You know those "cool girls" that the internet seems to be obsessed with? They're the ones with the perfectly mussed hair, the impossibly glowy skin, and the kind of attitude that says, "I know I look amazing, but I haven't put any effort into this. At all." They're the ones whose beauty tips read like a bucket list you know you'll never conquer. "I just sleep on my hair and it looks like this!" they'll exclaim. "The only things I have on right now are coconut oil and SPF!"We love the cool girls. We hate the cool girls. But dammit if we don't want to crack the code to how to look as effortlessly put-together as they do.
When attempting to emulate these ladies, we make one of the following attempts, only to fail: We slather on the coconut-oil-and-SPF concoction they recommend, and then bemoan the fact that we weren't blessed with lit-from-within skin. Or we go through a 12-step tutorial in order to make our hair look like we just rolled out of bed.
But you want to know the secret sauce that makes these women look so enviable? They can't be bothered to give a fuck. They embrace their frizz, don't mind a little shiny skin, and add concealer only where absolutely necessary. Because, at the end of the day, who cares about a few flyaways or oily spots when you're feeling straight confident?
With this in mind, we tapped a gangbusters team to put together four looks that are perfect for the girl who is fresh out of effs to give. What's more, we challenged hairstylist Clay Nielsen and makeup artist Andriani Vasiliou — with assist on nails from the beloved Miss Pop — to make these looks true to life. Read: No complicated steps. Not a ton of products. Just the beautiful basics.
Embrace What Mamma Gave Ya
The quintessential queens of not giving a fuck are the ones who you typically hear this statement from: "Oh, I just wear moisturizer. And this is my natural hair texture with nothing in it." And, sure, some of them may truly be blessed in these ways. But the deep, dark secret of many of their IDGAF peers is that they rely on at least a handful of products to look "natural."
Keeping that in mind, Vasiliou used as few products as possible to create this "your-skin-but-better" look. She says to focus on perfecting your base — as much as you feel you need to. "This look is all about looking really well taken care of without doing too much," she says. "So you need to make sure your base looks good."
She added a touch of contour to the cheeks, and then lightly brushed the same exact shade on the eyes to give structure and depth. Then, she added some YSL Touche Éclat on the high points of the face and down the nose for a subtle highlight. A swipe of YSL Baby Doll Mascara finished this off-duty look.
"The overarching tip is to make it look as light and fresh as possible," she says. "Just cover up any imperfections, and then add structure to the face with contour and highlight."
Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat, $42, available at Sephora; Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effet Faux Cils Baby Doll Mascara, $32, available at Nordstrom; Make Beauty Solstice Bronzer, $30, available at Make Beauty.
Our model Marisa has incredible texture — so much so that Nielsen didn't really have to do much to it. But he actually did, just to polish it up a bit. "It's enhancing what you already have," he says. He bulked up the volume with a little bit of Bumble and Bumble's Prêt-à-Powder and a spritz of the brand's Cityswept Finish. "I...rubbed both products in to frizz out the texture," he says. "Don't be afraid of your hair — whatever it may be."
He says to embrace those mornings when you wake up with hair that may seem a little too crazy. "Just mattify the grease and go with it, or add some mousse to your damp hair and sleep on it," he says.
Bumble and Bumble Prêt-à-Powder, $27, available at Sephora; Bumble and Bumble Cityswept Finish, $31, available at Bumble and Bumble.
Paired with a tee and dark-wash jeans, this look is perfect for grabbing coffee on a lazy weekend. You'll feel fresh and put-together, but with minimum effort. Because, honestly, you can't ask us to muster much more than that on a Sunday.
Rent Patina sofa.
Fruit of the Loom Boy's Short Sleeve Crew Tee, $4.99, available at Fruit of the Loom; Denim x Alexander Wang Wang 002 Relaxed Fit, $285, available at Alexander Wang; Melissa Joy Manning 1/2 Inch Trapezoid Hoops in Silver, $40, available at Melissa Joy Manning.
Devil In The Details
The first rule of not giving a you-know-what? Thou shalt not use more products than thou can count on one hand. Even better: Both the hair and the makeup in this look on Darby require no more than two products. What's more? They follow the second rule of zero-effs beauty: Thou shalt leave one detail just slightly undone.
For the makeup, Vasiliou followed the same correct-only-what-needs-help ethos as for the first look — although she does suggest using some kind of foundation. "You need something as a base since we're using cream products," she says. So she applied Chanel's Vitalumière with her hands. "It adds radiance and plumps up your skin a little bit to get the juices flowing," she says.
Next, she took NARS Matte Multiple in Laos and used it on the eyes, lips, and cheeks. "You can do it all with your fingers," she says. She smudged the pigment onto the lids from the lashline to just above Darby's crease. Then, she tapped it right onto the apples of her cheeks and blended it up toward her cheekbones. "No mascara, just to keep it soft and angelic," she adds. Finally, Vasiliou blended the pink onto Darby's lips. "The beauty of this look is it's one product and you're out the door," she says. Sounds like heaven to us.
Chanel Vitalumière Aqua Skin Perfecting Makeup, $48, available at Nordstrom; NARS Matte Multiple in Laos, $39, available at NARS.
This loose pony is the epitome of a lazy-day style — you can't even be bothered to pull your hair all the way through your elastic loops. "Braids are played-out, and this is a cool way to get an interesting texture without, you know, doing something complicated," Nielsen says.
