42 Pro Tips For Lasting Makeup

21 Steps and Hacks, and 21 Pro Makeup Tips to get your makeup to last all day.

We are still living the pandemic, but wearing mask regulations are lifting in many places. As events are getting normalized. People have started wearing makeup again, visiting parlors for primming sessions, and looking for ways to makeup their makeup stay longer. The red carpet is also turning heads. Although masks have become an option, you might still prefer wearing one in crowds and be cautious. And don't forget, Christmas is round the corner. So you'd want every tip to save your makeup during celebrations. But how to get your makeup to stay on longer when you are at an event? I have you fully covered! You do not need to look anywhere else; this post on 42 pro tips for lasting makeup is all you need to consult! I am bringing for you all the red carpet makeup tips, hacks, and tactics you need on how to make your makeup last all day. For those who don't know, I'm a self-taught makeup artist, so I decided to bring out the relevant for you.

Makeup lasts approximately five hours. But if you follow the hacks and tips I give you, you can make your makeup last all day without worrying about it. I can promise you at least 10 to 12 hours of makeup tips that stay longer, keeping in mind any event usually doesn't go longer than this. Also, let’s not underestimate human skin interaction and change in body temperature with the ambiance it is in. I will focus more on giving you advanced tips and makeup secrets, keeping product suggestions the least. So let’s jump in, picking up 42 hacks and pro makeup tips that last all day.

Photo by RominaFarías on Unsplash

1. Start with Prepping your Skin

If you want your foundation to look good, you need to prep your skin. As you can see from my previous posts, I always emphasize cleansing and exfoliation.

Cleansing:

Don’t forget to cleanse your face if you want to avoid congestion and pore-clogging.

Pro Tip 1: Always buy a gentle cleanser for our face, and avoid harsh bars.

Exfoliation:

Exfoliating your face is the key to make sure your foundation would look smooth. For physical exfoliators e.g. mechanical devices, exfoliate once a week. For chemical exfoliation such as Alpha-hydroxy acids, exfoliate either twice a week. You can also do it a night before the event you plan to wear your makeup. Also, there are AHA pads that you can use on your face fifteen minutes before your moisturizer. If you want, you can also opt for those.

Top Picks: Neogen A-Clear Soothing Foam Cleanser. The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare Alpha Beta® Extra Strength DailyPeel.

2. Go Quality

Use good quality makeup brands. If you want your eye makeup to look professional, always invest in good brushes. If you want your skin to look good and not patchy, get the best quality makeup that stays on, i.e. foundations, moisturizer, and primer. There is no other rule to it.

When looking for makeup, check these attributes

Get smudge-proof makeup. See labels that say 24-hour makeup. You need to look for long lasting makeup that doesn’t wipe off. If you have a hard time figuring out, Google for the best long lasting makeup, as that would give you good product options to look into.

 

3. Moisturize your Face

If you want, you can wear one to two drops of makeup appropriate serum or essence but it's not necessary. Your makeup would not sit well if you skip moisturizing. It is the most important building block to your foundation.

You need to look for two things in a moisturizer;

• A daytime moisturizer, it would be lightweight and suitable for makeup.
• An oil-free moisturizer.
• The rule to wear water-based, and gel-based moisturizers applies to all skin types.

Pro Tip 2: Massage the moisturizer in. Wait for one minute till you feel all the moisture fully absorbed in your skin. For remaining skin liquid products, only 30 seconds of the wait time is enough.

Top Picks: Belif The True Cream Moisturizing Bomb. Innisfree Youth-enriched cream with orchid

 

4. Prime Time

You can skip primer if you are not worried about your makeup on a daily basis. But if you are to attend an event or a wedding, then don’t skip it. So what is a primer going to do to your makeup? I will define and explain in “my” own words. It will do three things to your makeup,

• Seal in the moisturizer, and create an invisible barrier between your skin and foundation.
• Hold your foundation in place.
• Enhance the color pigment of your eye makeup, blushes, and lipsticks.

When choosing a primer, be careful about the formulation and ingredients. Some could break you out. This is my top concern because I have dry and acne-prone skin. Silicon-based primers are good for blurring out imperfections, but that might break you out. I try to avoid them, but when I have no option, I use them.

