Reducing Redness: My Top Tips

Just like my unbelievable ability to grow facial hair quicker than Mark, which I’ve been lucky enough to inherit from my Dad, also comes a complexion that often rivals that of a tomato. Thanks Dad. If you ever see my Dad, sister and I together we look like a big ol’ pack of cherry tomatoes, whilst my Mum was blessed with a yellow-toned olive skin tone that always tans, never burns. Dammit. Over the years I’ve got to grips with it and even started to embrace it (kinda). One silver lining is that you never really have to bother with blusher. That’s a whole category of makeup that you never have to spend your pennies on, right? Then there’s the fact that if you ever met By Terry she will call your complexion beautiful and ‘rosy’ and it will make you happy for like a week afterwards (have a listen to that happening on our podcast here).

Whilst sometimes it’s nice to have a touch of perkiness to your cheeks, other times it isn’t and I’d quite like to have a complexion that behaves itself when it’s hot or I’m nervous, so over the years I’ve tried and tested various methods which I can deploy whenever things need calming down. If you too are a fellow-beetroot then firstly welcome to the club, and secondly – have a read of this…

There are a couple of things that I try to do day-to-day to dim down any possible redness. The first is to drink a tonne of water. It’s boring and you’ve heard it a million and one times before, but it really does work. Sometimes I get to the end of the day and realise I’ve drunk one glass and my cheeks looks like I’ve got sunburnt. Speaking of sunburn, keeping out of the sun, especially during the warmest parts of the day, wearing SPF everyday and just generally trying to keep cool where you can are all things that I find to help. There’s also something to be said for having a regular skincare routine. I try not to switch things up too much, nor too often and when I do I give just one new thing a go to see how it reacts against my old favourites which I know my skin gets on with.

Products-wise, when it comes to skincare I don’t think I’ve ever truly found items that decrease my redness. Instead they just manage it and don’t exacerbate the issue. My skin is reacting pretty well to the Glossier range at the moment. The Glossier Super Pure Serum seems to lend a helping hand to my redness, although the texture is extremely thin and I much prefer using Super Bounce in my routine, which gives me glow by the bucketload. My other skincare tip would be to use a bit of self-tanner in the evenings. I find that it helps to even out my redness and gives me a less pinky tone. The Charlotte Tilbury Overnight Bronze & Glow Mask, is awesome and again gives oodles of hydration.

For makeup, I like to keep things at a medium-ish coverage and with a fresh and glowy finish. Now the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness Correcting Cream (now available at Selfridges – YAY!), is neither of those things but is hands-down the best product I’ve found at knocking back redness. It’s awesome. It’s sold as a primer, but the coverage is so insanely high that whenever I use it, I use it mostly as a foundation and just pop concealer on any areas that need brightening. Be prepared to do some serious bopping with a BeautyBlender to work it in, but on days where I’m looking particularly red I’m always so impressed with how it performs.

If I don’t need something as heavy duty, I go in with either the Giorgio Armani Power Fabric Foundation (more matte) or the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation (more dewy) as they both have a flattering yellow redness-diffusing tone to them (I use the shade 4). The Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick (I use the shade Shell) is a good one too. It’s extremely high coverage, so I just use it on my cheeks and blend the excess over the rest of my face – a little goes a long way with this stuff. For concealer I like the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer (I use the shade Vanilla) to blend out over any stubborn red areas and for those parts that foundation doesn’t cling to the MAC Mineralise Skinfinish Natural Powder is always a good one to dust on.

A red Rudolph nose, persistent sweating and facial hair? Cheers Dad.

Photos by Lauren Shipley

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