Proper Makeup Routine Guide | What Goes First? | Makeup Tutorials (2023)

Do you have aproper makeup routine you do every day? If you don’t, our comprehensive guide on what to put on first and put on next will help you immensely!

Proper Makeup Routine | Your Step-By-Step Guide

Are you trying to discover or rediscoverthe makeup world? Don’t be ashamed, we’ve all been there! We all started confused and to be honest, I just put on what I wanted back then regardless of the proper order. Luckily, you need not go through that anymore because I’ll hold your hand and guide you through. Today, we have a step-by-step guide that will help you build your own proper makeup routine. Are you ready to get started? Let’s do this!

Proper Makeup Routine for the Face

When putting on makeup, you must always start with the face before anything else. Although I’d recommend that you groom your brows first before doing your face makeup. So here’s what you need to do in anorderly fashion:

Step 1 –Primer

Just like how a painter primes the wall before painting, you should also apply primer on your face first. Primer lets you create a smooth canvas for your foundation and concealer to blend beautifully. Face primers also helpreduce the appearance of pores, smoothen fine lines and wrinkles, and help makeup last longer. When applying primer, leave it to dry before applying anything else. If you plan to use a tinted moisturizer instead, it can be your first step.

Step 2 –Foundation

Once the primer has dried, you can now apply your foundation. You can choose to apply with your ring finger (if you’re in a hurry), a sponge, or a foundation brush. When it comes to foundation, the secret to getting that flawless coverage is to blend your foundation smoothly and evenly. If you’re using BB cream, this is also the time to use it.

Step 3 – Concealer

Now it’s time to layer your concealer. In some cases, foundation will be enough to cover dark undereye circles, acne spots, and other red areas of the face. But for some people, they need concealer for more coverage. So just apply the concealer under the eyes by drawing a triangle and then blending out smoothly. Feel free to do spot concealing as well.

Do note that there are people who will tell you to apply concealer first before foundation, as this is an acceptable practice for some. However, we do not encourage this. By the time you apply your foundation over your concealer, you’ve already wiped away your concealer underneath.

Step 4 – Setting Powder

You wouldn’t want all those effort to go to waste once you head out the door right? The sun can easily melt away your foundation and concealer, so it is a must that you lock it in place with setting powder. Using a powder brush, just gently pat setting powder all over the face.

Step 5 – Blush or Bronzer

You now have a smooth and almost flawless canvas. It’s time to add some colors! First, apply blush. How? There’s an ideal way to apply blush for every face type. For women with tanned skin, they prefer layering bronzer on top of blush as well. Bronzers will give you a sunkissed glow.

Step 6 – Contour and Highlight

Now that you’ve added color, let’s add depth and dimension to the face. The ultimate secret for getting that perfectly defined face is to contour and highlight. Contouring is for defining the shadows on your face, while highlighting is brightening the areas of the face where thelight hits the most.

Proper Makeup Routine for the Eyes

We are one-thirds of the way from completing our proper makeup routine. Next stop? The eyes! This is the area where you’ll spend most of your time in because of the small fine details. Eye makeup also needs to be done properly because it’s the highlight of any look!

Step 7 –Eyebrow Makeup

With eyebrows well-groomed, you can go ahead and fill in the brows. You can use a brow pomade, eyebrow pencil, or eyebrow powder for filling in. What’s really important here is that you create the perfect shape of eyebrows for your face. Once you’re done filling in, you can finish up with an eyebrow mascara. Eyebrows frame the eyes, which makes it every important to get your brows on point!

Step 8 –Eyeshadow Primer

It is usual for eyelids to get oily, hence, eyeshadows creasing after a few hours of wear. To prevent creasing, you must apply an eyeshadow base or primer. This will help your eyeshadow stick better as well as intensify the color of your eyeshadow as well. If you don’t want to use a separate shadow primer, you can also use your concealer for this purpose.

Step 9 –Eyeshadow

Applying eyeshadow is the most fun part of doing your makeup, that’s because this is where you can really be creative with your look. Go matte, shimmer, or metallic–the spotlight will really be on your eyes. I highly recommend you use an eyeshadow brush to apply eyeshadow to make sure the application is even. First, apply eyeshadow on the lids and then work on your crease. And I got one more secret to tell you: the key to perfect eye makeup is blending!

Step 10 –Eyeliner

Applying eyeliner is the trickiest part of eye makeup. Let me tell you, years and years of doing makeup and I still can’t achieve my perfect winged eyeliner by myself. What an accomplishment when I do! Applying eyeliner takes practice and you should really work on it as this is an important step to define the eyes.

Step 11 –Mascara

You’re almost done with eye makeup and will just need some finishing touches. One of the last things to do is apply mascara on your lashes. Curl the lashes first and then apply at least two to three coats of mascara. You can also apply mascara on your bottom lashes. I really love mascara! It really does help make your eyes pop!

Step 12 –False Eyelashes

Wearing false eyelashes is optional. You’d actually want to save it for special occasions. One of the common mistakes people make when wearing falsies is wearing it before applying mascara. Know that false eyelashes are curled to perfection already, so there’s really no need to curl them and apply mascara. Some people still do, but based on my experience, my falsies get damaged easily and I want to preserve my falsies for a couple of uses still.

Proper Makeup Routine for Lips

We’re almost done, everyone! The last part of our proper makeup routine is the lips and here’s how to do it:

Step 13 – Lip Liner

Wearing lip liner helps your lip color stay longer on the lips. It’s extremely helpful when you wear red lipstick because it prevents the color from bleeding out. Another good thing about wearing a lip liner is that it makes the lips look fuller and plumper!

Step 14 –Lip color

To complete your lip makeup, apply your lip color of choice. Whether you want to wear lipstick or just lip gloss, this is the step to do achieve that perfect pout!

Proper Makeup Routine for a Flawless Finish

You can actually finish your makeup routine with applying lip color…but if you really want to achieve that complete, perfect, and flawless finish, you should do these steps as well. Trust me makeup lovers, these steps can make a huge difference!

Step 15 –Finishing Powder

While setting powder is for setting your foundation, finishing powder is for locking your makeup in place all day long. Finishing powder usually comes in white or translucent shades. That’s because it is supposed to act as a protective and luminous veil on top of your skin. Just make sure to apply this evenly as there’s a possibility of having a white cast in photos.

Step 16 – Setting Spray

Setting sprays have different purposes depending on the product you’ll buy. It can lock makeup in place, give your skin a dewy or matte finish, and can remove the powdery look. It also doubles as a facial mist tokeep skin refreshed all day long.

For a simple look, check out this tutorial from Amy-Rose Walker:

Was that a lot to take in? Don’t worry. You don’t have to do every step right now. You can always reduce the steps according to the proper makeup routine you want. Just make sure that you follow the order above. It looks challenging at first, but once you start getting used to the steps, it will be a piece of cake! Well, what can I say, learning is what makes makeup more fun!

What’s your current makeup routine? Sound off in the comments section below!

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