A sweet Japanese beauty and makeup trend for 2019: ‘biscuit skin’ could be your cup of tea
We’ll get that ‘look good enough to eat’ joke outta the way here, in the first line. For Valentine’s Day 2019, here’s a taster of the makeup style set to be this season’s sweetest Japanese cosmetics trend.
Get that flawless, cookie-cutter look
So what is ‘biscuit skin’? It’s not powdery or crumbly, breathe a sigh of relief on that. Think… velvet-y, instead. A veil of softness across your face.
What you’re aiming for is a smooth, semi-matte finish, with minimal (ideally zero) shading, blusher and contour. Biscuits have that same even tone, after all. Ever seen a cookie blush?
You should still be able to see hints of shine, without your skin getting too glossy. Think of it like a ‘soft focus’ camera setting, only in real life and lasting all day. A fresh, perfectly-baked face.
Biscuit bases and powder sprinkles
Every skin tone can work with the ‘biscuit’ trend – if you know your biscuits. Maybe you’re a digestive, or a Nice biscuit, or a chocolate Bourbon, or a custard cream. (Or a Party Ring!)
You could always start by getting biscuit-y inspiration. Look at some real packs of yummy baked snacks, and see which one matches your skin tone best. From there, it’s about choosing the ideal cosmetics.
(It’s fair to say Japan doesn’t always cater to the widest range of skin colours out there. But you might find new products to mix and match with makeup in your existing routine, so it’s worth taking a look.)
First, prep your skin with a mattifying primer or makeup base. If you’re the ‘oily skin’ type, then maybe you do that already. It cuts down reflections off your face and hides pores, like a coating of flour.
For foundation, our best tip’s to use a liquid type. It’ll add the right amount of smoothness without feeling heavy – more like biscuit, less like cake. And at this point, it’s okay if there’s a little bit of shine on your face. You can come back to that later on.
As for concealer… it doesn’t feel like many Japanese brands have a matte concealer option out yet. Wait and see as this makeup trend grows. We might update this post if/when new products hit the market.
Top it off with loose powder (or pressed powder that’s soft and opaque enough) to smooth out the shiny-ness. Not a pearlescent one – that’d give you an edible glitter finish.
All the ingredients you need
We’ve got a few ideas for Japanese makeup brands to try out:
- Primavista ‘anti-crumble’ Long Keep base
- Ettusais Oil Block base
- Ex:beaute Vision liquid foundations
- Covermark Essence foundation
- Cle De Peau (Shiseido) semi-matte cream foundation
- Canmake Marshmallow Finish base and powder
Remember, you won’t need to stock up on blusher or bronzer for this look. Lip gloss, eyeshadow and eyeliner all look great on top of a smooth biscuit skin finish, though – like an iced cookie.
Could this be 2019’s special flavour?
Sure, ‘biscuit skin’ didn’t make it into @Cosme’s top 3 big Japanese beauty trend predictions for 2019. But we think it’ll claim a place in end-of-year recaps. As this trend grows, watch more brands join the club.
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