Try this on second-day hair for good texture. You can pull it off with a variety of tools — either a long elastic, two regular-sized hair ties, or one of those super-thin headbands that's been hanging out in the back of your bathroom drawer since '03. (Hey, we've all got 'em.) Pull your hair into a rough, low pony. Every time you loop the elastic, pull it down about an inch, so it makes a sort of figure-eight shape down your hair. Once it's done, pull out the hair like you would with a braid, starting from the bottom. "It takes the same amount of time to do this as it does a regular ponytail," Nielsen says.
You could re-create this entire vibe in about two-and-a-half minutes, flat. Then, just toss on an easy button-up over a tank and jeans and mosey.
Tibi tank; Mother top; Rent Patina chair.
Frame Le Original Jeans, $249, available at ShopBop.
When Bad Trends Become Cool
ICYMI: Curly bangs are suddenly a thing, faded lipstick is on-trend, and lazy girls everywhere are toasting their good fortune. Not only are these looks easy (understatement of the year), but they also pack a major punch without trying all that hard. Noticing a theme here?
Vasiliou says the key to this ombré lip is to take your natural lip tone into consideration. "Work within your natural lip palette and go slightly deeper as you go into your lips," she says. She started with a lipstick that pretty much matches Marisa's lip tone and spread it all over the lips. Then, she grabbed a darker shade and asked Marisa to pucker her lips. She used her finger to press the dark shade into the pucker.
"You don't need any real precision," Vasiliou says. "You can do this without a mirror." The pucker concentrates the color where it's supposed to be and keeps it feathered out where it's not. "If you need to blend it out a bit, you can," she adds. The result is a soft ombré effect that actually makes your lips appear bigger. Score.
Smashbox Be Legendary Lipstick in Cognac, $21, available at Beauty.com; Bite Beauty Luminous Crème Lipstick in Kir Royal, $24, available at Sephora.
So you love your half-updo or topknot? Let's add a little more oomph to it — without doing much more than you already are. This style allows curly girls to test-drive the coiled-fringe trend without making the big chop.
This look is basically just building on that half-updo you already love. Nielsen sectioned the hair in two at the tops of the ears, sumo-knotted the top, and let the ends of the knot hang free in front of Marisa's face. Then, he took that bottom portion of hair, gathered it, and wrapped it around the base of the sumo knot, securing it with another elastic. Nielsen used a texturizing paste to add some piece-y-ness to the faux bangs.
"Bangs are having a moment, but this style is also good if your hair is greasy and you need to hide your hairline," he explains. Uh, sign us up.
R+Co Badlands Dry Shampoo Paste, $28, available at Birchbox.
When the makeup looks effortlessly polished and the hair looks thrown-together cool, it's a match made in heaven. Toss on some soft clothes that feel like next-level pajamas, and you're set for whatever the day brings.
Levi's Made & Crafted top; Parme Marin shoes.
Bella Freud Sparkle Knitted Trousers, $418.85, available at Bella Freud; Sarah Chloe MRXSC 14KT Gold Inez Earrings, $148, available at Sarah Chloe.
Last Night's Makeup
We're going to level with you here. Sometimes you wake up after an epic night out and realize that, through your tequila haze, you didn't do such a great job of taking off all your eye makeup. Or, you know, brushing your hair before you fell into bed with one shoe still on. But now it's late in the day and you've got to haul ass out the door. What's a girl who is out of fucks to give to do?
Vasiliou says to build on the leftover liner you've already got rocking. If you're starting this look from scratch, grab a kajal liner, apply it to your lower waterline, and blink to get it to smudge on the top and bottom lashlines. Blend it out slightly with your fingers. For added drama, Vasiliou then used a MAC Cream Colour Base to smear out the black on the top and bottom lashes, creating a cool, gunmetal smoky eye. "Apply it along the bottom lashline and then all the way up your eyelid to the browbone," she says.
Skip mascara. Instead, grab an eye gloss and dab it into the center of the eyelid for a cool, wet look. "Just use a touch. As you blink, it will spread," Vasiliou says. "A little goes a long way." Use the same gloss on the high points of your cheeks and on the lips. Easiest. Smoky. Eye. Ever.
Givenchy Magic Kajal Eye Pencil, $26, available at Sephora; MAC Cream Colour Base in Dusk, $22, available at MAC; MAC Studio Eye Gloss in Pearl Varnish, $22, available at MAC.
"This is sex hair," Nielsen says. (Are you blushing?) While we love a half-updo, they can sometimes feel a bit fussy. So we spun it on its head and slapped a few pins in the back for a perfectly imperfect, windswept look.
First, Nielsen backcombed the top of the hair and split it into a low side-part. He took the side with more hair, twisted it once, stuck a barrette into it, and then repeated this on the other side. This isn't a look that's meant to be super-polished, so don't worry if a few pieces in the front fall out. In fact, Nielsen used his fingers to brush a few wayward pieces forward, giving the hair more dynamic. "Always add a few wispy pieces if it's looking a bit too contrived," he says.
Number 4 Non-Aerosol Hairspray, $30, available at Birchbox.
Toss a tank over the tee you wore to bed, pull on your favorite jeans, and you're ready to stroll right out the door. Cool-girl mission accomplished.
Hanes Women's Relaxed Fit Jersey ComfortSoft T-Shirt, $3.99, available at Hanes; Vince Favorite Tank, $48, available at Vince; Denim x Alexander Wang Wang 003 Boy Fit, $295, available at Alexander Wang.
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