Level Up Your Beauty Game With These 9 Easy-to-Follow Makeup Tutorials

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By IPSY Editors
Published on May 10, 2021
Close-up of a Black female model holding a cream highlighter against her temple
Close-up of a Black female model holding a cream highlighter against her temple

Pull up a chair and bust open your beauty kits, Ipsters. Class is about to begin. Here at IPSY, we're all about arming you with helpful makeup tutorials you can follow at home to boost your beauty routine. But makeup is such a visual art form, and sometimes the best way to explain how to master certain makeup moments is to literally show you.

Our YouTube channel is loaded with a vast collection of step-by-step makeup tutorials that blend foundational knowledge with insider tips and tricks. While we definitely encourage doing a deep dive there, we've highlighted 9 of our best video tutorials here.

Consider this your Makeup 101–a crash course in all the essential makeup tips and techniques every beauty lover should know. Whether you're a novice or a total pro, we guarantee you'll learn something new after watching these helpful how-tos.

1. Become a Pro at Winged Eyeliner

Mastering the cat-eye is a right of passage for every beauty connoisseur. It takes patience, practice, and ideally a great teacher. That's where we come in. In this tutorial, Madelynn De La Rosa shares some of her tips for how to become a pro at this classic eye makeup look. She walks you through a hack that involves Scotch tape (yes, really) and shares a fun way you can spice up this liner style to make it feel uniquely your own.

2. Find Out How to Keep Touch-ups to a Minimum

We put a lot of effort into crafting fun and personalized beauty looks, it's only natural to want them to last as long as possible. In this vid, Michelle Ross shows you her favorite ways to keep eyeliner from smudging, eyeshadow from creasing, and foundation coverage from fading. Plus, she even shares a tip on how you can use a touch of hairspray on your brows to keep them locked in place all day long.

3. Personalize Your Blush for Your Face Shape

It's true that blush can add definition and warmth to all skin tones and face shapes. However, if you want to maximize your blush's potential, try personalizing your application to suit your specific face shape. In this tutorial, Jaleesa Moses walks you through how this classic beauty product can be used to sculpt, elevate, or slim the face depending on where you apply it.

4. Make Your Skin Look Flawless With Foundation

Whether you're prepping your skin for a photo-heavy event (like a wedding or a family reunion) or you're just looking for an expert-approved way to create a super smooth base for glam makeup looks, IPSY creator Lynette Cenée is here with a step-by-step guide.

In this tutorial, she shows you how to properly prep with skincare, which face primer and concealer she loves, and she even shares some insight into why setting powder might become the next new unskippable step in your makeup routine.

5. Sculpt Your Face Shape With Contouring

There's a reason contouring has been a go-to technique amongst makeup artists for years–it's a tried and trusted way to sculpt the face shape in just a few quick strokes. While this classic contouring technique doesn't have to be complicated, it still remains one of the more intimidating skills to master.

In this video, creator Lynette Cenée gives you a step-by-step tutorial on how to contour, all the while showing you just how simple this technique can actually be. We promise.

P.S. Don't have a contour palette handy? Try practicing with a matte bronzer!

6. Get Your Glow on With Highlighter

If you've become a pro at contouring, learning how to highlight your face will feel like a walk in the park. Highlighting your face essentially does the opposite of contouring–it brightens and illuminates areas of the face vs. adding shadow. When you put these two techniques together, you're well on your way to a master-level beauty routine. 

Watch this makeup tutorial to learn more about which makeup brushes work best for highlighting, where to apply it, and what to do if you accidentally go overboard with product (we've all been there).

7. Master the No-Makeup Makeup Look

There are days when we feel like getting creative and applying a full face of makeup. Then, there are other days when we're more in the mood for natural, everyday makeup that works under the radar to subtly perfect and enhance your features.

In this tutorial, Jaleesa shows you how to do just that. She shares what she likes using in place of full coverage foundation to create a fresh base and how she quickly applies brow gel and mascara to noticeably open up the entire eye area. This is five-minute makeup at its finest.

8. Quickly Create Any Type of Lip Look

We often talk about ways you can use makeup to make your lips look bigger, but that's not the only objective of lip products. In this video, Cydnee Black shows us three essential lip techniques that are helpful for creating a wide range of lip looks.

She walks you through how to boost definition by making the lip line stand out, how to minimize the lips (great for those with super full lips who may find that bold lip looks sometimes feel like a bit too much), and yes, how to make your lips look bigger if that's your goal.

9. Keep Your Kit Clean

Last but certainly not least, let's talk about how to properly clean your makeup brushes. A lot of grime, oil, and dirt can build up on those brushes that you use every single day. Working with dirty brushes means they'll likely provide subpar results. They may even end up irritating the skin or causing breakouts. No thanks. Here, Susan Yara shares two ways to clean and care for your beauty brushes: one fast hack if you're short on time and one more involved (but still super easy) way to deeply cleanse your kit.

Want to stay up to date on all the products you need to become an at-home beauty pro? Take our Beauty Quiz now to get started. Already an Ipster? Refer your friends to earn points, which you can use toward products. Either way, don’t forget to check us out on Instagram and Twitter @IPSY.

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