The "ULTIMATE" Guide: Skin Prep for Makeup

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my channel. My name is Nikki LaRose and if you're new here, I'm a professional makeup artist that's based in Los Angeles. A lot of you have asked me how I prep my skin for makeup and how I would recommend prepping your skin for a makeup application. So we're going to cover all the bases in this video on how to prep your skin, whether you're oily, dry, combo, and in between. So let's get right into it. Now just a quick disclaimer before I show you the products I'm about to show you, I want to point out just two things. One, everyone's skin is different and just because I recommend a product or I recommend a system does not mean that's going to be guaranteed to work for you. But what I found in my 15 plus years as a working makeup artist that these steps, not the products exactly, but the steps and the textures of the products I'm about to show you have always worked the best for skin prep when you're about to put makeup on. So with that all said, now we can get into how to prep your skin before makeup and we're going to start with normal skin. So before I talk about the normal skin prep, I want to point out that all of the prep that I'm about to show you is going to follow a three step system. Now, the first step is to hydrate, like I've mentioned, and you can either choose like a basic hydrating toner. This is just going to soften your skin and really get it woken up and just ready to go for your moisturizer to absorb on top. So you never want to put your moisturizer on just dry skin. And the worst thing is if you try to put your moisturizer on dry skin and you can hear the sandpaper noise of it being applied to very dry skin, you want to avoid that at all costs because your moisturizer is not going to have a good enough chance to penetrate your skin and to really soften it thoroughly before your makeup goes on top. So this is a very crucial step and it's something that I never skip in my makeup kit while I'm working professionally. You will never see me skip this step. It's called the First Essence. It's the Time Revolution Extreme Ferment Supplement. It's from Missha. I love this brand. I use their sunscreen all the time. It's a great brand. It's a Korean skincare brand. You can get it on Amazon. It's very easy to get. It's just a very basic watery texture toner. So you could either pour this into the palm of your hand and press it in to your skin. You press it all over. I like to get it under my eyes. I get it all over the top of my hand. Bring it down your neck. You press it all over and that way your skin is damp. It's essentially damp and what that's going to mean is when you put your moisturizer on top, it's going to just soak right into that. It's going to flow very nicely. Now I am going to flip to lips really quick and the lip prep is going to be universal throughout and this is something I do in my makeup kit when I'm working with my clients. It's something that I also never ever skip. I go for like a really thick lip balm. Even if someone doesn't need it, even if they have like perfectly plump lips that don't, that aren't lacking hydration and they're in good condition, it's still a really comforting product to put on your lips and to let it soak in while you're doing the rest of your makeup. And then by the time you get to the lipstick application, which is typically the very end of your makeup application, you would just wipe off any excess that hasn't fully absorbed into your lips and boom, you have plump, supple, hydrated, smooth lips. So it's always a win even if you don't feel like you have dry lips. And the reason why I say that is because I prefer to prep all my clients professionally and for myself too. I wear this every single night and I dab a little bit of this on my lips in the morning. I go through many jars of this. It's the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask. So it's called a lip sleeping mask. Don't let that scare you. It doesn't mean that you can only wear it at night. It just means it's a very thick, very emollient lip treatment. So just taking a q-tip and getting this all over my lips. My lips are actually very dry right now. So let's get this on so I can have comfortable lips throughout the rest of this video. You can use any brand you want. Another go-to that is super inexpensive is just straight up Vaseline. Now the next step in your skin prep if you have normal skin is to choose either a light moisturizer, depending, or let's say you want to have something luxurious. I say this is luxurious because it's like around $80 or $90. It's from L'Occitane. The brand sent me this in PR and I have to say I'm kind of obsessed with it. It feels phenomenal on your skin. It is scented. It's not, I don't know if it's purposely scented, but it definitely has a quite a fragrance to it. This is great because it's going to quickly absorb into your skin. So I'm going to apply this on one side, just a little bit. So this would go on top of that essence or that hydrating toner that you apply first. And I bring this under my eyes. I love serums under the eye for skin prep because it gives you just enough hydration without leaving too much moisture and too much slip behind where when you put your concealer on top, it just never fully sets down. So if you ever have that problem, switch your moisturizer out for a serum and it will