s thick, dark eyebrows, the first thing people always say to you is “wow, you kept your eyebrows dark!” Uh, yeah. I can’t even imagine trying to bleach these babies into submission. I am certain they would not go without a fight. But, that said, I don’t love an extreme difference in brow and hair color for every day, so I switched from my usual Boy Brow in Brown to this lighter colored pencil that would soften the look a bit. I still do Boy Brow for going out at night, though.
4. Glossier Lash Slick ($16). My primary requirement for a mascara is that it does not smudge over the course of the day, and this mascara dos. not. smudge. After I started using this, I stopped setting my undereyes with loose powder (something I did religiously when wearing other, smudgier mascaras) and I also stopped curling my lashes every day. I’m sort of of the mind that a mascara is a mascara is a mascara, but this is a good one, it’s not outrageously expensive, and it’s helped me cut out a few other steps in my routine. I’ll definitely continue to buy it.
5. Benefit Watt’s Up Champagne Cream-to-Powder Highlighter ($30). I love a good cream highlighter. It’s definitely the thing that takes my makeup from perfectly good to strangers on the street asking me what my skincare routine looks like (surprise! it’s painting a much better face on top of my face). I received this Benefit one in a Sephora Play subscription box and unfortunately fell in love with it. It is hard to justify spending $30 on a highlighter, but of all the fancy things I had the opportunity to try when I was subscribing to the Sephora box, this is the one that really stuck (I have since cancelled the box and used, thrown away, or given away all the other minis).

   I apply this in a C-shape around my eyes, from the outer edge of my brow down to my cheeks, and then I put a little under the edges of my brow, in the inner corners of my eyes, and down the bridge of my nose. I just pat it in with my fingers to blend.

   

6. Glossier Generation G Lipstick in Cake (new formulation, $18). I feel naked without lipstick. I am a serial reapply-er. I was once the type of person who did a bold, red lip every single day, and while I liked that look, I’ve moved on to more subtle shades. The Glossier Generation G Lipstick has always been known for having a subtle, just-kissed kind of look to it, but the old formula left a lot to be desired. I purchased 3 tubes of it – every single tube cracked and every single bullet snapped and fell out. I still wore it because I love the warm brown-peach color (a known favorite of Glossier’s founder and my personal hero, Emily Weiss), but it was disappointing to keep spending so much money on lipstick that consistently broke (shoutout to Glossier’s customer service team, though, they replaced my lipstick for free every single time I got a bum tube).

   I bought a tube of Generation G in Cake shortly after the new formula was released and DANG. The new formula is LEAGUES above the old one – creamier and more comfortable, better color pay-off, sturdier packaging, all without compromising that no-lipstick lipstick look. This is my holy grail, wear every day, buy for the rest of my life lipstick.

And that’s it! That is my whole makeup routine. It probably took you longer to read this post than it takes me to put all this stuff on my face every morning. If you’re interested in trying a Glossier product yourself, you can click this link to save 10% off your first order. I don’t think you need a code, it just applies the discount automatically at checkout. I do get some store credit if you use that link, in the interest of full transparency.

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