Style & Beauty
y t u a e B outine R Simplify your
Perhaps it’s a symptom of the pandemic and our changing lifestyle, but women everywhere are craving a more simplified routine, and that extends to beauty. We want to look fresh and polished for Zoom meetings and family outings without spending an hour in front of the bathroom mirror or a fortune on a stockpile of products. Cosmetic companies heard the call and in 2021 leaned in hard to the ‘less is more’ trend.
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Thrive Magazine for Better Living • December 2021
by Kerry Andersen
Multi-tasking
The key to nailing a simplified beauty routine is to seek out multi-tasking products. Consider switching out heavier foundations for a tinted moisturizer with a built-in sunscreen. Products like Iris & Romeo Best Skin Days have become a cult favorite for their efficiency. The five in one formula is a serum, moisturizer, sheer coverage, sunscreen and pollution protector. A new generation of brow products (Glossier Boy Brow, Thrive Causemetics Instant Brown Fix) will thicken, shape, and groom your brows with one easy swipe of a pigmented wand. Maybelline’s Instant Age Rewind concealer is another great example of a product that can be used as a base, highlighter, blemish cover or contour depending on the shade you choose. The twist up sponge makes application quick and easy (and as a bonus, is infused with skin loving goji berry). Most major brands now also feature pots of color and sticks that can be used interchangeably on lips, cheeks, and eyes (Nars The Multiple).
Less is more
Beauty industry icon Bobbi Brown recently founded a whole new brand based on the premise of ‘less is more’. Jones Road Beauty offers up a fivepiece Bobbi Kit that promises you can do your makeup in three minutes or less. The hero product is a Miracle Balm that is touted as the secret to no-makeup makeup and is racking up awards and die-hard fans for the way it easily transforms skin. It can be worn alone or over traditional makeup and used as a bronzer, highlighter, eye shadow, lippie or skin tint. Likewise, Merit beauty launched in 2021 with just seven ‘impossible to mess up’ products inspired by minimalism and made with clean, skin loving ingredients. Their well edited customizable signature kit named Five Minute Morning is an easy way to remake your beauty routine affordably and without fuss. Look for all the major beauty companies to launch balms and get-ready-quick kits to tap into this new trend.