definitely do the trick. So the other option for normal skin is just a basic moisturizer. Doesn't have to be thick, doesn't have to be gel-like, just straight down the middle. When I think straight down the middle, I love the Elta MD skincare. This is the Skin Recovery Light Moisturizer. The reason why I pulled this one out is because this is great texture-wise if you have normal skin. So I'm going to do one pump and just apply it on this side of my skin, just so you can see how both options for normal skin lay and look. Bring it under my eyes. This is great under the eyes as well. This is kind of like, it's so lightweight that it does feel like a serum, but it adds that little extra bit of moisture that a moisturizer would. So it's a very, very lightweight, very simple moisturizer. So now, bring it down my neck. So now that our skin is moisturized, you want to go in with your SPF. So this is going to be your protection. And we're not going to be doing primer because again, this is for normal skin. Normal skin, unless you're running a marathon with your normal skin or you are a bride and you have normal skin, then you want to utilize a primer. Or if you just, if you have normal skin and you're going to have an extremely long day ahead of you, where you're going to be in and out of outside locations, just doing all kinds of things. Let's say you have a crazy day ahead of you. Then you grab a primer, skip the primer. You don't need it. And just go for your SPF. So this is one of my favorites. It's from High Mesh. It's the Artless Glow Base. It's an SPF 50, PA+++. I love this SPF so much. And it wears incredibly well on your makeup. The other reason why I like this is because pretty much any combination of products I've used underneath, it still doesn't pill. This is a common problem. And it's something that people reach out and ask me about all the time is they're like, well, I'm prepping my skin. I do this, I do that. And then I finish with my SPF. And then when I put my makeup on top, things start to lift up and they start to pill up. That is the worst thing. So all the products I'm about to show you in this video, I have tried and tested and they don't pill once they're layered on top of one another. So SPF, I'm going to put this all over. Another reason why I chose this SPF for my normal skin routine is because A, like I said, it lays incredibly well underneath makeup. So that checks that off the list. But the other reason is because it has a subtle glow to it and it's subtle. It's not over the top beaming, but it's a nice subtle glow. And I like the way that works with more normal skin because normal skin isn't really here or there. It's not super dry. It's not super oily. So it kind of needs a little boost of like luminosity. So by applying a more luminous SPF, it just kind of gives your skin like a little boost, like a little pick me up. Think about it that way. That is it for your normal skin. You don't need to do anything else. Like I said, you don't need a primer unless you plan on having a 16 hour day of working outside. You just don't need it. So normal skin, that is it. As long as you follow those three steps and then you put your makeup on top, you're good to go. Now, one more note, you want to let this fully absorb and dry down before you put your makeup on. So give it like two to three minutes, find something else to do in between. I usually curl my lashes or do a little bit of eye makeup or a little bit of brow detailing in that timeframe. And then I go and I apply my makeup. Now we're going to move on to dry skin. I think dry skin is a really good one to tackle. So I'm excited. So in between, I'm just going to take off this, sadly, I'm going to take off this, um, all this great skin prep with just a little bit of micellar water and a cotton round so we can do it all over again. So the next set of skin prep is going to be based for my dry skin clients and just dry skin people out there. One of the products is going to be the same throughout, but I'm going to give you two options on how to prep your skin for your makeup application. One is going to be for a daytime application and one is going to be for an evening out. So one's going to have protection and one's going to have a primer. So let's get into it. They're both going to start with the Fenty Skin Fat Water. This is one of my all-time favorite products for prepping my dry skin clients. I love this stuff so much. This has an ingredient in it that softens your skin. And it really does help to soften those dry, rough patches of the skin or any dry areas of the skin where you just, moisturizer just doesn't do it. And you can still see that dry texture even underneath the moisturizer. I have found this works absolute wonders. So what I do is you shake it up and I have a small bottle of this in my makeup kit. It's like a squeezy tube that I just squeeze out. I love this stuff. This is probably my third bottle that I've gone through. This also has an ingredient to maintain your skin's moisture barrier throughout the day. Again, I'm not going to get into like the scientific details of what's in these products. I just know that these work so well under makeup. So for the demonstration, I'm just going to take some of the palm of my hand and you could just paint it on. I get this all over everywhere. Get it around the nose, get it down the neck. It's like literally a drink of water for dry, dehydrated