Long-Lasting Makeup: Tips, Tricks, & More!

Ever wonder why you spend twenty minutes applying your makeup only to have it slide off your face before noon? Makeup that doesn’t stay in place is frustrating and can send you to the restroom for touch-ups you simply don’t have time for.

Never fear; RMS Beauty is here. Our team of experts gave us the scoop on what’s causing our makeup to make a run for it — and how to combat it. We’ll give you tips and tricks to keep your makeup in place and make you an expert at using a face primer.

What Happened to My Makeup?

You used the long-lasting formula you found at the drugstore, but your makeup slid right off your skin before your mid-morning coffee. What gives? There are a couple of reasons why your makeup might be playing hide-and-go-seek.

You’re Touchy Feely

It’s easy to find your chin propped against your hand or pressed against a landline telephone receiver, especially if you sit at a desk all day. While blemishes in a certain area can be a dead giveaway that your fingers are making contact with your skin, missing makeup is also a clue.

You’re Running Late

We’ve all been there. You hit snooze one too many times, and you’re flying through your skincare routine to make up for the extra time you spent in bed. The problem is if you’re rushing your routine, your moisturizers, toners, and serums might not be fully absorbed before you apply your makeup, creating the perfect landscape for a makeup mudslide.

Blame It on the Rain

The weather can wreak havoc on your makeup, which isn’t formulated to withstand harsh conditions. If it’s raining, humid, or even extremely windy, it’s harder for your makeup to stay in place.

It’s also important to note that some weather conditions can make you sweat, which can instantly liquify your makeup and cause it to melt off your skin.

You’re the Balm

Long-wearing lip color isn’t known as the most comfortable, hydrating experience on your lips. That can lead you to apply it over a coat of lip balm. Lip balm is occlusive, which means it seals in moisture on your lips and creates a waxy, slippery barrier. The barrier feels great, but it doesn’t give your lipstick anything to hold on to.

You Need To Exfoliate

Your skin renews constantly. In fact, your skin renews at a rate of about 28-30 days.

As new skin cells are made, old skin cells are pushed to the surface where they should naturally be sloughed away. However, if you aren’t exfoliating properly, that layer of dead cells could be hanging around on your skin.

When you apply your makeup, it will stick to dead skin cells. When the skin cells flake away, your makeup goes along with it, leaving you with weird patches of color.

You’ve Struck Oil

If your skin produces excess sebum, it can be hard for your makeup to stay in place. Oily skin does mean you’ll always be able to enjoy a healthy-looking, dewy finish, but to get longer wearability out of your makeup, you’ll need products and techniques to blot away the oil.

Ready for your makeup to get a grip? Try these tips to boost your products’ staying power.

Seven Tips To Get Long-Lasting Makeup

The truth is, sometimes even waterproof mascara can evacuate and leave you crying (with streams of iron-oxide tears down your face). Here are seven tips to help you fight back and create long-wearing color.

1. Use a Primer

A good primer gives your makeup something to stick to. Primers are made to help smooth your skin’s texture, fill in fine lines or wrinkles, and smooth over pores to help makeup apply evenly. Primers also help seal in your skin’s natural moisture, creating a sort of barrier that helps prevent your foundation from interacting with any excess oil on your skin and keeps your skin from drying out.

One to try: ReEvolve Radiance Locking Primer. Our primer does more than give your makeup staying power. Formulated with vegetable squalane and hyaluronic acid, our primer pulls moisture into your skin, helping it feel hydrated for hours. Tightenyl™ helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles while keeping your makeup in place.

Remember to allow your moisturizer to dry completely before applying a primer. Once your primer is in place, give it time to dry completely before applying your foundation.

2. Use a Setting Powder

Setting powders are designed to give your skin an airbrushed finish, help your makeup stay put, and give you a slightly matte finish. Setting powders contain oil-absorbing ingredients and light-reflecting minerals that help give your skin a finished look and can keep your makeup in place.

Unlike a makeup setting spray, which works best for dry skin types, the right setting powder works well for virtually all skin types.

Product to try: RMS Beauty “Un” Powder. Available in untinted and lightly pigmented formulas, this translucent powder helps complete your makeup look and adds radiance to your skin without weight or residue.

