It’s common knowledge that cold air plus heavy-duty heating equals incredibly dried out skin. I do everything I can to prep my face for cold weather — use a hydrating cleanser, slap on ampoules and serums and extra-thick moisturizers — but a 20-degree temperature drop can suck the moisture out of just about anything. And just having dry skin isn’t even the worst of it: this lack of moisture causes my makeup to look crusty and flaky and horrible.
For whatever reason, the cold weather seems to affect my blush the most; by the afternoon, it looks pill-y and patchy and just generally not great. For a while, I combatted this by mixing my blushes with a bit of face oil (equal parts Glossier Cloud Paint and The Ordinary Marula Oil looks really nice). But this wasn’t a sustainable trick: cocktailing products is time-consuming, and I was running through my face oils way too fast.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I found out that MAKE Beauty had started making tinted versions of their Marine Salve — a balm infused with ultrarich oils that (very effectively) soothes cracked or irritated skin. I was excited, because I’m a longtime fan of MAKE’s Salve — it’s been a staple in my purse for many winters; I use it on chapped lips, hands, eczema patches, and occasionally even on my cheekbones as a very-natural highlight.
So I was delighted when I realized a tinted version had been released, and even more delighted after I gave it a whirl on my cheeks. This product, as it happens, is the perfect blend of salve and pigment; I put it on in the morning and it leaves my skin looking lively and hydrated and slightly flushed all day long. It’s super balmy, which means it easily blends into skin, and its pigment (somewhat shockingly) doesn’t wear off easily. This, in other words, is the prepackaged version of my homemade oil-and-blush mixture, and no matter how dried out my face is when I apply it, it never looks flaky. Though there are a few colors available, I am a fan of the deep berry shade Vamp: it is almost identical in pigment to my favorite Glossier Cloud Paint shade, Haze, and looks lovely on cheeks, lips, and even eyelids. In case you haven’t gotten the point yet: this tinted balm has made my natural, daytime winter makeup look about 10,000 times better, and I suspect I’ll have it in my purse for many cold seasons ahead.
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