skin. Every time I put on a client, they're like, what was that step you put first? What was that product? It felt amazing. And then they're hooked. But this one is just unbelievable. And I know I have this included for my dry skin prep, but honestly, I have oily skin as I've mentioned many times on my channel. And I love the way this feels on my skin. For dry skin, it is a game changer. So I'm going to show you one option for skin prep for dry skin on this side and the other on this side. So the first side I'm going to do is a daytime. We're going to keep it pretty simple. Even though we're dry, you don't have to go crazy overboard. The first step is just a really good hydrating toner. So even though we added that hydrating toner on the skin first, we're going to still add one more layer of hydration, just a lightweight layer. It could be just a basic hyaluronic acid serum. I didn't have one to show you all. So I'm just going to, for the sake of this video, show you the L'Occitane one again, because this is the same exact texture that I want you to look out for. It's very lightweight. It absorbs quickly into the skin. Avoid a sticky feeling with serums. I really try to stay away from that when I'm applying makeup on top of it for nighttime or for a no makeup day. Doesn't matter. But I've noticed the stickier the serum, when it dries down to have that kind of texture, it usually ends up pilling. So this is just my experience. I've tried so many skincare products under makeup. It is not even funny. And I've noticed more and more times if it's a dry down that's sticky, more than likely it's going to when you put those layers of makeup on top. So watch out for that. Again, this does not do that. So it's a winner in my opinion, but any good hyaluronic acid that's basic, that doesn't leave that feeling. Now for the protection. This is the Naturium Dew Glow Moisturizer SPF 50. You'll notice I tend to stick to like SPF 50s. I love an SPF 50 that just it's my go-to. I'm not the type that reapplies my sunscreen throughout the day. I know, I know that's like a big, big no-no, but I just, I don't have the time to, I just don't. So I usually do my skin prep in the morning. I go to work, I'm there all day and then I drive home. So I'm not really typically out and about like walking the streets after I put my, my SPF on. And if I am, I'm going to, I'm going to put a hat on anyway and like sunglasses. But anyway, that's a side note. So try to find an SPF that's at least 40 and up. So the reason why this one is included for my dry skin people, my dry skin makeup prep is because this packs so much moisture in. It's crazy. I've noticed that for me as an oily skin girl, I struggle with this one because it, my skin just produces so much oil throughout the day. And especially I have all those products underneath my skincare products and my, um, my moisturizers. So if I put an SPF that's too glowy on top of my skin, the combination is just a little too much. But what I've found by using this in my makeup kit, this benefits my dry skin clients so much. So this is going to be our moisturizer to seal in that serum. And it's also going to be our protection. So it's going to knock out two steps in one, which is great because you're not layering so many products under your makeup. You want to keep it as simple as you can underneath your makeup, believe it or not. So taking one pump of this, um, and just one pump, because I'm only showing you on this one side, otherwise you would need a lot more than this. So rubbing it in, this does give a very, very glowy look to the skin. So if you have dry, dull skin, this is going to bring instant, instant life back to your skin. It has a light reflecting quality to it as well, which looks just beautiful under your makeup because once you put your makeup on top, you just look like you have this healthy, hydrated, dewy glow from within. You would never be able to tell you have dry skin underneath this product. Let me just put it that way to put it nice and simple. This will trick anyone into thinking that you have fresh, dewy, glowy, you know, super hydrated skin. So this would be a great, great prep under your makeup. If you have very dry skin and you were going to be out and about during the day. And the last note on this is you want to make sure that this definitely dries down, give it a good two to three minutes, maybe four or five, if you have the time to spare to let this dry down before you go in with your foundation. So on this side, this side is going to be the side that we demonstrate what your skin prep could look like if you are very, very dry and you also maybe have some texture to your skin. And then also you're going out for an evening event or you need your makeup to last a really long time. So we're going to throw a primer into this mix. But so starting with moisturizer to lock in that hydrating toner, where skin is still pretty damp to the touch. And that's when you want to put this moisturizer on top. Ideally, it would be right after you apply this. But since I demonstrated the side, this is dried down just a little bit, but it's fine. So this is the Bobbi Brown Extra Repair Moisture Cream. This is phenomenal if you have very, very dry skin, like dry or if you have dry and mature skin. This is also an amazing, amazing cream. This is just one of those products I pull out for that kind of client that has just deeply dehydrated