While I've been fascinated with Kylie Jenner's beauty routine since the day she first picked up a lip pencil, I haven't always been a fan of it. Mostly because she was a teenager (though, to be fair, not a normal one) and her heavy-handed approach to makeup, particularly in the lip arena, seemed like a crutch.
But over the past months, my outlook has changed drastically. Beginning from when she first opened up about artificially plumping up her lips to now, where she keeps fans in the loop daily via her wildly popular app, her transparency and meticulous approach to makeup have me, for lack of a better word, obsessed.
And I'm not just addicted to noting every product that reaches her face, I'm also putting her unabashedly glamorous techniques into practice—and loving the results. Here, some new skills to master, whether you're channeling you're inner Kylie or not.
When you apply mascara, an accidental smudge of the wand on the skin typically warrants a [insert expletive here] that disrupts your perfectly-blended concealer or eyeshadow. But according to Jenner, via Kardashian makeup artist Joyce Bonelli, it can actually help you bring on the drama—on the bottom, at least. When you swipe the mascara wand over your lower lashes, allow the wand to lightly transfer lines of pigment for an even more exaggerated lashline. If things are veering too far into raccoon-eye territory for your liking, simply use a Q-tip and makeup remover to touch things up. Jenner's go-to mascara (and mine too, FWIW) is Charlotte Tilbury 'Full Fat Lashes' 5 Star Mascara, and for falsies on top, she swears by Lilly Lashes 3D in Miami.
Use tape for a picture-perfect cat eye
For so long I believed that unless you were dedicating the better part of an hour to artfully trial-and-error-ing your feline flicks, they would never be perfect. As far as I was concerned, an Instagram-worthy, 2-minute cat eye didn't exist. That is, until I finally reached for the Scotch tape à la Kylie. To ensure symmetry, she takes short pieces of tape, aligns them with angle of her brow arch, then places them at the outer corners of her eyes, using them like a stencil as she smudges out wings. When you peel off the tape you have a razor-sharp line that only *looks* like it took mind-numbing precision to create.
Apply your moisturizer with a brush
For a fancy, but ultimately more even and smooth application of moisturizer, Jenner uses an Artis Elite Mirror Oval 10 Brush. At $72, it's not exactly as economical as your fingers, but it is cruelty-free, anti-microbial, boast over 250,000 silky brush fibers, and feels ah-maaazing. And when you consider that you should be applying moisturizer twice a day, and that it's an all-important primer for a natural-looking contour, it might just be worth the splurge—since it surely won't be gathering dust in your medicine cabinet anytime soon.
Strobe underneath your foundation, instead of on top of it
Strobing may be a more pared-down version of contouring, but you still don't want to overdo it, which is why Jenner likes to apply Koh Gen Do Foundation Illuminator AKA "strobing stuff" on the high planes of her face (cheekbones, cupid's bow, etc.) using a Beauty Blender before her foundation base. The overall look has some serious lit-from-within, I've-been-on-a-juice-cleanse vibes that you'll start to swear by (trust me).
To contour, use foundation that's a shade darker than your regular stuff
Jenner isn't exactly a champion for the au naturale look, but even she still wants her contour to have a born-with-it feel and a seamless blend. So instead of using a contour-specific product, she buys her regular foundation in a shade darker, using it to carve out her features with a brush. Her go-to product is Bobbi Brown's Stick Foundation in "Chestnut," which is perfect for throwing in your purse for on-the-go touch-ups.
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