Matte 2.0 Softer, Lighter, Smoother

No more creases, dryness or a one-dimensional finish. The new soft mattes come without baggage, but have the same superb coverage as their predecessors.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

No more creases, dryness or a one-dimensional finish. The new soft mattes come without baggage, but have the same superb coverage as their predecessors.

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Burberry’s Liquid
Lip Velvet is
literally lip 
velvet: a creamy
liquid that
doesn’t dry to
a flat matte.
Burberry’s Liquid Lip Velvet is literally lip velvet: a creamy liquid that doesn’t dry to a flat matte.
Nars’ Soft
Matte Complete
Concealer turns
from cream (so
it can cover
more) to
powder (so it
doesn’t cake).
Nars’ Soft Matte Complete Concealer turns from cream (so it can cover more) to powder (so it doesn’t cake).
BASE MAKEUP

Matte used to mean either of these textures: liquid or powder. Now, it comes in the creamiest cream, and even cushions, which are famously known to give a dewy effect.

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Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer

(price unavailable).

A concealer has to be in cream form to give high coverage. This one does exactly that – but it also finishes off as a powder so that we can cover up without feeling covered up.

1. La Mer The Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation SPF20, $190.

This has the brand’s best-selling Moisturising Soft Lotion, which means it offers the same hydrating properties. What makes it even better: a colour capsule technology that keeps the foundation from oxidising.

2. Dior Capture Totale Dreamskin Perfect Skin Cushion Broad Spectrum SPF 50/PA+++, $105.

It nixes any kind of redness so you don’t need a concealer or colour corrector.

MOISTURISERS

The latest ones tackle the greasies by creating moisture and sebum balance, not by drying the skin to death. Why this matters: Without moisture, skin gets oilier.

3. L’Occitane Pivoine Pure Perfecting Mattifying Fluid, $58.

In this hydrating fluid, lemon extract acts as an astringent while conditioning skin.

4. Kenzoki Moisturizing Jelly to Mattify, $73.

The light-as-air lotion sinks in quickly. Its mattifying powder minimises the look of pores and “fills in” lines instead of caking around them.

LIP COLOURS

If they didn’t say these were matte, we wouldn’t have known. They have the smoothness of hydrating creams, and two of the three here don’t have a traditional matte finish.

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Burberry Liquid Lip Velvet

(price unavailable).

It’s so comfortable that we almost forget we have it on. In 16 shades, from nude to bright red.

5. RMK Face Pop Matte Lips, $45.

The latest collection comes in a range of pinks, from sweet to hot to metallic.

6. Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Supreme Matte Lipstick, $38.

In 24 shades, from red to coral and nude.

7. Laura Mercier Velour Lip Colour Limited Edition, $42.

Each of the three shades gives a subtle metallic sheen. 

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MODEL PHOTOGRAPHY ELVINA FARKAS/ANUE MANAGEMENT / PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY KENNETH WONG / HAIR JIMMY YAP/KENARIS / MAKEUP SHA SHAMSI / MODEL SABI/MANNEQUIN / CLOTHES MIU MIU.

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