Chanel PR Makeup Artist Toni Malt shares the importance of skincare prep and provides a simple step-by-step tutorial on bronzing and highlighting for anyone to follow along. Photo courtesy of Chanel
With each passing year, the distinction between health and beauty becomes more and more blurred. The latest product launches from the world’s leading cosmetic houses are starting to tout all-natural ingredients and healing properties while still offering the same, if not more, coverage. Recognizing the strong overlap between looking good and feeling good, Chanel is leading the way towards a wellness-focused future with its innovative Hydra Beauty skincare range. Doing far more than just moisturizing, the hydration-packed line of masques, serums, gels, and crèmes protects your skin from pollution, fatigue, and over-drying while also energizing it for the day ahead. Don’t let its lightweight texture fool you; the ultra-nourishing formula is packed with nutrient-rich, active ingredients carefully selected for their extensive health benefits, including Mademoiselle Chanel’s favorite flower, the camellia, which resides at the heart of the collection.
While the Hydra Beauty products help create a state of radiance from underneath, achieving a natural sun-kissed shimmer on top has never been easier than with Chanel’s Les Beiges collection. Inspired by the warmth of the French Riviera, this limited-edition series of sheer liquid highlighters and illuminating powders are key to enhancing your summer glow with a flawless finish.
We picked Chanel PR makeup artist Toni Malt‘s brain for her top tips on all things skincare and complexion-based in an exclusive tutorial at the virtual Vogue Arabia Future Beauty Festival last month. Using the two aforementioned Chanel Beauty collections, the Middle East’s leading celebrity and editorial makeup artist helped us relearn the basics of skincare and master an everyday makeup look with her foolproof bronzing and highlighting techniques. “Without the proper skincare, I can not do makeup,” revealed Malt before diving into the demonstration. “Never ever underestimate the power of skincare and what it does for your self, your soul, and even just giving yourself a sense of achievement.”
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Follow the steps below or the video above for Malt’s easy-to-follow guide on the proper way to prep your skin before applying your makeup and the three major bronzing and highlighting faux pas to avoid when taking on the sometimes intimidating task of contouring.
How to prep your skin
Step 1
Start with the Hydra Beauty Micro Serum. Serums always come first because those are longterm skincare solutions when you’re trying to reduce wrinkles, unevenness in your skin tone, etc. Apply the serum all over your face and then use a tapping motion, which is a century-old ritual that stimulates blood flow to aid cell rejuvenation. When you do the tapping motion, you’re draining excess water from the face, which means you’re taking the first step of contouring.
Step 2
Apply the Hydra Beauty Micro Gel Yeux. It’s better to apply this eye cream before your moisturizer to give your skin extra time to absorb it. Eye creams are key because it helps stop your concealer from cracking or looking cakey, so give that area a lot of love and a lot of hydration.
Step 3
People are shocked when they see the amount of moisturizer I apply. The Hydra Beauty Micro Crème has loads of hydration in it and you need to hydrate your skin properly to get the real payoff of your makeup products for the entire day.
Step 4
The final step is the Huile de Jasmine Revitalizing Facial Oil. By applying the oil last, it helps lock in the moisture. This is a dry oil so don’t be scared to apply it all over your face; it won’t leave you feeling oily or looking sweaty. The oil allows the foundation to glide onto the skin and keeps it movable throughout the day, which is why it never cakes up and your foundation will look as beautiful in the morning as it does in the evening.
Chanel Hydra Beauty skincare products. Photo courtesy of Chanel.
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How to highlight
I prefer cream and liquid highlighters because it bonds with the skin and looks like true luminosity whereas powder tends to sit on the skin. The Les Beiges Summer of Glow collection has two color options for its Healthy Glow Highlighting Fluid: one is slightly bronze and the other is pearly pink. When using cream or liquid highlighters, it’s best to apply it with your fingers so pump a little on the back of your hand and then blend it into your finger. Place a bit of it on the top of your cheeks and blend that into the skin forward to the end of the eye. The nice thing about creams and liquids is that they’re so easy to fix.
Mistake #1: Applying too much on textured skin
If you have any texture to your skin, such as pores or scars, don’t apply a big swipe of highlighter. Keep it very, very small because highlighters emphasize skin texture and you want to be careful you’re not emphasizing your pores.
Mistake #2: Pulling your highlighter down too far into the face
What you’re trying to do with a highlighter is lift your face. When you pull the highlighter all the way into the middle of the face, you’re not lifting and bringing youth to the face but dragging the face down and actually aging it. So always stop your highlighter at the ends of the eye and upwards.
Mistake #3: Mismanaging how to resize your features
Some people are afraid of putting highlighter on their chin because they think it looks too shiny but these products are so light. When you place a highlight on the chin, it makes the chin look bigger so only apply highlighter to the highest point of your chin. However, if you have a small chin and want to make it look bigger, then go ahead and apply more highlighter on that area or a lighter foundation as a matte highlighting product to help you manipulate the proportions. Just be aware wherever you place the highlighter, it will appear bigger in volume so you can increase or decrease the size of your features just by the size of the highlighter you use.
Les Beiges Summer of Glow collection. Photo courtesy of Chanel
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How to bronze
One of Chanel’s most iconic bronzing products is the Les Beiges Healthy Glow Bronzing Cream in Soleil Tan Bronze Universal. Once you’re done applying the cream bronzer, set it with the Les Beiges Healthy Glow Illuminating Powder. I love using more than one product because building with two colors and two types of products is always way more beautiful and individualized. Either use two different colors of bronzer or use a base bronzer and set it with a different product on top to give it more dimension.
Mistake #1: Only using bronzer as a contour
The cheek has three parts to it: the contour area, the blusher area, and the highlighter area at the top. When bronzing, what you want to do is combine the contour and blusher regions so that bronzing on the cheek is slightly bigger than a contour.
Mistake #2: Not bronzing the entire face
Your whole face naturally bronzes so when you’re bronzing, don’t just limit it to your cheeks. Go up around your temples onto the forehead but don’t apply it in the middle. Add a tiny bit to the top of your forehead but not across the forehead. Then take it down around the sides where you go close to the ear and then down to the jawbone because this is where you tan. Build the product a little. Go down the cheekbone and use the bronzer to connect the contour and blusher areas before applying all along the jawbone. On the chin, apply the bronzer from underneath and pull slightly upwards for a natural-looking tan. Brush whatever is left very lightly across your nose on both sides.
Mistake #3: Leaving the sun-kissed look unfinished
Engage the whole face when you’re bronzing, not just the contour areas or it’ll look unfinished. If you really want to look like you’ve been in the sun, you have to pretend you’ve actually done so. When you’ve been in the sun all day, your skin is warm from the heat and the heat brings a little bit of a flush to your face. So, when I bronze, I always take a little amount of blush as well and slowly warm up the bronzer a bit in the front of the face. As soon as you see the color warming up, stop.
What’s important when you’re applying blusher to the front of the cheeks is to keep a thumbs width distance between your nostril and your cheek bare of blusher. Make sure you stay away from the sides of your nose and don’t connect that area to the rest of your cheek with blush because then you’re separating the eyes from the rest of the face. You can also warm up your chin and forehead areas a tiny bit, but be careful with the color.
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