7 Makeup Habits I’m Quitting in 2026 (and What I’m Doing Instead)

I am convinced that a lot of the makeup habits that we were taught, especially online, are actually making our makeup look worse, especially in real life. There are a few things that I stopped doing fairly recently that completely changed how my makeup looks in real life. One of them made my under eyes look way smoother with way less concealer, way less creasing, all that stuff. Used to be a nightmare, way better now. And then there's a lip trick that I started doing that makes my lips look noticeably more fuller but still natural. I always like to say, why get lip filler when you can have a lip liner? I'm gonna be sharing my technique with you today. But I think maybe the weirdest one that I'm gonna talk about later is something that almost everyone still does in their makeup routine. And once I stopped doing it, my foundation immediately started looking way better and lasting way longer. So today I'm sharing my seven makeup habits that I am quitting and exactly what I'm doing instead. Some of these might be a little bit controversial, but let's just start with the first one because this habit actually changed how my entire base routine applies. And as always, I'm gonna be linking all the products that I use down below, even my contact lenses. These are such a natural blue color. I love these ones. My rings, my nails, everything, I'm gonna link down below for you. Before I even put a drop of makeup on my face, I wanna talk about the first habit that I'm quitting and that is using primer automatically every single time that I do my makeup. For years, honestly, I treated primer like it was a required step, like skincare, primer, foundation, always, always, always. But I started noticing that primer was actually doing the opposite of what I wanted. So instead of making my makeup smoother, it was really just adding another layer that sometimes made things pill or my foundation would separate and it would just feel heavier on the skin. So what I'm doing instead, it's focusing much more on intentional skin prep. So if my skin is hydrated and balanced before I apply my makeup, my base is gonna go on way smoother and it blends way more easy. And to be completely honest, once I started doing this, I really did notice my foundation started looking better pretty much immediately, which actually leads into the next habit that I stopped doing because this one completely changed how natural my skin looks in real life. Since I know some of you are going to be a little bit triggered that I'm hating on primers, I'm gonna give you some really good skincare recommendations for stuff that wears good under makeup because I'm a professional makeup artist. I literally review products for a living. I've tried hundreds of skincare products and honestly, a lot of them don't perform well under makeup, but these ones do. The first one that I love wearing underneath makeup is the Rode Glazing Milk. This I reach for when I need my makeup to look good. This gives you like a really nice slippery layer underneath the skin. So especially if you have dry skin, this is so good. If you want something a little bit lighter, but also like a little bit superior in the formula department, I think Caudalie really has beautiful, clean formulas. I really love the Caudalie Radiant Serum. Oh my word, it's just like beautiful, feels so good on the skin. My skin absolutely drinks it, it wears good under makeup. I love Caudalie. I think if I could only have one skincare brand, it might just be Caudalie. And then one more thing that I've been doing consistently that I swear is the reason I've been getting more compliments on my skin. My skin has never been so clear in my life and it's never been so smooth. I usually have quite a bit of texture, but she's gone now ever since I started doing this. I like to use a chemical exfoliant. I have three in my rotation. The first one is by First Aid Beauty. This is if you are a beginner, want something gentle for your skin. These are their Everyday Exfoliating Pads. I love these ones. It's also nice that they come with the pad. You don't have to actually put anything on a cotton pad. It's all there for you. The second one I like to use is actually by a Korean skincare brand, Missha. This is their Vitamin C Exfoliator. Oh, it's so good. I just absolutely love this one. This one smells so good and it's kind of a good in-between from the really super gentle one and then the more intense one that I'm about to mention. The last one is the Paula's Choice Exfoliator. This one is definitely a little bit more intense, not for everyday, but girl. If you have texture, if you have dry skin that you want gone, you're gonna need to add this to your rotation because this stuff just eats away texture and dead skin. I do not know what they put in this stuff. It is absolutely incredible, so I would recommend working up to this product or if you are really dry, really textured, try putting this in your routine. You'll thank me later. Any of these, you'll thank me later. It's so good. Anyways, this next habit is something that I did for years and years and years because I really truly thought it made my makeup look better on camera, but in real life, it was really doing the opposite. This habit that I'm quitting is full coverage foundation. I'm sorry, she is out. I used to think the goal of foundation was to cover everything