The Natural Makeup Challenge: A Evolution of Looks and Products

As I sit down to write this article, I'm reminded of how far my approach to makeup has come since 2017. It's been an incredible journey of self-discovery and experimentation with various techniques and products. The natural makeup challenge has become a staple in my beauty routine, and I'm excited to share it with you.

For those who may be new here, the natural makeup challenge is all about embracing a effortless, no-makeup look that enhances your features without looking too done-up. It's not just about slapping on some tinted moisturizer and calling it a day; it's about understanding what works for your skin tone, texture, and personal style.

Personally, I've always been drawn to full-coverage products, but in 2017, I was in denial about the power of natural makeup. I thought that a full-coverage look was the only way to go, and I spent countless hours perfecting my art. However, as I delved deeper into the world of makeup, I began to realize that there's more to it than just layering on product after product.

One of the biggest game-changers for me was learning about the importance of primer and setting powder. A good primer can make all the difference in creating a smooth canvas for your makeup, while setting powder helps to keep everything in place throughout the day. I've since made it a point to use these products as part of my daily routine.

Another key aspect of natural makeup is blending, blending, blending! This may seem like a no-brainer, but trust me, it makes all the difference in creating a seamless finish. I've invested in some amazing brushes and sponges that have revolutionized the way I apply my makeup.

Now, when it comes to the eyes, I've found that a simple swipe of mascara can make all the difference. However, for those with stubborn straight lashes like mine, a waterproof mascara is essential in keeping my lashes curled and looking luscious. I've also started experimenting with individual falsies, which have been a game-changer in creating a more dramatic look without looking too done-up.

On the lips, I've discovered that a lip balm or lip gloss can add a pop of color to my look without looking too heavy-handed. My go-to product for this is a cream highlighter, which gives me a subtle glow that's perfect for everyday wear. I've also been using some amazing tinted moisturizers and concealers to even out my complexion.

As we move into 2018, I'm excited to share with you my updated approach to the natural makeup challenge. Gone are the days of heavy foundation and powder; instead, I'm embracing a more effortless approach that enhances my features without looking too done-up. In this article, I'll take you through each step of my look, from tinted moisturizer to lip balm, highlighting some of my favorite products along the way.

One of the most significant changes in my approach has been the rise of natural, wearable products. Gone are the days of heavy, cakey foundations; instead, I'm loving lightweight, buildable formulas that provide the coverage I need without looking too done-up. Some of my favorite brands for this type of product include Glossier and Fenty Beauty.

Another trend that's gained popularity in recent years is the emphasis on skincare and self-care. As someone who's struggled with acne and hyperpigmentation in the past, I've learned the importance of investing in a solid skincare routine. From face masks to serums, I'm excited to share some of my favorite products that have made a difference in my skin.

But enough about the products – let's talk about the process itself. For me, the natural makeup challenge is all about embracing a more relaxed, effortless approach to beauty. It's not just about slapping on some makeup and calling it a day; it's about taking the time to understand what works for your skin tone, texture, and personal style.

As I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite parts of the natural makeup challenge is blending. This may seem like a no-brainer, but trust me, it makes all the difference in creating a seamless finish. Whether you're using liquid foundation or cream blush, the key is to blend, blend, blend!

Of course, not everyone will agree with my approach to natural makeup – and that's okay! The beauty of this challenge lies in its flexibility and adaptability. Whether you're a die-hard full-coverage fan or a proponent of more subtle, natural looks, there's room for everyone here.

As we head into the final stretch of Winter Wonder Week 2018, I'm excited to give away some amazing prizes to our loyal subscribers. From full coverage products to skincare sets and makeup gift cards, we've got you covered!

Before I sign off, I want to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It's been an incredible year, and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you who's joined me on this journey.

As I look back on the past 12 months, I'm reminded of just how far we've come as a community. We've shared countless tutorials, tips, and tricks – and through it all, we've learned to love ourselves more than anything else.

