Glowy Makeup Tutorial: 8 Steps to Natural Glam

Achieving naturally glowy skin is a coveted goal many of us share. It can be achieved over time with a radiance-boosting skincare routine with a chock-full of vitamin C, but you can also quickly fake it with the help of glowing makeup products. We've all seen first-hand what a good highlighter can do to brighten up a dull complexion, after all, but there are so many other tips and tricks you can do to achieve a glowy makeup look.

For starters, know that here's more to it than just packing on the highlighter. For a thoroughly radiant look it's important to consider all complexion products, from primers to setting sprays. Then, there's almost always a balance at play between liquid, cream, and powder formulas—plus, there are hundreds of application methods to navigate.

So, to best understand how to achieve that lit-from-within radiance, we tapped two celebrity makeup artists to learn all the steps we need to take to get there. Below, they share some of their favorite products that help them achieve a perfect glow, too.

Step One: Prep Skin with an Illuminating Primer

Hughes starts by pulling her hair back to ensure a clear, flyaway-free canvas for makeup application. Then, she moves into her first product application: "I'm going to make my skin glow first with the Revlon SkinLights Face Glow Illuminator," she begins. "I'm going to put it on with a foundation brush and start with the high points of my face. It helps you get that shine; you want the highlighter to look like it's coming from within."

Step Two: Apply Foundation

While it might seem counterintuitive to apply foundation over the glowy canvas you just created in step one, Hughes assures us that this is the key to the natural, lit-from-within look. She likes the Make Up For Ever Reboot Foundation as she says "it's a bit more full-coverage than your tinted moisturizers, so it's going to give you a bit more coverage." She furthers by saying she only uses it on the T-zone, as "the key to this step is to treat the foundation more like concealer, dabbing and blending formula only where you'd like to mattify and decrease shine from the illuminating primer, rather than coating your entire face in foundation."

Step Three: Use a Creaseless Concealer Under the Eyes

This step is optional, but if you have a naturally shadowy under-eye area, then applying some concealer can help not only brighten that area, but create the appearance over an overall glowier complexion. We like Tarte's Shape Tape Concealer as it lasts all day, has a flexible formula that doesn't crease, and is full-coverage yet looks natural. Opt for a concealer color that's just a shade lighter than your foundation.

Step Four: Set and Prep with Powder

Since we've only applied liquid and cream products so far, Hughes recommends quickly tapping some setting powder onto the hollows of your cheeks (or anywhere you intend to place blush or bronzer). This will prevent your blush or bronzer from sticking to your cream and liquid products, creating uneven concentrations of color.

"Use a finely milled settling powder and a small denser brush," begins Ferreri. "Then, shake off any access from brush and precisely apply where you need—don’t blend. Wait a few moments and take a clean fluffy brush—like one that's blush size—and sweep away any access from areas of face." 

Step Five: Blush and Bronze

Once you've prepped for your color cosmetics, then you can start pigment application. Hughes likes the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit Palette and mixing all the blush, bronzer, and highlight shades. When applying, she smiles and starts wispy the blush in an upward, sweeping motion on the cheek,s and then brings it down towards the jaw to give an aura-like glow. While that palette consists of powder formulas, Ferreri is partial to cream bronzers such, as Tom Ford's Shade and Illuminate and Chanels Les Beiges Bronzing Cream and Water-Fresh Blush, as she says they give your face a radiant glow.

Whether you opt for powder, cream, or liquid, know that if you apply a bit too much product you can always use the brush you used for your foundation or concealer to tone things down a bit. Hughes just recommends you don't pick up more product to avoid caking it on, just use what's already left over on the brush.

Step Six: Pop On Some Powder Highlight

Hughes uses this step to pinpoint a beam of light, placing the highlighter very strategically on certain parts of the face. Areas to focus on include the peaks of your cheekbones, the bridge of the nose, the Cupid's bow, the inner corners of your eyes, and even the ears if your hair doesn't cover them. Hughes recommends using the Dior Backstage Glow Face Palette in Universal for this.

Step Seven: Set Your Look with a Radiant Formula

Now that you've completed your look, make sure it lasts by sealing your makeup in with a setting spray. There are many types to choose from, so look for ones that market themselves as "radiant" or "glowing" to keep your lit-from-within shine. For that type of finish, Ferreri recommends Tatcha's Luminous Dewy Skin Mist and Rare Beauty's Always an Optimist 4-in-1 Mist.

Step Eight: Touch-Up When Necessary

Post-highlight, you can also further saturate your blush or bronzer by applying a bit more product. Just be sure to stick to powder formulas, since it isn't best practice to switch back and forth between creams and liquids to powders (this makes your makeup more likely to pill, crease, and build unevenly). Finish things off with a little lip balm and you're good to glow.