How I Do Makeup to Hide a Hangover

So you went to a festive holiday party last night and had one too many drinks, and now you're not feeling so hot this morning. I get it! We've all been there. There's no magic product that can cure or even prevent a hangover, and believe me, I have tried them all. But beauty, of course, can help you mask the after-effects of drinking, and it can even make you feel a little bit better in the process. These are my tried and true tips for hangover beauty, and the best part is? All you need is your hands!

So let's start simple: Use your favorite products, use what makes you feel good, and use what you know. I love statement makeup, but when I'm hungover, not that that ever happens to me but, I just stick to my normal, everyday face that I don't have to put any thought into. If you're a mascara and red lip person, do that! A hangover is not the time for a cut crease.

Skin Prep

I'm usually not about moisturizers that claim to highlight because they should already be making your face look luminous anyway. The Tarte Brighter Days Highlighting Moisturizer is more highlighter than it is moisturizer, and I use it as such. I moisturize with whatever I usually use, then smear this recklessly over the high points of my face for some subtle strobing action. It has a pretty surprising amount pink reflect and dries down really nicely, without staying tacky or greasy, so makeup applies over it nicely.

Then I prime with Farsali's Unicorn Essence. It's water-based so it dries down quickly and creates a smooth base for makeup to glide on top of.

Color Correct

I swear to god, I don't put anything on my face without first color-correcting. The Urban Decay Color Correcting Fluid in Peach is what works best for me and my skin tone, but you can use a range of colors for whatever you're trying to neutralize. It's close to my skin tone, but, well, peachier. I like peach the best because it neutralizes the blue and purple tones in my dark circles and the redness on my nose and any blemishes that have surfaced, so my foundation and/or concealer have less work to do. Without this, you can still catch some darkness peaking out from under my base, like I'm using foundation to cover a black eye. With it, I look more rested, less sallow, and my makeup looks better in general. As you can imagine, this is especially good when you're hungover or even just on little sleep.

Foundation

I'm typically a matte foundation person, but when I'm hungover, I like to work a little bit more glow into my face.

I'm using the Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder Foundation. Ugh, this foundation is amazing. AMAZING. It's thin but pigmented so it just sinks into your skin. Medium coverage, buildable, gives you a healthy glow. I don't know man, I guess it's not groundbreaking in terms of product, but it is top quality. I feel so beautiful when I wear it.

Truthfully I did use a Beauty Blender to buff this into my skin but you can use your fingers, since that's what all the makeup artists do.

I always feel like there's an affordable option for a luxury product, and there is! I'm sure Maybelline Fit Me Foundation or the L'Oreal Pro Glow will work just fine in the place of this foundation, but if you're a luxe foundation person, definitely try out the Charlotte Tilbury.

Oh I'm also using a Charlotte Tilbury product to contour and add dimension.

Contour

Okay, so normally I don't contour (I have nature's natural contour, a beard). But the Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contouring Wand is really something.

I pop it under my cheekbones and then drag it forward just a bit with my fingers, and then maybe use a brush in upward flicking motions to diffuse any hard lines. It's a sheer, medium brown, but not sheer enough that it's totally going to blend out to nothing. I usually hate contouring products but I love this one.

Since I'm hungover and don't want to mess with a ton of products, and since I'm trying to use as many creams as I can to keep my face luminous, I'm using this in place of bronzer on my forehead to simultaneously minimize it and add dimension.

Listen, I know the old rule is that you shouldn't contour with a bronzer, I KNOW. But you CAN bronze with a contour product! You can do whatever you want.

The contour wand comes in two shades. I use Light/Medium, and while the shade isn't as cool-toned as I like my contour to be, it's mid-toned enough for me to pull off as a bronzer. Any cooler and it would make me look dead. Anyway, you can multitask with this baby.

Speaking of looking dead, I'm going to if I don't use a little blush.

Blush

I love cream blush because I'm a control freak. They're easy to apply, you can use your fingers, and they look like they're coming from your skin instead of sitting on top of it. I'm a huge fan of Glossier's Cloud Paint but today I'm using the new Too Faced Peach My Cheeks Blush because I hate myself.

