Early on in the days of quarantine, I gave up makeup. It may come as a surprising admission from a beauty editor, but, like so many others, the thought of applying my once signature thin stroke of chocolate-colored liquid liner and double coat of mascara seemed, well, completely unnecessary. Of course, the flip side was that having to stare at my own face in Zoom meetings all day made me quickly aware that my refusal of cosmetics wasn’t helping any cause. What I needed was a happy medium, a no-fuss pick-me-up.
So when a new shade of Westman Atelier’s bestselling Lit Up stick arrived at my doorstep, I instantly perked up—and not only because its atomizer-inspired gold tube packaging is worthy of display. Though I’ve never been one for highlighter—the glazed donut look can stay at Krispy Kreme, in my opinion—something about the super-sheer bronze gel piqued my interest. Made with Vitis Vita Grape Extract, which is said to detoxify skin cells and promote the production of collagen and hyaluronic acid, the glossy formula struck me as surprisingly sophisticated, at once subtle and scintillating. “It’s not glittery or heavy,” founder and celebrity makeup artist Gucci Westman agrees. Rather, it’s “just fresh and clean.”
Never mind the fact that, except for the occasional grocery store outing, I hadn’t left my New York City apartment in weeks, with just a single swipe my skin was glowing. In a matter of seconds, I looked like I’d just returned from a tropical getaway (especially when I paired the product with a touch of Westman Atelier’s warm Face Trace contour). That natural, lit-from-within effect was entirely intentional, of course: “It melts into the skin, melding with the complexion to create a true second-skin finish that feels weightless, comfortable, and nourishing,” adds Westman, who recommends applying it to the center of the cheekbones in an oval shape as well as on the eyelids and even lips. “It makes achieving that coveted no-makeup makeup look fast and flawless.”
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