What Order Do You Do Makeup

If yous are someone who regularly wears makeup across all your features—including skin, optics, lips, and cheeks—you likely have an ordered application method that you plough to over and over again. Mayhap y'all always employ foundation and concealer outset before moving on to eyeshadow; possibly y'all define your brows before drawing on eyeliner. Whatever your regimen, if it works for you, it's perfect the style it is, says celebrity makeup artist Moani Lee. "I always encourage anyone and anybody to come upwards with an order that suits them," she says. "I don't believe there is a mathematical approach to how products should be placed. I think the goal is always to have fun and enjoy the procedure, equally ane would a meditation."

adult female applying makeup

Credit: Ridofranz / Getty Images

With that said, if you find that your personal method isn't getting the job done—perhaps your eyeshadow crumbles and smudges onto your freshly-applied base, for example—it might be time to switch things up. One tried-and-true pick is the height-down method, explains Lee. Raise your brows, optics, and lips, in that exact order; whether you lot begin or end with pare is up to you. To dig farther into this iteration (and many others), we tapped several leading makeup artists to share the product awarding order that makes the most sense to them. The principal takeaway? Be open to trying a few different approaches to land on the list that works for you; equally these professionals affirm, there's merely no one-size-fits-all routine.

Don't forget to prep your skin.

According to Etienne Ortega, a celebrity makeup artist and Deck of Scarlet make administrator, every successful makeup routine begins with effective peel care. "Subsequently cleansing the skin, I use micellar h2o to make sure in that location'due south no oil or residue," he shares; a hydrating primer is adjacent. Lee agrees, explaining that a rich, nourishing moisturizer, like 111 Skin's Space Anti-Age Twenty-four hours Confront Cream ($270, nordstrom.com) properly prepares the complexion for makeup. If you really desire to get the actress mile, she says, consider a treatment; she frequently begins with 111 Pare's Rose Gold Brightening Facial Treatment Mask ($32, nordstrom.com), which she lets sit for xx minutes.

Start with either base or heart makeup.

Sarah Lucero, the global executive beauty director at Stila Cosmetics, prefers to brainstorm with foundation and concealer—after washing with Dr. Barbara Sturm's exfoliating Enzyme Cleanser ($75, sephora.com) and applying enough of moisturizer, that is—but if your desired look is eye intensive, you lot might want to start there. "If you are applying a potent eye or using a powder eyeshadow, you lot may want to do optics starting time," she explains, adding that color run-off or smudging, however, is preventable with the correct formula; effort her go-to Stila Liquid Eyeshadows ($24, ulta.com), which comes in an assortment of colorways and finishes, from glitter to suede. Lee agrees, noting that eyeshadow shedding could as well be the result of improper application: "This could mean you are using way too much product. You lot could do good from flicking the castor to remove some excess shadow before applying to your eye."

For base, foundation typically comes beginning—then concealer and the rest of your face-centric arsenal.

Lee applies foundation—her favorite is Chantecaille's Future Peel ($79, nordstrom.com)—before concealer, so layers on contour, powder, and highlight (in that exact order). Lucero takes a like approach—she advises taking your fourth dimension and melding base of operations products together with a sponge, like the Beautyblender ($xx, ulta.com) for a seamless finish—but prefers to "continue face powder to a minimum, and so you don't lose that gorgeous glow." Emmy Accolade-winning makeup artist Nyssa Dark-green, however, likes to dab on concealer (simply where it is needed) before foundation; then, she reaches for highlighting and contouring products before finishing with loose powder.

Blush is your wild card.

Every bit for when to apply blush? You have a few options, say our experts. Lucero, who takes a face-first approach, applies blush direct after concealer; she prefers rich formulas similar Stila's Convertible Color Dual Lip & Cheek Cream ($25, amazon.com), which puts "a little color back into your complexion." Lee, a follower of the summit-down method, gets to cheeks after eyeshadow, but before lips.

Whenever yous get to your optics, attempt defining your brows first, pre-shadow.

For Green, eye makeup (sans mascara, which she coats on at the very stop!) is always the starting time stride—beginning with the arches. "Fill in brows with your favorite pencil, brow gel, or powder," she explains, calculation that she tackles optics showtime then she can wipe away whatever mistakes without unnecessarily disrupting other areas. "It creates a guide for the next stride—and, on a quickie face up, a dainty, clean, defined forehead can be all yous need." Lee frequently takes this arroyo, too, "to frame upwards the eye" before shadow, she says.

Lucero, on the other hand, makes the example for a mascara beginning, brows final approach: "I personally apply my mascara beginning—I know this might audio strange to most, but it works for me," she says, explaining that the product defines her centre shape, which makes eyeliner application more precise. "It helps guide your liner along and allows you to create the shape y'all want to see versus follow the shape you have." As for the reason why she fills in her arches last, post-mascara, liner, and eyeshadow? "Yous tend to over-apply and go besides heavy or dark considering you over-recoup for the lack of eye definition yous become from liner or mascara," she offers. The gist? There are many ways to create a pretty eye await—requite both methods a attempt before choosing a winner.

Lip liner or lipstick first? The respond might be product dependent.

Almost all of our experts tackle lips concluding. While Light-green prefers to "line them directly on the lip line, then fill them in with color," Lee goes in with lipstick first—and so cleans upwards the edges with liner. "I find myself being able to push button lipstick into natural lip lines much more than hands than if given the confines of a liner start," she explains. For Lucero, the approach is production dependent. If she's working with a liquid or foam lipstick, she applies that first, before liner. When she wants to use a pigmented gloss, however, she defines her mouth first: "The liner goes on first, in this example, to shape upwardly my lips."

Your method might alter if you're going for a more natural wait.

Since yous likely don't use a total face of makeup each and every day, expect your routine to shift when you demand less, notes Ortega. While he "likes to do eyes first eighty percent of the time," for no-makeup makeup, he prefers a skin-frontwards approach. "If we're going with a more natural look, I focus more on fresh skin and minimal makeup. I add Deck of Ruby's new Dual Drama Liquid Eyeliner ($29, deckofscarlet.com), as a concluding step," he notes.

There's only one hard-and-fast dominion: Moisturize first and add together powder terminal.

"The simply step I think requires an order is moisturizer first and powder final," says Lee. "Everything else in between can be based on personal preference. Don't let social club confine you to rules of how to practise things. Makeup should be an art and the flow of it should be entirely up to you. Explore and have fun!"