Pro Tip 3: Look for an oil-free primer, eyes, face, lips… whatever you decide to buy. More so, get a primer with a tacky feel to it. You need that tackiness to grip your foundation.

When you are applying a primer, take less than a pea-sized amount and apply it to your face strategically where you feel you need it. Wherever you see the texture, pores, and lines i.e. between the eyebrows, the butterfly area, laugh lines, the side of your eyes, above the cheekbones, jawline, and nose.

Pro Tip 4: Pat it and then swipe it out to the rest of your face. Do not apply in a circular motion as then it would collect together and pill.

Pro Tip 5: Always apply primer with fingers! This way when you’re swiping it, notice till your fingers stop slipping too much. This signals that you applied a sufficient amount.

Prime your Eyes:

For a long lasting eye makeup, use a primer. Wear your eye primer all around your eyes. You can look for transparent, tinted, or color pigmented primers. I have slight discoloration in the inner corners, so I would choose pigmented primers.

Whether you have dry or oily skin, the eye primer would hold your eye makeup in place. It would also enhance the pigment of matte, creamy, and shimmery eye shadows and liners. You can also set your glittery eye shadow with setting spray. Spray some on your eye brush, then place it on your lid.

Prime your Lips:

You can wear any of these for your lips, a primer, foundation, or concealer. Each would enhance the color pigment of your lipstick. A primer could additionally increase the staying power by not letting it bleed or smudge around the edges.

Pro Tip 6: Apply the primer on the lips and slightly outside the lip line to help lock both the liner and lipstick in place.

Top Picks: Tatcha The Silk Canvas. Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Amplifying Eye Primer. Bite Beauty Line & Define Lip Primer.

 

5. Go long wear Foundation

You might have noticed I mentioned foundation in all the above steps. I cannot make it more obvious that your foundation is the key to your whole makeup pulling it together. If you don’t use the right foundation formulation, you could most likely be ruining your whole makeup game. Look for a high quality, and best long lasting makeup foundation. And if you prefer minimal makeup look, a good quality foundation would give you the long lasting natural makeup you need. Four types of foundations would make your makeup stay for long in blazing and burning flashlights, and humid weather.

• Oil-free foundation,
• Long wear / 24-hour wear foundation,
• Water proof foundation,
• Matte foundation

Pro Tip 7: Pick a foundation that complements the moisturizer and primer you choose to use at that time.

I’ll get on that part later; let’s first talk about the main subject of this whole post at hand.

When you apply a foundation, always use makeup tools! A beauty blender or a foundation brush. Do not use your hands. The pores on your skin would rub against each other, dissolving and vanishing your foundation.

Do either of the three to ensure you do not apply too much product;

• Apply foundation where the shadows are, or
• Apply very light layers to build it up if and where needed, or
• Start from the center of your face (the nose), and work it out.

Pro Tip 8: If your skin is too dry or too oily, definitely wear an appropriate primer to create a barrier between your skin and foundation. 

You need to hydrate with moisturizer first of course. But if you don’t do this step, your dry skin would absorb moisture from your foundation and it would appear patchy. If your skin is oily, it would break down your foundation, you may opt for a moisturizing foundation for dry skin, and matte for oily skin.

Top Picks: Urban Decay Stay Naked Weightless Liquid Foundation. Dior Dior Forever 24H Wear High Perfection Matte Foundation.

 

6. Concealer After

Concealers have more pigment, provide higher coverage, and have a slightly tacky texture which helps them stay in place.

Pro Tip 9: Use concealer “after” your foundation wherever you see discoloration, darkness, and shadows. Otherwise, both your foundation and concealer would not stay put.

Use it around the eyes, the side of your nose, and lips for instance. Don't use hands as that would swipe and slide both your concealer and foundation. Blend and smooth it out with either a beauty blender or makeup brush.

Top Picks: Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. Maybelline's Instant Age Rewind® EraserDark Circles Treatment Concealer.

 

7. Combination Products

The main game of your whole makeup is a moisturizer, primer, and foundation.

Pro Tip 10: Use the right foundation formulation that complements the primer and moisturizer of choice.

