Skin Prep Guide: How to best prepare your skin
You have a photo shoot coming up and you want to look perfect? Looking to improve your skin texture and have your skin and makeup glowing? Here’s a step by step skin prep guide with everything you need to properly prepare your skin before a makeup application!
First things first, let me let you in on the secret to flawless, glowing makeup… Clean hydrated skin! Yes, it’s that simple.
Now let me preface this post by saying that I am not a dermatologist so if you have any skin issues and you’re unsure about any of the following products, please consult a doctor or dermatologist. These products are fairly mild, so you should be fine, but every skin type is different.
Taking care of your face and doing proper skin prep before your makeup application will change the way your makeup looks (and feels)! In this Skin Prep Guide, I’m going to share some of my favorite products that I use to prep my clients skin, and my own, before I apply any makeup. I’ll even include some of my favorite French beauty products that are (finally) available for purchase in the USA, such as Bioderma, Caudalie, La Roche Posay and Embryolisse. You can obviously pick them up during your trip to Paris at a French pharmacy. If you’re not sure which one to go to, be sure to check out my French Pharmacy Guide.
Now, I’m not going to preach about a 15 step skin prep routine, because honestly, who has time for that? All you really need is a good cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen and to corporate some weekly self care ( yay!) in the form of exfoliation and face masks. It truly is as simple as that.
When I explain the importance of taking care of your skin, this is the example I tell all my clients: Imagine you’re a painter and you have a canvas in front of you. If your canvas has leftover patches of dried paint all over it, whatever you’re going to paint on top of it won’t look like you want it to. If your canvas is clean and smooth your painting will look like you intended it to. Your face is your canvas for makeup. We want our canvases to be smooth and clean. If you have makeup on from the night before or dry patches because you didn’t moisturize, it’s going to show in your makeup.
Step 1 – Makeup removal
This step is SO important! Taking off your makeup every evening before bed is essential.
Bioderma micellar water is my favorite makeup remover. You’ll find it on every makeup artist’s table in Paris.
If you’re in a hurry, the Bioderma Makeup Remover wipes are a great option.
Here are the wipes for dehydrated skin and for combination/oily skin.
What’s great about Bioderma is that they have products for all skin types! Typically, the collection for sensitive skin is red, blue for dry/normal skin and green for combination/oily skin.
Step 2: Cleansing
After removing makeup, you need to wash your face with a face cleanser. This removes any excess dirt and oils your makeup remover didn’t remove.
I love using Bioderma Sensibio Foaming Gel because it takes my makeup off AND cleans my skin and the same time. I love a 2-in-1 product and this step eliminates the use of cotton pads – which is a sustainable plus!
Step 3 & 4: Self Care – Exfoliation & Face Masks
These two steps don’t need to be done everyday, but even doing them once or twice a week will make a difference in your skin texture, and ultimately, your makeup application. I like to make a whole self care moment out of these two steps. I love doing it on a Sunday, for example, as part of a Sunday reset. I’ll take a hot shower, usually wash my hair as well (why not do a hair mask while you’re at it!). I’ll use my Bioderma cleanser to clean my face then will follow that with a gentle exfoliation. You don’t want anything too aggressive, even if you have acne prone or oily skin, because over exfoliating will have the opposite effect of what we actually want.
Doing this step in the shower is good because the hot steam help dilate your pores and you’ll more easily be able to get rid of the impurities. Once you’re out and have dried off, it’s time for a face mask. Now, you can do a sheet mask or a cream mask. I prefer to stay away from anything too aggressive (peel off masks, for example) so I opt for something that will nourish my skin.
I’ll usually light a candle or two, sometimes meditate or just listen to music or watch a show during the 15 minutes the mask is settling into my skin. My skin always feels so soft and plump afterwards. I usually try to have the self care moment in the evening or at a time where I know I won’t have to put makeup on right away so that my skin can just rest and reset.
Making a ritual out of these skincare steps can help you to relax throughout the week and encourages you to take some tine for yourself. Plus it really adds glow to your skin!
Here are some of my faves:
Embryolisse Exfoliating Milk Powder – all you need to do is add water to create a paste! I keep this in the shower next to my cleanser for easy access 
Burt’s Bees Gentle Exfoliation Scrub
Caudalie VinoHydra Moisturizing Mask – you can sleep in this one!
Erborian BB Shot Mask – My all time favorite sheet mask! Hot tip – put mask back into the sleeve for a 2nd use. There’s enough product for two applications!
Trader Joe’s Hydrating Biocellulose Sheet Mask – this is a great option!
Step 5: Toner/Facial Mist
I love a moisturizer facial mist! I use them as toners. Now, depending on your skin type, you might need more of an astringent type of toner, but today I’m going to tell you about moisturizing mists. I love spritzing client’s faces before applying moisturizer or primer and, not only does your skin love it, it also feels SO nice! Here are some of my go-to’s:
Caudalie’s Grape Water Facial Mist
and/or
Caudalie’s Beauty Elixir Face Mist – this one not only moisturizes, it also tightens pores, adds brightness and can set your makeup
Mario Badescu’s Facial Sprays – my faves are the Rose and the Orange Blossom. I love to carry the mini bottles with me on planes, it’s truly so refreshing after a long flight.
For a more natural option, you can opt for Rose Water or Orange Blossom Water – both are great for skin texture and pigmentation. If you’d like to know more about more natural options for your skincare, read my posts about Natural Beauty here.
Step 6: Moisturizer/Sunscreen
Now that you’ve done everything to cleanse and remove impurities, it’s time to lock it all in with a moisturizer, and in the morning, a sunscreen!
What cream you choose can vary depending on what you need, if you want any other active ingredients for anti-aging, pigmentation, etc. All I can say is make sure that it is properly nourishing your skin and that your skin doesn’t feel dry or tight after the application. You can apply a sunscreen on top of your moisturizer or find a sunscreen that is moisturizing enough so you don’t have to do that.
Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentré – my all time favorite product to use on clients. It’s a great moisturizer and makeup primer. You can even use it as a face mask during your self care moment!
Weleda Skin Food Night Cream – Honestly, I love everything in the Skin Food collection
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Tinted Sunscreen – Also exists in a non tinted version – this is one of the best sunscreen’s on the market and it won’t sting your eyes!
Now obviously, every skin type is different and you might need something other than the products that I’ve recommended here. That being said, if you follow these steps with products that are adapted for you, you will achieve the same result – soft, plump nourished skin with lots of brightness. This means your makeup will go on and blend more easily, you’ll have to use less products and your glow will be completely natural.
I’ve shared the American links to these products, but they are mostly French (I a your Parisian Makeup Artist after all!) so please keep in mind that if you are traveling to France then you can find these products at a lower price. If you’re unsure of how or where to find them, we can go shopping together! You can find out more about my Personal Shopping Sessions here! I also offer Online Shopping Sessions if you’d like more in depth details about what would be right for you!
I look forward to seeing you during our makeup appointment or future shopping trip!
Bisous Bisous,
Joleen