How to Make Your Everyday Makeup a Little Less 'Everyday'
September 30 | 5 minute read
Words by Madeleine Boles de Boer
Your favourite skin tint, a swipe of mascara, and a wash of neutral shadow on your lids can become more muscle memory than a considered beauty moment. With enough choices to make every day – Netflix or Prime? Iced coffee or hot? Heels or flats? (Always flats) – sticking to what you know can lighten the mental load.
But somewhere between reliable and repetitive, we forgot something: makeup is supposed to be fun! Colourful! Sparkly! Even make you a little nervous! Sometimes all it takes is five extra minutes and a shade you’ve been too scared to try to remember why you fell in love with makeup in the first place.
The limit for creativity – and compliments – does not exist.
With that in mind, we tapped MECCA Pro Trainer Hannah to shake us out of autopilot and give us some inspiration to put a little play back into our everyday.
Blush on Blush
Children of the ’90s know that blush didn't enter our beauty lexicon until well into the 2010s. While we Millennials have (thankfully) moved past the exclusively (orange-ly) bronzed era of our youth, sticking to subdued blush placement and pigments can feel like the 'safe' option. Here, Hannah makes the case for letting blush take up a little more space.
Using NARS Insatiable Liquid Blush in ‘Girl Happy’ and ‘Orgasm Fantasy’, Hannah built model Aavaisha’s flush in sheer layers, taking it beyond sunkissed to fully sun-smooched. A dusting of RMS Beauty ReDimension Hydra Powder Blush in ‘Pomegranate Fizz’ added light-catching dimension. Have you ever heard of ‘more is more’?
If you're nervous about how to approach such a bold look – or make the rest of your makeup work around it – Hannah suggests applying a matching colour to your lips for cohesion: "Using a similar colour on the lips makes the look feel intentional. It doesn’t have to mean both a bold cheek and a bold lip; that colour harmony can really elevate the whole look,” she explains.
The Iconic 2026 Blurred Lip
For our model Mette, Hannah gave her skin a moment – alongside the famous the Nina Park-style blurred lip currently taking over red carpets (and MECCA HQ mood boards).
To achieve her chocolatey pout, Hannah reached for the VIOLETTE_FR Bisou Balm in ‘Chocolat’ and Half Magic Sculptitude Longwear Lip Liner in ‘More Haze’. Bisou Balm’s soft, lipstick-meets-balm texture does half the blurring for you, while the Half Magic liner brings the colour and definition from underneath. The trick, Hannah says, is restraint: "You want to build up the intensity where you want it, while diffusing all the edges. If the product is too pigmented, achieving the right gradient can be tricky.” Her recommendation? “Products with a matte finish that can be built up.”
For Mette's lit-from-within glow, Hannah says it's all about skin prep over more complexion products: "If the skin is already looking hydrated and luminous, then the makeup doesn't have to work as hard." To finish, she added a few swipes of Fara Homidi Beauty's hard-working Pool Slick Lash Lacquer in ‘Cabana’, a subtle shade of brown, which lifts and defines while gradually tinting your lashes with every wear – the best kind of overachiever.
A Beginner's Blue Eye
Cornflower, denim, azure, even the famous cerulean: blue eyeshadow is officially back. While it might seem intimidating, it's not a colour that you should reserve exclusively for events or shower makeup (for the less chronically online, that’s the trend of applying your most experimental, chaotic look right before a shower, so you can wash it straight off!). Blue can make an appearance at your Tuesday morning meeting – the trick is in knowing how to use it.
The Fara Homidi Beauty Essential Eye Compact in ‘Trio No. 61’ provided Hannah's blue of choice (a bright, aquatic cyan, if you were wondering). The creamy formula is soft enough to swipe on with a finger for an instantly lived-in look (Fara's preferred approach) or apply with a brush when precision is required.
On Aavaisha, Hannah softly shaped the lid with the palette’s brown neutrals, then concentrated the blue along the lash line – with a little extra oomph from the Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Stick Retractable Liner in ‘Rough Waves’. Using bolder colour as a smaller ‘accent’ shade is a foolproof way to integrate it into your eye look, according to Hannah – it makes it the focus, without being ‘too much’.
To make all that blue shine, our Pro Trainer went back to basics: colour theory. "I opted for a peachy-toned blush and brought that into the lip, too. Blue and orange are complementary colours, so they helped the eye to pop without pulling focus," she explains.
Sparkle for Every Day
The final boss of fun makeup? It could only be glitter! And if working at MECCA HQ teaches you one thing: every day can be a sparkly eyeshadow day.
Mette's silver lids were brought to life with a base of the MECCA MAX Zoom Shadow Stick in ‘Silver’ and the Half Magic Glitterpuck Multi-Use Pressed Fairy Dust in ‘Cyber Diamond’ on top. The latter's buildable formula comes in a rainbow of shades and allows for a variety of commitment levels: from a subtle sprinkle of shimmer to a full-blown snowstorm. Slick hair and a glossy lip (Kosas’ Lip Pulse Glassy Plumper in ‘Love Potion’) provided the finishing touches.
Glitter-curious? Hannah says it's key to choose your fighter in a formula that works for you – cream, powder, crayon or liquid. From there, she suggests playing with textures to amp it up (or down). "I love to use a cream shadow; that way, you don’t have to worry about fallout, and you get the intensity quickly. If you're using powder, pick some up on your brush, lightly spritz with setting spray or a hydrating mist, then press it onto the lid for an instant burst of sparkle."
So go on, pick up the glitter. Your favourite five-minute face will still be there tomorrow.