So here's to you, my lovelies! May your holiday season be filled with joy, laughter, and all the beauty products you could ever want.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello guys it's me Nikki it's the saddest wonderful day today is the finale of 2018 s a winter wonder week and I wanted to go out with a different type of video that you might have expected from me if you were here for last year's winter Wonder week you know that I opened winter one a week 2017 with the natural makeup challenge today's video is gonna be my natural makeup challenge hello my name is Nikki and I am a full-coverage glow Queen addict at the time I I know I know I saw the comments I saw the opinions I was like this is natural to me like you are talking to the most full coverage Queen out there and I will not live the sheer life I won't basically I was just doing like a full coverage routine but using a little bit less product now one year later I want to revisit that video and see what has changed in a year you know your girl got a year older she went through a lot and there have been a lot of occasions where I just didn't want to wear a full beat but I also didn't want to look like a train wreck and this one's slowly but surely tinted moisturizer entered my life sheer concealer entered my life a daytime appropriate face entered my life today I want to do the natural makeup challenge 2.0 the the natural makeup that I know works for me on days where I don't want to wear a lot as always don't forget to stay tuned to words at the end of this video for a special giveaway and I will promise you that today's one is a very special one since it's the finale of winter one a week and without any further ado if you want to get natural with me baby then keep on watching hey guys it's me Nicky hello so welcome to the most wonderful week alright the first thing I'm gonna do is to walk on mister all jokes aside the first thing i'ma do is prime and I'm gonna be pregnant well there's two options well there's a lot of options but it comes to makeup but these are my two options right now what I like to do when going for a more natural look is really glowing it up because you want to blind them to sort of like not make them see that you're not wearing all that much makeup I still stand by that I was so addicted to the beat that I was just I was like in denial I was like no no this is this is sheer alright so I still stand by what I said about giving the skin a lot of glow and illumination to sort of hide the fact that we're not wearing a lot I still stand by that I just kind of twist and turned it before I actually go in with makeup products I do know you know that I feel like skincare is so so so important like a good skin regimen will be 50% of your work I know I already addressed these products in the first one - one a week of this year but I just want to reiterate that this serum absolute effects by Nora bode and this QMS relaxer for a mask have saved my skin if you want to hear me talk more about this please go watch that video but I feel like this combo has made my dry crusty skin into I want to say heaven because that's pushing it too far but I would say entering the gates of heaven what I want to do is conceal definitely my under eyes and like any like shadowy stuff on my face so I'm gonna be starting off with the Charlotte Tilbury retouching oh my god oh my god listen when I used this back then I hated it don't get me wrong it's a beautiful product and we're actually using it again today but back then I was using it against my will lately I've fallen in love with this baby right here this is a Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and I feel like everyone knows those but this one is illuminating so this has a shine slash glow to it I am in the color of course I'm fareth one this is one and one bare radiance I you a tiny bit of this I could use this but I feel like I've come a great far long way so I take that and I apply it with a brush I know shocking this is the Real Techniques instant pop cheek brush I pick it up and I first place it on where I would kind of highlight my face and on my forehead then picking up a little bit more chin nose lip jaw so I'm kind of just you know putting it all over the face and then I start tapping it in using that brush it is a little bit warmer than my skin tone which I don't mind I'm just using this for the overall glow and the the almost tan like finish it gives me and I feel like as long as you keep like buffing this in tapping this in making sure that everything is sitting well on the skin that leaves you with a sort of holiday glow like you just came back from a holiday you're rested you're a little bit tan you're having the time of your life and I just love how this makes my skin look and how it makes me feel I feel a little bit more confident it gives me that boost of color but it also gives me that healthy shiny glow that I feel always works now is the time to bust out that Charlotte Tilbury retouch her again I'm in the color one and I take a little bit and I just point this where I feel a little bit more insecure when I have more redness surrounding my jaw I'll just kind of stipple it on a little bit I'll let it dry now like I said a trick to make more sheer products more full coverage is to let them sit and dry now you can do a little bit on your under eyes I don't mind my dark circles all that much lately but I'm just gonna cover it up a little bit nothing too much if you're all about making your sheer products a little bit more intense a trick is to get a little fan like this and dry in the product faster this is just gonna save you time now I'll