Dealing with an Oily face
Bonus: pore care
I have an oily t-zone that causes beard and sides-of-the-nose breakouts but def not to the level of super-duper oily ghouls. Sometimes oil and large-looking pores go together and as a texture-obsessed woman, I’ve found a couple of gems.
I tend to think there isn’t a way to eliminate oil but more like deal and dampen the effects. Maybe there are derm solutions though.
I’ve compiled my suggestions from what I do and from what my oily friends do, and I’ve tried all of the following:
Skincare helps to address oiliness and pore appearance. Unclog the pores by melting oil through BHAs; the ingredient is also known to help tame oiliness. What’s worked for me is the CosRx BHA liquid, which I would restock if I didn’t use Lotion P50.
Primers help to do a couple of things: smooth the canvas and change the canvas texture. We assume you do not have flaky skin since you are really oily. You’ll have to address the flakes separately or else you will run into terrible foundation textures since the following are built to control shine:
My absolute fave is the Muji UV Makeup Base with SPF 28 PA++ which smooths the skin better than most things I’ve tried. I describe it as liquid gold since it’s at both times super effective in smoothing pores but also incredibly lightweight. Unlike other pore-filling primers, this one you can massage in instead of dab. There is a slight whitecast which disappears after foundation.
Highly effective in lengthening the life of foundation while über mattifying the skin, the Hourglass Mineral Veil Primer also smooths the skin really well. It’s one of the more really matte primers that you have to finesse. It’s worth the trouble though:
Unedited view of how the Hourglass Mineral Veil looks like. Old capture for my article with Project Vanity
Matte foundations need to be prepped really well (moisturize, prime) and applied thinly (dot everywhere and blend to death with a great sponge) to get that poreless but matte look. I’ve found that the Dior Forever Matte foundation transfers to masks the least, while maintaining smoothness. The Nars Soft Matte Complete Foundation almost feels like powder after, while the Estee Lauder Double Wear and Pat McGrath Skin Fetish also work really well for all day and all night wear.
I repeat: foundation application will fail without skin softening and smoothing prep first coupled with thinned out application and an incredible amount of blending.
Concealers also need to be blended well and you have to work in sections. I love the Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer and Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer for super shnatched looks that do not fade away.
In between the blending and powdering, spray a water-based mist to smoothen further.
Finally, setting everything matters just as much. You’ll wanna push loose powder in (not swipe) with the same sponge. Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder is iconic for sweat-proof nights. Maintain smoothness by working in sections and PUSHING it in. I repeated the sentence for emphasis. Finish with a smoothing powder like the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish (unbeatable so far, get the full size), and set with a real setting spray like Urban Decay All-Nighter.
I can do away with the setting spray tbh, but my skin isn’t extreme. If you notice, not a lot of the recos are new or trendy; classics stand the test of time.
Here’s what all of that look like together, and it looks as smooth as that in real life.
This article is for my friend Iris, no brand has prompted me to write these.