The Best Ways to Set Your Under Eyes

I feel that throughout the past few years I have been on a mission to make myself and my client’s under eyes look photoshopped in real life. With the help of these great setting powders and a couple techniques I will explain in this post, your under eye makeup will resemble.. dare I say it, Kim Kardashians.

All of these powders have their own pros and cons and work great in comparison to MANY and believe me I mean many other setting powders (some have made me age 30 years).

Before I share with you my favourite techniques to set you under eyes, I will just let you know that I am sharing multiple techniques. When it comes to setting this delicate area of the face, not everyone’s skin is the same and not everyone wants to achieve the same look, therefore, all you have to do is play around with my suggested techniques and I am positive you will find one that works wonders for you!

TECHNIQUES: 

Everyday Concealer Wear:

If you are opting for an everyday makeup look and just want to pop on some concealer and run out the door without any creases, I suggest you dust a finely milled setting powder (suggestions at end of article) lightly over your under eye concealer with a setting brush. For this technique I recommend you use the real techniques setting brush (Left) or the elf blush brush (Right). These brushes fit perfectly right under the crevices of the under eye and make a world of difference, plus they are both very affordable!

• I bought both of these brushes off iherb.com, which is by far the cheapest option. For a further discount use the code VBL128 for a minimum of $5 off your order!

Baking:

If you know you are going to be photographed all night or you just are opting for a “full glam” makeup look the technique I use on my teenage – middle aged clients is saturating a DRY not damp (as I found a damp sponge will apply too much product into skin) beauty blender or makeup sponge with the setting powder. After applying it over the under eye concealer in a V formation, allow it to set for a couple of minutes and dust off the excess with a setting brush.

Mature Skin – 

For my clients with more mature skin I do not recommend applying the setting powder with a makeup sponge, as it will look too cakey and may emphasize fine lines. Instead, I saturate a setting brush with the powder and I do not allow it to “bake,” I just apply and dust off the excess immediately and this will still look great in photos without a heavy appearance in real life.

TIP: Do not apply the power if the concealer is still damp, wait until the concealer has slightly set and apply. If it has slightly creased go in and blend out those creases right before the powder.

EXTRA BRIGHT HIGHLIGHT

If you love that extra bright highlight under the eyes and want to achieve it without a heavy feeling and cakey look, I suggest you adopt this technique. Firstly, lightly set your under eye concealer with the loose powder, then, apply a  brightening pressed powder on top with the same brush. I find it much better to set first with a loose powder, then I apply the pressed as I do not like the appearance when I set directly with the pressed powder. For this technique I highly recommend either:

1) Anastasia Beverly Hills Vanilla or Banana powder

2) Kat Von D shade and light brightening powders in the palette

3) Dupe for MAC’s Emphasize shaping powder; Maybelline Fit Me powder in shade 110.

 

SETTING POWDERS

-BEN NYE LUXURY POWDERS in Cameo (Left) Banana (Right)

• great for dusting under eyes
• Baking
• Banana – Medium to deep skin tones
• Cameo –  Fair to Medium skin tones
• Light weight
• Affordable
• All skin types
• Not for setting entire face

Laura Mercier Translucent

• Great for baking
• Not recommended for dry skin
• setting entire face if oily skin
• Expensive
• wide range of skin tones
• absolutely no flash back in photos

RCMA No Color Powder

• Great for setting under eye
• press into skin with puff to set face (amazing)
• absolutely no colour
• wide range of skin tones
• light weight
• affordable