leave it totally up to you if you want to work this retouch her concealer in with a brush or a sponge I've been liking just using my fingers patting the product in and because it's such a sheer product it's just gonna hide sort of like the the unevenness it's not gonna solve all your life problems but it is gonna solve today's battle see how it cleared out the skin and made it look a lot more rested and calm but it still looks like skin so he goes for the under eyes just tapping that in making sure it blends and becomes one with the skin now like I said I feel like having that healthy glow really tricks everyone into thinking that you are looking radiant healthy and stunting so to further enhance that I've been wearing the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood flawless filter in number two I've been raving about this so much on my Instagram stories and my snapchat you know how you have like the supermodels and they always have like that perfect you know it's almost like they were born with that perfect skin they have like that beautiful wet radiance that glow it's this I pop this on my cheekbones it has like that the tiniest feather of coverage I put it on the center of my forehead the top of the nose and a little bit on the chin I start by tapping in the forehead dot using a little brush and just using tapping motions I never bust in or swipe with my brush because I feel like that's going to disrupt the base again and give me more redness whereas I'm really fighting against my redness here the brush I'm using is a t48 brush by morphe and see what kind of luscious beautiful do that gives you and then lastly the ones on the cheekbones now this is optional again I like doing this because I like having a little bit of a more long-wear finish this one is a highlighter by devious place that's called the tribe of volume three and just taking like picking up the sole lightest that you like you barely see it hiding it over top of where I applied that glowy flawless filter stuff by Charlotte Tilbury and that's just gonna lock it down for me so I don't have to worry that it's gonna fade throughout the day all right now if that feels like too much of a glowy face there is face powder to help you out this one is by Mac but you can use anything powder that you like I like this one because it has a little bit of coverage in it and I take this Anastacio a.22 brush I packed the flat side in and I'm just gonna tame the forehead a little bit notice how I'm like working around the glow not directly on top of it because I want to keep that glow but I kind of want to tame it one portion that I always put powder to is like right next to the nose and under the eye this just it makes it look more see how this looks a little bit like an oil slick but here it looks tamed down then I also set right here under the size of the mouth and can we just already look at the difference from this face compared to my face last year like last year it was a full coverage beat and this year you know of course there's product on my face I mean we went in with highlighters and we went into powders but overall this looks like healthy beautiful stunning skin without the cake all right not to be totally upfront and honest with you this stage of the face is usually where I stop the only thing I will do is spray a spoolie with some strong hold hairspray and push my brow hairs up because I feel like that just makes it look a little bit more you know put together so take a strong hold hairspray and a spoolie and just brush those hairs into place now last year I would have gone in with a tinted brow gel but I feel like because I give my brows tinted by my mom every now and then like every month every two months to make them darker like we actually dye my brow hairs I feel like that gives me enough definition I feel like this is gonna sound weird coming from me but I feel like as soon as I go in with a pencil or a brow gel or like a brow pen it feels to try it if I'm doing my brows I rather have my full carved out brow my full coverage brow for me it feels like it doesn't look right so I rather just brush my hairs up and leave it at that or do the whole magic now for lashes and eyes it's sort of the same feel for me when I wear this natural skin look out I don't do anything to my eyes I just really really super curl my lashes because I feel like that makes me look more awake now because this is a video and I do want to give you a couple of options curl your lashes to make sure they're up and curled and then go in with a waterproof mascara if you have stubborn straight lashes like I do what a proof mascara is your hero because it will hold your curl now I personally don't put any mascara on my lower lashes when wearing a look like this because I feel like it's too much but if you love that go ahead and do that now optionally would be to add some individual falsies these are by urban decay and they come in two like strands of three so it like gets the job done quicker shall I know I just want to keep this as realistic as possible this is how I do my face as an actual natural makeup challenge this is how I would wear it and to be honest I can't be bothered putting on falsies when I'm doing a look like this we're saving falsies for the glam now what you're wearing on the lips is totally up to you you can go for a lip balm you can go for a lip gloss lipstick lip pencil anything you like I have been wearing this every single day this is my pepper grass and this is actually a cream highlighter this one is the skin fetish highlighter bomb duo and the color nude and look how much is left there's there's nothing left literally I press