Intelligent Beauty

There’s no filter needed with these blurring heroes

Hooked on the ‘soft focus’ look? Emulate {Instagram} lenses for real with our pick of the latest and greatest skin-blurring essentials. Mattifying? Pore-disguising? Unifying? Gratifying? Browse our buffet of bestselling balms, crémes and powders then get set to ‘quit’ Insta-filters for good. Well… at least for a spell. Perhaps. Maybe…

Barely detectable, NIOD’s bestselling {Photography Fluid} is basically editing software in bottles. Packed with correcting, light-scattering pigments to lend your complexion a velvety finish, this unifies skin tone and colour corrects to help neutralise redness and counteract sallowness. Use it alone, as a primer or mixed with your make up to leave your skin looking ethereal.

IT Cosmetics’ {Bye Bye Pores Illumination Powder} boasts ‘optical blurring technology’ – a posh way of saying it makes pores look smaller. Like a featherweight veil, this powder’s so silky it blends like a dream (there’s no caking or creasing), while luminous pearls leave your skin looking lit-from-within. Just apply with a brush to set make up in place while bestowing a beautiful, well-rested glow (what hangover?).

A nourishing serum, THE INKEY LIST’s game-changing new {Hepta-Peptide} is brimming with firming and wrinkle-diminishing proteins to smooth your complexion and instantly iron out creases. With immediate and cumulative benefits, this high-end (but purse-friendly) blend is the ultimate foil for crow’s feet – plumping and softening fine lines and crêpeyness.

Quick, convenient and universally flattering, Milk Makeup’s clever, invisible {Blur Stick} works to mattify shine and lend every complexion a petal-esque ‘bloom’. Ideal on its own or on top of foundation to keep oily T-zones on lockdown, this glides on to ‘blot’ any afternoon sheen and there’s no risk of spills (it’s a hand-luggage hero).

FaceTune for times when you’re offline, Farsàli’s {Skintune Blur} is a lightweight and hydrating serum-primer hybrid that works superficially while its ingredients help to improve your skin’s brightness. Granting a demi-matte finish, this nourishes skin while it amplifies the ‘blendability’ and longevity of your favourite foundation. 

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Verity Douglas

Verity Douglas

Content Editor

Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...