Christen Harper Shares Favorite Products For Sun-Kissed Makeup Look

The SI Swimsuit rookie takes you step by step through her beauty routine.

Christen Harper sure is generous with her time. Not only does the 2022 SI Swimsuit rookie volunteer with Girls Inc., but she’s always up to share her knowledge of all things beauty and fashion. (Check out her top 5 favorite winter accessories, having made the move from Southern California to Michigan two years ago.) Now she’s giving us a behind-the-scenes, step-by-step tutorial into her makeup routine in a newly released video. “Hey guys, I’m Christen Harper. I'm here in Barbados for my rookie shoot for Swimsuit 2022 and I'm going to have you guys get ready with me today.”

Shop the Products

Sunscreen

In Barbados wearing sunscreen is a must but that’s not an unusual prep step for Harper, who uses Supergoop! Glowscreen every day. “I’m going to start off with this Supergoop! Glowscreen. This is the best sunscreen ever,” she says. “It has a shimmery finish and it just makes your skin glow. I wear this in the dead of winter. I wear this every single day. Next step is getting just a nice base for our face.”

Foundation

Next, she applies foundation. “I’m going to go in with Beautycounter Skin Twin. This is an amazing foundation. It’s vegan, Cruelty-free and non-toxic. It’s awesome. Then, I’m going to go in with this Saie Illuminating Highlighter, it's called Sun Glow. This is going to just add another layer of bronze.” Harper uses her Fenty Beauty Foundation Brush as an ode to native Bajan Rihanna. “I’m not using a lot. I just kind of want to even things out. I always take it across my eyelids.”

Concealer

Next step – concealer. Harper uses Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion Concealer sparingly to cover up some spots and at the outer corners of her eyes. “So now we’re going to go in with the beauty blender and blend out this concealer. So this little trick gives your eyes a lift and you always want to be lifted and bronze,” she says. “Now’s the fun stuff, we get to get bronzed and beautiful.”

Bronzer

Harper meticulously adds bronzer to her face. “So first up, I’m going to take this Saie Sun Melt, and this is in the color Medium. It’s just this amazing little cream bronzer. I’m going to take this on a brush and then I’m just going to go ahead and blend it in,” she says, adding a warning. “It kind of looks aggressive at first, but you blend it out. Trust me. It’s going to be fine.” Harper applies it down her cheeks and anywhere else the sun is going to hit.

After the cream bronzer is all blended in Harper goes in with some blush, dabbing it on the higher parts of her cheekbones and across her nose. “​​I don't want it to be too powdery, but I’m going to use this Lawless Seal the Deal Setting Powder. So I’m just going to take a tiny bit on a brush and just hit my forehead under my eye and around my nose.” Harper then takes another bronzer that’s darker than the first and brushes it on the edge of her face. “This is the Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk’r Bronzer. I’m just going to take a little bit of this and go right on the edge of my face because it’s slightly darker.” Surprisingly, Harper says she rarely ever uses eyeshadow. Instead, she prefers using bronzer to get the job done. “I use bronzer for everything. So I’m going to go in with an eyeshadow brush and just take it on my lid a little bit.”

Eyebrows

For her eyebrows, Harper uses a pencil and gel. “I kind of interchange these, but I'm going to go in and do a very light fill, and then—very important—you want to brush that through. So now I’m going to take this brown eyebrow gel and go in and set it through my brows. This will give me more of a lifted look. Next, I’m going to do a slight bit of definition around my eye, and I’m going to use this ILIA palette. This is an eyeshadow palette that kind of has everything you could ever want in your life. I’m going to take a tiny bit of the brown on this angle brush. And this is a trick I pretty much do every day, it’s really subtle, but it makes a huge difference. You just do a baby line on the corner of your eye and then blend it upwards.”

Mascara 

Before adding Honest Beauty mascara, Harper curls her eyelashes to give them more lift. The trick she uses with mascara is to only use a little bit and focus on the base of the lash. Now, it’s time for highlighters. “I have two little highlighters with me. This one is from Milk. It’s a little mini. I really like the mini travel size of everything. So I’m going to go ahead and take this on all the high points of my face, the tip of my nose, the bridge of my nose and a little bit on my left eyebrow. I always forget to blend it out, but it is very crucial to blend out that lighter.” 

Blush and Gloss 

Harper then uses the Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Light Wand in Peach on her cheeks and bridge of her nose and blends it out with her beauty blender. To finish, Harper goes with the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude and Kopari lip gloss, perfecting her look. Harper’s look is light but detailed, and surprisingly natural.

You can view the 2022 photo shoot for Christen Harper here.