Skincare for Makeup Artists
In this episode, we chat through all the skincare you could possibly need in your kit as a makeup artist. We will talk through options for each skin type and also little pieces you may need in general.
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Show Transcript:
Hello and welcome back. Last episode we talked a lot about skin care for the general population and what everybody should be using at home. Today we’re going to cover the purpose of skin care for makeup application and for makeup artists specifically. If you’re a makeup artist looking to understand kit skin care, this is your episode. And be sure to check the show notes if you need links to buy product. I’m Danielle Neiswender and this is the DNA Beauty School podcast.
All right. Now let’s talk about skincare for makeup. I have been working in this industry for a very long time, as we’ve already established, and I’ve been coaching other artists for nearly as long. I have literally heard it all when it comes to skincare before makeup, anywhere from folks who think skincare before makeup is a bad idea, to folks doing 15 steps before they touch the skin with makeup, both are utterly wrong.
The first thing to know is that you shouldn’t really be using many actives in the makeup chair, and there’s two reasons for that. Number one is you honestly don’t need to. Generally, most actives work over periods of time in the weeks to months range, and you’re going to only be spending an hour, maybe two, with this person. You can definitely have a conversation about actives that might be helpful for them to add to their routine, but I wouldn’t waste money putting a bunch of actives in my kit personally.
The second reason is that actives can interact with each other and with other products in your makeup kit. These interactions can do things like cause extra redness on the skin, or cause makeup products to pull up and roll, so you really want to keep it super, super simple. The only exception to that is gentle exfoliation. And I mean very, very gentle, which I’ll tell you more about in just a second.
So what do you put in your kit? Basically, the thing you need to really get a handle on before makeup is a client’s moisture barrier. Because if you don’t and they’re a person who tends toward dryness, then their skin is going to suck any hydrating ingredients right out of the makeup you put on them, and it’ll look dry and cakey and weird real fast. And if they’re prone to oiliness, then before you’re even done with the full application, you’ll have pools of oils sitting around breaking up the makeup, and you’re risking oxidation with their foundation color.
Which, by the way, I’m going to have an entire thing about oxidation. What it is, what it isn’t, because there is some bad info out there on the interwebs trying to tell people that their foundation or concealer is oxidizing when they either picked the wrong color or were matched poorly by someone in a store. But that is not going to be today, so stay tuned.
Before I jump into details on this, I want to address one thing that I hear literally all the time, and that’s that people feel like their foundation or their complexion products misbehave if they have it prepped with a lot of skin care. There are two problems here. The first is you either a have ingredients in your skin and foundation products that do not interact well, or b you are too heavy handed either with the skincare product or with the makeup product. And I literally see both every day, all the time.
Anyway, a moisture barrier that has been cared for the right way under makeup will give you a better end result every single time. It’s going to look like makeup that lasts well, all night without disappearing or getting texture or feeling bad for the client. It will look smoother, last longer, and look like really living skin. Regardless of who’s in the chair. It’s also going to generally mean you need less makeup overall, less coverage, less in terms of amount, etc..
So as a general rule, since you’re mostly trying to ensure that your makeup application lasts a long time by caring well for the moisture barrier, you need a few things. You need a ceramide serum, a selection of moisturizers by skin type, maybe a quick cleanse option, and a gentle and universal exfoliator. Let’s break these down.
So Ceramide Serum, please take note that I said ceramide specifically. This is the only serum I keep in my kit personally, and I use it on every single client, almost without exception. I generally feel that moisturizer is not enough for most skin, both in general life and in the chair. And I say that after a lot of years of working with skin, not just with makeup.
