Why "Baking" Your Makeup Is the Smartest Thing You Could Be Doing to Your Face

It's the way to look flawless without even trying.

baking
(Image credit: YouTube)

You're already familiar with contouring and are wrapping your head around strobing, but now "baking," or "cooking" your makeup is making itself a part of the mix, cropping up on YouTube tutorials everywhere.

The term, which has been used in the drag community for years, refers to letting translucent powder sit on your face for five to 10 minutes, which allows the heat from your face to set your base foundation and concealer, and then dusting it off your face, leaving you with a creaseless, flawless finish. (Kim Kardashian's makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic uses it on her so you know it's legit.)

Here's how you too can pull off poreless, picture-perfect skin and brighten your eye area while you're at it:

1. Hydrate your eye area.

Apply eye cream around your eye area to hydrate your skin and plump it up, minimizing the appearance of any fine lines or creases. Try Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Eye Cream.

2. Apply a thick concealer under your eyes.

While concealer usually contains oils and has a tendency to crease, it won't if it's set right. Apply it upward from the apples of your cheeks toward your temples all the way underneath your eye. Then, blend it in with a damp makeup sponge. Try Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer and the BeautyBlender.

3. Coat on more concealer.

At this point, you might be thinking, "This is a shit ton of makeup," and yes, it is. So, you can skip this step and still get great results, but for lasting power, a sheer second coat can lock in the first formula. After you apply the second layer of concealer on, blend it in again with your damp makeup sponge. Make sure to cover and smooth out all the creases before setting your concealer in the next step. Try Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer.

baking

(Image credit: Marie Claire)

4. Dust on translucent powder.

Use a fluffy eyeshadow brush to apply translucent powder over the entire patch of concealer to set the base makeup. Try Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder.

5. Now, "bake" or "cook" your makeup.

Use a wedge sponge and dampen it with a setting spray, like MAC Cosmetics Prep+Prime Fix+. Then, dip the wedge into the translucent powder you used in step four to pack the loose powder generously over the area where you applied the concealer. Leave the powder on for five to 10 minutes.

6. Dust it off.

Using the same fluffy eyeshadow brush from step four and a pressed powder, like Make Up For Ever Pro Finish Multi-Use Powder Foundation, swirl the fluffy eyeshadow brush over the formula and dust away the powder as you add more coverage to blend any harsh edges.

Boom, you're baked.

For the complete tutorial, watch vlogger and makeup artist Heidi Hamoud bake her face right in front of your eyes!

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Carly Cardellino

Carly Cardellino was the beauty director at Cosmopolitan. If you follow her Instagram, then you know she'll try just about any beauty trend or treatment once (the pics of her purple hair are on IG to prove it). But her favorite part about being in beauty is finding the most effective products, and then sharing that intel with others—because who wants to spend money on stuff that doesn't work? No one, that's who. Her most recent discovery: De La Cruz Sulfur Ointment, which will change your blemish-clearing game! Hopefully through the beauty stories she writes—and the experiences she shares—you can see exactly why she's in this business.