Full Glam Makeup Tutorial

Step-by-step

1. 1

   Eyes before base

   Step 1 of 11

   Start on bare or lightly primed skin with the eyes. Deep smokey work drops fallout, and sweeping it off a finished full-coverage base is what leaves those grey streaks down the cheek. Anything that falls now simply wipes away.

   Tip: A loose powder shelf under the eye catches the fallout and dusts straight off.

2. 2

   Build the crease in three shades

   Step 2 of 11

   A light transition shade above the socket line, a mid-tone through the crease, then the darkest shade concentrated in the outer third and along the outer lower lash line. Keeping the darkest point genuinely small is what stops full glam eyes reading as a uniform grey smudge.

3. 3

   Cut the lid

   Step 3 of 11

   Carve a clean edge along the crease with concealer or a flat brush, then pack a metallic or satin shade onto the lid below it. The hard boundary between lid and crease is what gives full glam its structure under camera flash.

   Tip: Pat the lid shade on with a fingertip. Sweeping drags the crease colour down into it and the cut disappears.

4. 4

   Liner, waterline, lashes

   Step 4 of 11

   A winged liner following the lower lash line's angle, dark liner on the upper waterline to fill any gap between lashes, then a strip or clusters. Trim the strip to your own lash line before glueing — an overhanging band lifting at the inner corner is the single most obvious tell.

5. 5

   Prep and prime the skin

   Step 5 of 11

   Now clean up the fallout and start the base. Moisturiser given a few minutes to absorb, then a grip or blurring primer only where you need it. Full-coverage foundation clings to any dry patch it finds, and skipping this is why the base looks fine at 7pm and patchy at 10pm.

6. 6

   Foundation in thin layers

   Step 6 of 11

   A thin first pass over the whole face with a damp sponge or dense brush, then build a second layer only where you want more coverage. Two thin layers photograph better and move less than one heavy one.

7. 7

   Conceal, brighten, bake

   Step 7 of 11

   Concealer one shade lighter under the eye in a small triangle, then a generous layer of loose powder pressed over it and left for a few minutes before dusting off. Baking is what keeps the under-eye crease-free through a long night — the same reason it's a stage-and-photo technique rather than an everyday one.

   Tip: Bake the under-eye, chin, and T-zone only. Baking the whole face is what turns full glam flat and powdery.

8. 8

   Cream contour, then powder over it

   Step 8 of 11

   Cream contour along the cheekbone hollow, temples, and jaw, blended up toward the ear, then the same placement again in powder on top. The layering is what makes the sculpt read in photographs, where a single cream pass tends to disappear.

9. 9

   Blush and highlight

   Step 9 of 11

   Blush high on the cheekbone, slightly overlapping the contour so there's no visible gap between them, then highlight on the top of the cheekbone, the bridge of the nose, and the cupid's bow. Keep highlight off the outer cheek where it meets the contour or the sculpt is undone.

10. 10

    Overlined, long-wear lip

    Step 10 of 11

    Line slightly outside the natural line at the cupid's bow and the centre of the lower lip, fill the whole lip with the liner so there's no colour gap as the lipstick wears, then apply a long-wear or transfer-resistant formula on top.

11. 11

    Set the whole thing

    Step 11 of 11Almost done!

    A generous setting spray held at arm's length, and let it dry without touching. This is also what melts the powder layers back into the skin so the finish reads as skin rather than as makeup sitting on top of it.