and dry skin. It's going to thoroughly lock in that hydration. It's going to add even more moisture. You don't need a lot of this stuff. And especially since I'm only applying this to one side of my face, I'm just going to use this size dollop. Now, Bobbi Brown has another product that's in a similar jar to this one. It's the Vitamin Enrich Face Base or something to that effect. I used that for years in my makeup kit. But let me tell you, there's a reason why I chose this one over that more popular Vitamin Enriched Base. And that's because if you apply the wrong product underneath that vitamin base, everything you put on top, as far as your makeup goes, there's a big chance it's going to pill. So that's something that I experienced so many times when using that product. It's a great product, but it's a little more finicky. So this would be a great, great everyday moisturizer if you have very dry skin because it is more of a hybrid between a lightweight moisturizer. The way it blends on your skin feels more like a lightweight moisturizer, but the effect of it, it feels almost like a night cream once it's on. So it's extremely, extremely emollient and very rich. So once that's on, let it dry down just a little bit, give it like 60 seconds. That's really all you need. Now onto primer. I don't love a lot of primers. I've talked about this a lot, so I'll spare you the details as to why. But when I find a primer that I do like, I stick to it and I hold on to it and I never forget it. So this is one that I really like. This is the Synchro Skin Soft Blurring Primer from Shiseido. So this is a phenomenal primer if you have dry skin, mature skin, dry and mature skin, or dry skin that has some texture or mature dry skin that has texture that you want to blur and just soften the overall appearance of that. So if you have texture issues as a dry skin person and you want your makeup to have that longevity, try this. It's really, really beautiful. I personally just don't like the way primers feel. This does not have any of that. This instead feels a lot like a basic moisturizer. It even looks like a basic moisturizer. You don't need a lot of it and you want to focus it on the areas that you would have or that you have more texture. So if you are someone that has more texture on your cheeks, focus it there. If you have it on your forehead, you would focus it there. Unless you have texture all over your skin and that you want to blur, don't put it all over. Unless you have a very long day ahead of you and you know that your makeup tends to slip and move and just not stay as fresh as it typically would if you were just casually going about your day. So if you need to have longevity all over and you know your skin and you know it's not going to last and look fresh all throughout the day, then put it all over. So once that primer is dried down, you would put your foundation on top and that would be your skin prep for dry skin. Okay, we've made it to oily skin. I have oily skin. I've talked about a lot. When I was younger, I struggled with it. I hated having oily skin so much. I won't even go into detail, but I really, it just upset me deeply. As I've matured and I've become an adult, I realized that it's actually a blessing in disguise to be quite honest. But back in the day, it was just hard. You know, the last thing you want to do is walk around like just super duper shiny. And now, especially when I was growing up, that wasn't in, that wasn't a trend. It wasn't like a trend to have dewy glazed donut dripping skin. It just wasn't. People look to you like, why are you so shiny? So this first product is crucial and it's something that I never go without in my makeup kit. I've talked about a lot. So again, I'll spare you some of the details, this is the Notorium BHA Liquid Exfoliant 2%. This has a couple of ingredients that are great for acne prone skin as well. I'm just going to throw it out there, even though I don't want to touch on ingredients too much, but this does have salicylic acid in it and different exfoliators that help to gently exfoliate dead skin cells. And it also helps to remove impurities, oil on the skin, different things that you want to just completely remove and start with a nice clean slate before you put your skincare products on and then your makeup. This is, like I said, a gentle exfoliant. It is great if you have texture in your skin, if you have acne prone skin, like I mentioned, or if you just have oily skin in general, this helps to really balance your skin before you go in with your moisturizer and your other products. And with oily skin, it's kind of a battle. It was a big misconception and it's something that I was, I had gone wrong again, my entire young adult life is I thought that if I had oily skin, I had to keep drying it out. I keep drying it out, just gotta keep taking the moisture off, no moisture, just primer, just powder, all those horrible things, right? But no, it turns out, and you never would guess this, it turns out your skin is overproducing oil because it is so dehydrated. So your skin is making up and it's overproducing for the lack of hydration that it has naturally. So once you realize that, it's like a light bulb moment where all of a sudden you're like, okay, I understand. I, just because I have oily skin and I don't want to be oily, doesn't mean I can't moisturize. It's the opposite. If you have oily skin, you need to hydrate