The £15 Face Challenge: The natural look & Colour wash eyes look

In previous Spring Summer 2017 makeup articles we’ve covered lots of ways to get catwalk looks for less, and now we’re moving on to putting those looks together with a new challenge.

The £15 Face Challenge is some inspiration to help update that makeup bag for the new season, making sure that you end up looking more high end than high street.

It’s one thing to walk into a chemist shop and randomly pile a few £1 and £3 bargain items into your basket, but it’s another thing altogether to create something stylish from what’s available. The challenge is for colour cosmetics, as most of us already have the basics to hand such as foundation, powder and mascara. So that’s eyeshadow, blusher, bronzer, highlighter, lipstick, lipgloss and so on.

Let’s get started with a couple of ideas for the natural look (AKA the Fresh Faced Look, or the No-Makeup Makeup Look)…

This is a pink and pretty way to style the fresh faced look. From left to right:

• MUA Undressed palette, £4.00. Use matte shade 3 to cover the eyelid, and a little of shimmery shade 2 to the middle of the lid. Make eyes sparkle more by adding a bit of the white highlighter shade in the inner corner.
• MUA blusher in Cupcake, £1. Add a bargain-tastic light blush to your cheeks.
• Freedom Pro Highlight in Ambient £3.00. Add a gentle glow to the tops of your cheekbones.
• Carmex tinted lip balm in Pink, £4.49. For a barely-there, healthy tint.

This Spring Summer makeup bag refresh comes in at just £12.49 – look out for 3-for-2 offers at Superdrug or in Boots to cut costs even more. You can also find plenty of other pink-tinted lip balms under the £3.00 mark in both shops.

For the full article about how to get the Natural Look on a budget, visit the main page about this SS17 trend.

This is more of a neutral way to do fresh faced. From left to right:

• Essence All About Nudes palette, £4.00. Enough options here to try a few different looks out for both daytime and evening.
• Essence Satin Blush in Coral 10, £1.00. Great value blusher that’s not too dark and gives you a nice glow.
• ELF Tinted Oil Gloss in Nude Kiss, £7.50. Designer-style lip oil that looks and feels great on.

This comes in at £12.50 total, and you can get a few different looks out of it.

Bring the price down further by switching the ELF product for a Rimmel Oh My Gloss Oil Tint, £5.99, or an Essence Sheer & Shine Lipstick in shade 03, 09, 10 or 12 for £2.00 (yes, that makeup bag SS17 refresh could be as low as £7.00 total and you’d still look great).

Now on to the high fashion Colour Wash Eyes look. It’s important to hunt down a good quality eyeshadow for this one, which isn’t always easy on the high street (don’t worry, I’ve done it for you…)

This look is inspired by the SS17 collections from Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs, where the models had purple, burgundy or dark pink eyes. It’s a minimal look apart from the eyeshadow so you don’t need too many things to pull it together with panache. From left to right:

• NYX Lid Lingerie in Evening Spell, £6.00. Go as sheer or as bold as you like with one of 12 different shades. Wear a tiny sheered-out amount as a smudgy eyeliner for the daytime, or layer it on over the whole lid for a big night out. Then just add some lengthening mascara and you’re done.
• Boots Natural Collection Blushed Cheeks blusher in Pink Cloud, £2.00. It’s been around for years and it’s still great value for creating a natural looking flush on the cheeks.
• NYX Round Lipstick in Pure Nude, £4.00. Moisturising, easy to wear, and several nude shades available to suit all skintones. Just add a dab to even out lip tone and you’re done.

The whole look comes in at £11.99. For the Anna Sui SS17 look, try a sheer purple / wine colour lipgloss like Collection Lock & Hold gloss in Beatbox, £2.99, to get a tinted lip.

This final £15 Makeup Challenge face is inspired by Balmain’s SS17 bronzy rock chick beach girl looks. Yes, I’m giving you Balmain On A Budget realness, ladies, and I will be rocking this one all summer long. Not bad for just £13.99! From left to right:

• Maybelline Color Tattoo gel eyeshadow in On and On Bronze, £4.99. It lasts and lasts, a lot like a very similar product from Mac. Smudge it on for that grunge-meets-beach look.
• MUA Intense black glitter eyeliner in Starry Night, £1.00. Smudge this on too, it doesn’t need to be perfect.
• I Heart Makeup Chocolate Bronze & Glow, £6.00. Get a designer-look sculpt and highlight for that sunkissed glow.
• I Heart Makeup Wow! Lipgloss in Sunshine Today Please (peachy) or Naked All Day (nude), £2.00. A really nicely formulated non-sticky gloss that’s perfect for creating an easy pout.

Don’t forget the current Superdrug 3-for-2 offer. To get the best discount, buy the three most expensive items together then go back and buy the £1 eyeliner separately later. That way you get £2 off (free lipgloss) instead of £1 off (it will default to the cheapest item, the £1 eyeliner, if you buy them all together). The total price if you shop smart will be cut down to only £11.99 – go to it!

If you’d like to cut costs even further, try an MUA single pearl eyeshadow in Bronze (may need eyeshadow primer underneath to get the staying power of the Maybelline), £1.00, or a Collection Bronze Glow in Light, £4.19. Not bad, eh?

For the full article about the Colour Wash Eyes look and how to do this trend on a budget, visit the main page.

If you enjoyed this article you might be interested in the other posts in this series, including The Bold Lip Look and Feline Flick Eyes for Spring and Summer 2017 makeup trends.

I hope you’ve had fun with these new looks for the coming season. Let us know which one’s your favourite.