How to Set Makeup: 5 Steps With Setting Powder and Spray

Foundation that slides off by lunch usually wasn’t cheap. It just was never locked in.

Setting fixes that with 2 products, a powder and a spray. The trick is the order, and how little you use.

Here are the 5 steps, plus tweaks for oily, dry and mature skin, for any everyday makeup look.

Best for: anyone whose foundation creases, shines or fades by afternoon. Skip it if you wear only a tinted balm.

How to Set Makeup Step by Step

Setting makeup takes 5 steps: prime, let your base settle, press powder where you crease or shine, dust off the extra, then mist setting spray last. Each layer needs the one under it to grip, so keep that order.

Step 1: Prime Before Foundation

Primer goes on first, before foundation, so your base has something to grip. A cosmetic primer is a cream that helps makeup go on evenly and last longer.

Pick mattifying if you shine and hydrating if you’re dry. For example, Colorescience says its primers are non-comedogenic, water resistant for up to 40 minutes and carry mineral SPF 20.

Step 2: Let Your Base Settle and Smooth Creases

Give foundation and concealer a minute to settle, then smile into the mirror. Pat any concealer sitting in fine lines with a damp sponge.

Powder locks in whatever is there, creases included, so smooth them first.

Step 3: Press Setting Powder Where You Crease or Shine

Setting powder goes where makeup breaks down: under the eyes, beside the nose, the forehead and the chin. Load a puff or small brush, tap off the extra, then press and roll it on, because dragging streaks the foundation underneath.

A translucent face powder is the easy pick because it adds no color. Maybelline describes its Lasting Fix Banana Powder as a translucent powder you layer over and under liquid makeup.

Torn between textures? This loose vs pressed powder breakdown helps you pick.

Step 4: Dust Off the Extra, Then Add Powder Blush

Sweep a clean fluffy brush over the powdered spots to lift what didn’t stick. Leftover powder is what turns skin into cakey makeup.

Then add powder blush and bronzer, which glide over a set base, so setting powder goes before blush.

Step 5: Mist Setting Spray Last

Setting spray is the final step, after every powder, eye and cheek product. Close your eyes, hold the bottle well away from your face, mist in an X and then a T, and let it dry.

For a longer-lasting finish, MODELROCK directions for its spray suggest misting a makeup sponge a few times and pressing it over your face.

Setting Powder or Setting Spray: Which Goes First?

Setting powder goes first and setting spray goes last when you use both. Powder sets the liquid and cream base, and spray seals the finished face, powders included.

You don’t always need both. Oily skin leans on powder and dry skin on spray, as this powder vs spray comparison shows.

How to Set Makeup Without Powder or Without Spray

You can set makeup with one product: spray alone for a dewy finish, or powder alone for a matte one.

Without Powder

Press foundation on in thin layers with a damp sponge, then mist setting spray after your base and again at the end. This suits dry skin that powder makes flaky.

Without Setting Spray

Press a little extra powder onto oily spots with a damp sponge, which melts it into your foundation. Out of spray, a homemade setting spray works in a pinch.

Setting Makeup for Oily, Dry and Mature Skin

Skin type decides how much setting powder you use: oily skin takes it across the T-zone or whole face, while dry and mature skin need only a little under the eyes and beside the nose.

Oily Skin

Powder the whole T-zone, or your whole face if you shine everywhere, then use a matte spray. Start with a setting powder for oily skin and a setting spray for oily skin.

Dry Skin

Skip powder on dry cheeks and finish with a hydrating spray. Try a finely milled setting powder for dry skin or one of the cheaper drugstore options.

Mature Skin

Use the least powder, pressed in with a puff so it doesn’t sit in lines. Look for a powder made for mature skin, an under-eye setting powder and a hydrating spray for mature skin.

Baking vs Setting Makeup

Baking is a heavier way to set makeup: you press a thick layer of loose powder under the eyes, leave it a few minutes, then dust it off. Setting uses a thin layer and no wait.

Save baking for photos and long events. For every day, a light set is plenty.

Choosing Your Setting Powder and Spray

Pick translucent powder for no added color or a tinted finishing powder for light coverage. Maybelline says its Fit Me Loose Finishing Powder also sets makeup but adds a hint of color and coverage.

This finishing powder comparison explains the difference. For picks, compare the best setting powders, drugstore setting powders, the best makeup setting sprays and whether the Charlotte Tilbury spray is worth a splurge.