Beauty Guide: Order of Makeup Application

I always blog about my favorite makeup products but I’ve never actually shared my order of makeup application, so scroll down for all the info!

There are no rules to how you apply your makeup (except for maybe a few fundamental guidelines) but if you want to make sure your makeup look lasts all day, there are a few tips and tricks that will help just based on order of makeup application alone.

The Right Order of Makeup Application:

Of course, before you apply any makeup, make sure you’ve applied your skincare essentials. For the sake of this post, I excluded it from the beginning (but check out this post in which I share the correct order to applying your skincare products).

Once you’ve applied your skincare, start with primer. This will help keep your makeup in place. Next, I like to fill in my brows. Simply put, if I don’t do it right away, I’ll completely forget. I have a few different application techniques but Glossier Boy Brow is my holy grail brow product for tinting and taming. [Sidebar: if you’re new to Glossier, you can get 20% off your first order using my rep link here.]

I don’t wear foundation every day so fill this step in with whatever type of tinted moisturizer/BB cream/foundation product of choice. This nude BeautyBlender is my favorite application tool when I’m blending tinted moisturizer or foundation. Next up, concealer. I also like to use my BeautyBlender for this step as well. Make sure you apply all creamy face products BEFORE powder. Otherwise doing the reverse will make your skin look dry and cakey.

I never walk out the door without sculpting my face with bronzer, blush and highlighter. Tip: Make sure you have a good contour brush to blend. Once I’m content with my face makeup I’ll move on to my eyes. Right now I’ve been using creamy eyeshadow pans from ColourPop (love the formula), which has made it so much easier and quicker to do before I leave for work. Then I’ll apply liner to my upper and lower lash line. Once that’s taken care of, I’ll apply a couple coats of mascara.

There’s a great debate over which comes first: lip liner or lipstick? I’ve seen makeup artists apply do it both ways but, in my experience, I have found that applying lip liner AFTER I’ve applied lipstick has made it easier to see where I need to line my lips.

And last, but definitely not least, don’t’ forget to set your makeup with a finishing powder. Personally, I prefer a setting powder that matches my skin tone rather than a translucent white powder.

I’m sharing shop links to the products featured in this graphic. If you have questions about them or need product advice, you know where to find me!

SHOP MY FAVORITE MAKEUP PRODUCTS:

What about you? I’m curious to hear your order of makeup application. Let me know in the comment section!