Have your ever found yourself conversing with your makeup artist only for them to refer to terms you have never heard of? Say no more…. I’m here to help you debunk the (not so) tricky makeup terms you need to know to have an eloquent conversation with your fellow makeup enthusiasts and have you sounding like the pro I know you have the potential to be. Let’s get to it:
- FACEBEAT
Commonly used to refer to the complete application of makeup and achieving the perfect makeup look. E.g. “I need to get a facebeat”
- MAKEUP/BROWS ON FLEEK
It’s 2020 and I’m uncertain whether people still use this phrase, I digress. It refers to your makeup or eyebrows being beautiful, flawless if you may.
- PRIMER
This is the first step of makeup and is done as a way of minimizing the appearance of pores and wrinkles.
For more information, check out the related article here.
- BROW GEL
This can be a clear or tinted liquid that is used to keep your eyebrows in place.
- HIGHLITING & CONTOURING
This is done to bring light and shadows to different parts of your face. You want to bring light to “high points” of your face (i.e. your cheek bones, under your eyes, above your cupids bow etc.). You contour to add shadows to parts of your face that you wish to minimize/make smaller (i.e. your nose, the size of your forehead etc.).
- BAKING
This involves the act of putting on a thick layer of translucent powder underneath your eyes and/or on all the “highlighted” areas of your face (e.g. the center of your forehead and chin, bridge of your nose, etc.).
- CUT CREASE
The act of using a concealer to draw a line on the area of your eyelid that folds when you look up. This is done to make your eyelid shade appear more vibrant. For a step by step cut crease guide, take a look at the related article here.
- HALO EYE
A halo eye is the part of your eyeshadow process where you add a shimmer shade or glitter on the center part of your eyelid. For example here.
- FLASHBACK
Ever heard people say “I looked like a ghost”/ yup, this is it. Flashback occurs when a makeup product causes a white cast on your face when captured with flash photography. This is often caused by your foundation being too light for your skin tone or SPF in your foundation. Either way, we try to avoid it by all means.
- FALLOUT
Eye shadow application can be a daunting process and even more so when particles of the eye shadow fall on your cheeks or anywhere that you don’t want it to. That’s called fallout. To avoid this: tap the excess eye shadow off of your brush or start with your eye makeup first and then clean up the fallout…see what I did there? Lol!
- TIGHTLINING
This refers to the addition of eyeliner on your eyelid (between your eyeball and eyelash line). This assists with making your eyelashes look thicker and more luscious. SCORE!
- SPOOLIE
This refers to the tip of your mascara wand. This is often used to apply mascara or brush your brows
- COLOUR CORRECTING
Refers to the use of a concealer (usually orange for warmer skin tones and green for fair skin tones) to cover blemishes or dark spots on your skin before the application of your foundation.
- CREASING
These are the lines that appear under your eyes, on your eyelids or on the sides of your mouth (i.e. smile lines).
- SETTING SPRAY
This product is used at the end of your makeup application process and it is meant to make sure that your makeup stays on and doesn’t budge for the day.
That’s all for now. Are you ready to take on the makeup world with your new found knowledge? Go get ‘em tiger!!!
If you have any makeup related terms that you’d like for me to explain. Do leave it in the comment section below. I love hearing from you.
Until next time!
MBK
