What ever the season, weather, occasion or day, I always opt for a dewy, fresh base that enhances my natural skin, boosts skins luminosity and most of all, lasts all day. The whole concept of using makeup to enhance your natural beauty is something I go by and always use products that not only make my skin look better, they still look like my skin. Since the beauty technique 'strobing' came about, there's been a bit of a hype around glossy cheek bones and dewy skin but this is a look I've been loving since I first had a passion for beauty. As my skin can be a little dry and dehydrated at times, I tend to avoid any kind of product that mattifys my complexion and always stay away from foundations/tinted moisturisers that have the word matte on the bottle. Anything that says glow, illuminating or dewy, and it's mine.

The key to having fresh, healthy looking makeup is having well looked after skin so you have a good canvas to work with. Getting your skincare right is the most important part to a glowing makeup look so ensuring you have cleansed to clean, exfoliated to reveal radiance and moisturised to lock in the moisture are vital steps before you slap on the products. I've been testing out a new routine for glowy skin this week and the results have been more illuminating than ever so here's a little run down of whats been going on my face. 

PREP

To really smooth out my complexion and make sure I've got a canvas that is hydrated, I always go in with a primer. Not only does this lock in the moisture and boost your glow under your foundation choice, it will make your base last even longer. For skin that is hydrated for 16 hours and upholds a subtle glow that you can see is there but doesn't scream disco ball, I've been using my Lancome La Base Hydra Glow which I've spoken about many times on here and still, love. The pink light cream smooths onto moisturised skin beautifully, adding in an extra layer of hydration and really up's your glowing game. The texture of this is incredibly light so your skin is left looking radiant, not greasy. With this on and in place, anything that goes on top is guaranteed to last all day.

EVEN

To colour correct any redness, cover any blemish and to even out my skin tone, then a light tinted moisturiser is my choice of base but to make it even more of a glow giver, I mix it with a small amount of Soap and Glory Hocus Focus which is a pearlescent liquid illuminator, perfect pre foundation or mixed in. For some added coverage and dewiness, I've been using my Vichy Idealia Light BB Cream which is seriously good stuff. The light formula is incredibly easy to work with and blends into the skin beautifully, leaving your face looking radiant, illuminated and perfected. 

HIGHLIGHT

I'm a huge believer in that all makeup looks should be finished off with a touch of highlight either on the cheek bones or all over and for me, highlighter is something I don't go a day without. To create an illusion of sculpted and profound cheek bones, I add a touch of the No7 Instant Radiance Highlighter* which is a cream based, light champagne highlight that is easy to work with and blend into the skin. With a light touch down the nose, on the cupids bow and on my brow bones, the entire look is pieced together. 

ENHANCE

For the full highlighted, illuminated and radiant skin effect then going in with a second highlighter is your best bet. In comparison to the No7 Stick, Benefit High Beam is a much more intense highlight that really catches the light and sculpts ones face so I always dab a few dots of this onto the high points of my face as a last step in the base routine. The pink pearl highlight is incredibly lightweight and easy to work with, it blends onto makeup seamlessly and creates a soft focus, lit from within glow. 

What are your key products for a glowing base?