Key Points
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Simple makeup for every day is perfect for the office, running errands, or even going out with friends.
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Simple makeup for every day can be achieved with just a few essential products.
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Makeup products do not have to break the bank — some of these top picks can be found at your local drugstore.
In a world where cosmetic trends seem to be constantly evolving and becoming more and more elaborate, it is sometimes refreshing to take a step back and focus on a simpler, more laid-back style. Simple makeup for every day wear doesn't have to be complicated. Quick and easy routines have tremendous potential to enhance natural beauty and give an extra jolt of confidence–not to mention the time you’ll save!
In this article, you’ll explore the basics of everyday cosmetics and explore tips and tricks for achieving a fresh, subtle style that works for both the office as well as a night out. Whether you're a newbie to the world of beauty or just hoping to streamline your routine, this guide provides a comprehensive overview of all the tools you need to create breezy and simple makeup for every day.
Best Foundations for Everyday Wear
With so many brands available on the market, finding the perfect foundation is a daunting task! It's important to choose a formula that not only matches your coloring but also feels comfortable and appears natural on your skin. When it comes to everyday wear, you want a foundation that withstands the rigors of your daily routine.
Below are some of the best foundations available. When reading through the list, consider factors such as your skin type, coverage level, and staying power. From budget-friendly drugstore picks to high-end splurges, these are the best foundations for a casual style.
Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup
The Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup is a lightweight foundation offering sheer to medium coverage with a natural finish designed to mirror the natural look of skin. It's created with vitamins A, C, and E to nourish and improve the overall health of your skin.
Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation
The Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation is a popular drugstore foundation that's an excellent choice for normal to oily skin types. It provides a matte finish to minimize the appearance of pores. It's lightweight and feels comfortable on the skin and offers a medium to full application.
Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation
The Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation contains a durable consistency that gives medium to full coverage with a vibrant finish. It's developed with skin-loving ingredients, such as raspberry, apple, and watermelon extracts to nourish and hydrate the skin.
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation
The Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation has a cult following for its wide shade range and simple, matte finish. It offers a buildable and lasting formula to withstand the demands of everyday wear.
Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint
If you prefer a more sheer foundation, the Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint is a great option. It maintains a subtle hint of color and a dewy finish while still allowing your actual skin to show through. It's created with skin-loving ingredients, such as vitamin E and squalane, to improve the overall health and appearance of your skin.
Best Concealers for Everyday Wear
Everyone has those days when they wake up a little less than rejuvenated. Whether it's dark under-eye circles, a pesky pimple, or just some overall redness and unevenness, concealer is a total game changer for achieving a more polished, put-together appearance.
How do you pick the concealer that best fits your needs? Below are the top picks for the best daily concealers. Go ahead and watch one more Netflix episode before bed — these concealers have your dark circles covered!
Maybelline Fit Me Concealer
The Maybelline Fit Me Concealer is a budget-friendly option. It's a fan favorite for its creamy texture and dewy finish. It provides medium coverage and is available in a wide range of shades to suit all skin tones.
Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer
The Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer is top-rated and gives total coverage. The concealer has a hydrating element that brightens and smooths the under-eye area.
Tarte Shape Tape Concealer
The Tarte Shape Tape Concealer is highly pigmented and known for its full and long-lasting formula. It's a favorite among cosmetic artists and makeup enthusiasts for its ability to cover even the most stubborn imperfections.
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Instant Retouch Concealer
Like the brand's popular foundation, the Fenty Beauty Filt'r Instant Retouch Concealer has a wide shade range and a matte finish. It gives medium to full coverage and is sweat-resistant.
Glossier Stretch Concealer
The Glossier Stretch Concealer is a lightweight, buildable concealer with a flexible, stretchy consistency that moves with your skin for a beautiful finish that screams "effortless." The Glossier brand works amazingly for those who want to wear makeup but don't want to actually look like they're wearing anything.
Best Bronzers for Everyday Wear
Who doesn't love a little bit of bronzer to give their skin a natural-appearing glow? Whether you're looking to add some warmth to your complexion or want to look like you just got back from a week in Aruba, bronzer is a fun addition to your daily routine.
From matte finishes to subtle shimmers, here is a collection of top-notch bronzers for every skin tone. There's a bronzer suitable for any look you're trying to achieve. Go ahead: Give your skin a little bit of sun-kissed love.
Nars Laguna Bronzing Powder
The Nars Laguna Bronzing Powder is a classic bronzer with a sheer, buildable recipe producing a dewy glow. It looks beautiful for many skin tones and offers a matte finish. Nars Laguna Bronzing Powder gives effortless warmth to the face and doesn't appear shimmery or sparkly like other bronzers.
Benefit Hoola Bronzer
The Benefit Hoola Bronzer is a fan favorite for its sun-kissed look. The matte finish makes it super blendable and easy to work with. This is a great pick if you’re just dipping your toes into the glimmery world of bronzers.
Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk'r Instant Warmth Bronzer
The Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk'r Instant Warmth Bronzer has a creamy, lasting consistency that provides a natural-appearing sparkle. It's available in multiple shades and has a subtle shimmery finish.
Bobbi Brown Bronze Glow
The Bobbi Brown Bronze Glow contains a mixture of pigments and skin-loving ingredients that smooth and hydrate the skin while adding a hint of golden color. Its smooth ingredients support healthy skin. It's a popular choice among cosmetic professionals and makeup enthusiasts alike.
Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow
The Charlotte Tilbury Filmstar Bronze & Glow contains a two-in-one concoction of a matte bronzer and a shimmery highlighter, allowing you to customize your shine. The bronzer has a glowy, satin finish and provides a subtle warmth to the skin, while the highlighter adds a faint shimmer.
Best Blushes for Simple Everyday Makeup
Whether you want a flush of color or a bold pop of pigment, a good blush is an essential part of any beauty routine. From classic powder formulas to durable cream blushes, below are the top-pick blushes to create a quick and straightforward makeup routine.
NARS Blush in Orgasm
There's no wonder why the NARS Blush in Orgasm is a cult classic. This shade is a universally-flattering peachy-pink color that adds a rosy effect to the cheeks. The powder is easy to blend and has a subtle shimmer that adds a touch of radiance to the skin.
Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso
Milani's baked blush has a lightweight, creamy texture that mixes seamlessly into the skin for a natural-looking finish. The shade “Luminoso” is a warm, orangey-pink color that adds a pop of color to the skin without being overpowering.
Maybelline Fit Me Blush in Rose
The Maybelline Fit Me Blush in Rose is a beautiful and affordable option. The blush is silky, powdery and absorbs easily into the skin and adds a pretty hint of color to any style. The shade “Rose” is a soft, muted pink excellent for day-to-day use.
Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain
The Benefit Cosmetics Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain is a long-lasting product that works overtime as both a blush and a lip stain. It contains a water-based formula that gives the skin a natural-looking rosy color. It stays in place all day. The “Wine” shade complements a wide range of skin tones.
Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Petal Poppin
The Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush has a lightweight, buildable cream consistency that blends flawlessly into the skin. The shade “Petal Poppin" is a soft, cool-toned pink that looks great with any style or skin tone.
Best Eyeshadow Palettes for An Effortless Everyday Look
When it comes to creating a neat appearance, keep eyeshadow fairly neutral and toned down. These palettes offer great nude tones for everyday use. These eyeshadows also blend super easily, creating a polished look quickly and effortlessly.
Urban Decay Naked Palette
The popular Urban Decay Naked Palette features several neutral shades in both satin and shimmer finishes. The shades range from soft beiges to rich browns, and there are plenty of options for creating subtle and neutral eye looks.
The palette includes a mix of warm and cool tones, making it a versatile option for a wide range of skin tones. The eyeshadows are developed with Urban Decay's Pigment Infusion System, which creates rich, creamy, mixable textures.
The palette also comes with a double-ended brush for easy application. The Naked Palette is a big favorite among makeup enthusiasts and professionals; it's known for its high-quality and wearable shades.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette
The Anastasia Beverly Hills Soft Glam Palette wowed the beauty world when it was released in 2018. Known for its stunning mixable formula, this palette features 14 shades – a few of which are fun, spunky colors while the rest are go-to everyday nudes. The palette contains metallics, shimmers, and mattes. These shades last all day and produce hardly any fallout.
Mascaras for Simple Everyday Looks
If you're looking for a single product to spice up your getting-ready routine, mascara takes first place. For many, an everyday makeup look consists of a few applications of mascara.
These mascaras work wonderfully for plumping and defining your lashes, many of which don't cost more than $10.
L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara
L'Oreal is a gold mine in the makeup world – and especially when it comes to mascara. The L'Oreal Voluminous mascara is a drugstore classic known for its ability to add volume and fullness to the lashes. It has a brush with thick, densely-packed bristles that coat the lashes evenly.
Even if you can't find this particular mascara at your local store, there are many other great L'Oreal mascaras to choose from.
Maybelline Great Lash Mascara
Another drugstore classic, the Maybelline Great Lash Mascara, gives length and definition to the lashes. It has a brush with thin, flexible bristles that separate lashes, and it's a great pick-up for everyday wear.
Benefit They're Real! Mascara
The Benefit They're Real! Mascara has a reputation for adding both thickness and clarity to the lashes. Its brush contains a unique, conical head that separates but also curls the lashes, as well as a formula that is designed to lengthen and volumize. It's truly magic in a bottle.
Best Lippies for Simple Everyday Makeup
Lippies –which include lipsticks, glosses, stains, and chapsticks – are a piece of cake to apply. Similar to mascara, many choose to just throw on lippies for their everyday look.
Here are the best lippies for daily use:
Buxom Full-On Lip Cream
The Buxom Full-On Lip Cream has a creamy, non-sticky consistency that provides full coverage and hydration to the lips. The product comes in a range of shades, but the pretty nudes are the best for everyday wear.
Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer
The Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer is developed with a sheer, shimmering recipe that adds a touch of radiance to the lips. It has a comfortable, non-sticky texture and comes in a universally-flattering shade known as Fenty Glow.
Look Your Best Everyday!
Whether you prefer a no-makeup cosmetic style or something a little more polished, there are plenty of options. Having a simple everyday makeup routine saves you time and effort while still allowing you to appear and feel your best. By sticking to a few key products and focusing on natural, subtle looks, creating a versatile makeup routine becomes second nature.
Above all else, though, remember that you don't need a lot for an effortless everyday makeup routine. There is beauty in simplicity.