Many of us love a good beauty hack, but sometimes it seems like these viral posts we see on the internet aren’t even makeup hacks. With the intent of producing viral content, the beauty community sometimes promotes strange techniques that are so farfetched they simply leave us watching to see what will happen next. As long as we can recognize that this is just for entertainment, there’s nothing particularly wrong with this.
While most of us can tell when something is just a gimmick, some new makeup lovers out there want to follow these techniques because they think it’ll help them look as flawless as their favorite influencer. We’re here to let you know which trends won’t help you get a flawless makeup application. Here are some of the makeup hacks that you should NOT follow.
Painting on your foundation
So many of us have seen the viral video of a makeup artist taking foundation and painting it on a client’s face. Every inch of the face has a foundation painted on with a brush before they eventually blend it out. This is way too much product. Not only are you wasting half the bottle of foundation, but you are most likely going to be blending out your base forever.
These techniques may look smooth and flawless under all of the bright lights, but once you step out into normal lighting (i.e. a restaurant, outdoors, etc.), you are quickly going to see how caked your face can look. It becomes nearly impossible to have that foundation look smooth and not appear textured.
If you want to get that beautiful full-coverage look, then you can get a full-coverage foundation. However, do not use half the bottle on your face. One-to-three pumps should be enough to cover the entire face depending on the user. You can usually add even more coverage with concealer and powders right after. This technique involves building up our coverage rather than painting it like we’re renovating our house.
Here are some full-coverage foundations that can give you a flawless base:
Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick
Hourglass makes one of the best foundations in Sephora. It can give you a beautiful, natural base while still being full coverage enough to hide any imperfections you may be wanting to cover up. Another great thing about this foundation is that it has a natural finish, so it is generally great for oily, normal, or dry skin. It’s a formula that meets matte and dewy in the middle. This foundation also can last way over 12 hours, which is fantastic if you’re looking for a product that you do not have to touch up throughout the day.
NARS Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation
The NARS Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation is a great option for the full-coverage lover. What’s great about these full-coverage foundations is that they can somehow cover up all of your past mistakes, but the result still comes out almost skin-like and not heavy at all. Another great thing about this foundation is that it doesn’t leave the skin feeling heavy or uncomfortable.
An excess of product
Many of us have seen videos of the Farsali Unicorn Essence drops applied all over the face. Another variation is an abundance of concealer to cover up all of our past mistakes. Whenever a content creator is creating a video, it’s usually for entertainment purposes only. They usually have less than a minute to show you a fun makeup application.
Adding too much product is interesting to watch, but after that minute is up and the wearer is going about their day, this can create a mess. Having too much product on the face makes it almost impossible to get a smooth, flawless application. It can lead to excess creasing and an exaggerated look at your texture and pores. Plus, you’re wasting so much product that you can use in the future.
Using concealer as an eyeshadow primer
Tutorials on both YouTube and Instagram feature this as a way to save a bit of money. However, using concealer as eyeshadow is most likely why you are experiencing your eyeshadow creasing or fading away through the day.
The reason is that concealer is usually formulated for the under eye, which is usually a drier portion of the face. Therefore, it is formulated with water. It’s amazing at keeping the undereye hydrated, but when applied to the eyelids, you can run into some issues. Our eyelids produce their oils. If you’re spending over 30 minutes to create a beautiful eyeshadow look (many of us do), then it can quickly crease from the ingredients in your concealer.
Instead, consider using something more dry, tacky, or even wax-based like the classic Mac Paint Pot.
Mac Pro Longwear Paint Pot Eyeshadow
This is the perfect example of a nice, lightweight eyeshadow primer with a waxy and dry base. It’s very easy to apply to the lids and smooth out with a beauty sponge to get a nice even layer. This stuff will have your eyeshadow popping as well as prevent your eyelids from creasing. Another thing that’s great about this product is that it will last you a long time. You do not need to use much of it, so it’s something you will be reaching for a long time to come.
Using kitchen utensils or tape to contour
Another trend is when someone runs to their kitchen to grab a fork to contour their nose, a knife to help contour their cheekbones, or a piece of tape to help them get a winged-out eyeshadow shape. Now most of us probably can see this as pure entertainment, but the use of tape for winged-out liner has gotten serious attention.
There’s a very simple way to get that same look without having to add tape to your face, which is most likely not good for your skin at all. All that tugging is not good for the eye area, since it is so sensitive. When you remove the tape, you can remove layers of makeup underneath. The next time you’re doing your eyeshadow, just add a little translucent powder to the corner of your eyes in the same way you would with the tape.
This can also work with the contour of your face. After you add your bronzer, use the translucent powder to help sculpt out your face. Think of translucent powders as the eraser of makeup. It will help get rid of unwanted powder products and can even be buffed over your contour to help diffuse any harsh lines.
The best part of this technique is that you don’t need to buy extra supplies, like tapes, to finish your makeup look. You can just use a product you already have on hand like translucent powder.
Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder
Laura Mercier has one of the best setting powders around. This one is known for its amazing setting abilities, but it is also one of the best setting powders around to help shape and sculpt the face. This product is great at diffusing harsh lines and will help shape out your contour and eyeshadow just like we discussed before.
Conclusion
Makeup has no rules, but it does have some techniques that are important to learn. Once you’ve learned the techniques of makeup, then you can properly break them and use them to your advantage. When watching beauty content on Tik Tok or Instagram, take everything with a grain of salt. Most content creators are just trying to make some entertaining videos for us to enjoy.
If you are trying to learn a thing or two about makeup, consider following some beauty YouTubers. Jackie Aina and Jaclyn Hill create some excellent beauty tutorials you can learn a lot from.
What are some makeup hacks?
These suggestions just take a few seconds (or minutes), yet they have a significant impact.
1) Add a small amount of oil to your foundation.
2) Apply some highlighter to the eyes to make them appear brighter.
3) To set your brows, use glycerin soap.
4) Spend some time curling your eyelashes.
5) Employ lip-plumping eyebrow pencils.
6) Remember to blush.
What is the TikTok makeup hack?
The Foundation Hack: What Is It? If you wear makeup, modify your entire regimen and try this instead, Jarida advises at the beginning of the video. She advises applying your moisturizer first, followed by a small amount of translucent powder and setting spray. Apply your foundation after using a primer and the setting spray has dry.
How can I make my makeup look prettier?
– Apply an abundance of mascara.
– Consider using a foundation that is just a little bit sheer.
– Apply concealer on your ears.
– The inner “V” corners of your eyes should not be highlighted.
– Use a blush brush to add angles to your face.
– If you don’t like bronzer, add blush for a soft, feminine touch.
– Shape your brows.
Here are a few hand-picked articles for you to read next:
- Supermodel Makeup Routine: How to get Naomi, Gigi, or Kendall’s look
- Best Drugstore Skincare Products for Beautiful, Flawless Skin
- Exploring the Hype Behind the Skincare Routine from The Ordinary
This article is part of the “Social Media Trends Series“. Click here to learn more.
