A step-by-step guide to Chloe Morello’s ‘invisible makeup’ method

To kick off with clean skin, Morello gives her face a quick cleanse using a Face Halo ($30 at Adore Beauty).

The cleanse is followed by the “star of the show,” otherwise known as the Alpha H Generation Glow Daily Resurfacing Essence ($99.95, at Adore Beauty), which, aside from working to improve Morello’s skin texture and boost hydration, is also responsible for one very important pre-makeup step: minimising redness. 

After allowing the product to “get to work for a few seconds,” Morello then applies the Sunday Riley Light Hearted SPF 30 ($53 at Revolve).

To begin, before any coverage, Morello applies the By Terry Face & Body Tea To Tan Hydra Bronze ($42 at MECCA) to the perimeters of her face. This step is followed by the highly pigmented Rare Beauty Liquid Blush ($34 at Sephora); “with my blush lately I like to blend it up over my temples because it gives it more of a flush that [looks like it] comes from the sun, not makeup,” she said, using a Beauty Blender ($28 at Sephora) to dab in the product. 

Following bronzer and blush, Morello moves on to her foundation. Lightly blending a mix of the Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Filter ($65 at Charlotte Tilbury) with the Lawless Conceal The Deal Foundation (unfortunately not currently available in Australia) - unless this is wrong lol, Morello explains “I’m going to work little by little because I don’t want to apply too much.” She notes to go particularly easy around the areas we’ve already applied product, to ensure the “blush is still poking through.” 

Instead of picking up a fresh makeup sponge or foundation brush, Morello uses the same Beauty Blender she used to apply her blush and bronzer. The reason? “For this kind of look I do want the products to melt into one another [whereas] for a full coverage vibe I probably wouldn’t do that.”

Using your fingers to melt the product into your skin, take a concealer (in this case it’s Jouer’s Essential High Coverage Liquid Concealer, $36 at MECCA), and “draw it straight over anything you want to cover,” shares Morello. However, you’ll want to leave your under-eyes bare as we’ll return to this step later per her instructions. 

With a light hand, Morello sweeps Bobbi Brown’s Longwear Eyeshadow Stick ($51, Myer)  in the shade Taupe into the eye socket and away from the lashline, followed by a brown eyeshadow, used as an alternative to eyeliner. “I really just want to elongate the look of my eye and make my eyelashes look thicker, I don’t want it to look like eyeliner,” she explains. 

Morello finishes off with a lick of mascara and Makeup By Mario’s Nude Eyeliner Pencil (yes, yet another US-only product, sorry) to “delicately line the waterline and soften it out. It’ll give it a nice little lift,” she notes. 

Next up? The brows. Morello has a fave product in this arena, that’s for sure: “I love and am obsessed with the Benefit 24h Brow Setter” ($45 at Sephora). Wondering why? She keeps coming back to it for the natural and lifted arch it offers. Once this has set, Morello fills in any sparse gaps with the Glossier Brow Pen (another buy sadly not for grabs here in Aus), “I love this for creating very natural brow hair flicks.”

“I left this last because a lot of the other products have done a lot of the work for me, so I'm only going to put this product where I need it,” she explains re: her approach to under-eye concealing.

To complete this step, Morello uses the Bobbi Brown Skin Corrector Stick ($54, Bobbi Brown). “[It’s] such a good concealer for undereye circles [as it’s] a little bit peachy which counteracts darkness.” 

“Find a lip liner that is the perfect colour for your lips and put a balm over the top,” she says. 

Morello uses Freck XL ($45 at Urban Outfitters) to play up the appearance of her freckles. “This helps to make it look like you’re not wearing any foundation,” she says. “It’s a bit of an illusion.”

Last but not least, she takes a small amount of the Givenchy Setting Powder ($99 at Sephora) and pats it over her cheekbones and chin. 

“And there you have it, my glowy clean makeup base.”