it. So once you realize this, it is literally the, like the gods will be singing to you, get your skin prepped with this. This is just an incredible first step to your oily skin prep. So I'm going to put this on a cotton round. For this product, you can put it in the palm of your hand and then press it to your skin. I don't like to use this product that way. I like to use it on a cotton round because whether you like it or not, if you use a cotton round, it is going to give you a gentle exfoliation. On top of the liquid exfoliant that you're getting, you're going to get a little bit of physical exfoliation. No, I don't mean like St. Ives type physical exfoliation. I mean just a very gentle, very, very gentle exfoliation. So depending on the person and that person's individual needs, you're going to want to really focus on any problem You're going to want to go over that area just a little bit extra. So for me, I like to really get my nose, to be quite honest, and on the top of my chin. I may look like I'm being rough. I promise you I'm not. And now for a little extra bit of treatment, I love to bring this just straight down my neck. Just don't forget about your neck. And this goes for all of the products that have been used in this video. So if you didn't see me do it, it was for timing purposes, but every single product you're going to want to bring down your neck. That is step number one for oily skin done out of the way. Just like before, I'm going to give you two different variations for how to prep your skin before makeup. If you have oily skin. Okay. So the first option we give you is a daytime skin prep for oily skin. So that's going to include protection. Now, if you have oily skin, you know, you know, the struggles of finding an SPF that doesn't leave your skin looking like you just sprayed it with like cooking spray, like just so shiny that you just can't even put makeup on top because it's just going to slide right off your skin. So I have been testing out so many sunscreens to see what's going to hold up the best for really oily skin. And by far, this has won. This has won the battle of all the ones I've tested. I won't even mention the ones I tested because it's not right now. It's just not worth mentioning. So this is the Polish Choice. It's the Youth Extending Daily Hydrating Fluid. So the reason why this works for our next step for oily skin prep is because it's going to give us both the hydration of a serum and then the protection and a little bit of moisture that you'd have with a sunscreen. So it's going to knock out two categories all in one. And with oily skin, you really got to keep in mind if you want your makeup to lay nicely and stay put throughout the day, less is more. So I'm going to take that sunscreen and I'm only doing one side of my face. I'm just going to do a little bit. And this is so lightweight. I bring this under my eyes too, just FYI. And the best part that I find for oily skin is the fact that it does dry down and it actually will absorb into your skin. You want to make sure you find one that is going to dry down because if it doesn't dry down and it's still shiny, even before you put your makeup on or after a couple of minutes before you put your makeup on, it's not going to help out oily skin. Period. It's just not going to help out. So this one, it almost dries down immediately. Like it's got a little bit of stick to it still, but it's pretty much, it's pretty much dried down. So that is our protection that is done now for oily skin. And let's see, you want a nice lightweight primer. That's just not going to add a whole heavy, thick layer to your skin. And you just want to keep your makeup on a little bit longer throughout the day. And here's the thing. If you have really oily skin, primers are going to be a nice tool to utilize. Just don't skip the moisture and the hydration prior. Let me show you a primer that I really like. And I'm laughing because again, I don't love a lot of primers, but this one is from EXA. This has been my favorite lightweight primer for oily skin. The EXA Splash Zone, it's an oil-free hydrating primer. Oil-free is key. With all the products, if you're oily, you know, don't, don't use anything that has, that's an oil base. You're going to want to look for products that start with the first ingredient being water. Grabbing one pump of the EXA and applying it on top of that beautiful sunscreen that just completely dried down, getting it all over. Now this one, you can get all over your skin because it's not thick. It's not super sticky and tacky. I just have a filmy feeling to it. So it actually feels really nice all over the skin. It just feels like a nice basic hydrating serum. So for that reason, you can apply it all over and it's going to give your skin a beautiful, smooth, balanced look. And like I said, it's going to help with so many things as far as keep your makeup on, keeping it from slipping and sliding. It's going to help to keep the oils at bay and it's just going to help to balance your skin. So that's going to be our final step for oily skin. Now this next skin prep that we're going to do on this side is going to be for an evening out slash for extremely, extremely oily skin. So I'm talking like an hour into your day of waking up, your skin's just beyond shiny. So this is going to be for if you want longevity to the max with your severely oily skin. So you would still start out