How Do Koreans Do Their Makeup?

Follow the easy steps below so you can transform yourself into your K-Pop bias.

It’s all about the lightweight base

Lightweight base / Via etudehouse.com

The goal of Korean makeup is to give your skin a dewy glow so using matte, long-lasting, and cakey foundation is not at all recommended. Instead, Korean girls and idols use a more lightweight formula found in BB creams and concealers.

After prepping and priming your face, you can directly pile on this compact BB cream. It gently covers up any blemishes and scars while keeping your skin looking dewy. If there are any blemishes and imperfections that can’t be covered with the BB cream compact, you can always cover it with a little bit of concealer.

Hot tip: A technique from Korea has been trending among the beauty community, both in the east and the west. The Jamsu technique involves dunking your entire face (after you’ve applied your base) into icy cold water. This will lock your makeup and close any large pores, thus keeping excess oil at bay.

Straight brows are also fleek

Straight brows / Via iprice.co.id

Compare to arched and precise western-style eyebrows, the Koreans prefer subtler and straighter brows. This is because they want to achieve a more natural and innocent look compared to the western makeup where full coverage and the mature, elegant look is everything.

Brush your eyebrows towards one side and if you happen to have a defined arch, you can cover that with concealer. Fill in the brows with the pencil, following the natural direction of the hairs. If there are still clear gaps within the eyebrow, you can add the brow shadow to fill it in.

Doll-like eye makeup

Doll eye / Via iprice.co.id

Koreans love to give the illusion of a bigger eye so instead of winging their eyeliner, they flick it downward instead. This technique is called the puppy liner and is done to give the illusion of more rounded, doll-like eyes. You can try the puppy liner technique with the help of a thin pen eyeliner. Simply outline your upper lash line thinly and precisely. Then, instead of doing the western-style cat-eye, you flick the ends of the line downwards toward your cheeks.

To make your eyes seem bigger, you can also adapt the aegyo sal, which refer to the “fatty deposits underneath the eyes. You can use a white, translucent shadow along the aegyo sal and define the area with a brown shadow.

A bit of lip tint goes a long way

Etude House Darling Tint / Via iprice.co.id

To keep up with the innocent and subtle look, instead of over-lining your lips and using matte lipsticks, Koreans prefer to use lip tints or lip stains instead. This is because by making the lips appear smaller, the eyes will look bigger. They only add a dash of color in the inner parts of their lips and blend the color outwards.

You can emulate the gradient lips by using one of lip tints like the Dear Darling Lip Tint, a long-lasting and easy to apply gel-based lip stain. Start with applying a clear lip balm and concealing the entire lips. Then, apply the Darling Lip Tint in the inner parts of the lips and blend it outwards. If not glossy enough, coat with a little bit of clear lip gloss.