I’ll start with the disclaimer. No one should ever feel like wearing makeup in general, let alone during a workout, is a necessity. If you don’t—and often, that’s the case for me—great. If you do, also great. It’s your call, and whatever floats your boat and makes you feel good is awesome.
Now that that’s out of the way… If you want to wear makeup during your training, or while being super active, but prefer not smudging, smearing or wrecking your skin in the process, I can officially say that Clinique Fit has some of the best products I’ve found so far.
I’ve never had the world’s best skin. It’s gotten better now that I’m out of my teens, and even better now that I actually do things like take care of it, wash makeup off at night when I do wear it (I was the punk kid going to shows and sweating through heavy foundation, then crashing on a couch somewhere without even rinsing with water). My skin is also prone to redness. So yeah, I like a little foundation on occasion. I’m also sunscreen-obsessed, so when BB creams became a thing a few years ago, I was freaking psyched. Light coverage + sunscreen = win.
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Then, Clinique launched their Fit line this year, designed to be makeup that could withstand a workout. Again, I don’t think anyone should feel the need to wear makeup while training, but hey, if you want to, it should probably be something tough enough to withstand hot yoga, right? And with SPF 40 thanks to titanium dioxide (a physical vs chemical barrier sun protectant), I was really excited to test it out and bought it as soon as it was available. The formula is pretty liquidy (seriously, you NEED to shake the $hit out of the bottle before applying. Cannot stress this enough).
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The coverage is just right, for me: sheer, but color-correcting with a nice matte finish (ideal for my oily skin). It also doesn’t feel like you’re wearing much. And for anyone who deals with serious sweating (raises hand), this stuff does stay in place regardless of sweating issues, so it won’t end up dripping in your eyes. It claims to last 12 hours, and for me, that proved true. It’s also fragrance-free, which I prefer since I have kind of grumpy skin when you add crap like fragrance to skin products. I wore it a ton this season and it was pretty much perfect for being outside all day, moving a bunch, and—on a few occasions—sneaking in a workout midday, not showering, and still not looking like a total mess.
It’s not super cheap, but I would highly recommend it. (I will also point out the obvious—WASH IT OFF BEFORE BED. This stuff freaking stays put, so you do spend some time getting it to come off.)
The mascara was also a major source of excitement for me as someone prone to panda eyes when I so much as look at mascara. Waterproof, 24-hour wearability was promised, and it really does deliver. It’s not my workout mascara, it’s my everyday go-to now. And even better, it comes off with warm (OK, more like hot) water, so even when you’re on the road and need to get your face clean at night, you don’t need fancy makeup remover to get rid of it when you’re done. It really stays in place throughout the day—every single workout I did, it never smudged—and if you do sleep in it, it doesn’t even move at night, so you avoid the dark circle issue that I seem to run into with any other brand, no matter how waterproof it claims to be. I even swam wearing this a bunch, and not a single smear. Seriously, freaking bombproof. I admit, it doesn’t do anything amazing for your lashes, like add length or volume. It’s just a nice, plain black mascara—no fancy claims other than the 24-hour, water and sweat-proof nature. So if you’re all about a more dramatic eyelash, this won’t do it.
Honestly? For simple mascara + simple, sheer foundation, Clinique Fit freaking delivers.
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