How To Fully Embrace Your Paleness – Even On A Night Out

For as long as many of us can remember, the ritual of applying fake tan week in and week out was the norm. If we dared to be caught in pale skin, we felt ghostly and sickly. But it seems that embracing pale skin and our own gorgeous glow is finally having its moment – and we are so on board with this new mentality.

Since self tan took over the Irish market by storm it became part of our identity, and our own skin became something we didn’t want to show. Now with this new shift, it’s all about embracing the skin we were born with and knowing how to feel confident and gorgeous without having to apply layers of tan.

Across social media we are seeing celebs and influencers step out in their natural skin, showing us just how beautiful our own glow is. And while to many, including myself, it may be daunting to reduce the stockpile amounts of fake tan in the press, here is everything you need to know about working with pale skin to make you feel more confident.

First up, let’s look at some of the Irish influencers who have turned away from fake tan and turned pale skin into their signature look. From creating flawless looks, to tips on how to feel more confident in our own skin, these women are showing exactly how fabulous fair skin can be.

Keilidh Cashell – @KeilidhMUA

 

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Leading the movement is none other than Keilidh Cashell. Make-up artist and owner of KASH Beauty, Keilidh has inspired Irish women to ditch the fake tan and embrace their natural complexion.

Being a pale girl herself, Keilidh showcases makeup looks to suit cooler toned complexions along with tips and tricks for fair skin makeup. She educates women on knowing the undertones of their complexions to get the perfect shade match, along with her makeup analysis series on TikTok that also gives advice on what eyeshadows, blushes and bronzers to use to make your skin pop.

@keilidhmua Embracing the pale ✨ #paleskin #howto #makeup #irish ♬ original sound – KeilidhMua

Her own line of foundations and skin tints are trusted by those who are making the switch to pale skin as they know that time and effort would have been put in by Keilidh to ensure every skin type has a shade to suit them.

Recently Keilidh strutted down the red carpet at our Hayu Stellar InstaStar Awards without any tan and looked absolutely amazing, showing just how stunning pale skin can be.

Molly Roberts – @mollerina_

 

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A post shared by molly roberts | content creator (@mollerina_)

Molly Roberts, or Mollerina as she is known online is the ultimate pale girl inspo. She ditched the fake tan four years ago and hasn’t looked back since. She has shared her journey becoming a more confident version of herself across social media, and we are loving being on the journey with her.

Like Keilidh, Molly shares tips and tricks for creating the perfect pale skin makeup along with advice on how to be more confident in yourself.  In her videos, she talks about how to ween off fake tan, and how to shift your mindset around tan being the thing that gives you confidence – it’s you who is the confident and fearless one.

@mollerina_ here are some tips i would give you if you told me you wanted to slow down on the fake tan and embrace your natural pale skintone this summer 🫶 1. Try lighter shades of fake tan / use lots of body oil 2. Diversify your pinterest boards / stop just looking at one standard of beauty 3. Figure out your colours! Your fake tan could be a completely different untertone to your actual skintone #paleskin #palegirl #paleoutfits #summeroutfits #quitfaketan #mollerina #palesummer ♬ original sound – mollerina | molly roberts

From her daily and glam pale makeup looks, to creating outfits that compliment her skin, she is definitely someone who we can all take inspo and advice from.

Roz Purcell – @rozannapurcell

 

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Another Irish icon who has ditched the fake tan for quite some time now is former Miss Ireland, now wellness influencer Roz Purcell. Roz had been wearing fake tan from the young age of 14 and for 20 years would not have been seen without it, but in recent years decided to make to swap to embrace her stunning pale skin.

Highlighting her journey to loving pale skin, Roz said that when she saw a headline that said “orange you glad she won” she felt it was time to scale back on the tan and try go cold turkey. Before, Roz didn’t think there would ever be a time where was wasn’t wearing tan, now she doesn’t see herself going back.

 

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Roz challenges her audience to try and go to even one event without fake tan – just to see how you feel, and to see how confident you can be without fake tan. Coming from an era of self-tan culture, Roz thinks it’s good to sometimes leave the fake tan at home and love your natural skin and enhance all your natural beauty – and we are loving her attitude towards it!

Knowing your undertones

If you are ready to make the swap to embracing your pale skin, knowing your undertones if the key to enhancing your natural glow – so check your veins. Yes, really!

If they are more blue or purple then you would suit a cooler, more pink shade of foundation. While if you have greener veins, then that would mean you have warmer undertones. A mix of both would have you reaching for a foundation shade that has both.

NARS Light Reflecting Foundation – Oslo

KASH Beauty Aura Skin Radiant Foundation – Captivate

When shopping for these foundations, it’s important that you shade match on your jaw line and blend down your neck, instead of on your hands to ensure the shade match is perfect!

And getting that foundation to suit your skin tone isn’t the only thing that will elevate your pale girl makeup, it’s also understanding what blush, bronzers and finishes to apply to your face.

Blushing and bronzing

When it comes to blush, it is vital that you know what shades suit you. Some blushes are too pink and bright and might end up washing you out instead of enhancing your glow.

If you are picking up a foundation that has cool undertones, a blush that had rosy pinks would be ideal – that would give you that colour and glow without taking over, while a warmer undertone foundation suits more peachy blushes.

Merit Flush Balm in Lusitano 

Rare Beauty Liquid Blush in Hope

And when it comes to bronzers, you definitely don’t want to be reaching for the ones you use with tan. Instead, a light shade applied to your cheeks and temples will give you that sun-kissed bronzed feeling, perfectly bring together the look.

A rule of thumb when applying pale skin makeup is buying products that you know are buildable and to go light handed. Pale makeup is all about letting your own skin glow, and going too heavy handed on products can often take away from that.

If you’re still craving more of a glow, Bbold’s Airbrush Body Makeup in shade a lighter shade could be your saviour. Applying this across your chest and body will keep the colour of your gorgeous skin but even out any redness that you may have – perfect for those big nights our or events.

bBold Instant Airbrush Body Makeup in Satin Light 

And a tip from Mollerina herself is to use the Nuex Body Shimmer Oil in shade ‘florale’ to give you that glow that a bronzing shade would.

NUXE Huile Florale Shimmering Multi-Purpose Dry Oil

Now that you have your pale skin makeup down to a tee, it’s time to see what colour palettes suit pale complexion to fully elevate your new look.

When working with pale skin, you need clothes that will make your skin tone pop. Light pastel colours of baby blue and lavender look amazing against pale skin, along with earth colours of green, burgundy and brown. Even more bolder shades of red will really help make your fair skin shine.

@kirstyeelizabeth Trusting the algorithm to find the pale skin queens 🙋🏻‍♀️ @PrincessPollyUK @Urban Outfitters Europe #paleskin #paleskinoutfits #outfitinspo #clotheshaul #princesspolly ♬ original sound – Kirsty Elizabeth

To complete the looking, choosing the right shade of jewellery to suit your complexion is a must. For those who are on the cool side, silver jewellery is the perfect addition, while gold will perfectly complement more warmer undertones, helping to create a full look that you will leave you feeling more confident and empowered in your natural skin.

Pale skin isn’t something to cover up to change – it’s something that we should feel confident and celebrate. Embrace your own skin, play around with different makeup and style looks because at the end of the day our glow comes from our confidence and fair is just as fierce!

Words by Emily Molloy