Observing the current beauty landscape, one thing is very clear to me: We all want to emulate “no-makeup” makeup right now. With such a focus on skin and achieving “glass skin” or “butter skin”, it seems we’re all wanting to let our skincare efforts do the talking with natural makeup, skin tints and buttery cream blushers that let our skin shine through.
But taking the “no-make-up” makeup trend one step further, we’re now looking towards invisible makeup look. I’m talking totally undetectable products, that bestow a natural polish, leaving you looking healthy and glowing. Take celebrities such as Hailey Bieber and Kate Moss, who are tapping into natural-looking, bare-faced makeup right now. It’s the kind of inner glow that makes others question if you’ve just had a facial, spent two weeks at a retreat or just have great skin genetics. The truth? It’s just the art of “invisible makeup”.
As a beauty editor, one of the most common requests I get asked is how to approach this invisible makeup look. Throughout my career, I’ve gradually embraced the notion of paring back my makeup and letting my skin—blemishes, acne scarring, freckles and all—shine through. I still wear foundation, but I now much prefer natural-looking formulas that don’t act as a heavy mask.
Having interviewed and observed celebrity makeup artists, I’ve picked up the tips, tricks and products to successfully achieving this look. It’s all about light layers, strategic placement and a less-is-more approach. And thankfully, some of the best makeup brands are offering more and more weightless, invisible makeup formulas that help create a natural look. Scroll ahead for the best products to achieve truly invisible makeup.
Best Products for Invisible Makeup
1. Supergoop! Glowscreen SPF30
Supergoop!
Glowscreen SPF30
I’ve lost track of how many friends I’ve put on to Supergoop! Glowscreen—everyone I recommend it too becomes as obsessed with it as I do. It’s like blurred, dewy skin all in rolled into one with the bonus of being a great facial SPF, too. I like to think of it as a skincare-makeup hybrid, and I reach for this on days when I don’t want to wear base makeup, but want to look radiant and subtly blurred. It comes in a few different shades to offer a dewy, glowy radiance. It doesn’t provide tonnes of coverage, but has a blurring effect that makes my skin look like I’ve just had a facial and had 10 hours of sleep. Plus, it doesn’t sting my eyes like some SPFs and acts great as a primer for anything else you apply on top. It’s my ride-or-die SPF forever.
2. Ilia Beauty Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 30
Ilia Beauty
Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 30
The invisible, skin-perfecting effects of Ilia’s Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 30 really ought to be studied. This skin tint has a serum consistency that just melds with your skin, to make your complexion even-toned, yet the product looks totally traceless on. Genuinely, it’s like a perfecting second-skin. It melts in to give your skin a radiant, dewy finish and can be layered up if you require more coverage. It’s high up on the glowy scale, so if you have oily skin you might want to pass on this (try the Merit The Minimalist below if you favour a matte finish) or follow up with a powder where needed to keep things glowy rather than greasy.
3. Merit The Minimalist
Merit Beauty
The Minimalist
It’s neither a foundation nor a concealer, yet Merit promises that it will replace both in your makeup bag. On days when I prefer a natural-matte finish, I don’t hesitate to reach for this. It’s also great for those with oily or combination skin who don’t want anything too dewy. With its pen like tip, you can scribble it on wherever you need coverage—just easily tap and blend with your fingertips. In fact, MUAs tell me that the warmth from your fingertips helps to melt makeup into the skin, further enhancing the “invisible” makeup vibe. What I really love about this is that it delivers light yet buildable coverage to easily conceal areas of redness, breakouts or pigmentation, but it can be layered up if needed without ever looking cakey. It’s one of the best Merit products for a reason.
4. Kosas Revealer Concealer
Kosas
Revealer Super Creamy + Brightening Concealer
With followers of the invisible makeup look such as Hailey Bieber swearing by this concealer, you just know it’s going to be good. I’ve been using this Kosas concealer since it launched and I rarely deviate from it. The creamy formula just melts into the skin with a plumping, hydrating effect that makes it particularly great around the eyes. Kosas has enriched the formula with skincare ingredients (including peptides, hyaluronic acid, caffeine and arnica) that help to plump, brighten and hydrate as you wear it. The cream texture glides over uneven skin texture to make your skin look smooth as butter. I like using it around my eyes to brighten, blur and conceal my dark circles, and it never looks cakey or creasy, but it works equally well for spot-concealing while lending a luminous finish.
5. Merit Flush Balm
I have no doubt that the Merit Flush Balm will go down as an iconic “invisible” product—everyone on the Who What Wear UK team swears by it. There’s no hazard of developing blush blindness here. It’s so sheer and glassy that it’s impossible to mess up. The dome shape can be swiped onto the cheeks (or lips) and buffed in with a brush or your fingers to emulate the dewy flush you’d get after a reformer Pilates class. Want your blush to look natural? A tip I picked up from a makeup artist is to choose a brighter shade than you would usually go for and use a tiny amount. It emulates the more realistic flush you would get from blushing naturally.