You’ve probably heard of “baking” your makeup, which involves applying a thick layer of setting powder to liquid foundations and concealers and then dusting off the excess. You should know that this rarely works to make your liquid products stay on longer. It usually results in a cake-like finish that can settle into fine lines and wrinkles.

3. Shed Some Layers

In addition to makeup sliding off your skin, creasing is another potential issue if you apply too much makeup in one spot.

Some makeup products have buildable formulas that allow you to add extra layers on top of existing layers, but if they don’t, the extra layers will cause a thick, cakey layer of makeup that can easily slide off your skin.

4. Hydrate Your Skin Properly

Makeup has more staying power when your skin is properly hydrated. If your cleanser strips your skin of moisture, you’ll produce excess oil or experience excessively dry skin.

Product to try: RMS Beauty Coconut Cream. Raw, cruelty-free, and vegan, our coconut cream is extracted without heat or chemical solvents to ensure all the nourishing ingredients it has in its natural state are retained once it hits your skin. Coconut oil is perfect for any skin type, and can even help adjust the moisture level of blemish-prone skin. f

To achieve serious hydration, try using raw coconut cream to help cleanse and moisturize your skin.

5. Blot Out Oil

Blotting papers help you remove excess oil without adding the weight of additional makeup. You can simply use a tissue if you don’t want to use blotting papers. If you notice your skin feeling a little oily during the day, gently press a blotting paper on your skin to remove oil and keep your makeup in place.

6. Choose Long-Lasting Products

Long-wearing products can help you keep your look longer, but they can also play host to some really unfriendly chemical ingredients. At RMS Beauty, you can trust that our long-lasting, smudge-proof products never contain ingredients that are unsafe for your skin or body.

Long-wearing eye makeup, for example, can contain chemicals like dimethicone, a polymer that coats lashes with a waterproof finish. This chemical is an irritant that is drying to your natural lashes, potentially making them brittle and easier to break.

Instead, opt for eyeshadow, eyeliner, eyeshadow primers, and mascara naturally formulated with long-lasting ingredients. RMS Beauty’s Straight Up Volumizing Mascara contains a proprietary blend of plant-based ingredients that helps keep your mascara from flaking or smudging for up to 12 hours.

7. Apply Your Makeup Like a Makeup Artist

Sometimes, how we apply our beauty products makes them less likely to have real staying power. If you apply them in the wrong order or use the wrong tool, you could dial down their sticking ability. Want a few tried and true tips?

Use a puff instead of a brush to apply setting powder. Pressing the powder into your skin will help set your makeup and help you avoid wiping or brushing your makeup off.

Avoid oil-free products. Oil-free products are notoriously drying. Even if you have oily skin, oil-free may not be the best remedy. Your skin could be oily because it’s dehydrated, and oil-free skincare could make matters worse.

Apply slowly. This is especially important if you’re using a liquid foundation. Make sure you allow your foundation to dry before applying concealer, highlighter, bronzer, blush, or any other face makeup. Otherwise, you could drag the foundation out of place.

Touch-up like a pro. Instead of using a heavy, tinted face powder for midday touch-ups, consider blotting paper or tissue. If you want to add color to your lips midday, opt for a lip liner touch up instead of more lipstick. This can help keep your lip color in place without adding additional weight.

Once you learn these simple application hacks, your makeup can naturally last longer, which means you could spend more time doing life and less time heading to the restroom for another touch-up.

Makeup All-Day, the RMS Way

Some products contain chemicals that cause your makeup to adhere to your skin like glue. At RMS Beauty, we’ve never found it necessary to go outside of nature to find effective, long-lasting, and potentially beneficial cosmetics for your skin.

You can have the cleanest makeup that lasts when you learn to use and apply it like a professional. So go ahead — bravely leave your lipstick and powder at home and enjoy all-day color with these easy tips and tricks.

Sources:

EWG Skin Deep® | What is DIMETHICONE

SEER Training: Layers of the Skin | Cancer.gov

25 Coconut Oil Uses That Benefit Your Hair and Skin, According to Doctors | Prevention.com