Holiday makeup has a long shift. There’s the coat you pull over your head, the first glass of something, dinner, and the group photo someone takes at the end of the night. The best way to make it last is to use thinner layers and give yourself one easy way to touch up.
The quick version: Give your moisturizer time to settle, keep foundation thin, set the spots that move or get shiny, and bring whatever you’re wearing on your lips.
1. Let your skin prep settle
Use the moisturizer you already know sits well under makeup. Give it a few minutes while you get dressed or do your hair. If your cheeks still feel dry, press a little more moisturizer into those spots only. If the base starts rolling up as you blend, stop rubbing and smooth away the bits before adding coverage. If this happens to you during the day too, here’s the Enlauv guide to why sunscreen pills.
2. Keep your foundation thin where your face moves
Start with a light layer and look in the mirror before you go back in. Add concealer in small taps where you still see redness or shadow, like the inner corner of the eye or around the nose. Use what’s left on your brush around the mouth and along smile lines. Those are the spots where a thick base tends to show up first. Enlauv’s makeup placement guide walks through where to put coverage and where you can skip it.
3. Set the center and leave the cheeks alone
Take a small puff or fluffy brush and press a little powder around the sides of the nose, on the chin, or between the brows if that’s where you get shiny. If you want your blush to last longer, lightly tap a powder blush in a similar shade over your cream blush. Keep shimmer to one area, like the lids or the tops of the cheekbones, if you want it to read clearly in photos.
4. Give your lip color a base you can touch up
Fill in most of your lips with a liner close to your lipstick shade. Add a thin coat of lipstick and blot once with a tissue. Going for a holiday red? Check the edges before you leave and throw the lipstick in your bag. Going for gloss? Keep it mostly in the center so you can refresh it without reaching for a mirror every time.
5. Pack the two things you’ll actually use
Bring your lip color and a folded tissue or blotting paper. Before adding powder, press the paper gently onto any shiny areas to lift surface oil. If makeup has settled around the nose or mouth, tap the edges with a clean fingertip before deciding whether you need more coverage. A quick check of the lipstick and the sides of the nose will usually do more than another layer of everything.
If you have ten minutes
Conceal where you want coverage, add cream blush and mascara, lightly powder around the nose, then finish with a berry or red lip. If you have a minute left, take a phone photo in the light you’ll actually be in. It’s a better check than adding more makeup under your bathroom lights.
Next up: How to apply cream blush for a fresh, flushed finish.