absolutely perfectly, but what I noticed was that when I did that, my skin actually started looking flatter and way heavier throughout the day and I just didn't look natural. It really wasn't cute in my opinion, so what I'm doing instead is using lighter complexion layers and then strategic coverage. So instead of trying to cover everything right off the bat with foundation, I use a lighter base to even out the skin tone and then I add coverage only where I need it with a probably more heavier concealer or even a lighter concealer. I'll show you exactly how I do it, but this keeps the skin looking way more natural and dimensional and the funny thing is the real trick that made this work wasn't actually the foundation necessarily. It was actually changing how I use concealer, which is actually the next habit that I wanna talk to you about, but before we get into that, I'm gonna show you how I do my foundation now because it is literally flawless. I'm obsessed with this technique. Remember what I said, we are avoiding full coverage foundations. So I have two more light coverage foundations that I absolutely swear by. The first one is the Patrick Ta Major Skin Hydra Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation. This is in the shade rosy neutral and if you are a fair skin girly like me and foundation tends to look pretty orange on you, this is such a good shade. I really love this texture. You know what, I'm gonna show you the two foundations that I wanna talk about on each side of my face. Starting with the Patrick Ta, of course. I'm gonna apply this on this side of my face with the Vyral Morphe Spatula Brush. I will link this one down below. So yes, the shade of this foundation is really beautiful, especially if you have more pinky tones to your skin, but what I really love about this foundation is actually the coverage. It looks very natural and skin-like, so it keeps the dimension on your face. Looks unreal in person. And then I'm just going to tap that into the skin. This is my new favorite foundation brush. It's by MPH. I'm also gonna link this one down below because this is just so pretty. It really just melts foundation into the skin and leaves zero streaks. Do you see how natural that looks? My skin looks like skin, but it really looks more evened out than this side without foundation. I love this one for every day. I do like to use a little hack to set it in place to make it last longer. Usually luminous foundations don't last as long as maybe a matte, full-coverage foundation, but don't worry. The hacks I'm gonna talk about later in this video, they've got you covered for making your makeup last way longer, so that is not an issue. And if you want more coverage than this, the nice thing about these foundations is they're very buildable. And on the other side of my face, I'm using one of my new favorite foundations. This is the MPH Le Skin Foundation. I'm using the shade Fair 20C. I'm just gonna put a pump of that on the back of my hand. This one is definitely not as cool-toned as the Patrick Todd, so if you aren't cool-toned, this one will probably work better for you. But I really love the coverage of this foundation. Mary Phillips created this foundation. She's one of my favorite makeup artists to ever exist. I love her work so much. I'm just doing the same thing, applying a very thin, even layer with a spatula brush before melting that into my skin. I'm just at a stage in my life where, you know, I want my skin to look like skin. I am tired of looking full-coverage, cakey all the time, looking super glam every day, and I'm sorry, but in person, I really think that full-coverage foundation does not look as good as a light, natural foundation that has been built up strategically. That is just my opinion. It's not my vibe. I like skin to look natural, but still perfected. You can still have perfected skin without using super heavy products, which does lead me into my next trick, but look at this skin. Oh, it is so good, so natural, and these foundations never peel on me, so that's another bonus. I just realized I really need some lip balm, so I'm gonna apply this new stuff I rode. I actually love this new formula. It's slightly plumping, but it's very comfortable, and the sugar mint scent is so nice. So this next habit is something that the entire beauty community used to swear by. However, once I stopped doing my under-eye makeup this way, my under-eye started looking way smoother and just way better. The habit that I'm quitting is big concealer triangles underneath the eyes. I really used to believe that more concealer meant brighter under-eyes, but what actually happened, honestly, was the more product that I layered there, the more it would actually crease and emphasize all my fine lines and texture. So instead of using a lot of concealer, I am now doing a targeted strategic placement. So I apply a tiny amount where I usually have darkness, usually a little bit in the inner corner right here where I have little eye bags, and then a little bit out towards the outer corner, and then I will blend it. And this still gives brightness and lift, but without that heavy buildup, that causes creasing. Something I also like to keep in mind when I'm blending my concealer, I actually avoid applying concealer directly on top of any fine lines. So I actually blend my concealer down into the rest of the skin instead of right up against my lower