How to bake your makeup (and no, we don’t mean in the oven)

We’re all familiar with the term, “baking.” We bake cakes, cookies, pies, and sometimes we even bake our own skin when we fall asleep on a beach chair under the hot sun for too long. Now, baking (also referred to as “cooking”) your makeup has been getting a lot of buzz in the beauty world, cropping up on YouTube tutorials everywhere (and we thought contouring was complicated enough).

The term, which has been used in the drag community for years to help set heavy stage makeup and make it last longer, is a technique that uses your own body heat to help set your base makeup to establish a smooth, creaseless finish, and to highlight the high points of your face—hence the term “baking” (only your face is the oven). The technique started after performers put extra powder on their under eye area and cheek bones to prevent loose eye makeup from spreading, ruining their foundation base. But while face cooking may have started with performers, celebrity makeup artists like Mario Dedivanovic, have been known to use the technique in master classes and on makeup muse, Kim Kardashian (so we know it’s legit).

Dedivanovic told Glamour that although baking is the perfect way to give your skin a matte, full-coverage finish, the technique should be used wisely. “I would not recommend this technique for every day at all,” he says. “I personally use it from time to time depending on the job—usually on a celebrity who likes a long-lasting matte finish to the face.” And like anything you bake, Dedivanovic warns that the technique does take practice and could go awry if the wrong products such as Mineral Makeup or HD powder are used, or if not blended properly.

Whether you’re pro-baking or prepping to achieve that flawless, #nofilter Instagram selfie, check out our steps and products that will help you get that no-fuss flawless matte finish, and bake your face without turning it into a cake (get it?).

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1. Hydrate the eye area

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

Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Eye Cream ($18, burtsbees.com).

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2. Apply foundation

Apply a light-weight foundation or tinted moisturizer.

NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation ($48, narscosmetics.com).

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3. Apply concealer

Apply a thick layer of concealer in an upside down triangle under your eyes (or other areas if you want fuller coverage) and blend edges with a damp makeup sponge so they disappear into your already applied foundation.

Kat Von D Lock It Concealer ($31, sephora.com).

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4. Dust on powder

Brush on a healthy coat of loose face powder that’s a shade or two lighter than your skin tone (you can’t bake with a pressed powder) with a fluffy eye shadow brush to apply translucent powder over the entire patch of concealer to set the base makeup. Apply on concealer that covers your cheekbones, bridge of nose, forehead or other places you want to be more prominent.

Make Up Forever Super Matte Loose Powder ($33, sephora.com).

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5. Bake

Dampen a wedge sponge with setting spray then dip the wedge into the translucent powder to pack the loose powder over the area where concealer was applied. Allow the powder to sit for about for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray ($39, urbandecay.com).

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6. Dust it off

Use a clean makeup brush to dust away the powder and voila! You’re baked.

MAC 224 Tapered Blending Brush ($39, maccosmetics.ca).

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