You seriously don’t need to be a trained makeup artist to have stunning skin at any age.
If you want your makeup to be virtually undetectable, the fusion method is going to be perfect for you. The fusion method creates a flawlessly glowy no-makeup makeup look that is especially beautiful on mature skin and is so easy to achieve.
Creating this technique wasn’t about reinventing the wheel. Instead, I’ve been focused on updating existing techniques with higher-quality products and a new perspective on makeup application.
Here are my tips, tricks, and favorite products for creating this undetectable makeup look that will have you looking like you just came back from having a facial.
Facial Zones
Before you can start applying makeup using the fusion method, you need to rethink how you look at your face. Rather than looking first for the things you want to cover or the shapes you want to change, you’re going to learn to divide your face into two zones.
With the fusion method, each of these zones is treated with different products and different application techniques.
High-Moving Muscle Zones
The high-moving muscle zones of your face are the areas that see a lot of creasing and literally move the most. High-moving muscle zones are usually around the mouth and nose, around the eyes, and in the center of the forehead. Zones with more movement are more likely to develop fine lines and wrinkles and are more likely to cause your makeup to crease and move throughout the day.
To combat potential creasing, we’ll be using a lighter makeup application on these zones to create a more flexible base that can move with your skin. This means using finer tools, applying makeup in smaller areas, and using products with lower opacity.
Low-Moving Muscle Zones
The low-moving muscle zones of your face see much less movement and aren’t used to produce as many facial expressions. Low-moving muscle zones are typically around the outer border of the face, including the upper forehead, jawline, and near the ears. These areas typically do not crease and are less likely to produce fine lines and wrinkles.
Because we don’t have to worry about creasing, we can use thicker, more opaque makeup products on these zones and a heavier hand while applying.
Choosing Products
The products I use for the fusion method are literally a fusion of two different types of makeup plus a few extra goodies. Some of the products I use are in a custom palette, which I can help create for you using your perfect shades.
Water Bronzer
Undone Beauty’s Water Bronzer stick creates a beautiful natural tanned look and adds color to the skin without the need for tanning products. Tanning isn’t good for anyone’s skin, especially not for mature skin, so I like to use this product in place of tanning products.
Very sheer and watery, this product blends out easily but isn’t greasy.
Tinted Serum
Rather than using a skin tint or tinted moisturizer—which has a little bit too much opacity for me—I like to use a tinted serum. This creates a beautifully glowy and lightweight filtered look, and you’re adding skincare all in one.
I love the Tinted Serum with Vitamin C, Squalane, and Aloe Vera from Typology which comes in a range of tones.
Low-Movement Products — Seint
Think of these products as “frosting” for a cake. The frosting is thick and completely conceals the cake so nothing shows through. The same general principle applies to the products we’ll use on the low-movement zones of the face. These products are higher opacity and allow less of your natural skin tone to show through.
Because these products are thicker, they also crease more easily, which is why we only use them on low-movement zones of the face.
I love Seint’s products for my low-movement zones and have my own custom palette with shades to suit my skin. These products include:
Bronzer
Contour
Highlight/Foundation
High-Movement Products — Demi
Back to the cake frosting analogy. High-movement products are less like frosting and more like a glaze. Glaze allows you to still see the layers of the cake, and just enhances the look of what you’ve baked. High-movement products don’t completely conceal your skin and are more flexible to prevent creasing.
My favorite high-movement products for high-movement zones are the Demi Correctors from Seint. They come in tons of shades so you can find your perfect match and have the perfect amount of coverage to blur hyperpigmentation and enhance your natural skin tone without creasing or moving.
Seint has so many colors in their Demi collection, so there’s an option for everyone. The colors I use are customized for my skin tone and are kept in my custom fusion method palette.
How To Apply Makeup Using the Fusion Method
With a little bit of knowledge about the fusion method under your belt, let’s move on to application. This method is easy, but it can still take some practice to get the hang of it. Remember, this technique is designed to give you a natural, youthful, fresh look, but you can also combine this technique with more dramatic eye makeup, a bold lip, or any other technique you love.
Without further ado, here’s how I apply my makeup using the fusion method starting with the low-movement zones of my face.
1. Warming Up the Face: Bronzer
Depending on your natural skin tone, or if you use tanning products, you might not need to do this step. Because I have more mature skin, I find adding a light wash of a very sheer bronzer to the high points of my face gives me that nice tanned look without causing any damage to my skin or accentuating hyperpigmentation. This step also helps me to use less product overall.
For this step, I’m using the Water Bronzer stick from Undone Beauty in the shade “Baked” followed by a bronzer from my Seint palette.
2. Lifting the Face: Contour
After warming up the face, I like to add some depth and lift with contour. We’re not going for Kim Kardashian—we just want to add enough fullness to accentuate bone structure and compliment this natural, youthful look.
I’m using a contour from my Seint palette and adding it with a smaller brush to the hollows of my cheeks, right below my cheekbones, the outer portion of my forehead along the hairline, and along my jawline to bring focus to the center of my face.
You don’t need to be afraid of these products! They’re opaque but buildable, and with this application, they are nearly undetectable.
3. Adding Color: Cream Blush
Blush does so much for that healthy, youthful glow. I like to apply a cream blush from Seint right on the tops of my cheeks and gently blend it out with my fingers to lay down a base.
Now we can move on to the high-movement zones.
4. “Skin On Its Best Day” Under Eyes
Heavy concealer and powder just don’t work for the under eyes, especially on mature skin. The eyes move a lot and are one of the first places to develop fine lines. The goal of using sheer, flexible Demi correctors is to create a natural look like your skin on its best day.
This step is done in four sections, which you can sort of think of as a “paint by numbers.” You will need to spend some time looking closely at your under eyes to find each area. The goal is to delete and filter color, not to do an all-over application.
Start with the darkest area of your under-eye, and apply the darkest shade of your Demi color correctors to that area. For me, this area is the inner corner of the eye. Apply the color with a small brush, taking your time to filter the area thoroughly while still using a light hand.
Then, I move to the next darkest areas and apply my next darkest shade, followed by the second lightest shade, then the lightest shade. Each area is filtered using the appropriate Demi color, which of course will be different depending on your unique skin tone.
5. Evening Out the “Muzzle” Area
You can use products around the nose and mouth, but I prefer not to. The nose in particular has a lot of pores, which means it has a lot of texture which just gets emphasized by heavy creams and powders. What I like to do instead is apply a tinted serum.
I add one drop of the Typology Tinted Serum to my nose, and one to my upper lip, then lightly blend it in using the tips of my fingers. I concentrate primarily on the areas where I applied the product, but I also blend it lightly outward to the lines around my mouth.
Next, I use my Water Bronzer stick to warm up the bridge of my nose to add a little bit of a sunkissed look and a healthy glow. Then I use a small brush to sculpt the tip and bridge of my nose and add fullness around my lips with a little bit of Seint contour powder.
Finally, I’ll take a little bit of my lightest Demi color-correcting shade and highlight my cupid’s bow for a fuller pout.
6. Finishing Touches
Finishing this look depends a lot on your skin and how it looks right now. For me, I typically add a little bit of my lightest Demi color to the inner corners of my eyes, color correct around my nose where I have a few broken capillaries, and add a little bit of Demi color to any pimples or hyperpigmentation that distract from the rest of your skin.
Finally, I top everything off with my favorite lipgloss and am ready to go!
The best way to achieve this look yourself is with a custom fusion method palette! I offer custom color matching to help you choose the right shades for your skin, and can even build your personalized fusion method palette for you.