lash line. That's gonna give us a bit more of an unnatural look if we do that. Plus, it's gonna settle into all those little lines that are really close to that area. And when you're using less product like this, the formula really matters. I like concealers that have enough coverage that I don't need a lot of product but still blend out easily and the under eye stays smooth looking. I do really like this one by Patrick Ta. This is their Major Skin Soft Blur Brightening Concealer. I don't have crazy discoloration under my eyes, but this actually does a really good job of just brightening the area. My under eyes still look natural, but something I really noticed about this formula in particular is that it didn't crease very much on me. And now, every concealer is gonna crease a little bit, but this one, even without any setting powder, really stayed in place very impressively well. I will say that. Not only that, but this one lasts a very long time throughout the day. So if you're looking for something that's not super greasy and that wears really well throughout the day, long hours, I do really recommend this one. This is a new formula that really caught my attention. This little trick alone really made my under eye makeup look so much fresher. But the next habit that I stopped doing is actually what fixed that powdery makeup look that I used to get after setting my face. And I know this next one might sound kind of weird, but it might just be the biggest difference maker in the entire video. And it's something that I was doing wrong for years again. So the habit that I'm quitting is treating setting spray like it only belongs at the end of my makeup routine every single time. For the longest time, I would finish my makeup, powder everything, and then spray at the very end. So now, I actually use setting spray earlier in my routine. After I've applied my cream complexion products and I've blended them out, I lightly mist my face so everything can melt together before I even powder. Like, just think about it. If I put a bunch of powder on my face and then I spray it with setting spray, it actually kind of makes the powder disappear. And if you're powdering correctly, you actually kind of want your powder to powder, if that makes sense. However, if you're not powdering correctly, I do have hacks for that. I filmed a video on it. I've linked it down below and put it on the screen for you to check out. But anyways, this makes a huge difference because instead of separate products sitting on top of the skin, everything actually starts to look like one seamless layer and your powder actually still looks like powder. It doesn't just disappear. The key here is using a setting spray that actually melts makeup into the skin, not one that just sits on the surface. And once I started doing this, my base makeup immediately started looking way more natural and lasting longer. I have two favorites at the moment. Obviously, I love my Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray. This one is a cult classic for a reason. This makes your makeup last long. It smells good. It melts everything together. I really like this one and it's worth the splurge. It's gonna last you a very long time and it doesn't feel like hairspray, okay? You can wear this pretty much every single day. But if you want something a little bit more affordable that honestly works, it just is good. And I honestly like the mister better on this one. This is the Morphe Life Proof Continuous Setting Spray. I just got into this one and I find my makeup lasts so well when I use this and the setting spray, let me just show you. This has such a fine mist, has a nice pleasant scent. It doesn't feel heavy on my face. It just feels so good. This is such a good one by Morphe because I feel like it does all the things that my more heavy duty setting sprays do, like the L'Oreal and the One Size that really lock your makeup in all day. While having a nicer mister and also just being more of a pleasant experience on the skin, so I will link this one down below. The next habit that I'm quitting is something low-key that some of you guys have been bullying me for. No, I'm just kidding, I don't really care. But it is harsh nose contour. Now, nose contour can look absolutely beautiful in certain styles of makeup. But for my everyday makeup, I just kind of realized it is one of the easiest steps to clock in real life. And on camera and in photos especially, it can look really sculpted. But at least for me on camera or even in real life when I wore it, wearing nose contour looked really harsh because my lights are right in front of me. So even without any nose contour, my nose is super shadowed. So not only that, but in person, honestly those contour lines can sometimes look more obvious than flattering, more obvious than we might think. So instead of drawing strong nose contour lines down my nose, I actually focus more on overall complexion and balance. So I use soft bronzer, contour, soft blush placement, and then I do subtle highlight. And this just tends to create more of a natural structure to my face anyway, so I don't really need nose contour. When the rest of the face looks really balanced, I actually feel like you don't need aggressive nose contour. And I really feel like ditching this step just makes the makeup feel much more effortless. So when I'm applying my bronzer and even my cream blush, I'll be applying