Evening makeup step by step

A common assumption is that evening calls for heavier base. The opposite is true: under artificial light a heavy base is more visible than it is in daylight, not less.

Only one thing changes in the base for evening — the setting. If the night is long and there will be dancing, setting spray and minimal powder through the T-zone become necessary.

All three happen over the base you already have, which is why the whole thing takes minutes rather than starting again.

• Lash line — stronger, and slightly thicker through the outer third
• Shadow — one shade deeper, in the outer corner only
• One accent — either the lip or the cheek, not both

A strong eye and a strong lip at once is almost always too much, and that is not a matter of taste but of composition.

With two strong points, the viewer's eye chooses between them and the face stops reading as a whole. One accent, with the other kept quiet, is the rule that rescues the greatest number of evening looks.

Under artificial light, lashes are one of the few details that read from across a room. That is why they are frequently more effective than adding more shadow.

Shimmer comes with one warning: if there will be flash photography, shimmer particles read as white specks. In that case keep the shimmer to the top of the cheekbone and nowhere else.

If you are going straight from work to an evening, starting again from clean skin is the wrong call — it takes longer and looks worse.

The right approach is correcting what is there: blot the oil with a tissue, minimal powder, then the three changes. That takes five minutes and reads more naturally than a full second application.