Pearl skin is one of 2024’s most popular beauty trends, sweeping through TikTok and dominating this year’s runways. Reminiscent of glittery eyes and frosted lips of the early 2000s, pearl skin is a more elevated and ethereal version of the shimmering trend. It also follows behind glossy, wet makeup looks like glass and glazed donut skin, offering a more luminous, iridescent take on a glowy complexion. If you want to know how to get the pearl skin aesthetic look, we’re letting you in on our 6 best tips!
What Is the Pearl Skin Aesthetic Look?
The pearl skin aesthetic takes inspiration from pearls themselves, with their luminous sheen and neutral, oyster-like colour palette. It’s more ethereal and satiny than its predecessors, such as donut glazed and glass skin, making it a bit touch more wearable. The trend uses luminous makeup strategically to give the skin a pearly sheen. Although a hydrated base is still key, it’s less of an all-over glow, and allows you to highlight the areas of your choosing. Think: your cheekbones, eyes, and any high points of the face. When the light catches pearl skin just right, it gives your skin a reflective finish that looks like your natural skin but better. Pearls come in a variety of shades, so you can play on this for your pearly makeup look. White, cream, champagnes, and rose-toned hues are all colours that work for this look.
How to Get the Pearl Skin Aesthetic Look
1. Start with Skin Hydration
The key to any luminous makeup look is hydrated skin. The goal is to give your skin a luminous, iridescent sheen without making it look wet. For your daily moisturizer look for a product with hyaluronic acid- an ingredient that helps attract moisture to the skin, for a smooth, even-looking appearance. If you deal with dry skin and need extra hydration, try a product that combines ceramides with squalane, such as the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Barrier Balm. Ceramides help soften your skin’s texture and repair your skin barrier, preventing moisture from escaping, while squalane mimics your skin’s natural oil production to keep it hydrated.
2. Create a Luminous Skin Base
While the pearl skin look doesn’t call for an ultra dewy base, a bit of glow will help you achieve the pearl aesthetic. Apply a product such as the Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow Primer before your base. Infused with hydrating, light-reflecting ingredients, it will give your skin a natural glow. Use a CC cream or skin tint for your base, as this will give you the more natural, lived-in radiance the look is known for. Go as light with the application as you feel comfortable, and if you’d rather use a foundation, you totally can, just don’t go too heavy with it.
3. Or Opt for a Luminous Tinted Moisturizer
Another option is using a multi-tasking product such as the L’Oréal Lumi Glotion instead of a skin tint or foundation. This will help you avoid a mattifying, full coverage base and give you that lived-in glow that characterizes the pearl skin aesthetic. Lumi Glotion is a tinted moisturizer that contains luminous pearls that enhance the skin’s natural glow. Available in four different shades, choose the one that suits your skin tone and apply it all over the skin or on target areas for a more luminous effect.
4. Use Cream Products
Cream products are essential for this silky look. They help everything blend into each other for a more natural finish. From bronzer, to blush, to eye shadow, opt for cream formulas that will help you achieve the luminosity that this look depends on. The Milk Makeup Cream Blush is a cult favourite due to its hydrating ingredients and buildable, blendable colour that gives you a healthy-looking flush. The Nudestix Nudies Matte Cream Bronzer helps you achieve a beautiful bronzed glow. And the Nudestix Luminous Eye Colour Pencil has a satin finish and can be used as an eyeshadow, eyeliner, or even cream highlighter.
5. Apply Liquid Highlighter
Liquid highlighter will also add to the satin-y radiance of the look. The e.l.f. Halo Glow is a great affordable option with three different highlight shades, including champagne, rose quartz, and gold. The formula is infused with squalane, which is super hydrating and gives you that lit-from-within glow. It’s also buildable, so you can go as light or heavy with your sheen as you want. Place it on the high points of your face, including your cheekbones, chin, the bridge of your nose, and cupid’s bow. You can also apply it above each eyebrow for some extra radiance. With pearl skin, we also see highlighter blended into the apple of the cheeks and on the forehead for a reflective sheen on these areas.
6. Finish with a Hydrating Lip Gloss
The best way to finish off the pearl skin look is with a hydrating lip gloss or oil. In fact, the Too Faced Kissing Jelly Lip Oil Gloss does it all. The glossy formula hydrates your lips while leaving a hint of tint. You can apply it throughout the day for extra moisturized lips. It’s perfect to give your lips a touch of colour without going overboard, catering to the naturalness of the pearl aesthetic.
If you’ve been dying to get the pearl skin aesthetic look, use these tips and products to master it!
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