with the BHA. You would not skip that. This is going to be your first step that you cannot skip. Now the second step is taking a very basic, basic, I say that with the kindest intention behind it. Like I'm not trying to insult this moisturizer at all. I mean it in a good way. This is a basic moisturizer. It is a gel cream. It has green tea extract, aloe leaf juice, ingredients aside, the feeling of it and the way it leaves your skin texture wise is going to be ideal if you're severely oily. So we're going to balance our skin and we're going to get some nice hydration and moisture. Now this feels like water basically. It feels almost like I'm putting another serum on my skin. Very watery and this is what you want to look for. You want to look for watery texture gel-like moisturizers. It's going to give it that satisfaction of having that hydration, but it's not going to leave a visible oily layer on top of your skin. So it's going to dry down quickly. It's going to give you the hydration that you need. Now you would go in with the big bad boy primer that I mentioned. I say that because this is like glue for your face. This is like putting sticky, tacky glue on your skin and then putting your makeup on top. If basically your makeup will just go clink and like cling to it instantly. So two things to note about this. Let's say you have extremely oily skin and you want to wear a full coverage foundation. You want to be careful on how much you use of this because if you use too much of it and you put that full coverage foundation on top, it's going to instantly look cakey. So less is more. Even if you have severely oily skin, you want to be careful on how much you are using of this because it can really make or break the way your makeup looks on top. Trust me, I've experimented with this so many times and I almost like tossed this out of my kit because I hated the way it looked the first couple of times I used it. I took it off. I was like, this is way too thick. How does anyone work with this? It's like glue. It's because you need a very tiny amount. So less is more. And you want to focus, if you can, on the areas of your skin that need it the most. So let's say you're extremely oily, but your problem areas are your T-zone. You want to focus it on the T-zone. Let's say you are severely oily all over your face. Well, then you want to make sure that you're working with a very thin layer that is evenly distributed throughout your entire face. Meaning don't goop it on and just, you know, haphazardly put it on. Make sure you're intentionally putting an even, thin layer all over and that's all you need. And I think there's this big misconception with, you know, primers and if you're oily, how much to use. And I think that there's this like idea that more is more. No, less is more. Less is more if you're oily with all your products. You want a little bit of everything. So a little bit of toner, a little hydration, a little primer. Don't overdo it with the skin and then you're good to go. So once that is on, it pretty much dries down within seconds. So the last thing I recommend before you go on with your foundation, whatever formula you're choosing, if you're really oily, I won't get into this too much, but if you're really oily, you're going to want to obviously go for formulas that are more satin or matte finish. If you're going for a dewy or an oil-based foundation, forget about it. It's going to destroy all this beautiful prep that we did for oily skin. So of course, you know, make sure you're keeping in mind what formulas you're putting on top of this prep. But as I mentioned, this oily skin prep is for the longevity, the long haul. So what you want to do before you can put your foundation on your skin is set all your base products with a little bit of setting spray. This is a game changer. It really is. It's such a simple step that I feel like a lot of people don't think to do. But as a makeup artist, I've just learned little tricks on how to keep people's makeup on through thick and thin, especially if they're oily, and to really combat those oils and to maintain them and keep them at bay throughout the day. So this is like a finishing step for skin prep that I highly recommend you try out. It's a game changer. And this product in particular, I've had such great success with. I always have this in my makeup kit. This is the Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray from Charlotte Tilbury. And you'll notice in small writing, it says, party all night, stay all day. And it really does mean business. It means you can party all night and stay up all day or whatever the heck it is, and it will keep your makeup on so well. Shake it up. Get a nice, even layer all throughout. Do not open your eyes right away after spraying this stuff. This is very intense. You will feel the burn if you do that. You don't want to do that. And then the last thing is you'd want to hold on to this and you want to, of course, finish your entire makeup application with this setting spray after it is on. But that completes your skin prep if you have severely oily skin. So now that that is done, now that we've tackled normal, dry, oily, let's talk a little bit about combo, where you're a little bit of this and you're a little bit of that. It can be really challenging. What I recommend for combination skin, you're not going to do the hydration. You're not going to do the hydrating