The barely there makeup products I recommend to my male friends | Makeup | The Guardian

Nov 06, 2024

Go-to products for men who want a low-effort way to blur lines and mattify shine

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A male friend of mine recently had to appear on camera and asked me how he could look a bit more polished without needing (or appearing) to be “made up”. He hasn’t the time or the skills to do much, but also doesn’t want to look overworked and knackered, which as the father of twins, he usually is.

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My first recommendation came easily: Grown Alchemist Anti-Pollution Primer: Prebiotic-Peptide (try saying that thrice after a shot). It’s pricey at £33, but works hard for its keep and delivers well beyond the brief.

This is a cloudy, colourless gel that when stroked or dabbed across the skin immediately mattifies shine, blurs lines and smooths texture, leaving an otherwise invisible finish (you’ll see no evidence on your shirt collar). It’s an AI retouch button in a tube but, unlike almost all other such products, doesn’t leave behind that horrible, gunky silicone feeling. It’s a godsend for any non-makeup wearers in that it requires almost zero effort, but can be worn by anyone else under foundation and whatever else.

Speaking of foundation, it can make all the difference on camera but in inexperienced hands can look heavy and almost too even and monotone to be plausible. Something sheerer is harder to get wrong. Here, I always recommended Erborian’s SPF25 CC Crème (£41), which is astonishingly effective at evening out blotchy, red, moderately blemished skin without the need for expert application, tools or even that much blending (just smoosh around with your fingertips, as you would a moisturiser, then add a bit more wherever you think you need it). Low-maintenance types of any gender usually love it (it’s particularly great for new mums with very little time to make up).

Three of my male friends are now devoted to L’Oréal Paris’s True Match Nude Plumping Tinted Skin Serum (£14.99), a very lightweight and similarly easy to apply tint that gives a lovely dewy but ungreasy finish, with a translucent coverage that allows natural skin to peek through.

If you need a little more coverage (perhaps on darkened undereyes or in the creases of the nose, where redness is common), apply it only locally with a dab of extra concealer – a product I’d advise anyone but a newborn baby to acquire. The best for those without experience or skill is Glossier’s Stretch Concealer (£22), which is as simple as dabbing a clean fingertip into the jar and on to the skin. A few clumsy taps blend out to a believable brightness.