At the same time matches your skin type. If your skin makeup is falling off, then the product combination is not right. Your safest bet is to go oil-free, and lightweight on all three i.e. primer, moisturizer, and foundation. If even one product is heavy and has different properties, the other two might not stay put.

 

8. Set with Powder

Set your foundation with a translucent setting powder. It would find moisture and oil on your skin, and lock it in place. You need this step for your foundation to not move around and slide.

If you feel powders dry out your skin, then look for hydrating powder formulations. This innovation locks your foundation in place, and at the same time, does not make your skin feel dry. Likewise, if you do not like wearing powders, then use a setting spray.

Do not confuse setting powder with finishing powder. I’ve done a post on finishing powder before as well if you’d like to see it. A finishing powder is not used to set your foundation. Instead, its function is to strategically apply to areas where you see texture and lines, to blur them.

Pro Tip 11: Sit your powder brush on the product, tap it to get the excess off. Then on your face, pat, and roll the brush. This would keep and set the powder in place.

Why is translucent powder important? Let's get a little scientific for a minute, shall we? First of all, use waterproof makeup. But, remember, waterproof is not oil-proof. Makeup is not oil-proof otherwise it would not stay on your skin’s natural oils. Makeup will break down when it will touch the oil. So you need to apply translucent setting powder to your face and your eyes to prevent it from breaking down.

Top Picks: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder. Becca Hydra-Mist Set and Refresh Powder.

 

9. Go Light and Thin

The less is more works. Use light and thin strokes of your makeup products i.e. primer, foundation, and setting powder. Apply more if and where needed. This would give you better payoff and staying power. Psst… this would also make your lines less visible!

 

10. Waterproof Eyeliners and Eye Shadows

Making your eyeliners and mascara stay for long is tricky.

Pro Tip 12: Use primer, concealer, and setting powder before applying eye makeup.

Let me explain why.

Get waterproof eyeliners and pencils. But, those could also get everywhere. What do you need to do to make it stay? If you have oily eyelids like me, it would certainly dissolve your liner, shadows, and even mascara. Do not forget to first wear eye primer as this would make your shadows including glitters stay. Then, apply translucent powder all around your eye.

You cannot wear a waterproof eyeliner on your waterline. Both are waters and would repel each other.

Pro Tip 13: Use kohl pencils for the waterline.

Kohl has very dry ingredients and texture, and that is what you need. Wear it first so that it absorbs the water and locks it in place. You would notice its pigment enhancing. You can either leave it at that or put any additional liner you want on top.

Top Picks: Sephora Collection Long Lasting Kohl Pencil. Marc Jacobs Beauty Highliner Gel Eye Crayon Eyeliner.

 

11. Get waterproof Mascara

Use waterproof mascara. But even with waterproof mascara, you could get it on your face. When you blink your eyes your lashes could touch your skin. And your skin oils would break your mascara down, causing it to patch and fall. 

So take your fluffy eye brush and dust the setting powder all around your eyes, to avoid mascara from falling off.

Top Picks: Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes™ 4-in-1 Mascara.

 

12. The Brows that Stay

Your brow game calls for products that should stay. Very soft pencils and powders tend to wear off. Look for good quality, long-lasting, and waterproof brow products i.e. liners, tints, and brow mascaras. I would suggest you read the product labels before you buy. Get mini or sample-sized products first to test them out, before investing in full-sized products. Also, go less, and do not use more than two brow products at a time.

Top Picks: Benefit Cosmetics Brows.

 

13. Highlights

If you keep layering powders, it could get cakey, make your skin look drier, your lines more prominent, and could even cause your makeup to fall off. Any further steps you use on top of your setting powder is all about choosing wisely between liquids, creams, and powders.

Pro Tip 14: Opt for a cream highlighter. It would stay put with the setting products. Also, it would not make your lines prominent underneath the eyes and above the cheekbones.

Top Picks: Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Light Wand. Clinique Chubby Stick™ Sculpting Highlight.

 

14. Blush Rush

It is totally your preference to go for powder or cream blushes, and tints. I personally do not like to wear blushes. But when I do, I barely swipe a powder blush and get over it. But blushes sometimes wear off.

Pro Tip 15: If you love to wear blushes and want it to last, cheek tint is your best bet.