toners because you need to balance your skin. Best way to do that, in my opinion, and in my experience of working with so many different skin types in the last 15 years, is balancing is one of the best things you can do before you do anything for your client or for yourself. So I'm going to bring it back to the Naturium BHA Liquid Exfoliator. This is an incredible first step for really thoroughly prepping the skin. It's going to balance the lack of vibrancy in your skin. So if you have really dry skin, it's going to help to actually really take away that first layer of dull, just dry skin that you want to get rid of before you put your moisturizer on top because it will better adhere to your skin. Now, I know I include this mainly in my oily skin prep and I didn't include it in my dry skin prep because dry skin just needs that hydration, right? Unless you're combination. So combination, if you have like dry flakes or dry flakiness around certain areas of your skin, this is going to work miracles and just gently exfoliating that top layer of dead skin cells. So this would be your prep number one for combo skin. And this is something, again, this is another reason why I use this on so many clients in my makeup kit because I do work with a lot of combo skin too. I work with all skin to be honest, but combo skin is a very common one that I encounter. So skin prep would be the BHA. Now the next product that I get great success with when I'm prepping combo skin and my makeup kit professionally, and it's just a good straightforward moisturizer that everyone's skin just really loves. It's the Notorium Multi-Peptide Moisturizer. I use this, I go through this nonstop in my makeup kit. This is always in my kit and it's one of the products that I grab when if I'm not sure about someone's skin type and if they're not sure and we're both kind of figuring out for the first time together, this is my go-to because I know how it's going to perform. I know it's going to work pretty much regardless. So this is a great, great moisturizer. It's very straightforward, but it's got like a little extra something, something to it. It's got vitamin C, it's got panthenol in it. You know, I'm not gonna get into that, but ultimately it just does a great job of being a straightforward moisturizer that gets the job done, that makes your skin feel plump, moisturized, and then ready for a makeup application. So this would be my recommendation and what has worked so amazingly well in my makeup kit. So I'm just gonna use it on the top of my hand to show you the texture since I already have a lot of skin prep on at this point. You don't need a lot of it. One pump for the whole face is generally all you need. So less is more because you're, you know, you're putting makeup on top and you don't want that makeup to be slipping and sliding. So the reason why this is great for combo skin is because it's it's going to give both parties everything they need. So for oily skin it's going to give just enough moisture and balance to the skin where your skin is not going to be overproducing the oil throughout the day like I mentioned. For dry skin it's going to give enough emuliation and enough creaminess to the skin where it feels like it's hydrated, it's plumped, it's dewy, and it's got enough moisture for the rest of the day. So it's just a straightforward moisturizer that works good for combo. And another reason why I like it is because it does dry down pretty quick so it's not gonna leave your skin super slippery where your makeup just kind of slips and slides when you're applying it on top. Now the next step for my combo skin is going back to Paula's Choice. This is great for so many skin types. Combo, oily, dry, you name it, this is going to work for pretty much everyone. If you want that protection, if you're prepping your skin for a day like when you're out and about during the day and you have combo skin, grab a sun protection that is going to absorb into the skin, it's going to feel lightweight, it's not going to be super thick, super dewy, because if you have combo, you know, you're fighting for both, right? You're fighting to have a little bit of moisture, but then you're also fighting to have a little bit of like a dry down feeling where your skin isn't left super shiny. And on top of that, you're going to have that shine throughout the day. So this is going to be a good straightforward, straight down the middle, good for both sides combo. And this product wraps up this very detailed, very in-depth tutorial on how I recommend you prep your skin based on your skin type for your makeup application. So keep in mind, once again, this is all strictly for how to prep your skin for a makeup application, not for how to prep your skin for protection or for skin issues or anything like that. I'm a makeup artist and these steps and these textures of formulas are what I have found work the best in the last 15 years of prepping clients of all different skin types for a makeup application. So I hope you find this video helpful. If you do leave me a comment below and let me know if you have any other questions. If you want to see more videos on how to just do your makeup, like full-on makeup tutorials, I have tons of those. You can check them out right here. If you like this video, also give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can catch some of my lives on Sunday and I'll see you all soon. Bye.