The next time you find yourself facing down an endless loop of YouTube makeup tutorials—looking for the key to perfectly winging your eyeliner, or evenly applying bold lipstick—hit pause, step back, and check out this list of genius beauty hacks instead.
We tapped some of New York City's best makeup artists to share their favorite shortcuts, tips, and tricks for looking like your babeliest self. Read on for the secret to smudge-less eyeshadow, an unexpected use for credit cards, the easiest DIY brow gel ever, and more.
Lips
The pro: Mari Shten, who's lent her makeup skills to Vogue, Glamour, Elle Italia, Victoria's Secret, Mariah Carey, and Christy Turlington.
The hack: "To make lipstick stay longer make sure to exfoliate and moisturize your lips. After that, use a lip primer (like Bite Beauty Line & Define Lip Primer, $22) to fill in fine lines and make products go on smoother and stay longer. Use lip liner all over the lips and only then apply the lipstick."
The pro: Jenny Smith, Lead Makeup Stylist for Nars Cosmetics
The hack: To fake fuller lips, lightly fill in your lips with a lip liner that is a shade or two lighter than your lip tone. Look at the profile of your lips instead of staring at them straight-on and you'll be able to see where your lips really end, not just where the color of your lips ends."
The pro: Andie Markoe-Byrne, who's a regular backstage at New York Fashion Week.
The hack: "Apply a coat of Chanel Allure Rouge Velvet lipstick ($36), split a single-ply tissue, place it on your lips, and lightly powder over the tissue. This will give you hours of wear."
The pro: Charlie Green, who's been prepping stars for the red carpet for over 20 years.
The hack: "To keep lipstick lasting forever first choose a matte formulation as the moisturizing types do not last well. Before you apply the lipstick, sketch all over of your lips with a matching lip pencil—this creates a good base to help the lipstick grip onto! You can't beat Mac for their matte lip shades and lip pencils."
The pros: Charlie Riddle and David Birdwell, Directors of Creative Artistry at Jane Cosmetics
The hack: "To create an optical illusion of full and luscious lips, apply a nude lip liner that closely matches your natural lip tone strictly to the Cupid's bow, the center of the bottom lip, and to the corners of the mouth. When you're applying to the corners of the mouth, remember to start from the corner and then draw towards your Cupid's bow and center of your lip. This will look more rounded and fuller since you are painting upwards rather than downwards. You can either connect the corners to the Cupid's bow and center of the bottom lip, or leave them just as accentuated points. Follow this with your favorite lipstick or gloss."
Eyes and Brows
The pro: Mahasin Phillips, Senior Artist for Inglot Cosmetics
The hack: "To de-clump your mascara, wash the wand with warm water. Works every time!"
The pros: Charlie Riddle and David Birdwell, Directors of Creative Artistry at Jane Cosmetics
The hack: "Winged eyeliner can be a struggle. To get it right, take an angled eyeliner brush and a mid-tone brown eyeshadow to create a soft mark for your wings. Use your lower lash line as your guide, and create your "wings" from your lower lash line aimed at the end of your brow. Once you've made the soft marks even, they are easily covered with your liquid liner as your follow the guide created by the eyeshadow.
The pro: Yana Markevich, Makeup Artist at Birchbox Soho
The hack: "The easiest trick to make blue eyes stand out is to use the opposite color on the color wheel: Orange! However, not many brands make a bright orange/peachy eyeshadow so I use powder blush as my go to Spring/Summer eyeshadow. A swipe of blush makes blue eyes appear brighter and blush usually has a very subtle shimmer to bring more light to the eyes. It's a lot more wearable than it seems and can always be layered over a taupe or light caramel brown (even your powder bronzer!) for a gorgeous effect."