Top Picks: Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain.

 

15. Shaping and Contouring

You can choose between either cream or powder-based contour, since it is used with a very light hand. I only need to contour my nose for instance. So it would stay put with your setting products without the fuss.

Top Picks: Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand.

 

16. Your Lips

Prep your lip with either a lip scrub. Or message lip balm, take a damp towel and rub it gently to get any flakes off. Either way, you would get a smooth surface for your lip makeup without getting any patchiness.

Wear a lip liner because that gives a good stencil to your lips and you would know where to put your lipstick. 

Pro Tip 16: For the lip color to stay for long, you may apply the lip liner all over your lipstick. Apply the first layer of the lipstick, blot it once. Apply the final coat.

You do not need to repeat this step and waste your products. Too much lipstick piled also doesn’t look good.

Many artists say to put on concealer outside the edges of your lips to stop it from bleeding and smudging, but I believe this is not the foolproof way to do it.

Pro Tip 17: Use setting powder outside the lip line instead, to prevent your lipstick from smudging.

Take out either a small and fine angled eye brush, or the gel liner brush. Dip it in setting power, tap the brush once to get the excess off, and apply it outside your lip line to stop it from feathering. This would also give the brightening effect, making your lipstick more prominent.

If it’s a lip gloss then you would need to re-apply.

Top Picks: MAC Matte Lipstick.

 

17. Setting Spray

This is the final step to set your makeup. Lock and hold it in place with the setting spray. If you are not a fan of powders, then you can use setting spray to make makeup last longer instead.

Pro Tip 18: Hold the spray about 6-8 inches away from your face, and spritz once or twice.

Top Picks: Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist.

 

18. Blot on the go

Carry either a blotting paper or a blotting sponge of your preference. If you feel your skin getting oily, you can blot the oil away. Refresh the makeup if you need to.

Pro Tip 19: Play it safe with a concealer, and use either a setting powder or a hydrating/ toning/ setting spray.

Do not use powder foundations throughout as it could look cakey and patchy.

Top Picks: Beauty Blender Blotterazzi.

 

19. The Nose

Your nose skin is different from the rest of the face. It has more oil glands and pores that easily break down the foundation.

Pro Tip 20: If you are at an event and you feel your foundation coming off your nose, skip the foundation. First, use either the blotting paper or sponge to get rid of oil on your nose. Then use a lightweight concealer instead.

It would stay put and give the coverage you need. Finally, dust it off with setting powder or a toning/ setting spray.

 

20. Keep your Hands Off

Don’t touch your face. When you rest your face on your hands or touch it, your makeup gets swiped away.

 

21. Essentials to Carry

What should you carry to an event that would last hours or all night? Consider these essentials and you are good to go.

A blotting paper. A lightweight concealer. Lipstick/ lip gloss, lip liner. A travel-sized setting powder. A hydrating/toning/setting mist.

With these or less with you, you can get over yourself, and enjoy your time away!

 

A BONUS TIP: Don’t forget to take off your makeup before hitting the bed. You would want to avoid congestion, clogging, and dirt.

That's a wrap to our 42 pro makeup tips. Well, what do you think? Let me know in the comment box below. I would be creating Christmas related content on winter skincare routine, some fancy makeup, and outfit ideas because now it would be all about fall and Christmas. So don't forget to join my email list so you don’t miss out more content. And while you do that, grab your weekly hormonal acne routine freebie too.

Disclosure: Product suggestions in the post are completely my choice. I am not endorsing any of my suggestions. You may skip them and use what you like best.

Good news: I created a few Pinterest Pins from Tailwind recently. And I am thrilled to announce that Tailwind approved one of my Pin submissions for its 'Tailwind Create Gallery'. My Pin is the first-row, fourth image on page 8. You would also find some great ideas from a selection of chosen pins for your upcoming content. The Tailwind Team, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! I couldn't be happier, you made my weekend. 😁

I did thorough product reviews on the COSRX Advanced Snail line. My readers loved the details! I thank you all for letting me know.

Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Check out my Pinterest boards.

Related Posts: 

healthy skin analysis

Best Selling Makeup Products of all time 

Makeup Brushes and Tools