In the realm of celebrity beauty, I’m always intrigued by what stars put (or don’t put) on their brows. Having good brows is practically a requirement for being famous. While celebrities have access to the highest-caliber experts to pluck, thread, and microblade their brows, the products they use to enhance them are also of the utmost importance.
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The latest brow products sweeping Hollywood? Ilia’s new launches. Despite only just launching, the In Full Micro-Tip Brow Pencil and In Frame Brow Gel are already making waves. So many celebrities, from Kate Hudson andPamela Anderson to Gwyneth Paltrow andKourtney Kardashian, are obsessed with the brand for its skincare-first ethos and clean yet effective formulas. ILIA’s new brow products are no different — made with nourishing ingredients such as hydrolyzed quinoa and provitamin B5 to maintain hair health.
In true Ilia fashion, these brow products help you get the vibe of your brows. The In Full Micro-Brow Pencil has a microtip to help you create the most realistic-looking hair-like strokes. It comes in eight shades and glides on easily but doesn’t smudge, so you get the best of both worlds. The In Frame Brow Gel is a flake-free formula that conditions brows while it adds flexible hold. There’s no doubt that these brow products will keep gaining momentum.
Pride month is officially here! Whether you’re celebrating on top of a parade float, at a party with friends, or keeping festivities low-key this year, you might as well do so while wearing the rainbow, whether in the form of avibrant graphic eyeliner look or a bold, multicolored blend of shadows. Ahead, we’ve rounded up six rainbow makeup looks we love that will help you celebrate andshow your pride this June.
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Rainbow Makeup Looks for Pride
Don’t Burst My Bubble
A mix of neon and pastel hues paired with painted-on bubbles lets you put your bubbly personality front and center — literally. To complete this look, you’ll need an eyeshadow palette packed with every color of the rainbow. One of our favorites is the NYX Professional Ultimate Shadow Palette in I Know That’s Bright.
Creator @kolbijmakeup pairs a daring rainbow eye with graphic eyeliner in a bold star shape, plus multidimensional glitter as highlighter. To get the edges of your liner as dramatic and sharp as possible, we suggest reaching for the NYX Professional Makeup Vivid Matte Liquid Eyeliner in White.
Rainbow makeup doesn’t have to be all, well, puppies and rainbows. Give your look an edge with boldly colored liquid liner in graphic shapes, as @deemakeupart showcases here. Get a similar look using the ultra-fine tips and bright colors of the Urban Decay 24/7 Inks Liquid Eyeliners.
While you may not spot a rainbow in the night sky IRL, there’s no denying how gorgeous it looks paired with a crescent moon and stars on your lids. Creator @slightlyunblended used stencils from Definition Beauty to get her moon shape just right.
Floating liner guarantees all eyes on you, especially if it’s done in a rainbow color palette. Keep the attention on your eyes by pairing the liner with flushed cheeks and glossy nude lip.
In this tutorial, @udstevek shows us how to masterfully blend every Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil of the rainbow to create a festive eye look. We love that he chose shades with various finishes — from matte to glittery — for a dimensional result.
Plain and simple, the only thing more impressive than Taylor Swift’s voice is her makeup routine. Need proof? The singer-songwriter performed a 44-song setlist during a massive—and we mean massive—thunderstorm in Nashville earlier this month during her much-anticipated Eras Tour. (If you haven’t seen any of the videos from the show, you need to watch this.) Although the rain initially delayed the show, it didn’t have anything on Taylor’s makeup. Once the shelter-in-place weather advisory was lifted, Taylor performed for four hours in the downpour—all without her makeup running, smudging, or moving.
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Following the rain show, fans and beauty buffs alike have become consumed with finding out which products the superstar uses. Luckily, celebrity gossip account Deuxmoi took to social mediato share a messagethat broke down Taylor’s (supposed) Eras makeup. Although Taylor has never come out and dropped her full makeup routine, we do know what her makeup artist likes to use on her, so there are a few products that have a high likelihood of being on her face during shows.
Ready to achieve a thunderstorm-proof beauty look? Keep reading to learn more about which makeup products Taylor just might be used to create her iconic on-stage beats.
