THE_LIFESTYLE_EDIT_SARAH_MIKAELAI love a natural look. I’ve always been a less is more kind of girl when it comes to my approach to beauty. I love something that doesn’t look too done. I wasn’t a big beauty girl growing up – I was actually a real tomboy. When I first started wearing make-up, I was really shy about it. I never wanted it to look too much.

ON SKIN

Sometimes I think you can overthink it and put too much on your face. I don’t generally use foundation but when I’m stressed, I break out so I need it to cover up. One that I really love is the EverLasting Foundation from Swedish brand Oriflame. It’s so nice and light on my skin. All I do is put concealer on top of that and that’s it.

I tend to go bare with my skin or opt for really subtle tinted moisturisers for light coverage. I like it when your natural colours come through and you can actually blush and have the signs of life on your face. Less is definitely more when it comes to foundation so I’m always trying to find that balance.

[show_shopthepost_widget id=”518218″]

ON LIPS

When I was growing up my mum would always use mother of pearl lipsticks so whenever I always used to steal them so I’ve always loved them. One of my favourites is a pink one from MAC called La Vie en Rouge. It’s limited edition and has already sold out so I had to trawl online to find it.

When I wear red in the daytime, I use it just to make a stain and mix it with something else. A strong lip can look great in the evening, but with eyeliner and a full face, it can look a bit too done for day. I pair it down by mixing it with a classic nude shade like MAC’s Velvet Teddy or Kinda Sexy. I love mixing and creating different shades. I always wear lip liner. It just gives it that clean finish and I always go for matte.

THE_LIFESTYLE_EDIT_SARAH_MIKAELAON EYES

Eyeliner is my ultimate go-to. I find that it shapes my eyes in a great way. I feel naked if I don’t have it on. It makes a huge difference. Audrey Hepburn is the best example of someone with a killer cat eye. She’s naturally beautiful but the way she used it really shaped her eyes. When you put clothes on, we manipulate to show off our best bits and eyeliner really allows you to do that too. If I go out without it, I just don’t feel myself.

I use a lot of natural brands for eyeliners. They’re not always super high end and expensive but they’re really gentle. I love Rimmel’s liquid liners and what I really love about them are the tips. Lots of people use the ones that are like marker pens but I’ve never been able to get my flick right with those so I tend to go for the ones where the design of the tip does it for me.

ON BROWS

Eyebrows are a big thing for me. I remember seeing this beautiful girl in college. It took me ages to realise what I loved about her was these amazing, defined, busy brows. Ever since, I’ve been investing in eyebrow powders – I haven’t looked back. I swear by the eyebrow powders at The Body Shop. You get two colours and you mix them to create a more natural tone. Sleek does some really good ones too.

When I went to Paris for fashion week last season, I completely forgot my power and pencils. I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m going to wake up in the morning with no eyebrows!’ I literally cried to the girls I was with and ended up running down the road to Sephora first thing in the morning with no eyebrows but a full eye make-up to buy some. I looked like Daphne Groeneveld with these dramatic blond-eyebrows. The woman was going through all the options to me but I was just like, ‘give it to me!’ I feel naked with it.

THE_LIFESTYLE_EDIT_SARAH_MIKAELAON HAIR

I’ve always loved played with my hair, which often ends in disasters. I once had an asymmetric ‘do with an asymmetric fringe too. I thought it was going to look amazing but I kind of discovered that it didn’t and, well, I was stuck with it for ages with al those funny layers. There was so much going on with my hair when I was younger that shouldn’t have been going on so I definitely played around with hair a lot.

For the most of my time growing up, I had really long hair. My hair was completely blonde when I was younger. It’s a bit darker now. Until April it was really long. I always associated myself with long hair. It was like a safety blanket.

Cutting my hair was the funniest thing. With a bit of charm I had convinced a good hairdresser to finally cut my hair. I was feeling inspired by the collarbone-length bobs everyone was doing. We scheduled a date but I had to cancel for a job and then she had to cancel so one day, when I was lying sick at home and feeling horrible, I got into such a self-pitying moment that I just took my paper scissors and cut it all off. It was about 16cm. It was full on Hannah in Girls moment.

I cut my hair before that, years ago, so experience should have told me that that wouldn’t end well. I tried to convince myself that it looked good in my head for days but I looked at it a few days later and was like, yes, I need it cut so went and got it trimmed. I’m so happy with it now. It’s so versatile. I love more masculine inspired looks so I love how the shorter hair has a bit more of an edge to it. It compliments what I like a lot more than long hair.

I’m really low maintenance with my hair. I’m using a shampoo right now from Rituals. I only wash it a few times a week, which works best for me to keep the moisture because my hair is probe to being quite frizzy. My hair isn’t naturally curly. I use pink straighteners from GHD to create a soft wave. I never want it to look to done. If I’m going to an event though, I go for a more dramatic wave.

As told to The Lifestyle Edit. Photograph by Dvora for The Lifestyle Edit