Beauty Trends

The No Make Up Make Up Need-to-Knows

Last Updated: 20/04/2022

Don’t take our word for it but… does a cluttered vanity table with half-squeezed tubes, bottle lids scattered, compact {powders} open and {brushes} noisily rolling scream ‘spring fling’ to you? Something about brighter skies and warmer days just makes us want to pack away the heavy liquids and simplify our make up routines. Call it a beauty spring clean if you like. 

Whether you’re getting ready for an impromptu lunch in the sun or have a quick meeting to attend with your manager-turned-friend, here’s our list of cult-beloved make up products that’ll spruce up your glow-to everyday glam.

Brown skin girl with beautiful braids flaunts side profile to reveal glowing, supple skin wearing light make up.

Taking over every social media channel by storm, no-make-up make up calls for minimum effort that delivers maximum radiant results. Categorised by ultra-lightweight formulas that mimic skin, this internet sensation has been around long enough to surpass all other trends as a true less-is-more lifestyle. Sported by off-duty supermodels, make up minimalists and and on-the-go beauty devotees, this look is perfect for the days when all you want is some light coverage and flushed cheeks. Starting with our base — the most important part — and needing absolutely no introduction at all is the NARS {Light Reflecting Foundation}. Home to some of the most coveted complexion staples in make up bags worldwide, this innovative blend of kind-to-skin ingredients instantly blurs imperfections to promote a smoother-looking base. Reimagine your skin but better thanks to its moisturising biomimetic oats, Japanese lilyturf and cacao peptides that work together to give you that lit-from-within radiance.  

The great thing (and probably our favourite thing) about this foundation is that the opportunities are endless; feel free to be as sheer as you’d like or go in for a second or third layer without fear of a cake-like finish. Trusting the glow-cess just got better and we’re obsessed!

Curly haired brown skin girl flaunts bronzed skin with a 3/4 side profile and holds a Saie Beauty product in hand.

Subtly carve out some definition with Milk Makeup’s {Bionic Bronzers} for the dreamiest, just-got-back-from-holiday glow. Take a trip to the tropics and send postcards stamped with chiselled cheeks using this wonderfully hydrating liquid formula. Fusing together thee hydrating hero, {hyaluronic acid} with mushroom extract, there’s no such thing as a muddy, pore-revealing finish here. Think: dewy, supple sunkissed skin. The girls that get it, get it but what do we know? We’re only beauty experts and devotees, after all.

Now that we’ve laid down our flawless base, it needs a splash of colour. Okay, maybe a bit more than a splash… Enter: Huda Beauty’s {Cheeky Tint Blush Sticks}. Flirtatious and fun, these glide-on encased sticks deliver glossy glow to your cheeks — and lips if you’re feeling fancy — to take your beauty up a few notches. Laced with skin-softening lychee extract and vitamin E, this is where make-up-meets-skin-care and you can enjoy this colourful rendezvous for up to nine hours! Woah! Don’t be shy to swipe over the tip of your nose too for a gorgeous just-been-pinched look… 

Freckled faced woman wears intensely pink blush while natural skin hues peak through make up.

After all of this creamy, oh-so-dewy dreaminess that you’ve created, this next step is to lock it all in with a setting powder that’s light-as-air. Hmm…our beauty senses are tingling and we reckon this calls for Saie’s {Airset Radiant Loose Setting Powder}. Saying no to cakey, one-dimensional finishes, this squalane-infused and incredibly weightless cream-powder delivers velvety flawlessness that’s both nourishing and radiant. Melting into your seamless base like butter without putting your im-pore-fections on blast, this skin-enhancing powder is quite literally the porefect go-to for the smoothest barely-there look.

We don’t know about you, but our make up routines just got a whole lot dewier *drools*…

SHOP MAKE UP >>



Precious Sodimu

Precious Sodimu

Midweight Copywriter

Precious is a Midweight Copywriter at Cult Beauty. Sticking her teeth into all things make up and skin care, Precious is always on the hunt for products that work perfectly together (while remaining loyal to her can’t-do-without staples). Like most beauty devotees, Precious doesn’t go a day without her trusted SPF 50+ and is a self-proclaimed fragrance-phile. Away from the vanity mirror, Precious can be found sat with a good book (probably by her favourite author, Toni Morrison) or nurturing her nostalgia with a quality animated film – namely Shrek.