JK this product is great. Within the cute little peach compact, the little puck of blush itself is very dense, but blends very nicely, like a powder. It's not a highlighting blush, but it definitely adds a bit of soft glow that all that whiskey took from you.

Please enjoy my Blush Face™.

Also, you get a ton of product. Size-wise, this has significantly more product than any of my other blushes, so this is a nice little investment product that you can feel good about buying because you'll get a lot of mileage out of it because cream blushes last forever.

Don't forget to blush your nose!

But really. It sort of pulls everything together and makes the blush look even more natural. My face doesn't have a lot of flush to it, naturally, so if I overdo it with the blush, it looks wonky. A little blush on the nose helps.

Highlighting

Lucky for you but unfortunately for me, we're not doing anything holographic or flared, just a very wearable, super-natural (not supernatural) highlight.

For this we will use Jouer's Créme Highlighter in Champagne.

Normally I wouldn't put anything this color on my face, that salmony-bronze, but the shade doesn't translate on the skin. It goes on sheer and reflects light without reflecting color, if that makes sense. I mean, I know that's a highlighter's one job but there's something about this one that does it so well. It looks extremely natural, like your skin, but well rested, hydrated, flawless, and definitely not hungover. I really can't even put my finger on just what makes this such a standout, and I am fluent in highlighter language — this is one of a kind.

Eyeshadow

I live for a big, glam eye moment, but when I'm hungover? Not so much. Also, I think there's something really understated and elegant about a simple wash of one color all over your lids, no matter what state you're in. That's exactly what we're going to do.

Use whatever shadow you want, but I recommend ColourPop's Super Shock Shadow for this. The cream-powder-putty magic is great to apply with your ring finger. Great coverage, diffuses out well; it could not be easier. I'm using Sequin.

I'm usually all about a matte eye, and in fact, my go-to matte shade is actually another ColourPop Super Shock Shadow, Brady! But a little glimmer is great when you're not feeling so good (and it will pull focus away from your dark circles). Look at how gorgeous this shade is.

It's a burnt rosy shade with flecks of glitter. Okay and honestly? This type of shade, a matte-ish base with glitter throughout is my least favorite kind of shadow shade just because, to me, they don't make any god damn sense. Are you a matte? Are you a glitter? Are you a shimmer? But this is just stunning. It makes it look like I spent a lot of time on my eyes and used at least three different shadows when in reality it took three seconds, I used my finger and did it with my eyes closed. It does all the work for you, like any good beauty product should.

Setting

Set it and forget it! I always double up on my setting products, using a powder and a spray. For a powder, I've been really into Glossier's Wowder lately.

I know the name is a little cringy but the powder is legit. I've spent this whole year trying to back away from powder, using less and less of it for fear of looking over-powdered, like a powdered donut, but Wowder gives me everything I want from a powder without making me look powdered.

The product is the antithesis of Glossier's entire brand pre-dating this but it's good so I'll shut up. It sets everything in place for good while being totally imperceptible, and other powder products like blush and bronzer blend beautifully on top of it. The packaging is really well thought-out, too. I don't want to sound like I've been brainwashed by Glossier but I am drinking the Kool-Aid.

Finally, I hit it with the new Too Faced Peach Mist Mattifying Setting Spray.

(And all of my peacheeeesss... ARE RUINED)

This isn't going to mattify everything you've worked so hard to make glow, it's just going to help control your skin's oil and cut shine throughout the day, and it really does work. It's so good that it replaced my other mattifying setting spray.

Pop on your favorite lip and bam! You're done.

I used a liquid matte because that's...all I wear. This one is Boss Babe by Coloured Raine.

So there you have it, my hangover beauty look. I may feel hungover, but you'd never know it from that luminous face.

It may not seem like it, from me blasting all of the products out like this, one by one, but creating this look is actually super simple, fast, and really pretty, right? Yes.

Now who wants a drink?

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