that in my regular spots, kind of just accentuating my cheekbones, my cheeks, making my forehead look a little bit smaller. And then once I'm done with my contour, I'll just put a little bit on the sides of my nose, nothing aggressive, just a little touch to make my nose look a little bronze. And the same with blush. I just put a little bit on the bridge of my nose to give myself a bit of a sun-kissed look, a little bit of a sunburnt vibe. And I really feel like this method just looks more flattering than aggressive nose contour. See, I just feel like that looks way more flattering and way more natural. I'm gonna link all of the shades and the brushes that I used for my blush and contour down below. The next habit that I stopped doing maybe surprised me the most because it completely changed how open my eyes look. I am talking about mascara, okay? It's crazy how mascara can change the entire makeup look, how you apply it, what formula you use. It really can make or break how I feel about my makeup. Honestly, it is the wildest thing if you can't tell I'm really picky about mascara. But before we get into it, I'm gonna hop off camera, do my eye makeup, I will be right back. I am back and my eyes are done. The next habit that I am quitting at least most of the time for me is bottom lash mascara. Okay, for the longest time, I thought it was absolutely necessary to balance the eye look but on me, it made my eyes look heavier and slightly more closed off because I have almond-shaped eyes and I have small eyes. And it also had a very high chance of smudging throughout the day which drives me absolutely crazy. So instead, I keep the lower lash line much softer and cleaner and most times, honestly, I skip the bottom mascara completely or I will add the teensiest, tiniest little bit just to add a little bit of definition and balance and then I can really focus on making the top lashes do the work. When the top lashes are lifted and separated for me, that is enough. I don't need lower lash mascara, especially not like a lot of it. It just does not look flattering on me. It really pulls my eyes downwards. And I know a lot of you really ride for lower lash mascara which is fine. I feel like if you have bigger, rounder eyes, lower lash mascara is really going to work for you. But if you're like me and you have smaller eyes and you want your eyes to look more awake, a bit more big, I really feel like lower lash mascara is not doing you any favors. But moving on to the last habit, I would say this may be the biggest difference, at least visually. This completely transformed the way my lips look. The final habit that I'm quitting is overlining my entire lip, okay? And I had a good era where I really thought that if I overlined the full outline of my lips, they would look automatically fuller. But the reality of that technique was it would actually look really obvious. My lips look kind of clowny, especially around the outer corners of my mouth. Instead of looking fuller, it really did look drawn on and it made my mouth look kind of like just wider and longer which wasn't the vibe. So now I only slightly overline the areas that create fullness. So I usually use center of the top lip and the center of the bottom lip. And then I blend the lip liner inwards so that the edges stay soft and I still get that kind of contoured look. It gives me that plump effect, but it looks way more natural and believable, trust me. And I find this technique works really good with liners that are more creamy enough to blend out but have that structure to define the lips. So nothing too like waterproof or long-wearing, something in the middle. When the formula is just right, you can shape your lips without leaving that harsh ring around the mouth. For today's look, I'm using Makeup By Mario Smoky Pink Lip Liner. This one is so, so good and it has a little brush on the other side to blend everything out really easily. And it's actually a good brush. Honestly, this little change made my lips look so much better in person and in photos. It's kind of funny because none of these habits felt like a big deal when I was doing them. They were just kind of like random things I picked up from tutorials, trends, or techniques that I felt worked for me at one point. But once I started removing a few of them from my makeup routine, my makeup started looking smoother, lighter, and a lot more natural in person. And I just feel a lot more confident with these certain techniques. I really feel like the sort of thing happens with everyone at some point with makeup. You realize that a technique that you've been doing for years just isn't really hitting like it used to anymore. And you're not really getting those same results that you really liked at one point. I'm actually really curious if there is a step like that for you, something that you used to swear by that you've completely just stopped doing altogether. If a makeup habit comes to mind for you, please leave it in the comment section down below. I'm so curious. I read and respond to pretty much everything, so I'll meet you in the comment section. Also, if you want to see more videos like this, make sure you give this video a thumbs up. That lets me know that you want to see more. And if you haven't seen my 12 Must Have Makeup Hacks video, I will put it on the screen right now for you to watch. Thank you so much for watching, and I will see you in the next one.