I choose ceramide serums in my kit, specifically because it is a lipid that all skin needs and all skin should be making, but it tends to be in lower quantities in dry, aging skin, but also, interestingly enough, in acne prone skin too. I suspect that it is actually probably not in the right amounts being made. I mean, in most skin, based on what I experience, ceramides are a balancer. They’re a skin strengthener. It helps with hydration without the risk of rolling that you get with hyaluronic, which real quick I want to just say about hyaluronic. It’s a great ingredient, I love it, I use it at nighttime for myself personally, and I recommend most clients use it at nighttime. Two the reason is if you’re a makeup wearer, that it can hyaluronic can sometimes be problematic underneath foundation. So if you’re a makeup artist who’s been using moisturizer or serums with a high amount of hyaluronic in it, and you’re getting issues, and you’re one of the people saying, my makeup misbehaves when I use skincare underneath it. That could be part of why.
In particular, I use a ceramide serum by Coco Kind. I’ll link it in the show notes for you because that one has a very simple ingredients list. I try to avoid endocrine disruptors in my life and in my kit. That one is also acne safe. It is also a really nice price point for a high quality product, which allows pros to keep overhead down. When. When. What you will often notice if you start using a ceramide Serum specifically is clients with a lot of redness will often have that cooldown pretty quick after you’ve applied the serum. And because it’s a balancer, it also has a cumulative effect. I literally recommend this for every person I interact with, like almost literally every person, because it just continues to help the skin over time too. And it’s even fantastic. The brand itself actually markets it as a great option post procedure too, so it is sort of fantastic because it’s really lightweight. It does not tend to make folks prone to oil get more oily, and because it’s a balancer, I find that they tend to stay more balanced than when not being prepped with it. It also helps dry folks in a similar way to avoid getting or feeling overly dry.
We will be right back. Hey, artist, are you ready to feel the confidence you should with clients in your makeup chair? Enrollment opens soon for my five day in-person Makeup Artistry Bootcamp. This bootcamp accepts a limited number of learners like only six, and is generally only offered twice a year at my beautiful, sun drenched space in downtown Holly, Michigan. Come learn the details that you aren’t getting from other educators. With an experienced trainer and licensed professional focused on your growth as an artist in this industry. You’ll leave with an understanding you won’t get anywhere else, and you can take this knowledge with you to grow the beauty business of your dreams. Come join us! Add your name to the spring enrollment waitlist today. Now let’s get back to the show.
In terms of moisturizer, I actually keep a handful of them in my kit. One is for oily skin, one is for dry skin, one is for normal skin, and for combo skin. It’s usually a mix somehow of those three things. My oily skin moisturizer is going to have modifiers in it. It’s suitable for all skin tones. Really, really important and it wears well under makeup. The one I keep in my kit is Doctor Murad, oil control modifier. And like I said, I generally try to keep endocrine disruptors out of my kit. I don’t actually know if Doctor Murad has any in it. I sort of doubt it. But while this isn’t considered a clean beauty option in terms of like branding, it is the best and most effective oil control modifier that I’ve come across for this particular use. So I will continue to keep it in my kit as long as it’s available to purchase.
My dry skin moisturizer is going to always feel much weightier in terms of texture or hand feel. Right now, I’m finishing up a jar of three AU from Sephora collection, which I think they might have actually discontinued, but in general options I choose for the skin type, we’ll all have things like oils and butters, uh, in much higher quantity. You’ll see marketing for these types of products that speaks to the richness, the oils, and often these types of products might be called butters, creams, skin balms, etc. these are things that immediately make you think of a heavier feeling product. When I replace my Sephora Collection product, I might switch over to Skin Fix or to Beekman. They both have lipid, which is just a type of fat lipid rich moisturizers that I like a lot.
Lastly, my normal skin moisturizer is going to be the Hya it’s a lotion from Sephora collection. And as long as they continue making it, I will continue buying it. I love that stuff. So it’s called hya because it actually has hyaluronic acid in it, which I know I just got done saying, like, stay away from that in your kit. But this one is really super stable. So I’ve never had that baby roll anything on me, which I think has to do with the vitamin E they use in the formulation. But in general, products in this weight class are going to be called things like lotion or sometimes emulsion. They tend to have a very light hand feel in the same way a moisturizer for oily skin does.
