New makeup trends are born every day, they gain momentum for a month or so, and then something new comes up for beauty enthusiasts to obsess over and the cycle repeats itself, such is the life of a typical makeup trend. However, this makeup technique has been in use for years, only to have regained recognition in full force this season, thanks to makeup artist Mary Philips (a favourite of the Kardashian-Jenners, Priyanka Chopra, and JLo to name a few). Underpainting as the name suggests is 'painting' underneath your base to give an undetectable sculpted effect to your features. So basically, you do your contouring and concealer-based highlighting before putting on your foundation to give it a much more blended and natural finish that looks snatched yet radiant.
Our bet is that this technique's here to stay, not for the sake of being trendy but because of the purpose it solves. Underpainting is a phenomenal trick to have up your sleeve if you're someone who thinks the no-makeup makeup trend doesn't suit you as well, due to reasons such as pigmentation, dullness, blemishes, or just generally like the idea of contouring. Here are 3 easy (but thorough) steps on how to go about it if you are a newbie.