The pro: James Vincent, Director of Artistry at Ardency Inn Cosmetics
The hack: "One of my favorite beauty hacks is to use a waterproof pencil as the perfect long-wear highlighter to give eyes lift and a more open appearance. Many people would never think to use pencil anywhere on the eye except along the lash line, but Ardency Inn's Modster Smooth Ride Supercharged Eyeliner in Cream ($19) is the perfect shade for a little bit of lift on the brow bone, or juxtaposed right above or below your darker liner to make the eye appear more open. I also use this on the highest points of the face—like down the center of the nose, at the cupids bow and on the highest point of the cheekbone—for highlight on light to medium tones. For darker skin tones, try Ardency Inn's Modster Smooth Ride Supercharged Eyeliner in Gold ($19).
The pro: Vincent Longo, Makeup Legend
The hack: "If you want your eye shadow to last all day into the evening without creasing, there's a simple application technique to use. Before applying the eyeshadow, use the eyeliner first to create depth and definition to the eye. Start by tracing a line along the lash line and blend upward and outward into the crease. Finish by applying the eye shadow over the pencil. The powders of the eyeshadow will set the pencil and allow for the eye makeup to last all day long."
The pro: Andie Markoe-Byrne, who's a regular backstage at New York Fashion Week.
The hack: "To draw the perfect cat eye, use Tom Ford's Defining Liquid Liner pen ($55). Tilt your head back in the mirror, and, using the fatter side of the pen, start from the inside corner along the lash line, and draw to the outer corner—gradually getting bigger towards the outer edge. Use the small side of the pen to detail the wing at the end.This product is like a marker. It's bulletproof."
The pro: Yana Markevich, Makeup Artist at Birchbox Soho
The hack: "Brow gel and brow pencils can run out unexpectedly, so I use an eyeshadow to fill in my brows and some hairspray on a mascara wand to brush them and seal the eyeshadow."
The pro: Charlie Green, who's been prepping stars for the red carpet for over 20 years.
The hack: For a perfect cat eye, use a sharpie-type eyeliner pen like the one from Elf ($1.99). It's got a nice fine flexible tip and the ink is loaded with black pigment. Get symmetrical eyeliner by using the edge of a credit card or bit of card as a template ! No more wonky uneven eyes."
The pro: Yana Markevich, Makeup Artist at Birchbox Soho
The hack: "Many people can't find the perfect combination of a mascara formula they love with the exact brush they like using. Save the old favorite brush that you would throw away if you love the way the brush curls/separates/glides on your lashes. Use it when trying a new formula or new color color of mascara that your favorite brush isn't sold in. Find your perfect combination instead of waiting to try every single brand until you somehow find your favorite."
The pro: David Klasfeld, CEO and Creative Director of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics
The hack: "Mix a gel-texture face primer like OCC's Skin: Primer ($27.50) with loose shadows like our Loose Colour Concentrates ($14) to create a gel texture eyeshadow that gives you plenty of time to blend, and lasts all day once it dries down."
Skin
The pro: Andie Markoe-Byrne, who's a regular backstage at New York Fashion Week.
The hack: "For non greasy sunscreen (a necessity in the summer), apply Sunday Riley's Skin Cashmere Sunscreen ($125) over your moisturizer. It protects your skin and leaves it matte."
The pros: Charlie Riddle and David Birdwell, Directors of Creative Artistry at Jane Cosmetics
The hack: "You should always have two concealers in your makeup arsenal: one as a highlight shade and the other for cover up. You can wear the coverage one just on blemishes, the highlight shade to the high points of the face, and then mix the two for under the eyes to cover dark circles."
The pro: Charlie Green, who's been prepping stars for the red carpet for over 20 years.
The hack: "For glowing summer skin, always skip face powder and use a tinted CC cream—my fave is the sheer Your Skin But Better with SPF from IT cosmetics ($38). It covers well yet you can hardly see it!
The pros: Charlie Riddle and David Birdwell, Directors of Creative Artistry at Jane Cosmetics
The hack: "We love using a matte bronzer all over the high points of the face, and then using the same bronzer as eyeshadow to help contour the eyes. It doesn't matter if the look is soft or dramatic, it helps balance the rest of the face with the eyes because it creates a harmonious hue across the entire face."