According to her recent YouTube tutorial, patchwork skin is something celebrity make-up artist Lisa Eldridge has done on her clients since the beginning of her career. 

“One of my signature application techniques, it’s an intuitive way of applying various products and textures with different techniques, to selective areas of the face, then seamlessly melding the textures together, resulting in your most naturally perfected complexion yet,” Eldridge wrote on Instagram, promoting her new video.

To break it down, the patchwork method consists of looking at your skin, seeing what it needs where (it’s highly unlikely the entirety of your face will need the same skincare or make-up) and applying accordingly – focusing on blending everything together into one seamless entity.

“This is what I mean by this patchwork idea, you’re sewing together this patchwork quilt,” Eldridge says. “The end result is everything just looks like it was supposed to be there.”

A considered routine, the patchwork system Eldridge follows consists of two serums, a moisturiser, highlighter, foundation, concealer, blush and translucent powder. Each is applied to different areas of the face – the second serum is placed only around the outer frame of the face and the powder only on the centre, for example – designed to cater to different skin textures and concerns.

“Everything is one continuum, it’s not really breaking off at any point,” she says.

A technique Eldridge uses on every single one of her clients, the process felt daunting before I began. Two serums, a moisturiser and a liquid highlighter before any base had been applied, I feared my foundation (Suqqu’s The Cream Foundation in shade 130) would slip straight off. However, following Eldrige’s tutorial, I applied base only where needed – not the arbitrary slap-bang application I tend to do when rushed. Focusing on my chin, the area around my nose, the hyperpigmentation spots on my forehead and around my eyes stopped me from applying too much to areas that didn’t need it. 

Plus, when concealer and foundation were gently tapped into the hereditary dark circles under my eyes, it blended seamlessly into the highlighter which, thanks to knocking out the redness in the rest of my face, looked more like a natural holiday glow and less like oddly placed glitter. 

Followed up by a delicate pinpointing technique to cover blemishes, Eldridge creates jagged edges with a tiny make-up brush to melt concealer into the make-up without any obvious demarcation. I prefer to leave those areas alone, only because I think the final effect looks slightly more natural. Also by this point, I was wearing more make-up than I usually would and taking longer about it. 

Time for powder, I applied translucent pressed powder in large sweeps across my forehead, around my nose and chin, and under my eyes, pressing it in with a fluffy brush and sealing with a powder puff. One spritz of setting spray and we were good to go. 

Eight hours later, I was home from a family event and subsequent face-touching, hugging, general merriment that comes with it. If anything, my make-up looked even better than when I left. The powder had kept it in place and, the heat and rush of moving about had given my face a lived-in flushed feel. 

My main takeaway of the patchwork skin technique? Being adaptable to changing the way you apply your skincare and make-up day-to-day. Chances are the best result comes from taking stock of your skin and working with it, not from bashing it on the same way you have for the last 10 years. Sounds obvious but the results speak for themselves. 

Main image: Morgan Fargo