Setting spray is a crucial, yet often overlooked, step in achieving a long-lasting and flawless makeup look. It acts as the secret weapon in many makeup lovers' arsenals, ensuring your makeup stays put through all your activities, whether you're aiming for a dewy, matte, or natural finish.
What Does Setting Spray Do?
Setting sprays are designed to prolong makeup wear and maintain a flawless appearance throughout the day. Each setting spray comes in a liquid form and is dispensed as a fine mist. This mist creates a protective layer over your makeup, helping to prevent smudging, fading, and transfer.
The primary function of setting spray is to lock makeup into place. Long days call for long-wear setting sprays. Our setting sprays are best known for prolonging makeup wear and maintaining a flawless appearance. To apply setting spray, simply mist your preferred setting spray evenly all over the face, holding the bottle 6 to 8 inches away. This technique ensures your setting spray locks in makeup all day.
How to Best Use Setting Spray
The way you use setting spray can differ depending on the formula and your desired outcome. A crucial first step for most setting sprays is to SHAKE IT TO WAKE IT! Shaking your setting spray bottle activates the formula and will boost its performance.
Application Techniques
Once shaken, hold your setting spray 6-8 inches away from your face and mist on evenly. You can use setting spray before or after makeup, as well as between makeup steps to prime, set, and blur the look of your complexion.
- Multiple Layers: Setting spray can be applied in multiple layers. A common approach is to use setting spray to prime before makeup, and then again to set makeup into place.
- Between Makeup Steps: You can also apply setting spray between makeup steps. This includes applying it after foundation, after pressed powder, and after powder bronzer and blush.
Formula-Specific Application
How to best use setting spray can differ depending on the formula:
- Aerosol Setting Mists: Hold the bottle five to six inches away from your face and spray a generous amount across the entire face for three to four seconds.
- Non-Aerosol Setting Sprays: You’ll want to shake the bottle first to ensure the formula is sufficiently mixed. Hold the bottle about ten inches from your face and apply in X- or T-shaped motions across your face.
Important Note: One thing you should remember is to avoid spraying the formula directly in your eyes. This applies to both types of formulations.
Setting Spray and Skin Types
Setting spray can be a game-changer for various skin types, particularly those prone to excess oil.
Oily Skin
Oily skin types that are prone to producing excess oil can be susceptible to makeup creasing, fading, and becoming shiny throughout the day. People with oily skin can benefit from setting spray as it helps to lock makeup into place and can mitigate some of the slipping and sliding that comes with having oily skin.
Dry Skin
For those with dry skin, a setting spray can provide a much-needed boost of hydration and a smooth, glowy finish, preventing makeup from clinging to dry patches.
Setting Spray vs. Setting Powder
If you’re trying to decide between setting spray and setting powder, it’s necessary to take your skin type and desired finish into consideration.
If you really want to make your makeup last, no matter your skin type, a common recommendation is to use a setting powder first, then a setting spray as the final step of your makeup routine. This combination ensures maximum longevity.
When to Use Both
The short answer to whether you need to use both makeup primer and setting spray is always yes! These two products are highly recommended for every skin type and can, and probably should, be used together.
- Face Primer: The primer's primary job is to prep the skin for a flawless base by blurring the skin and filling in fine lines and pores.
- Setting Spray: A setting spray is an essential step to grip and lock in makeup to last throughout the day.
Both products help adhere the makeup onto the skin to extend wear time and withstand unexpected daily struggles such as sweat, humidity, and other environmental elements. When combined, this makeup duo helps ensure a seamless makeup application and a natural finish to all your signature looks.
Popular Setting Spray Benefits and Formulas
The market offers a variety of setting sprays tailored to different needs and preferences:
- Luminous/Glowy Finish: Some setting sprays, like those with hyaluronic acid and watermelon extract, give your visage a luminous, glowy finish. These long-wear formulas hydrate the skin and keep makeup looking fresh for up to 16 hours.
- Extended Wear: Award-winning setting sprays are staples for a reason, often extending the wear of makeup for up to 16 hours, no touch-ups necessary. Some pro-inspired aerosol setters can keep makeup intact for up to 36 hours and instantly dry.
- Mattifying: For those looking to control shine, mattifying setting sprays offer a lightweight, breathable formula that keeps makeup in place without fading or settling into fine lines. These are ideal for a matte finish with up to 16 hours of makeup wear.
- Hydrating Options: Other hydrating setting sprays contain blends of ingredients like hyaluronic acid, coconut water, and aloe vera to refresh the skin.
- Waterproof Formulas: Waterproof setting sprays often work best for oily, combination, and normal skin types. They may be formulated with ingredients like witch hazel and green tea extract to blur the skin, tamp down shine, and make pores appear smaller.
- Pore Blurring: Some sprays are specifically designed to mattify and blur large pores, offering a weightless and skin-friendly formula for a natural-looking, matte finish.
- Crease-Free Lock: Weightless setting sprays containing proprietary polymers help keep makeup looking crease-free and locked in place.
THE BIG FAT SETTING SPRAY LIE
Discovering your makeup’s saving grace for long-lasting looks and all-day wear just got much simpler. Take the guesswork out of your beauty routine with the right setting spray that offers different benefits and ways to customize your routine for your dream makeup base.