Your makeup looks flawless when you leave the house, but by the time you’re done with lunch, your dark circles have reappeared and your lipstick’s nonexistent. Sound like you? These tricks will help your makeup last throughout the day and save you from future makeup blunders.
Take off makeup correctly. When you wash your face and use a toner afterward, do you collect more dirt or makeup on the pad? If you do, you probably are not getting your face clean enough, according to Chicago makeup artist Regina Sneor, who owns D’Works.
“Using an oily eye makeup remover can be better for your eye area and cause less irritation toward other products used around the eye area,” Sneor says. “Most face cleansers or cleansing towels are too irritating for the eye area. You may not feel it at first, but constant removal of eye makeup with a face cleanser may cause a problem in the long run, as it did for me and many of my clients.”
Sneor suggests exfoliating the face at least twice a week to take off dead skin cells and make skin vibrant. Moisturizers will work better and makeup will stay on longer.
Prime the skin. Primer, a transparent cream worn on top of your moisturizer and underneath your makeup, has become more mainstream in recent years. According to Jenny Patinkin, Chicago makeup artist and owner of Lazy Perfection Beauty School, primer is a great barrier to put between your skin and your makeup for longer wear time.
“It prevents oils from surfacing and causing your makeup to slip and slide,” Patinkin says. “It also keeps makeup from being absorbed into dry skin, leaving you with a faded look.”
Unsure which primer to try? By Terry Hyaluronic Hydra-Primer and Laura Mercier Foundation Primer Radiance recently won raves from Harper’s Bazaar.
Sneor also believes using primer is a key step and swears by Zelens Primer because it comes in a satin finish for drier skin and a velvet finish for oily skin. Priming the skin helps you fill in larger pores, blur wrinkles, improve skin imperfections and achieve smoothness. That means you won’t need as much foundation to cover the skin. Apply the primer before your tinted moisturizer or foundation. Purchase a primer that’s formulated for your skin type, as there are primers that are oil absorbents and primers that hydrate the skin.
To keep foundation on, use a good foundation brush and “stipple” it on your face. Stippling is a technique for applying foundation with a bi-layered brush and pushing it rapidly into the skin, Sneor says.
“Also, adding powder to a stippled face sets much better,” Sneor says. “This way, the powder isn’t soaking up the excess foundation because there isn’t any. This also avoids separation of foundation on the face during the day.”
Patinkin suggests layering textures, particularly when it comes to blush. Applying a creamy blush underneath a powder one will help the pigments grip together and wear better.
To prevent shine throughout the day, throw a small package of oil blotters in your makeup bag for on-the-go touch-ups.
If skin is feeling dull, a few mists of rosewater spray will set makeup or wake up skin mid-day with a little extra hydration.
Prep the eyes. First, gently pat eye cream onto your lids, as well as underneath your eyes. Then, press a concealer onto lids and again underneath your eyes. You can also prep lids with an eye shadow base, such as Chanel Professional Eyeshadow Base, to make eye shadow stick. Finally, liberally brush a white or ivory eye shadow on the lids and use a bit less underneath the eyes. The eye shadow layered over the concealer will keep your lids from creasing and help hold onto the product.
Use the right eyeliner. Sometimes, as the day goes on, your eyeliner starts to move south and creates a thicker line under the eyes. Consider a waterproof liner like Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner or Kat Von D Tattoo Liner. A typical liner pencil is oilier and will slide down the skin as the day progresses, particularly during the warmer months, as opposed to a waterproof one. Mascara on the lower lashes is more prone to running, but if you don’t want to give it up, apply waterproof mascara on the bottom lashes.
Set your lip color. Just as you should regularly exfoliate your skin, your lips need to be exfoliated and moisturized as well. Sneor suggests using sugar and a toothbrush to slough off dry skin. To keep color on your lips, both Sneor and Patinkin favor lip stains.
“This will hold color without a lot of extra product on the lip,” says Sneor. “Top off the stain with an emollient such as lip balm, lipstick or gloss. It looks neater and lasts longer.”
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