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From Blending to Baking: Key Makeup Terms You Need to Know

The world of makeup can be intimidating, especially if you have spent most of your adult life just doing your lips and eyes. It’s absolutely understandable if you find half of all the beauty tutorials, websites, products, and terminologies overwhelming!

Every day, a new beauty trend or technique goes viral, making it nearly impossible to keep up. Just when you think you’ve got contouring right, strobing takes over and then soon after, another trend pops up! The list just continues to grow. And while you may not be the typical makeup enthusiast, staying informed about these exciting and essential beauty terms certainly wouldn’t hurt.

It can be a great conversation starter, too! So, it’s time to pull up your socks and stay up-to-date with the latest makeup terms that are doing the rounds in the realm of beauty and makeup. We’ve come up with the perfect makeup terminology guide to help you keep up with the ‘makeup junkie’ tag. Hereby, consider yourself enrolled in the Uroparis School of Beauty & Slangs.

Check out our Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Becoming a Professional Makeup Artist!

Essential Makeup Vocabulary:

Sometimes, it feels like makeup has a language of its own, especially with terms like ‘blending’ or ‘baking’ being thrown around in tutorials like pleasantries. Here’s a breakdown of key makeup terms every beauty enthusiast should know, divided into categories for better clarity.

Base Makeup Terms:

  1. Priming: It is the first step in makeup application, which is done to create a smooth and blurred base. Priming your skin before applying makeup helps your foundation settle or blend better and stay put for hours.
  2. Foundation: A makeup essential for evening out skin tone and texture. The foundation comes in different forms, such as liquid, powder, or cream. You should pick your foundation formula based on your skin type.

  1. Concealer: A product to hide skin pigmentation due to blemishes and dark circles, it’s a go-to for brightening your under-eye.
  2. Setting Powder: Also known as translucent powder, it is applied over foundation. It locks in your makeup, reduces shine, and prevents creasing throughout the day.

Got more questions about makeup application? Don’t miss our take on the Top 10 Most-Searched Makeup Questions for all the answers you need!

Techniques and Finishes:

  1. Contouring: All credits to the Kardashian sisters. Contouring is adding dimension to your face by using a darker-coloured product, such as a bronzer or foundation, along the outer lines and hollows of your face, to create a more chiselled look.
  2. Highlighting: Just as the name suggests, highlighting is basically adding glow to your skin/face. Highlighter is applied to the high points of your face or body where light would naturally hit so that it reflects, making your skin look glowy.

  1. Strobing: A sister technique to highlighting. It requires strategically applying highlighter to a clean face before makeup to achieve a dewy, shimmery, and more youthful glow.

  1. Baking: It involves applying a heavy layer of translucent powder over concealer, letting it “bake,” and then dusting it off for a brightened and long-lasting finish.
  2. Buffing: It’s a makeup technique used to achieve an airbrushed look. To avoid those annoying foundation brush streaks, take a damp beauty blender or a makeup sponge, swirl the foundation on your face and buff it into your skin in circular motions. Continue for 1-2 minutes for a soft finish that looks natural and like your skin.
  3. Spotlighting: A recent entry on the list that has been made popular by many beauty TikTokers. In spotlighting, you technically ditch your shimmers and powders for a highlighting balm or creme illuminator blending it into the skin to make it look dewy/greasy and glow naturally.

Eye Makeup Terms:

  1. Tightlining: Tightlining is done on the eyes, typically using kohl or kajal eyeliner. It’s a technique of applying eyeliner or kajal along the waterline (upper or lower lids) to make your lashes appear fuller without applying too much heavy liner on the lids.
  2. Garage Doors: It is making a comeback after 7 years from 2017. It was originally an eye makeup technique used in the 80s, where you wear one shade of eyeshadow starting from your lids all the way up to your brows.

  1. Floating Eyeliner: Recently spotted at Paris Fashion Week, 24, floating eyeliner is applied higher up on the lids than the lash line. It can be on the eye crease or even above it. It has become quite a runway favourite these days.
  2. Faux Lashes: Strip/False lashes are fake eyelashes applied to the entire lash line to add drama and volume. Check out the Uroparis Store for extremely affordable, high-quality strip lashes for a seamless, natural look. These strip lashes have an invisible band, which makes them lightweight and easy to wear.

  1. Cut Crease: A cut crease is an eye makeup style that helps define the eye crease by cutting it across with a contrasting eyeshadow colour. It involves placing dark eyeshadow directly along the crease of your eye to emphasise it while the rest of your lid is a lighter colour. This eye makeup technique helps your eyes look bigger and brighter.

Struggling with your eye makeup? Don’t worry! Check out 5 Common Eye Makeup Mistakes You Might Be Making and How to Fix Them!

Mastering these essential beauty terms is a sure-fire way to elevate your makeup routine. This makeup terminology guide is your go-to resource for mastering professional results at home. Whether blending your foundation or baking under the eyes, these techniques will help you achieve professional results every time.

Explore our blogs for more exciting beauty tips and tricks! And don’t forget to grab extra discounts during the Uroparis Republic Day Sale, valid until January 31st!