my lips into this highlighter to get something out of it so that's what I do now literally pressing my lips into the tube so get some lip product out la takes down the redness a little bit it makes them a bit more nude but it also gives them a beautiful shine and then the other side is a bomb and look nothing left and I take the bomb just a little bit on my finger type it on top and that is a super like healthy shiny balmy lip that is what I do that is how I wake up and when I don't want to wear makeup this is what I do I wear tinted moisturizer a little bit of concealer a little bit of powder I push my brows up I push my lashes up put a little sheen on my lips and that's it and this might be a lot - a lot of people out there but coming from the most full coverage junkie this is we've come a long way and that guys is what I believe to be a way more realistic take on the natural makeup challenge we're in 2017 I was in denial and thought it was the to look whereas I feel like this actually is a lot more natural and wearable definitely let me know in the comments down below which side you prefer the 2017 side or today's 2018 side definitely in the comments down below let me know some of your favorite more natural products because now that I've found out about this whole new like life I've been a lot more interested in like more wearable products I should I should probably do a video where a full-coverage addict me tries glossier products for today's winter wonder winner my final giveaway of a winter wonder week and that doesn't mean there won't be a giveaway in the next video but for winter Wonder week the final giveaway is that you can win every single product used in this look plus you get a $500 makeup gift card and not one not two not three but five glow babies will win this prize so you get this full look and you get $500 to shop some makeup so definitely enter this giveaway by of course being subscribed to my channel giving this video a thumbs up and leaving a comment down below about anything that's it Michael Oh babies thank you so much for watching winter Wonder week 2018 this is going up on Christmas Eve and I just want to wish you a very Merry Christmas I hope you spend your days with your loved ones 2018 has been a very rocky year and this will be the first Christmas without our little brother please promise me that you spend this Christmas or this ordinary Monday if you don't you know celebrate Christmas please promise me that you spend it with your loved ones with your friends with your family with the people that matter to you and tell them that be vocal about it like let's all be a little bit nicer to each other you know and it never hurts to tell someone you love them thank you so much for always believing in me and having my back and this is not the last video of December 2018 I will be back I love you so so much and hopefully I will see you guys on the next one bye guyshello guys it's me Nikki it's the saddest wonderful day today is the finale of 2018 s a winter wonder week and I wanted to go out with a different type of video that you might have expected from me if you were here for last year's winter Wonder week you know that I opened winter one a week 2017 with the natural makeup challenge today's video is gonna be my natural makeup challenge hello my name is Nikki and I am a full-coverage glow Queen addict at the time I I know I know I saw the comments I saw the opinions I was like this is natural to me like you are talking to the most full coverage Queen out there and I will not live the sheer life I won't basically I was just doing like a full coverage routine but using a little bit less product now one year later I want to revisit that video and see what has changed in a year you know your girl got a year older she went through a lot and there have been a lot of occasions where I just didn't want to wear a full beat but I also didn't want to look like a train wreck and this one's slowly but surely tinted moisturizer entered my life sheer concealer entered my life a daytime appropriate face entered my life today I want to do the natural makeup challenge 2.0 the the natural makeup that I know works for me on days where I don't want to wear a lot as always don't forget to stay tuned to words at the end of this video for a special giveaway and I will promise you that today's one is a very special one since it's the finale of winter one a week and without any further ado if you want to get natural with me baby then keep on watching hey guys it's me Nicky hello so welcome to the most wonderful week alright the first thing I'm gonna do is to walk on mister all jokes aside the first thing i'ma do is prime and I'm gonna be pregnant well there's two options well there's a lot of options but it comes to makeup but these are my two options right now what I like to do when going for a more natural look is really glowing it up because you want to blind them to sort of like not make them see that you're not wearing all that much makeup I still stand by that I was so addicted to the beat that I was just I was like in denial I was like no no this is this is sheer alright so I still stand by what I said about giving the skin a lot of glow and illumination to sort of hide the fact that we're not wearing a lot I still stand by that I just kind of twist and turned it before I actually go in with makeup products I do know you know that I feel like skincare is so so so important like a good skin regimen will be 50% of your work I know I already addressed these products in the first one - one a week of this year but I just want to reiterate that this serum absolute effects by Nora bode and