The makeup products Taylor Swift reportedly wears on tour
FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – MAY 20: EDITORIAL USE ONLY Taylor Swift performs during The Eras Tour at Gillette Stadium on May 20, 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by TAS Rights Management/Getty Images)
Long-lasting makeup starts with a good primer. This Pat McGrath favorite is an ideal base for foundation since it hydrates, smoothes, and tones the skin. It’s made with hyaluronic acid and glycerin, which lock in moisture and keep skin looking soft and supple. It’s also formulated with cosmetic filler powder, which helps minimize and blur pores, fine lines, and imperfections. Thanks to its top-notch ingredients, this primer ensures makeup has a flawless, long-lasting finish.
This high-performance vegan foundation offers a natural, medium-coverage finish that looks gorgeous on all skin types. It’s offered in over 30 different shades, which means you can find the right match for your skin tone. Plus, it’s extremely buildable, so it can be as sheer or as full coverage as you prefer. One thing we like most about this foundation is that it leaves behind a luminous glow that makes skin look bright, healthy, and dewy.
To ensure foundation and concealer stay in place and don’t crease, it’s essential to use setting powder—and luckily, the Sublime Perfection Setting Powder is all you need. This finely milled translucent powder sets makeup and keeps it from running, smudging, and becoming oily. Its weightless texture mattifies the skin, minimizes shine, and blurs imperfections without caking or settling into fine lines.
Looking for an under-eye setting powder that won’t interfere with your concealer or eye makeup? Try this Pat McGrath bestseller. It’s specifically designed for setting and brightening the under-eye area without making the skin look dry or crepey. With a lightweight formula, it blurs fine lines, diminishes dark circles, and prevents creasing, all while providing a natural, soft-focus effect.
Looking for a stunning selection of highly pigmented, blendable eyeshadows? This palette is for you. It includes a range of 10 captivating shades, including shimmering metallics and romantic, velvety mattes. Feel free to get as creative as you want when creating eye makeup looks with this eyeshadow since the options are close to endless.
Achieve Taylor’s striking cat-eye with this waterproof eyeliner. It offers ultimate precision, allowing you to create bold eye makeup looks in no time. It lasts for 24 hours (including in torrential downpours) and is completely smudge-proof. The best part? It dries fast and leaves behind an inky, velvety opacity.
If there’s one thing we especially love about Taylor’s makeup, it’s her signature red lip. It’s bold, sexy, and undoubtedly stunning every time. This fan-favorite lipstick is made with a slew of hydrating ingredients that ensure lips don’t get chapped or dry. It offers bold pigmentation as well as 12 hours of smudge-proof staying power. Shop it in the shade Elson 4 to emulate Taylor’s iconic look.
Make skin look like it’s glowing from within with the help of this highlighter and balm duo. It comes in two different shades—bronze and nude—allowing you to choose what kind of glow you want (either warmer or cooler). The highlighter works to reflect and refract light, while the balm nourishes skin and locks in moisture. Put it on your cheekbones, nose, and eyelids to make your features pop.
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How To Make Your Makeup Last Longer
Now that you know which makeup products Taylor (reportedly) uses, it’s time to ensure they stay on your face as long as they stay on hers—rain or shine. Ahead, check out the top tips for how to make makeup last.
Step 1: Start With a Clean Canvas
Before doing anything, make sure your face is clean. Wash it with a gentle cleanser and apply moisturizer before putting on any makeup. This creates a smooth, fresh canvas for your products to layer on top of.
Step 2: Use a Primer
Primers create a solid base for your makeup to cling to. They can also blur pores, smooth out fine lines, and provide added hydration. The best tip when it comes to getting a primer is to choose one that suits your skin type (e.g., mattifying for oily skin or hydrating for dry skin).
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Step 3: Opt for Long-Wear Formulas
When picking out makeup products, look for items that promise long-staying power, especially when it comes to foundation, concealer, mascara, and eyeliner. (Oftentimes these are waterproof makeup products.) Both waterproof and smudge-proof formulas are designed to withstand sweat, humidity, and oil, which helps ensure your makeup stays in place.
Step 4: Set with Powder
After applying foundation and concealer, set them with a light dusting of translucent powder. This helps to mattify the skin, minimize shine, and lock your makeup in place. If you really want your makeup to stay put, you can also bake your makeup.
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Step 5: Layer Your Products
Applying makeup in thin layers helps it stick to the skin better and last longer. Be sure to let each layer of foundation or concealer dry before applying more on top of it.
Step 6: Use Setting Spray
Setting sprays are made to lock makeup in place and provide a natural, dewy finish. Once you’re done applying your makeup, mist a setting spray all over your face. You can also use a spritz of setting spray on your face after each layer of makeup if you really need it to stay.
