5 Tips on How to Keep Makeup Looking Fresh All Day

by shaylie Last Update: January 5, 2024

One of the most disappointing things about makeup is how quickly it can stop looking fresh after it is applied. Over a period of a few hours, makeup begins to naturally crease, fade, and settle into the fine lines of your face. This deterioration can leave your face looking haggard and tired as the day progresses, even if your original makeup application was flawless. Makeup doesn’t last forever. However, there are many simple things you can do to keep your makeup looking freshly applied for as long as possible so that you can get through your day without feeling like you need to constantly reapply your makeup.

1. Wash Your Face

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Making sure your face is clean prior to applying your makeup can make a big difference in the amount of time your makeup remains fresh. If you try to layer your makeup on top of skin that you haven’t washed in a few hours, the makeup will begin melting and fading quickly. This is because the products you apply won’t be able to adhere to your skin because it has already accumulated natural oils.

Immediately before you apply your makeup, wash your face thoroughly with warm water and mild soap. Pat your face dry with a towel and apply your makeup to your freshly cleaned, dry skin to help your makeup stay put for a longer period of time.

2. Don’t Skimp on Priming Products

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Many people consider it a waste of money to purchase expensive and high-quality priming products. It is common for even avid beauty lovers to sacrifice the quality of their priming products in order to spend less money on their face and eye primers than they do on other makeup products. Some people even skip primer altogether in order to avoid paying for it all. However, face and eye primers are an integral part of your daily makeup application.

It is important to take primer purchases seriously and invest in high-quality makeup primers, even if they cost a little more money than other available, lower quality products. If you use low-quality primers or, God forbid, no primer at all, your makeup will suffer as a result. Dutifully and thoroughly applying high-quality primer to your face and eyes before you apply your makeup can help extend the freshness of your makeup for several additional hours.

A great eye primer is the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion and an excellent face primer that can be used with powder or liquid makeup is the Kat Von D Lock-It Featherweight Primer .

3. Set Everything

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Setting is another important part of long-lasting makeup application that is often undervalued and overlooked. Setting your makeup locks it into your skin and creates a seal between your makeup and the outside world that prevents it from fading, creasing, and melting throughout the day. There are several setting products you should invest in and use daily in order to keep your makeup looking fresh for as long as possible.

Setting spray is an important setting product that can be misted over the entirety of your face in order to lock in your face makeup, eye makeup, and lip products all at one time. There are several great setting sprays available; two of the best are Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray and NYX Cosmetics Matte Finish Makeup Setting Spray .

Translucent setting powder is another product to add to your makeup collection immediately. Immediately after applying your face makeup, use a kabuki brush to lightly dust translucent setting powder over the makeup you’ve just applied. The powder will dust on invisibly to seal in your face makeup without smearing it. You can also dust translucent setting powder over your lips to keep your lipstick from fading throughout the day. A high-quality translucent setting powder to try is the Urban Decay De-Slick Mattifying Powder .

Setting spray can be used to set your eyeshadow, but it is often ineffective at successfully sealing eyeliner. To lock in your eyeliner and keep it from wearing off within a few hours, use eyeshadow. After applying your eyeliner, use a thin brush to apply eyeshadow of a similar shade over the eyeliner you have already applied. Applying matching eyeshadow over your eyeliner creates a barrier over your eyeliner and protects it from fading and smudging. This trick can be used for top, bottom, and especially waterline eyeliner that tends to fade extremely quickly.

4. Try Waterproof Eye Makeup

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Many people opt to avoid using waterproof eye makeup products because they feel like they don’t need the extra protection or because waterproof eyeliner and mascara (check out the top 10 best mascara) can be more difficult to remove at the end of the day than non-waterproof products. However, using waterproof mascara and eyeliner even if you don’t expect to swim or end up in the rain can help your makeup stay fresh all day.

Waterproof eye makeup products are designed with a stronger formula than non-waterproof products so that they are able to stay put even when faced with water. However, waterproof eye makeup products are excellent at withstanding more than just water. They tend to remain looking fresh much longer than non-waterproof products without fading or smudging. Waterproof eye makeup products are especially helpful for those with oily skin whose eye makeup smudges or wears off due to oil accumulation around the eyes.

5. Layer Your Makeup

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By strategically layering your makeup products, you can achieve a freshly applied look that lasts all day. Many makeup lovers are wary about layering their makeup products too much because they want to avoid appearing cakey or chalky. However, if you layer your makeup in the right way, you can help it stay fresh-looking without creating an overdone or caked-on look.

When applying face makeup, use moisturizer before anything else. Then, layer on primer, foundation, powder, and translucent setting powder. For blush and bronzer, use any cream or liquid products first, then seal them in with an application of powder blush. Always apply a liberal amount of lip balm before layering on lip pencil, liner, lipstick, and a dusting of translucent setting powder to keep your pout looking fresh for as long as possible. Don’t forget to let each layer of your makeup dry sufficiently before applying the next layer.

Fading, creasing, settling, and melting makeup can be extremely frustrating. When you spend time applying makeup, you naturally want it to last as long as possible without deteriorating in quality and appearance. Fortunately, by using the tips described above, you can increase the lifespan of your makeup by several hours and keep it looking freshly applied all day long.

Find more makeup tutorials and makeup tips on prettydesigns.com.

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