Flawless Makeup: 8 Celebrity Makeup Lessons for Perfect Foundation & Concealer

Last Updated on August 2, 2024 by Paola Castillo

If you’re wondering how to get your makeup base to look flawless like the celebrities, then look no further. We have gathered some of our favorite and most effective tips and tricks from celebrity makeup artists, to help you achieve the makeup base you’ve always wished for.

First, we need to all probably lower our expectations a little bit. When you see Kylie Jenner or James Charles on Instagram, just remember they have high-quality cameras, artificial lighting, and an entire team to Photoshop and Facetune their selfies. Seeing this every single day can make it easy for you to expect that that’s how you should look. Remember, they don’t even look that airbrushed in real life, and that’s okay. If you’re standing within 3-5 feet of a mirror, you will be able to see some imperfections. It just makes you human.

Celebrity makeup artists have so many tips and tricks up their sleeves. Having to work with high-profile clients with time restrictions and sometimes limited supplies can teach you a thing or two about how to quickly get the pristine celebrity look with as few steps as possible. We take a deep dive into some of the best makeup lessons from celebrity makeup artists, including Makeup by Mario, Patrick Ta, Scott Barnes, and Hrush Achemyan.

Get Rid of Any Facial Hair

We’re not saying to go pick up a Gillette 5-blade razor and go to town on your face, but you should try to eliminate as much peach fuzz as possible. Makeup does not like to stick to hair; it sticks to the skin.

Contrary to popular belief, shaving isn’t a bad idea. Finding a tiny single-blade razor will do. Then gently remove any excess unwanted hair from all over your face. It’s important to do this cautiously, as you don’t want to damage or irritate your skin. But don’t be afraid to get rid of the hair.

In contrast to the common myth, hair doesn’t grow back thicker when shaved as many people believe. The tip of it is usually just a little more blunt than normal from being shaved. And these Ulta touch-up razors can do the trick just fine! However, if you’re looking for more lasting hair removal strategies, consider dermaplaning or even laser hair removal.

Exfoliate and Hydrate Your Skin

Makeup likes a very smooth and hydrated base, so it’s important to prep our skin before we even start. Remember that finding the perfect makeup products isn’t always the key. It all starts with your skincare routine.

Glamglow Supertoner Exfoliating Acid Solution Toner

This is great for anyone who is looking to exfoliate their skin in a very easy way. This toner doubles as a great exfoliator. We recommend using this once a week, as it does feel very strong and tends to sting slightly when you are using it. Experiencing a slight sting when exfoliating is normal; just make sure it is not painful. If you are removing all of your dead skin cells at least once a week and eliminating excess texture, that will help your complexion products lie smoothly on your skin.

The Tatcha Water Cream

Hydrating your face is very important no matter what type of skin you have. This easily allows products to glide onto the face. We recommend the Water Cream from Tatcha because it leaves the skin with a nice and hydrated finish. Remember, makeup loves to adhere to this kind of skin.

Get Yourself a Gripping Primer

Think of primer as your skin care’s sidekick. Once you have a nice skincare routine that works for you, it’s important to find a primer that helps that skincare routine. Find a primer that isn’t sticky but has a slight tack to it. That’s essential for helping your makeup stick to the face and ensure it will stay on all day.

Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Primer

This primer won an Allure 2019 Best of Beauty award. It was on almost everyone’s favorite products list at the end of the year as well. This primer is great at hydrating the skin and also adding a tack to the skin (again, essential for giving your makeup that extra grip).

Let’s Pick the Best Foundation and Concealers

Finding what works for your skin type is key. We’re going to dive into some of the best foundations for all different skin types below.

Dry Skin

Too Faced Born This Way Foundation and Concealer 

The Born This Way line is a holy grail from Too Faced. This combo will give you that perfect skin-like hydrated complexion. Setting with light powders can be amazing for anyone who is struggling with dry skin. If you do have dry skin, try to do as much of your face as you can with creams. Cream highlighters, blushes, and contours will be your best friends. If you’re looking to bake, then do it very lightly. Try to find creamy and hydrating products that work for you.

Oily Skin

Dior Forever Matte Foundation

This is one of the best foundations on the market. It will dry down to a matte finish, but it is so skin-like and smooth. We also find this foundation to have the perfect amount of coverage. It’s not too sheer or too full. Dior’s foundations also have phenomenal undertones to help get you the perfect foundation match. This foundation comes in a dewy formula as well for all of the dry-skin users out there.

Pat McGrath Labs Sublime Perfection Concealer

Pat McGrath killed it with her Sublime Perfection complexion products, and this concealer is no exception. It has a lot more coverage than you would expect from a Pat McGrath product, and it has a natural finish (great for anyone with normal to dry skin). What’s amazing about this product is the blurred finish it adds to the undereye, which helps you look as flawless as possible.

Baking

This is a technique that was catapulted into the mainstream makeup world when Makeup by Mario showed off this technique on Kim Kardashian a few years ago. Baking is adding an excess of powder in certain areas that you want to appear airbrushed and brightened. This is also a great technique to use if you are wanting your makeup to last all day long.

