Men’s skin care: Ultimate Beauty Essentials

TE24 Life Style Desk:

As men’s fashion month kicks off, the catwalks focus not only on the season’s clothes, but also on the collection of impeccably groomed faces that model them. (A model, right?!), but there are other factors behind her glowing complexion and sculpted features. Many people aspire to be the foundation of how they present themselves to the world, but it requires care and a variety of basic products and techniques. Here’s a quick and dirty guide to the basics of men’s beauty.

Cleansing, Moisturizing – Repeat

For cosmetic chemist and BeautyStat founder Ron Robinson, skincare is the most important part of men’s grooming. Because skin care promotes a healthy complexion and lays the foundation for a clean, smooth shave. First and foremost, of course, is a firm face wash tailored to your needs.

“If you’re prone to acne or ingrown hairs, use a cleanser designed to help with those concerns,” says Robinson, noting that washing your face helps to remove facial hair before shaving. She adds that it helps to tone and soften the skin. Especially this time of year. “Considering that you’re wearing a mask these days, I recommend cleansing in the morning and evening to remove sweat, sebum, and dirt buildup.” Layer. Behind the scenes at Dior His Men, Makeup His Artist Peter His Phillips helps Dior His Capture His Cream his moisturizing cream to plump and fill skin.

Skincare leaders like Philips and Rihanna and Pharrell emphasize that skincare products can be gender-neutral, but your skin needs are different. An example is how vigorously and how often you should exfoliate. “Men can tolerate more exfoliation than women because of their thicker skin,” says Robinson. “But they shouldn’t overdo it either.” Regardless of whether you choose a physical or chemical peel, two to three.

SkinCeuticals Purifying Cleanser

Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Cream Men

Dior Capture Totale C.E.L.L. Energy Crème

Dr. Jart+ Cicapair Tiger Grass Cream

Protect Skin and Target Your Needs

If you want to take brightening to the next level for clearer, more youthful-looking skin, vitamin C is the hero of ingredients, insists Robinson. “For men that are concerned with texture, tone, or even fine lines, they should include a vitamin C serum in their routine as it can help improve skin texture, even out skin tone, firm and lessen the look of wrinkles, and help them get a smoother, closer shave too,” he explains. After a layer of vitamin C serum (which can make skin more vulnerable to light exposure), and generally, apply a daily broad-spectrum UVA/UVB coverage to protect your complexion from the sun damage. “Even during the winter months!” emphasizes Robinson. Lastly, another fruitful step to take is using a weekly tailored mask treatment, such as the Soft Moisture Mask or Kiehl’s new Ultra Facial Overnight Rehydrating Mask, which allows a targeted set of ingredients to penetrate the skin deeper and faster for both instant results and healthier skin over time. “Once you start taking care of your skin—cleansing, hydrating, moisturizing, and exfoliating and masking from time to time—it will help you, [especially] if the next step is makeup,” says Philips.

Kiehl’s Calendula Petal-Infused Calming Mask

Keep Facial Hair Groomed and Razor Burn-Free

“In men’s grooming, we use the beard and mustache as a cosmetic element to camouflage and add more strength to features to of the face,” explains Philips. As such, keeping facial hair clean with regular washing, manicured with diligent trimming and shaping, and soft with the right oils, balms, or conditioners to suit your hair type is optimal. “Shorter beards benefit more from beard balm for perfect styling, while longer and thicker beards may benefit more from beard oil to keep it well-conditioned,” says New York–based celebrity groomer Barry White of identifying the best facial hair care.

New York-based esthetician and Dior skin care expert Sean Garrette emphasizes that one of the most common concerns for men is razor burn, which he recommends treating with exfoliating ingredients. “BHAs (Salicylic Acid) and AHAs (glycolic, lactic, and mandelic acid) are great at exfoliating the dead skin that’s trapping the hair in the follicle,” explains Garrette, adding that salicylic acid can be especially beneficial in treating ingrown hairs because it exfoliates inside the pore and on the surface of the skin.” He also notes that shaving products can have drying ingredients that can strip the skin, and it’s important to counteract their effects with hydration. “Look for serums with hyaluronic acid and niacinamide to help replenish the skin and nourish the skin barrier,” says Garrette. “Sulfur is also an incredible ingredient, and helps reduces acne, kills bacteria on the surface of the skin, and helps calm inflammation associated with razor bumps and breakouts.”

Across the gender spectrum, full, brushed-up brows offer a more youthful look and can help bring balance to the face, so consider enhancing your arches with a pencil, like Philips’s go-to the Diorshow Kabuki Brow Styler, and a lightweight transparent or tinted brow gel, to add fullness and definition. For fuller and darker lashes, you can tint your fringe, curl your lashes, and brush mascara onto the roots, says Philips.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel

Enhance Your Complexion

When it comes to makeup, it’s all about identifying your desired results and doing what works for you. “Do you want people to know you’re wearing makeup, or keep it discreet and make people think you woke up like that?” poses Philips. “Find the right products to deliver on your expectations and go slow!” It should be a gradual experience: “First you crawl, then you walk, then you run—it’s the same with makeup!” he adds. In terms of achieving natural-looking coverage with concealer and/or foundation, Philips recommends starting with a lightweight, buildable product, such as Dior’s Face and Body foundation, so that you can control the intensity as you apply and blend it with your fingers or a tool, such as a brush or Beautyblender sponge. Of course, finding a pitch-perfect shade match is ideal, particularly for those with a beard or mustache. “If you have facial hair, you need to match a shade close to your natural skin tone because it will show between your beard hairs,” says Philips.

After building your canvas, you can further enhance your complexion by shading and highlighting. A swipe of tawny bronzer in the hollows of your cheeks will add warmth and definition to the face, while blending a fresh highlighter on the highs of the temples will attract light for a lit-from-within effect. Last up? After exfoliating with a lip scrub to supply moisture and buff away flakes, Philips suggests applying a rich, clear lip balm like Dior’s “not too shiny, not too matte” Rouge Satin balm for a “little touch of glow.” And remember to keep up your skin-care regimen for both a smooth canvas and cumulative results, because as Philips puts it: “Makeup is just a cover up if you don’t do the whole routine.”

Dior Rouge Universal Lip Balm