I’m a black woman who grew up in a mostly white suburbia. As you can imagine, I heard things, almost daily, that made me question my identity. I frequently heard people I went to school with talk about laying out and tanning in an attempt to get “as dark as me.” Back then, and even still today, being tan was one of the many beauty industry standards that trickled its way down to little high school me who just wanted to get her hands on as much makeup as she could. And the only makeup I had access to was the dollar store makeup and my mom’s brown lipstick was way past its usability (according to her it was still perfectly good).
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Unfortunately, products like bronzer, which helped women achieve that “dark as me” look that was all the rage, seemed to exclude me from the narrative that makeup was for everyone. At the drugstore, I wasn’t able to find shades that fit my skin tone. The shelves were only filled with products for fair to medium-skinned people, and no one else. I wanted to try it but it wasn’t a priority for businesses to cater to people who looked like me. The complete lack of bronzers for people with my skin color made me feel weirdly othered from something I had an interest in.
Bronzer’s main job is to mimic where the sun hits your face—a concept I couldn’t grasp even after watching hours of beauty content on YouTube. Additionally, I could never get past the mental block that years of being told not to let the sun hit my face cemented in my mind. If anything, I am a rule follower to a fault. However, it was colorism that kept me from trying it for so long. Letting the long-term effects of racism and prejudice judge how I used something as simple as a new makeup product. Who knew it would be that deep? And even worse, it made me feel like I was trying to be someone else.
Bronzer continued to be one of those steps in my makeup routine that I avoided. First, I didn’t know what it was for. Then, it felt like it was too late to learn. It felt like a stranger, when doing makeup had always felt like a close friend. Something that bonded me to my mom, my sister, and my friends.
Education became the key. Specifically, watching and learning from makeup artists of color put me in the position to feel like I could try it and succeed. I turned to artists like Danessa Myricks and Pat McGrath who always celebrated makeup for women of color. I know I can’t be alone in these feelings and they’re not exclusive to bronzer. So, to my fellow Black girls and any readers who have experienced the fatigue of not being able to find a bronzer that fits in your routine, there are products out there for you. Go out and find the brands that are working hard to be inclusive and bring more makeup lovers into the fold. But before you do that, here’s what I wish someone would have told me about bronzer all those years ago:
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What I Wish I Knew About Bronzer as a Black Girl
@leomieanderson, @tatianaelizabethh//Instagram
It brings warmth back into the face
As someone who was very into the huge Tarte Shape Tape triangle method of concealer application (IYKYK), I know a thing or two about brightening the face. What I didn’t know is that when you brighten you also need something to counter that effect. Bronzer is key in adding back that sun-kissed glow. Anytime you put on makeup, it’s about striking the right balance of highlights and shadows. Starting here is the best way to create your best complexion routine.
PRIMP TIP: Use a cream or powder bronzer with the right undertones (aka zero percent orange) for dark skin and you’ll be golden—literally.
A little goes a long way
The first bronzers I ever bought was Fenty’s Bronzer ( I still highly recommend this) andAnastasia Beverly Hills Powder Bronzer. At the time, Anastasia was one of the few brands that carried darker bronzer shades for people with my skin tone. Of course, when I first tried it I went way too heavy-handed (let’s just say “sun-kissed glow” was an understatement). Seriously, I looked like I’d been left in a toaster oven while the chef took a smoke break. To avoid this, I use a light hand and in the words of every beauty influencer on TikTok, found a product that’s “super buildable.”
Practice makes perfect
This is a cliché but it’s a worthy one! It took practice to figure out that it only takes a little to create the perfect bronzy look that we’re all going for. The right tools go hand in hand with this as well, whether that’s a sponge, a brush, or your fingers. Taking your time also helps. I recommend using your next “do nothing” day as an opportunity to practice your application. In time, you’ll become a pro!
Makeup is for everyone
This is more of a gentle reminder I have to give myself from time to time. Makeup is more art than you might think. We’ve seen an incredible rise in people from all shades and backgrounds who create amazing looks. And the unbridled joy I get from just trying out products serves as that reminder. It’s always good to remember that at the end of the day, makeup is supposed to be fun. I no longer want to give that much power to an industry that was born to prey on our natural insecurities in the first place. We are beautiful and worthy no matter what we decide to put on our faces every day. The industry has its issues but at the end of the day, it’s the consumer and wearer who gets to define what is for you and what isn’t.
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