When you bake in your makeup routine, it also makes the skin look very smooth and radiant under bright lights and in pictures. The lights bounce off of the excess powder on the skin and help the skin appear airbrushed and bright.

As part of your makeup lessons 101, just look at how Makeup by Mario conceals, bakes, and brightens Kim Kardashian:

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A post shared by Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian)

Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Baking Powder

Huda Beauty has made a great powder for baking. If you want a full-coverage powder that is going to make you appear airbrushed and flawless under bright lights, then this is the one for you. This powder comes in a variety of shades that can also help add a bit of coverage to your makeup routine.

Reverse Makeup Order

Makeup by Mario, Hrush Achemyan, Scott Barnes, and many other celebrity makeup artists have shared their secrets on how to get a skin-like, smooth makeup application. The trick is to use less foundation and more contour and concealer. Let me explain.

Usually, we start with our foundation and go into concealer and contour right after. Instead, a lot of celebrity makeup artists like to start with a cream contour, then go in with their concealer, and finally, use a light amount of foundation to blend in the two. This is a great way to reduce the amount of makeup that you use so you have more in the long run. You also are preventing your face from looking caked by using way less product.

Here are some of the most loved foundation, concealer, and cream contours from celebrity makeup artists:

Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation

This has been visibly used many times by celebrity makeup artists on clients like Kim Kardashian. There was a time when almost everyone had this in their kit because it is such a phenomenal foundation. This is a nice buildable foundation that can work amazingly at adding that extra layer to marry together your concealer and contour. It leaves the skin with a stunning skin-like finish and healthy glow.

La Mer Soft Fluid Foundation

Patrick Ta swears by this foundation. It is the only one he keeps in his kit. Much like the Armani Luminous Silk, the La Mer foundation delivers a medium, natural coverage to the face. One thing you will see from celebrities and their makeup artists is that they love to use products that give you a dewy, skin-like finish.

Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

This concealer is well-liked by many celebrity makeup artists because it gives smooth coverage on the face with a natural finish. This concealer can be built up more and more without caking. Nars also offers a great shade range so you can find concealers that can help you correct, conceal, and brighten with a loved formula.

Fenty Beauty Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer

Fenty Beauty recently released their version of a cream bronzer. Celebrity makeup artists love to use cream bronzers because they have a much more natural look to them. If you can use any cream products, you definitely should if you want to get that natural skin-like finish. This cream bronzer is incredibly blendable and lightweight. It’s great for adding warmth and dimension to the face.

You can also easily set this with a little powder bronzer afterward to set your cream bronzer in place. That way if you want to avoid using a setting powder, you can get that dewy look by just adding a little powder bronzer to slightly enhance your cream while setting it in place.

Feather Brows

Patrick Ta, the makeup artist for stars like Gigi Hadid and Shay Mitchell, has shown us many times how we can feather our brows. When you feather your brows, you are lifting them. In addition, he has launched his makeup line with his very own brow sculpting wax.

Patrick Ta Beauty Major Brow Shaping Wax

This brow wax is great at holding up your brows all day long. What I like the best is that this sculpting wax works well with other products like eyebrow pens and pencils. That way you can still shape your brows and add more coverage in spots that you need while still using this wax to help your brows stay lifted.

Enjoy one of the makeup lessons where Patrick Ta explains exactly how to get this look so many celebs are loving:

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A post shared by Makeup Artist Patrick Ta (@patrickta)

Anastasia Beverly Hills Micro-Stroking Detailing Brow Pen

Anastasia Beverly Hills makes some of the best eyebrow products on the market. They have a variety of different shades so you can get the perfect match for your brow. Recently, they released the Micro-Stroking Detailing Brow Pen. This pen looks a lot like a felt-tipped eyeliner pen, but it does not release as pigmented as a stroke. That way you can draw in brow hairs to help give yourself that feathered brow look.

JLo Glow

Scott Barnes, Jennifer Lopez’s makeup artist, has shown us many makeup lessons and techniques he has used on JLo throughout the years. One of the best and most inexpensive tricks he has shown us is how he gives JLo an amazing glow to her legs when she’s walking the red carpet. The trick is simple – Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Body Mist Sunscreen.

I was shocked when I tried this out for myself. For less than $20, you can easily spray on some sunscreen if you ever have your legs or shoulders exposed for an outfit. To make this even better, you’re adding something to your skin that is going to protect you from sun damage. That’s much better than getting an overpriced shimmering body oil with no skincare benefits.

Final Words…

These are some of the major makeup lessons and tricks that I’ve learned from watching tutorials with celebrity makeup artists. Everything that they show us is how to get that desired celeb that looks like it took hours to achieve, but you can do it in 30 minutes. It’s kind of like that Scott Barnes trick to use Neutrogena sunscreen for that famous JLo glow. We hope you learned some amazing tips and tricks to add to your makeup routine so that you can feel like a celebrity too!