Prep Tips for Skincare Before Makeup – The Secret to Flawless Makeup

Every makeup artist knows that the key to a truly faultless look is starting with skin that’s perfection. That’s why pros spend so much time prepping their clients’ complexions with skincare products before they even so much as unpack their palettes of powders or pull out a shading brush. 

Why makeup artists care so much about complexions

Even the deftest concealing wizard would rather not have to cover blemishes and erase dark circles. For one thing, layering on face makeup can both look and feel heavy. But you also lose the appearance of smooth texture. It’s one thing to make imperfections disappear at a distance, but there’s not much a seasoned pro can do about the fact that up close, skin resembles a concealer-coated relief map. 

That’s the reason skincare is important in both the long term and right here, right now. Again, go back to those professional artists diligently massaging and masking their clients’ faces pre-red carpet appearances. If skin is too dry, it’s going to suck the moisture out of foundation. If you’re dealing with the opposite issue, you’ll find your makeup sliding off your oily skin.

Yes, this routine takes a beat to complete. You’ll also need to give each layer of skincare time to absorb before moving on to the next one (at least 60 seconds). But that doesn’t mean you just have to stand there, twiddling your thumbs. You could use that time to brush your teeth, for example, or select the day’s outfit. However you decide to spend your time, it’s worth putting in the time because the benefits really are noticeable. 

Step one: Cleanse

Washing your face at least once a day should be obvious, but it gets overlooked often enough that it bears repeating. You may or may not decide to cleanse your face in the morning, after you get up, but washing your face at night is nonnegotiable — even if you don’t wear makeup. That’s because after a day of going through the regular motions of life, your skin is covered with dirt, pollution, and other yucks. If you’re wearing makeup as well, that’s one more reason to cleanse your face. (Never go to bed with makeup on!) Look for a cleanser that’s gentle, but still able to remove stubborn eye makeup. Our Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta AHA/BHA Daily Cleansing Gel checks both boxes.

Step two: Treat

We said having skin that’s the perfect canvas for makeup is a long-term play. Which is the reason that doing an LED (light-emitting diode) treatment (or two) is so important. To see real, noticeable skin improvements from using LEDs (like an increase in skin-supporting collagen and a reduction in the appearance of dark spots and other discoloration), you need to be consistent and diligent about your daily sessions. Three minutes a day with our Dr. Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite FaceWare Pro will help fade facial fine lines and wrinkles. Add in three more minutes with our Dr. Dennis Gross DRx SpectraLite LipWare Pro, and you’ll do the same for any vertical creases around your mouth.

Step three: Peel

Fact: If your skin is already glowing, you need less makeup. Second fact: The makeup you do apply goes on better when skin is exfoliated and smooth. A light chemical peel is a two-birds-one-stone situation (and also provides a host of other benefits, like minimizing the look of fine lines and enlarged pores). Naturally, we’re partial to our bestselling Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Daily Peels, especially our Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel.

Step four: Prep

A serum is the most concentrated method of delivering beneficial ingredients into skin. Our Dr. Dennis Gross DermInfusions Fill + Repair Serum contain peptides to help increase collagen production, it’s packed with four different molecular weights of hyaluronic acid to help plump and smooth the complexion immediately. But that’s not all. This serum’s silky texture makes it an ideal pre-makeup primer.

Step five: Care for eyes

Whether you’re going for an elaborate smoky or just doing a simple lashes-and-liner, eyes need a little extra attention. For one thing, they’re delicate, and concealer and shadow just love to settle into those fine lines. Our Dr. Dennis Gross Advanced Retinol + Ferulic Triple Correction Eye Serum absorbs quickly, hydrates instantly, and primes the area perfectly for makeup. 

Step six: Moisturize

Your skin needs hydration, no matter if it’s naturally on the oily side or not. And if you don’t give it some moisture (it can be an oil-free formula, if you’re worried), then your skin will pull whatever moisture it can out of the makeup you apply on top of it. Or, conversely, it will make extra oil to try to balance out the dryness. You can imagine how this turns out. Either your face makeup starts looking patchy and flaky or it begins to slide off your face. Both outcomes are suboptimal. Instead, take a moment, treat your face to some moisturizer, and enjoy skin harmony. We suggest trying our Dr. Dennis Gross Vitamin C Lactic Dewy Deep Cream. It's a makeup artist favorite because it sits so well under cosmetics. If you have oily or acne-prone skin, try the Alpha Beta Daily Moisturizer. 

Step seven: Sun Protection

It doesn’t matter if your foundation or other face makeup contains SPF. You still need to apply a regular sunscreen every single morning. One reason is that the SPF level in makeup is rarely as high as dermatologists recommend (at least SPF 30). But even more than that, it’s the rare person who applies as much foundation as you need to smooth on of sunscreen to ensure adequate facial protection (an amount at least as long as your two middle fingers). Anyway, the point of all this skincare is to have a complexion that doesn’t need much — if any — camouflage or covering up. Wearing sunscreen also prevent discoloration from developing. Our Dr. Dennis Gross All-Physical Ultimate Defense Broad Spectrum Sunscreen SPF 50 is oil free, uses minerals (not chemicals) to block UV rays, and keeps the complexion hydrated throughout the day.

Step eight: Care for lips

Before you open your makeup bag, there’s one last thing to attend to: your lips. Because the skin is so thin, they’re prone to dryness and chapping. Flakes are never a good look with lipstick or gloss. The solution is to build a lip care routine hydrate your lips and protect them against the environmental aggressors that chip away at the moisture barrier. Dr. Dennis Gross DermInfusions Plump + Repair Lip Treatment floods the skin with hyaluronic acid, a moisture-magnet molecule, as well as antioxidants like centella asiatica and ectoin.

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