this QMS relaxer for a mask have saved my skin if you want to hear me talk more about this please go watch that video but I feel like this combo has made my dry crusty skin into I want to say heaven because that's pushing it too far but I would say entering the gates of heaven what I want to do is conceal definitely my under eyes and like any like shadowy stuff on my face so I'm gonna be starting off with the Charlotte Tilbury retouching oh my god oh my god listen when I used this back then I hated it don't get me wrong it's a beautiful product and we're actually using it again today but back then I was using it against my will lately I've fallen in love with this baby right here this is a Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and I feel like everyone knows those but this one is illuminating so this has a shine slash glow to it I am in the color of course I'm fareth one this is one and one bare radiance I you a tiny bit of this I could use this but I feel like I've come a great far long way so I take that and I apply it with a brush I know shocking this is the Real Techniques instant pop cheek brush I pick it up and I first place it on where I would kind of highlight my face and on my forehead then picking up a little bit more chin nose lip jaw so I'm kind of just you know putting it all over the face and then I start tapping it in using that brush it is a little bit warmer than my skin tone which I don't mind I'm just using this for the overall glow and the the almost tan like finish it gives me and I feel like as long as you keep like buffing this in tapping this in making sure that everything is sitting well on the skin that leaves you with a sort of holiday glow like you just came back from a holiday you're rested you're a little bit tan you're having the time of your life and I just love how this makes my skin look and how it makes me feel I feel a little bit more confident it gives me that boost of color but it also gives me that healthy shiny glow that I feel always works now is the time to bust out that Charlotte Tilbury retouch her again I'm in the color one and I take a little bit and I just point this where I feel a little bit more insecure when I have more redness surrounding my jaw I'll just kind of stipple it on a little bit I'll let it dry now like I said a trick to make more sheer products more full coverage is to let them sit and dry now you can do a little bit on your under eyes I don't mind my dark circles all that much lately but I'm just gonna cover it up a little bit nothing too much if you're all about making your sheer products a little bit more intense a trick is to get a little fan like this and dry in the product faster this is just gonna save you time now I'll leave it totally up to you if you want to work this retouch her concealer in with a brush or a sponge I've been liking just using my fingers patting the product in and because it's such a sheer product it's just gonna hide sort of like the the unevenness it's not gonna solve all your life problems but it is gonna solve today's battle see how it cleared out the skin and made it look a lot more rested and calm but it still looks like skin so he goes for the under eyes just tapping that in making sure it blends and becomes one with the skin now like I said I feel like having that healthy glow really tricks everyone into thinking that you are looking radiant healthy and stunting so to further enhance that I've been wearing the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood flawless filter in number two I've been raving about this so much on my Instagram stories and my snapchat you know how you have like the supermodels and they always have like that perfect you know it's almost like they were born with that perfect skin they have like that beautiful wet radiance that glow it's this I pop this on my cheekbones it has like that the tiniest feather of coverage I put it on the center of my forehead the top of the nose and a little bit on the chin I start by tapping in the forehead dot using a little brush and just using tapping motions I never bust in or swipe with my brush because I feel like that's going to disrupt the base again and give me more redness whereas I'm really fighting against my redness here the brush I'm using is a t48 brush by morphe and see what kind of luscious beautiful do that gives you and then lastly the ones on the cheekbones now this is optional again I like doing this because I like having a little bit of a more long-wear finish this one is a highlighter by devious place that's called the tribe of volume three and just taking like picking up the sole lightest that you like you barely see it hiding it over top of where I applied that glowy flawless filter stuff by Charlotte Tilbury and that's just gonna lock it down for me so I don't have to worry that it's gonna fade throughout the day all right now if that feels like too much of a glowy face there is face powder to help you out this one is by Mac but you can use anything powder that you like I like this one because it has a little bit of coverage in it and I take this Anastacio a.22 brush I packed the flat side in and I'm just gonna tame the forehead a little bit notice how I'm like working around the glow not directly on top of it because I want to keep that glow but I kind of want to tame it one portion that I always put powder to is like right next to the nose and under the eye this just it makes it look more see how this looks a little bit like an oil slick but here it looks tamed down then I also set right here under the size of the mouth and can we just already look at the difference from this face compared