But these don’t have the modifiers built in specifically, and that is a really important distinction. I would never use moisturizer that has a modifier in it on someone who is normal, because those modifiers are going to soak up the skin oils that they don’t have in excess, and then that could potentially create an issue down the line with their moisture barrier. Kind of overreacting.
One sort of outlier that I always have on hand in my kit is a pure oil. I have Jose Marin’s original argan oil because it’s safe for most skin, and I like to keep an oil on hand simply for those times when I want to shear out a foundation, for example. Or maybe I have like ultra dry or mature skin client that just needs it. As a final step after moisturizer, I like to be able to keep these types of things on hand, to stay flexible in the moment, and to help other products work harder or work better.
As far as cleanser goes, I keep one in my kit that’s more like a micellar water I keep sensible. I think that’s how you say that from Bioderma. This one’s ultra gentle and it really removes mostly everything in a snap. I like the time. It can save me if a client shows up with makeup on, even though all our prep definitely said come barefaced. Or if someone like looks up when I’m putting on lash glue or something, it doesn’t happen much at this point, but when it does, this stuff makes quick work of cleaning up mistakes. If the client follows directions and shows up bare faced, then I go in with a little of this on a round just to quickly remove any skincare they might have on. I might switch or keep a second option in my kit in the future to have a clean beauty alternative. And if I do, I’ll add the totally micellar water, which works in a similar fashion. I don’t generally recommend that most people use a micellar water as their daily cleanser. I feel like most of them are just a tiny bit too drying, and are not really doing a lot of favours for them. I also don’t really necessarily love a micellar water to remove makeup on the eyes always kind of depends on the person’s lashes, but micellar waters are just a little on the drying side, so I just don’t love them as like a everyday thing for every human. It’s going to be a personal preference thing in some ways, but yeah
We will be right back. Hey, artist, are you ready to feel the confidence you should with clients in your makeup chair? Enrollment opens soon for my five day in-person Makeup artistry Boot Camp. This boot camp accepts a limited number of learners like only six, and is generally only offered twice a year at my beautiful, sun drenched space in downtown Holly, Michigan. Come learn the details that you aren’t getting from other educators. With an experienced trainer and licensed professional focused on your growth as an artist in this industry. You’ll leave with an understanding you won’t get anywhere else, and you can take this knowledge with you to grow the beauty business of your dreams. Come join us! Add your name to the spring enrollment waitlist today. Now let’s get back to the show.
The last and one of the most important products for us to talk about is the Gentle and Universal exfoliator. This can make all the difference for how a makeup application looks and lasts, so I really don’t ever skip it. Well, that’s not completely true. Like if somebody is a pretty good care of their skin already and exfoliates regularly, they may not need it. But most of the time I don’t ever skip it.
In this category, you’re looking for gentle more than anything else. This is not the moment to go big or go home. You want to go small and stay here. Generally, double sided pads and not liquid toners or exfoliants on a cotton round will be better as they have the ingredients and the liquid built into the pads in the correct amount to be gentle and effective. The pads are also generally formulated or designed. I guess is a better word to not create additional friction on the skin on both sides, so that part is helpful too. I look for acids like lactic, low levels of glycolic, as well as skin soothers like aloe.
There are two options that in my eyes are basically like interchangeable. One is Sephora Collection glow peel pads and the other is First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance pads. Both are great, and both are things I’ve had in my kit at various points in my career. I’ve never had any client react to either of them, and I’ve used them on a lot of people. Like the number is into well into the hundreds of people. First Aid Beauty uses lactic and glycolic and lactic can actually help to increase hydration for folks that are dry too. Uh. Sephora collection uses a few fruit extracts and sugarcane extract, which is basically what glycolic is made from. Either of them are a great addition to your kit.
