Whether you’re heading to Glastonbury or another festival in the summer lineup, you don’t need to spend yonks in your tent to perfect festival beauty. Here are 5 faff-free festival makeup ideas…
Ahh the great British summer festival. Who even knows what’s in store when you book your ticket, hop on a train, plane or automobile, crawl into the venue and pitch your tent. Will there be torrential rain? Mudslides? Heatwave? How can this many people be wearing the same flower crown? Where’s your tent again? Why did the gourmet taco cost so much? When did you lose your welly? And so on. As much as you may had have aspirations of creating the perfect unicorn makeup look or adorning your face with an intricate web of gems, it just ain’t happening when the only mirror you can access is in a portaloo (don’t go there) and your tent is akin to Thailand in humidity. With festival realities in mind, here’s a few straightforward makeup ideas, one of which involves other people doing it for you, which is just ideal really.
Stick it on
You could make like an artiste and meticulously paint a pastoral scene on your face...or you could come with a ready made masterpiece that you can apply directly, no matter how bleary eyed you may be come day three. Pack some Face Lace , from £4.95, in a design that appeals (the new SS17 collection is charmingly vintage in theme), apply where you fancy and rush off to see the bands you came here for. From simple stars and dots to holographic “eyeliner” and ready made silver eyebrows (you never know), designs range from the classic to the cute to the quirky, and if you’re feeling flash you can even commission your own bespoke design (POA) to ensure that you don’t blend into the crowd. To summarise, it’s a low to no effort option that’s somehow also high impact. Speaking of which…
Be bold
The fresh crop of lip stains and liquid lipsticks hitting the market remove the need to be constantly touching up lipstick, which makes applying one in an ‘out there’ shade far less risky. A festival/ fancy dress party is probably the only time you’d whip out the teal hued Ciaté Liquid Velvet in Envy , £17, for instance, but actually you may be swayed to apply it to more life situations when you marvel at its teeth whitening, skin flattering effect. I’ll leave that with you, but slicked on in the morning it will survive much cider drinking and burrito eating, and thanks to added hyaluronic acid it’s nowhere near as drying as many a chalky liquid lipstick.
Team with a sprinkle of fine textured glitter around eyes or over cheekbones- the new festival themed Topshop Eyeshadow Monos , £7.50, are available in catch-the-light ethereal shades that won’t compete with a statement lip.
Get lit
Not in that way- we’re a healthy and beauty site after all. We’re talking the delightfully 80s 3ina UV Collection , from £4.95 . The collection of creamy shadows (bosh them on with a finger- done), liners, glosses and even a blusher are fluoro by day and glow bright by night thanks to added UV pigment. Essentially, the day-to-night transformation is taken care of without the need to traipse back to your teepee (the black liner that turns electric blue under UV light is particularly cosmic), and you can choose a feature to spotlight or you know, just go all out. The idea of an otherwise “normal” coral blusher becoming an acid orange as soon as you enter the dance tent thrills me no end.
Play it safe
If you’re more of a traditionalist in the makeup stakes, and don’t want to bend for the sake of a weekend in a field surrounded by fairies, people dressed as fish fingers (surely that will catch on post general election) or other fancy dressers, stick to your guns with the long-lasting basics.
Apply SportFX Cool Down Primer and Recovery Gel , £9.99, pre concealer and sunscreen to soothe, smooth and seal down makeup (it’s designed to keep everything in place throughout the sweatiest of workouts), before a quick whip round with Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer, £19.50. It’s not cheap (or shy of declaring its amazingness), but it is heavy duty enough to cover blemishes, blotches, bites and burns without looking caked on, plus the water and humidity resistant formula is beer, rain and emotion-proof.
If you feel lost without a swipe of liner, Kat Von D Tattoo Liquid Eyeliner , £16, is akin to an actual inking without the pain or total permanence, but I reckon it could do you the weekend if you’re game for a bit of rock and roll smudging.
Finish with a dab of multipurpose lip and cheek colour and a waterproof mascara and you’re made.
Surrender
If the thought of wanging a mascara wand around a cramped campsite is just too much, but you still want a little something, consider a lash treatment before you leave. Lash Perfect Lash Lift , from £25, curls and elevates lashes from the lashline, rather than further down the lash as in some treatments, for ultimate ‘wide awake’ credentials, with a tint creating fullness and definition. If extensions are more your style, Daxita at the Harvey Nichols Beauty Lounge can’t be beaten for her long-lasting, bespoke lash service- mine lasted a full (and I mean FULL) three months through party season. If your budget doesn’t stretch to London’s lash queen, blink brow brow’s 2 Week Cluster Lashes , £60, enhance your natural lashes far more than a mascara would, without looking remotely fake.
Many festivals also have onsite beauty facilities to help you to feel less like an unwashed scarecrow and reduce the need for prior organisation/ feeling compelled to bring your dressing table with you. Benefit are pulling out all of the stops with Glastonbrow, a drive-through brow and beauty bar that will not only serve to relieve the boredom of the snail-like slither into Glastonbury festival itself, but provide you with brow waxes, a stash of free mini Benefit products and the chance to win a year’s supply of Benefit loot (upload a picture of yourself at the drive-through with the hashtag #BenefitBrows for the chance to win).
If you’re heading to Wilderness, things get wholesome and holistic with Neal’s Yard providing Signature Organic Facials , £65, onsite, to cleanse you of the previous day’s makeup and gunk, while The Sanctuary at Secret Garden Party has a Pamper Parlour, Secret Salon and Shower and Shine service that will leave you clean and groomed, but do bear in mind that the grime is all part of the fun. You’re here for the bands, not the blow dries.
Want to prevent skin flare-ups during festival season? Here’s how to survive if you have sensitive skin
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