to my face last year like last year it was a full coverage beat and this year you know of course there's product on my face I mean we went in with highlighters and we went into powders but overall this looks like healthy beautiful stunning skin without the cake all right not to be totally upfront and honest with you this stage of the face is usually where I stop the only thing I will do is spray a spoolie with some strong hold hairspray and push my brow hairs up because I feel like that just makes it look a little bit more you know put together so take a strong hold hairspray and a spoolie and just brush those hairs into place now last year I would have gone in with a tinted brow gel but I feel like because I give my brows tinted by my mom every now and then like every month every two months to make them darker like we actually dye my brow hairs I feel like that gives me enough definition I feel like this is gonna sound weird coming from me but I feel like as soon as I go in with a pencil or a brow gel or like a brow pen it feels to try it if I'm doing my brows I rather have my full carved out brow my full coverage brow for me it feels like it doesn't look right so I rather just brush my hairs up and leave it at that or do the whole magic now for lashes and eyes it's sort of the same feel for me when I wear this natural skin look out I don't do anything to my eyes I just really really super curl my lashes because I feel like that makes me look more awake now because this is a video and I do want to give you a couple of options curl your lashes to make sure they're up and curled and then go in with a waterproof mascara if you have stubborn straight lashes like I do what a proof mascara is your hero because it will hold your curl now I personally don't put any mascara on my lower lashes when wearing a look like this because I feel like it's too much but if you love that go ahead and do that now optionally would be to add some individual falsies these are by urban decay and they come in two like strands of three so it like gets the job done quicker shall I know I just want to keep this as realistic as possible this is how I do my face as an actual natural makeup challenge this is how I would wear it and to be honest I can't be bothered putting on falsies when I'm doing a look like this we're saving falsies for the glam now what you're wearing on the lips is totally up to you you can go for a lip balm you can go for a lip gloss lipstick lip pencil anything you like I have been wearing this every single day this is my pepper grass and this is actually a cream highlighter this one is the skin fetish highlighter bomb duo and the color nude and look how much is left there's there's nothing left literally I press my lips into this highlighter to get something out of it so that's what I do now literally pressing my lips into the tube so get some lip product out la takes down the redness a little bit it makes them a bit more nude but it also gives them a beautiful shine and then the other side is a bomb and look nothing left and I take the bomb just a little bit on my finger type it on top and that is a super like healthy shiny balmy lip that is what I do that is how I wake up and when I don't want to wear makeup this is what I do I wear tinted moisturizer a little bit of concealer a little bit of powder I push my brows up I push my lashes up put a little sheen on my lips and that's it and this might be a lot - a lot of people out there but coming from the most full coverage junkie this is we've come a long way and that guys is what I believe to be a way more realistic take on the natural makeup challenge we're in 2017 I was in denial and thought it was the to look whereas I feel like this actually is a lot more natural and wearable definitely let me know in the comments down below which side you prefer the 2017 side or today's 2018 side definitely in the comments down below let me know some of your favorite more natural products because now that I've found out about this whole new like life I've been a lot more interested in like more wearable products I should I should probably do a video where a full-coverage addict me tries glossier products for today's winter wonder winner my final giveaway of a winter wonder week and that doesn't mean there won't be a giveaway in the next video but for winter Wonder week the final giveaway is that you can win every single product used in this look plus you get a $500 makeup gift card and not one not two not three but five glow babies will win this prize so you get this full look and you get $500 to shop some makeup so definitely enter this giveaway by of course being subscribed to my channel giving this video a thumbs up and leaving a comment down below about anything that's it Michael Oh babies thank you so much for watching winter Wonder week 2018 this is going up on Christmas Eve and I just want to wish you a very Merry Christmas I hope you spend your days with your loved ones 2018 has been a very rocky year and this will be the first Christmas without our little brother please promise me that you spend this Christmas or this ordinary Monday if you don't you know celebrate Christmas please promise me that you spend it with your loved ones with your friends with your family with the people that matter to you and tell them that be vocal about it like let's all be a little bit nicer to each other you know and it never hurts to tell someone you love them thank you so much for always believing in me and having my back and this is not the last video of December 2018 I will be back I love you so so much and hopefully I will see you guys on the next one bye guys\n"