Eyecreams are a nice addition that can be helpful for clients with texture or dryness under the eye. They are something I keep on hand, but I also sometimes just use cold spoons. If someone is puffy but not textured, they can be really an important piece of the puzzle for concealer on anyone over the age of 19. Just to keep the emollient suspended and the skin looking plump, I keep a lightweight, caffeine based option for everyone who isn’t really textured or dry, and a brightening option with luminescence in it for folks that have really dark under eyes. Very dark under eyes will require certain proper use of color, which we’ll talk about in the season that starts on makeup next season. You know, a luminescent eye cream is not going to completely undo all the darkness under an eye, but it can be a step that allows you to keep the layers that you put on top of that in terms of makeup, a little bit softer and thinner so you don’t get cakey weird under eyes.
I should also say my two favorite eye creams almost on planet Earth. Also not clean beauty. But again, if that’s not important to you, this won’t really matter. But I love Shiseido eye creams. I feel like they are just, I don’t know, they’re magical. The illuminating one I’m blanking on the name. It comes in a pink jar. It’s very small. That’s the one I love for dark under eyes and beneficence. The one in the Gold Jar is my absolute favorite for aging or wrinkled under eyes. Uh, that one can be used 360 all around the orbital bone. And it really does help. The contours of the eye just look better. So it’s a good option.
The last few sort of one off things, I guess, that I keep in my kit. I keep a high quality lip balm. I like one that is not super shiny. I like one that stays on well, that is sort of soothing. Right now I have the option from Skynn Iceland. It’s in a dark pink tube. I’m almost out of it though, so I need to come up with an option to replace that if I’m going to switch, I don’t know. I also keep a few things like, um, pimple patches just because every once in a while and somebody ends up with like a honker and I can pop a pimple patch on while I’m working on other people. And then a lot of the times it can kind of soothe things down a bit by the time we get to that person’s face. And then specifically for brides, I keep additional mask options because we do way more intense skin prep for a bride. But I like under-eye patches. I almost to me doesn’t really matter what brand. For the most part. I love the vitamin C radiance mask from um, tatcha a lot actually.
And then for people that have rosacea, I keep a very small bottle of, Ceramidin from Doctor Dart. I again, I’m blanking on the name. I have to look it up and add it to the show notes, but it is their option that is specifically to soothe, hydrate and color correct very redskin. Um, that folks that are dealing with rosacea often have. So those few things are just like little guys that I keep in my kit in case of emergency.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode today. I hope that you learned something. I hope you’re feeling more prepared when it comes to prepping the skin for makeup. As always, if you still have lingering questions, please find me on social and reach out. I’ve linked where you can find me right in the show notes for this episode.
I also want to say a quick note about our subscription based Instagram group. So that group is designed for people that really want to learn. I dive even deeper in each topic on that group. I also share all the visuals that go with each episode. We do lives for Q&A. I do workshops, usually monthly. There’s just a lot more info in there, so if you’re an artist that’s just getting started, or just an artist who’s been around for a minute and wants a lot more info and to really feel empowered, that group is probably for you. It is a subscription based model, so I break it up by semester. There’s three semesters a year. You can purchase your access on either the semester or the year long basis. You do get a significant discount if you do the year option, so I hope we’ll see you over there.
Your assignment for this episode is to adopt at least one, or maybe all of these steps prior to your next makeup application, and then go to my Instagram or go to the episode and comment and let me know how it went. What changes did you notice?
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Music for this episode was written by Matt Wigton. The podcast is written, produced and edited by me, Danielle Neiswender. If you enjoyed this episode, Please subscribe on your favorite listening platform and if you’d like to help other beauty enthusiasts find me, please consider leaving a review or sharing about us on socials. It really does help. Thank you so much for being here.
Hey, artist, are you ready to feel the confidence you should with clients in your makeup chair? Enrollment opened soon for my five day in person Makeup Artistry Bootcamp. This bootcamp accepts a limited number of learners like only six, and is generally only offered twice a year at my beautiful, sun drenched space in downtown Holly, Michigan. Come learn the details that you aren’t getting from other educators. With an experienced trainer and licensed professional focused on your growth as an artist in this industry. You’ll leave with an understanding you won’t get anywhere else, and you can take this knowledge with you to grow the beauty business of your dreams. Come join us! Add your name to the spring enrollment waitlist today.
