What's the difference between shiny and dewy?

[Trainbother]

All my adult life I've been fighting shine, but now it seems to be all the rage. All the dewy and glowy foundations make me look shiy/oily to my eyes.

I'm glad you said this, every reel/video/tutotial talks about glass skin/dewy etc but to me, it looks oily which as a just turned 40 year old, has always been led to believe that's something you don't want! I find it really hard to not look at them and think you look greasy 😂

I think glass and shiny are similar, but dewy is less shiny it's more the light bouncing off parts of the skin

Shiny is like oily

Dewy should come more from within the skin rather than the surface – the skin should look well moisturised and have a healthy, glowing sheen. It should not be matt or powdery

‘Glass’ also looks ‘shiny’ but only really works if you have perfect texture and a delicate, almost translucent glow to the skin

Glass/shiny looks sweaty. Dewy is more of a subtle glow

To me, translated into paint speak: shiny = gloss, dewy = satin finish. Not sure that's particularly scientific 😊

In my case I think the difference is about 20 years. Gorgeous niece and all her lovely friends have glowy dewy skin. I definitely have shiny skin even when we use the same products

The difference? One is free (sweat and bodily produced skin oils) and one costs potentially a fair bit of money (glop you can buy to put on your face).

I suspect the fashion for glowy has come about from the sheer amount of sunscreen they are recommending we wear (and reapply every 2 hours) inside or out, in summer or winter, regardless of UV levels.

I wear powder because I have a tendency to get hot at some point during the day and the 'glow' manages to come through. So I look 'glowy' and not 'sweaty'. 🙂

I mix CT Hollywood Flawless Filter with my usual foundation & I find that gives me a dewy, healthy glow. However, my skin is normal/dry. I would imagine it would be harder to get the balance right if you have oily skin.

I would imagine it would be harder to get the balance right if you have oily skin.

@happytobemrsg, my skin is combination with an oilier t-zone. I'm in my 50s and still find powder compact the best. It blurs the pores and smoothes my skin's appearance. I don't wear foundation just the tinted powder. It doesn't ever look 'cakey' or settle in wrinkles although it can if I do wear foundation. I think that is because it would adhere to the foundation and that is where you get colour separating over time. Yet if you just use powder on skin with no make up on it doesn't adhere as much - any excess brushes away. I don't use a lot of concealer either, just a minuscule amount on a very fine brush to paint out a couple of thread veins.

'Healthy glow' for me comes from powdered blusher. If I wanted highlight I would use a powder version with very fine light reflection in it and use sparingly.

I do it strategically
So I powder my nose, forehead, chin
Leave cheeks powder free. Then I've got a sort of glowy look (with highlight and blush) but not oily if that makes sense?

Same 👆

It's all marketing language.

Dewy is translucent and comes from within the skin and is over the whole face more or less, shiny is sitting on top of the skin, they do look different but I'm not sure how to explain it.
If you've got naturally oily skin then a dewy foundation is not going to work for you, it's going to take you too far, a more matte foundation plus your natural oiliness will go towards the dewy look.

@CactusPeach how can 'dewy' be a type of foundation if 'dewy' comes from 'within the skin'?

When I was mad keen on skincare and used tret my skin was glowy and dewy.

Now I don't and am 10 years older it isn't.

Basically I think the message is dewy is not either very shiny or very matte. It is something in between. Products can move you towards one extreme or the other. So achieving optimal 'dewiness' with or without products or other means like movement and exercise or cold air or blotting papers or what ever depends on your skin type.

It’s more like moisturised-looking. So a non-matt, moisturising foundation with a sheer finish could provide a dewy look

@TiredandKnackeredand,

It’s more like moisturised-looking. So a non-matt, moisturising foundation with a sheer finish could provide a dewy look

...or a shiny, sweaty look depending on your skin type. Which is my point really. The marketing terminology is beginning to irritate me. Foundations do not provide dewiness. They can alter the way the skin looks but since we all have individual skin types there is not a singular type of foundation that creates dewiness for every person.

For me dewiness is created by using powder since without it I look shiny not dewy. Powder takes this down to dewy especially as powders can be sheer so they don't have to look flat and very made up.

The look these foundations are aiming for is 'dewy' which is supposed to look as a pp mentioned like well-moisturised skin. Well moisturised skin is healthy and glowing from within as opposed to oils sitting on the surface of the skin.
I absolutely agree that no one foundation can create the same look on different skin types. They're not supposed to. The foundations advertised as for a dewy look are generally more moisturising ones and aimed at people with dryer skin. They're not meant for people with oilier skin.
As I mentioned, someone with oiler skin would get the look by using something sheer and matte as their natural oils will come through.