If you are anything like us, you spend roughly ten minutes in front of the mirror every morning, dabbing on as much makeup in as little time as humanly possible. And while we are usually satisfied with the results of our AM beauty sesh, by the time mid-morning rolls along, we are almost always wiping away smudged eye makeup. Talk about a waste of time!

Because we’re sick of walking around looking like a raccoon, we searched far and wide for the best advice on how to keep that eye makeup trekking throughout the day—and night! We tried a couple of different techniques in our smudge-free quest, but the one that garnered the best outcome came from none other than YouTube makeup queen, Stephanie Lange.

In the past, we’ve covered this glamorous gal’s secrets on how to get ‘perfect eye makeup’, but today we are going to delve into how she gets her perfect eye makeup to STAY PUT!

Eyeliner’s nemesis? Oil!

Stephanie kicks off her tutorial by first revealing to us the main reason why all eyeliner and mascara—not just the cheap stuff! —tends to quit after only a few hours. According to our hostess, it’s our eyelids’ natural oils that break down the makeup before we even have a chance to show it off on our lunch hour.

Although oily eyelids aren’t necessarily something that can be banished forever, there is a way to mute the slickness. Stephanie does this by first dotting on some full coverage foundation (matte only—no dewy stuff, for obvious reasons!), and sealing that in with a translucent powder.

 

This will give you a nice, mattifying base for the rest of your eye makeup, without adding a ton of extra time to your skin correcting routine.

Protip: We suggest applying the foundation with a beauty blender as these special sponges do the best job at toning down shine!

Once you have finished up with the first step, go ahead and continue your normal eye makeup routine. Whether you like to go full glam, or you’re more of a ‘mascara and jet’ sort of gal, at least you’ll know that pesky oil won’t be smearing everything around.

Now, before you completely zip up that makeup case of yours, be sure to throw a blending brush and some translucent powder into your purse prior to heading out for the day.

If you live in a particularly humid climate, or your face just seems extra oily, brush some of the powder onto your eyelids throughout the day, just as you would do for a shiny chin or nose. This will guarantee that your look will stay on as long as you want to show it off. Makes sense, right?!

Wow—we seriously wish we had learned this trick years ago. To get bonus tips from Stephanie, including how to best apply waterproof liner and mascara, be sure to click on her video below. Say ‘goodbye’ to those raccoon eyes!

Now that you know what it takes to go from ‘tired’ to ‘smoky’, we’d love to hear your thoughts on Stephanie’s tips. Have you tried similar techniques before? If so, have they worked well for you? How do you keep your makeup fresh from morning to night?