6. Westman Atelier Sun Tone Bronzing Drops
Westman Atelier
Sun Tone Bronzing Drops
When it comes to creating invisible makeup, I favour liquid and cream bronzers as opposed to powder bronzers. They lend more radiance to the skin compared to powder formulas that can sometimes make the skin look flat and dull. Plus, creamy formulas such as this one are more forgiving and sheer, which help all the more in making your glow look naturally sun-kissed. These Westman Atelier bronzing drops come in four shades and allow you to tailor your glow. They’re so sheer so you can really create a realistic tan. You can apply a few drops to bare skin or buff over makeup with a brush on the high points of your face—think cheekbones, forehead and the bridge of your nose—to look like you’ve just spent two weeks on a beach, minus the skin damage.
7. Lisa Eldridge Pinpoint Concealer Micro Correcting Pencil
Lisa Eldridge
Pinpoint Concealer Micro Correcting Pencil
Legendary makeup artist Lisa Eldridge has put her pioneering makeup technique of “pin-point concealing” into a handy concealer stick. Eldridge’s ethos is that we don’t need to apply tonnes of foundation or concealer all over our skin. Instead, you can precisely target the exacts areas that need more coverage with this creamy, matte concealing stick. The result? A totally flawless complexion without needing layers of makeup, which still lets your natural skin shine through. It’s brilliant for lightly concealing acne scars, blemishes or broken capillaries or redness.
8. Victoria Beckham Beauty Satin Kajal Liner
Victoria Beckham Beauty
Satin Kajal Liner
When it comes to creating “invisible” makeup, you don’t want to go too heavy on the eyes. However, one MUA trick to cheat defined eyes is tight-lining. Ideally with a soft brown eye pencil. This is where you apply a soft kohl eyeliner pencil (or, a dark eyeshadow with an angled brush) to the upper lash-line, right in between the roots of your eyelashes. It looks more natural than drawing it on the waterline or upper lash-line, adding just enough definition without looking obvious. My weapon of choice is Victoria Beckham Beauty Satin Kajal Liner in the shade Cocoa, a suits-all brown that makes your eyes naturally defined. However, if you want something a little more dramatic, you can create a softly smudged wing with the accompanying sponge on the other end.
9. Glossier Boy Brow Arch
Since trying this, I’ve refused to use any other eyebrow pencil. It has the finest tip I’ve ever tried. It’s angled, so you get a perfectly crisp fine line that makes drawing on individual brow hairs effortlessly. The first time I used this, I had a colleague say my brows looked like I had them freshly done. I apply a few strokes at the inner corners of my brows for a fluffy effect and lightly draw in a couple of strokes around the arches to lift and open up my eyes. Plus, the shade range of these brow pencils is excellent. Being brunette, I find too many dark brow pencils are too warm for me, but Glossier’s Cool Brown matches my brow colour perfectly. I’ve actually just run out and will be re-purchasing immediately.
10. Merit Brow 1980
For invisible makeup, don’t overlook brow gels either. If you go for a tinted option, such as Merit’s, you benefit from both the hold and sculpting effects with the addition of making your brows look fuller. Tinted brow gels weightlessly add volume and definition to your brows without ever looking blocky. So, if you want to look like you were blessed with naturally feathery and full brows, a tinted brow gel should be your first port of call. If you want to benefit from naturally full brows all the time, you could also try brow lamination for longer-lasting results.
11. Wonderskin Wonder Blading Lip Stain
Wonderskin
Wonder Blading Lip Stain
Wonderskin’s Wonder Blading Lip Stain is an Amazon bestseller for a reason—it really works. It’s a bit daunting at first (it applies blue) but once your remove the lip mask, you’re left with a natural-looking lip stain that will genuinely last you all day, surviving eating, drinking, kissing—the lot. It won’t smudge or transfer off like lipstick, and gives you a really pretty “just-bitten” flush of colour that looks so natural. I wear the shade Whimsical, a rosy brown that makes my lips look like mine, only better. It’s the next best thing to getting a lip blush.
12. Chanel Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick
Chanel
Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick
My biggest tip for natural-looking highlighter is to avoid powder, glitter and sparkles. Instead, I point you in the direction of a dewy highlighter, but specifically Chanel’s Baume Essentiel Multi-Use Glow Stick. It blesses my cheekbones with the prettiest, glassy sheen that makes me look dewy and never sparkly. Think of it as a wet-look highlighter that relies on glow rather than glitter.
13. Glossier Lash Slick Mascara
If TikTok and the runway beauty looks are anything to go by right now, mascara is out. More and more, I’m seeing models backstage sans-mascara and content creators have convinced me that leaving mascara really adds a little something to your makeup look—even if you’re wearing a full face of makeup. However, if you can’t bare the idea of going without one, then my recommendation would be Glossier’s Lash Slick. It gives lashes a gentle tint with subtle length and definition. It also comes in brown, which is a great tip to for making your makeup look more natural-looking if you find black mascara is too harsh.
