The 5 Basics You Need In Your Makeup Bag for Spring

With just a few days to go until spring officially arrives, I've started to make a few seasonal switches to my makeup bag. In the same way that you might be starting to think about stashing away your winter coats and heavy knitwear and re-introducing your trench coats and florals to your wardrobe, there are certain beauty basics that are always essential to my spring routine.

For me, a few key basics that always make their way back into my makeup bag each spring—cream formulas, a stronger SPF and as much highlighter as possible to help my dull, winter skin transition into sunshine season with as much integrity as possible.

There's much to be said about the colours of the season, too—soft lilacs, warm oranges and petal pinks all look fresh in spring—but for the purpose of keeping things pared-back I've identified 5 key basics that everyone needs in their spring makeup bags.

Keep reading to find out what they are and to shop some of my favourites.

Related: 5 Game-Changing Pieces to Make Your Spring Capsule Wardrobe Feel Current

1. Lightweight base with SPF

SPF is an essential all year round—yes, even in the depths of the gloomy British winter—but I make a special effort come spring to look for foundations and CC creams with sun protection in. With the warmer weather I also find myself gravitating away from the heavy coverage foundations and finishing powders of winter and reaching for more lightweight base products. Not only can they often be applied quickly, and with fingers, but the best ones contain light-reflecting particles and skin-hydrating benefits so your complexion will be left plump and glowing.

2. Cream blusher

I don't buy into the idea that powder products are for winter and creams for summer (did you even know that was a supposed thing?) but there's something undoubtedly lovely about the sheer pop of colour that a cream blush lends to skin during spring. Corals and pinks are particularly great hues if you're wanting to brighten a dull complexion, and applying them in a cream formula means they really mesh with your skin for a more natural-looking flush of colour.

Related: The One Elevated Basic Your Wardrobe Is Missing This Spring

3. Highlighter

I love a good highlighter at the best of times but getting my skin looking as dewy as possible is even more of a beauty aim once the sun starts to make a reappearance. For subtle luminous rather than disco ball results I opt for cream and liquid formulas which can be mixed with foundations and over or under your base makeup for an all-over glow.

4. Tinted lip balm

My lips tend to take a bit of a battering in winter after months of full-coverage lipsticks, central heating and more dehydrating alcohol consumption than usual. (Until the beer gardens open in the summer, anyway.) To combat dryness without compromising on colour I switch to tinted lip balms. Not only do they look fresh and juicy on the lips but they're entirely fuss-free when it comes to application and upkeep. 

Related: How to Wear Bright Lipstick Like You Know What You're Doing

5. Bronzer

Disclaimer—I was not a bronzer wearer until probably about a year ago. I've never really minded my pasty complexion and prefer to inject colour into my beauty look with lipsticks and blush. However, the reason I didn't like it was because I'd been applying it all wrong—streaking it over cheekbones and my forehead for a badly contoured finish. For me, mixing a liquid formula with a foundation is the way to go for glowy skin or I'll use a huge fluffy brush to lightly diffuse a powder over my cheeks and nose for a subtle sun-kissed effect. 

Next up, I'm already creating my summer wardrobe—starting with these dresses.

Mica Ricketts

Mica Ricketts is a freelance beauty editor, copywriter and regular contributor toBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing UK. She also writes for titles including Marie Claire Refinery 29 and Cosmopolitan, and previously worked atBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing UK as Beauty Editor. With experience in both editorial and content management, she also works with beauty brands and small businesses on brand messaging and content strategy. As a busy mum of two, she is passionate about finding efficacious beauty products that can disguise all signs of tiredness with minimal effort.