I’ve written before about how much I love the look of ultra-natural, dewy skin with a pastel pop of color on the eyelids. As far as I’m concerned, it’s perfect: sophisticated and put-together, but with a hint of playfulness.
As a pastel passionista, I was very excited, while scrolling through Instagram, to stumble upon a picture of the model Kristine Froseth wearing the dreamiest mint eye. I quickly figured out that her makeup had been done by Romy Soleimani, whose work I’ve long admired. She’s one of Cara Delevigne’s makeup artists, and we all know that Cara Delevigne always looks amazing.
I DM’d Romy and begged for her to share what she used for the minty look so I could re-create it. Fortunately for us all, she was more than happy to reveal the list of products she used to create Kristine’s gorgeous ethereal eye and wonderfully clean, youthful-looking skin. A note: Since I don’t own all of the products Romy used, I suggested some (often much, much cheaper) dupes for her stuff from my very own medicine cabinet.
Romy started Kristine’s look with some Bobbi Brown foundation, which she likes for its lasting powers: Apparently, it stays in place for up to 16 hours. Since the product is very full coverage, Romy says she used a very small amount to cover the whole face, to ensure that the skin underneath looked as natural as possible.
I didn’t have the Bobbi Brown foundation at home, so I used e.l.f. Cosmetic’s Foundation instead. I bought the e.l.f. a while back, after seeing it on several beauty bloggers’ YouTube channels and Instagram accounts, but hadn’t had a chance to try it out yet. I’d heard that, like the Bobbi Brown, this foundation could last all day, even in brutal heat. July in New York City felt like a good time to put that rumor to the test. I must say I was really impressed. I put some on in the afternoon, and after drinks with friends and a full night of dancing, I returned to find it all in place. Also, it’s … $6.
Instead of reaching for a traditional cream blush, Romy used Bobbi Brown’s vibrant pink lipstick “Crush” on Kristine’s cheeks. She warmed the lipstick up on the back of her hand, then pressed it onto her the apples of her cheeks with her fingers. Then, she buffed out the edges with her fingers so that the hot-pink pigment sheered out into a natural, rosy, ethereal flush.
I didn’t have a hot-pink cream blush on hand, nor did I have a hot-pink lipstick like the Bobbi Brown that I could crush up to create a DIY situation. So I decided to mix together two of my favorite Cloud Paint shades from Glossier, Haze and Puff, on the back of my hand. Then I tapped the product into my skin until my cheeks had a beautiful, hot flush. I love both of these shades individually, but had never thought to pair the two together. It looked really pretty — more vibrant than, say, my Tata Harper Lip and Cheek in warm rose, but subtler than any of my fluorescent Kylie Cosmetics blushes.
That perfect pistachio color I was obsessing over, Romy told me, came from Huda Beauty’s Emerald Obsessions palette. I didn’t have it — but I was so in love with the way Kristine’s eyes looked that I went out and bought it. The shadows in this palette, I found, are highly pigmented, creamy, and blendable — they’re easy to use even if you’re an eyeshadow rookie. Romy applied this shadow all over Kristine’s lid with a blending brush, creating that dreamy wash of color. I followed suit, using a MOTD Blending Bestie Brush.
To give a little extra twinkle, Romy applied some of Dior’s Backstage Glow Face highlighter in gold to the inner corner of Kristine’s eye with a smudge brush. This small detail, she explained, gives the eye extra depth. This palette is beloved by many — from Bella Hadid to Meghan Markle — for giving a beautiful, not overly sparkly, high-shine highlight.
I tried Romy’s corner-of-the-eye trick with Milani’s Instant Glow Powder (in Afterglow) instead. It worked perfectly as a dupe for the gold shade in the Dior palette, and, as a side note, is just an all-around excellent, super-affordable highlighter. It’s incredibly bright and show-stopping without looking glittery, or too obvious.
Romy used this mascara to create a full, voluminous lash look. Big lashes paired with a pale, pastel color gives off a beautiful, ’60s-inspired, Twiggy vibe.
Next, Romy dragged some of Troy Surratt’s liner along Kristine’s lash line to define, open up, and elongate the eye. The idea, she said, is to contrast the darkness of the lashes and lash line with the mint on the rest of the lid, making the color look especially bright and vibrant. Genius.
I used one of my all-time favorite glosses to achieve the same effect: Fenty Beauty’s Glossbomb in FU$$Y. It gives off a similarly rosy-pink effect, but with a high-shine gloss. Plus, it’s much, much cheaper. And then, that was it: I was finished. I couldn’t believe how easy this look was to achieve — it took less than 15 minutes, start to finish. It’s also, I found, quite versatile — I could see myself wearing it to picnic with my friends in Fort Greene Park, out to dinner with my boyfriend, or to a party. I loved it so much, that at the end of the day, I really didn’t want to reach for my Glossier Milky Oil and wipe it off!
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