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Everyday Makeup for Black Men: Unblended by Victor
27
items My everyday makeup routine for deep neutral, combination skin — skincare prep, complexion shades, and setting sprays I actually use, with shade names. I'm a Black genderqueer makeup artist with deep neutral, combination skin, and this is the full lis...
Sections
6
SKINCARE / PREP
COMPLEXION
FACE/LIP/CHEEK
FINISHERS
TOOLS
MID-ROUTINE REFRESH
SKINCARE / PREP
Five steps, in order. This is the part that makes the dewy half of the method possible.
My first step every morning. Gentle enough that it doesn't strip the oil I actually want on my skin later.
Derma E Hydrating Gentle Cleanser
The cleanse I use when my skin needs a softer touch than a gel. Leaves my face comfortable instead of tight.
Beekman 1802 Milk Shake Hyaluronic Acid & Squalane Facial Toner Mist
Goes on damp, right after cleansing. This is where the luminosity in every one of my looks starts — I'm not getting dewy skin out of a highlighter.
The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 (with Ceramides)
My moisturizer and the last thing before sunscreen. Rich enough for the dry patches on combination skin without turning my base greasy by hour six.
Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentré
SPF 40 that doesn't leave a cast on deep skin. Non-negotiable, and it doubles as the last layer of grip before primer.
Brownkind Sheer Facial Sunscreen SPF 40
COMPLEXION
Two primers with different jobs, two correctors, and a shade range I mix rather than match.
Goes only where I want texture softened — center of the face, nowhere near the areas I'm leaving dewy. Zoned primer is the whole trick.
Smashbox Photo Finish Smooth & Blur Primer
Everywhere the blur primer doesn't go. It keeps the rest of my face looking like skin instead of a filter.
Smashbox Photo Finish Primerizer+ Hydrating Primer
Spot treatment for the places that need softening after base, not before. A little goes further than you think.
Danessa Myricks Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder Universal
Cancels the darkness under my eyes before any concealer goes on. Peach undertone is what makes it work on deep neutral skin.
Bobbi Brown Skin Corrector Stick — Very Deep Peach
The deeper of my two correctors, for the areas the peach would lift too far. Having both is how I avoid a grey cast.
Bobbi Brown Skin Corrector Stick — Espresso
Radiant finish, which matters — a matte concealer would fight the dewy skin I just built. Small amounts, pressed in.
MAC Studio Radiance Concealer — NC50
My base when I want coverage fast. Stick format means I can place it exactly where I need it and leave the rest bare.
Thread Beauty Complexion Stick — 190 Rich Brown Neutral
My main contour fluid base shade. Sheer, buildable, and it doesn't flatten the skin underneath.
Thread Cover It Multi-Use Complexion Fluid Concealer - 10 Rich Neutral
The lighter of the two, mixed into shade 10 to adjust as my skin shifts through the year. Two shades beat one perfect match.
Thread Beauty Cover It Multi-Use Complexion Fluid — 7 Medium Golden Brown
FACE/LIP/CHEEK
This is where the one bold zone gets built. Everything here is matte or worn matte on purpose.
My matte in a deep shade that actually reads on my skin. This is the zone product — flat, saturated, deliberate.
Curve Case Matte - Matte Cream Blusher & Bronzer Palette
The pressed companion to the matte. I use it to hold a zone in place without dulling the skin around it.
Curve Case Pressed Powder — Deep
My lip base. Laying this down first is why the color on top stays put instead of migrating by lunch.
Danessa Myricks Color Fix — Nude 8
Chestnut is my warmer lip line. Chestnut is the one I reach for when the zone is the lip and I want it to read rust. Cork is the more neutral of my two pencils, for a softer edge. Cork is the everyday one — Chestnut is the statement.
MAC Lip Pencil | Cork & Chestnut Lip Liners
A warm neutral brown that earns its place by working in more than one spot. Multi-use is how I keep a routine this size portable.
MAC Cool Teddy Lipstick
The one place I break the matte rule, and only over a matte lip. Gloss on top of a held color reads intentional; gloss everywhere reads unfinished.
MAC Lipglass — Air Zephyr
FINISHERS
Two powders and a choice of two sprays. The spray choice is the whole method in one decision.
For baking the areas that need to stay put. Loose powder only, and only in the zones I've decided should be matte.
Easy Bake Loose Baking & Setting Powder - HUDA BEAUTY
Four shades in one compact, which means I can set different areas of my face without one flat cast over all of it.
Rich Harmony Bake & Set Loose Powder Quad - Morphe
The matte option, and I use it as a targeted finish rather than an all-over one. Matte where the color is, nowhere else.
Pro Perfect Long-Wear Setting Spray
The dewy option, for everywhere the matte spray doesn't go. Owning both sprays is what makes dewy-matte zoning possible in a finish step.
PRO Perfect Dewy Setting Spray
TOOLS
Two purchases, both chosen for portability.
Nine brushes that cover everything in this routine and still fit in a bag. Travel size has never cost me precision.
OMNIA® PROFESSIONAL 9pc Travel Set
Concealing, blending, and diffusing loose powder in one tool. It's what I press with — pressing, not swiping, is why the base stays.
Miracle 2-In-1 Powder Puff + Travel Case
MID-ROUTINE REFRESH
One product, reached for partway through rather than at the end.
My reset button. If the base is looking powdery mid-routine, this brings the skin back before I carry on instead of after I've finished.
Fix+ | Makeup Setting Spray