Natalie Becker on Skin Care and Makeup!

When it comes to beautiful skin, some are genetically blessed, some make an effort and spend lots of time, energy and money on achieving their "perfect skin". Some have great skin but still make additional effort. Natalie Becker says that she is lucky. She wasn't particularly vigilant about skin care growing up but she is "quite good at the basics" and recommends wearing sunscreen from an early age.

Photography by Ilze Kitshoff

She always removes her makeup before going to bed, "it's just not worth the clogged pores and raccoon eyes in the morning to not do it!"

Natalie cleanses, tones and moisturizes daily. She aims to use an exfoliating scrub at least thrice a week and a clarifying mask at least twice a week. "Morning’s I add an SPF to protect my skin on my face neck hands and arms. Evenings, I sometimes just add eye cream and leave the rest of my skin to breathe- which it loves, especially in the humidity when it can get very hot at night, like the weather is here in New York in the summer! I’m not big on heavy creams at night- perhaps a light exfoliating cream."

Photography by Ilze Kitshoff

She's currently using a natural range, Burt's Bees, but also swears by Dermalogica and Josie Maran's Argan Oil Range. Natalie's other favourites and some of the best products she's used so far include:

• Cape Town based Roxy Marosa's Total Skin Health Care range. It is completely natural and DOES NOT contain Sodium laurel sulphate. "She gives unbelievable facials."
• Jan Marini
• Comfort Zone

And she's not done experimenting with products! There are still many products and product ranges she'd love to try.

When asked what her favourite individual products are, she had trouble deciding, but managed to narrow it down to Roxy Marosa's entire range, Comfort Zone Serum, Dermalogica’s Gentle Exfoliating Cream and Josi Maran’s Argan Oil moisturising sunscreen.

[I think she's a product junkie.] :-)

Natalie Becker's top skin care tips:

Drink plenty of water.

Use sunscreen.

Keep your hands off your face.

Exercise- nothing beats the radiance of a post-exercise glow!

Less is more- be gentle with your skin and sometimes just let it breathe.

Natalie on makeup:

"I prefer natural and enhancing one’s features rather than masking them, so I even out  my skin tone with a light moisturising foundation and then apply bronzer on my cheeks and eyes, add a nude gloss and add some dark mascara to play up my eyes. Sometimes, when I wear my hair up, I like to play with a nude face and deep red lip for evening drama."

Natalie's makeup done by Eloise Dreyer.

"I like to enhance my eyes using mascara and sometimes lining them with a plum liner or shadow to highlight the green in my hazel eyes. I also like to enhance my pout, sometimes, with a lovely berry stain or nude gloss. When going out at night, I enjoy using a bronze/gold highlighter to highlight and enhance my bone structure, so I apply it to cheekbones, down the nose and chin."

Visit Natalie Becker's website for information about where she is and what she's up to. www.nataliebeckerlive.com

Miss B