Underpainting Is Back—Why Makeup Artists Are Reversing Foundation and Contour for a More Natural Finish

The underpainting makeup technique is not new. Kevyn Aucoin was using it in the 1990s. Professional makeup artists have relied on it quietly for decades of red carpet and editorial work. What is new is its visibility. The hashtag has accumulated over 105 million views on TikTok. Celebrity makeup artist Mary Phillips built her entire brand around it. A generation of beauty audiences is now discovering that applying contour before foundation produces something traditional methods rarely achieve: a finish that reads as skin.

The logic is simple. The results, however, require understanding why the reversed order works.

What the Underpainting Makeup Technique Actually Does

Standard contouring sits on top of foundation. That placement means sculpting products live on the surface of the face, where light catches their edges and reveals them as makeup. Underpainting inverts that relationship entirely. Contour, concealer, and highlighter go on first — directly onto moisturized, prepped skin. A lightweight foundation then veils the entire base, diffusing the color work beneath it. The sculpting appears to come from within the face rather than sitting on top of it.

Makeup artist Shreni Patel put it precisely in a tutorial for Makeup.com by L’Oréal. Applying highlights and bronzer underneath a thin foundation layer, she explained, creates a finish that “allows your makeup to feel like a second skin.” The result is a natural, lit-from-within glow. That is the goal: makeup that behaves like skin rather than sitting on top of it. The technique organizes light and shadow in a way that foundation then softens into natural depth.

Celebrity makeup artist Megan Dugan, founder of Lemonhead LA, confirmed underpainting is not a trend in the novelty sense. “Makeup artists have literally been doing this old-school layering technique for decades,” she noted, describing it as a way to create a soft, filtered look. TikTok made the method accessible to a mass audience that previously had no language for why certain celebrity faces looked the way they did. Additionally, it gave that audience the vocabulary to seek out professional makeup artist tips rather than simply product recommendations.

For ongoing coverage of the techniques and methods reshaping modern beauty, browse Runway’s beauty editorial archive — updated daily with professional-level analysis.

Mary Phillips, Celebrity Makeup Secrets, and the Brand Built on a Technique

The current resurgence traces directly to Mary Phillips. Her client list — Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Jennifer Lopez — represents some of the most referenced makeup looks in contemporary beauty culture. Phillips learned underpainting from Kevyn Aucoin’s book Making Faces. She refined it across years of editorial and red carpet work. Her TikTok tutorial on the method then generated over 5.5 million views and 117,000 saves on the platform.

The viral response revealed something significant about celebrity makeup secrets: audiences don’t just want the finished look. They want the method behind it. When Phillips demonstrated the reverse contouring tutorial on herself, viewers could see exactly why Bieber’s face looked different from conventionally contoured alternatives. The technique became traceable — and therefore replicable — in a way that passive celebrity beauty inspiration rarely is.

Phillips launched her brand m.ph in August 2025, available at Sephora. The Underpainting Palette launched at $64. The Underpainting Dual-Ended Sculpting Brush followed at $38. A Cheeky Cream Blush was due in early 2026. Products are formulated with squalane, hyaluronic acid, and palmitoyl tripeptide-1 — reflecting the broader 2026 convergence of skincare and makeup.

Phillips is not alone in this practice. Scott Barnes, who has worked with Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez for years, is also a longstanding practitioner. Makeup artist Monika Blunder described the approach as reminiscent of oil painting. Artist Danessa Myricks uses it specifically for clients with textured skin. The method has professional consensus across multiple generations of working artists. Phillips is not alone — Scott Barnes, who has worked with Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez for years, is also a longstanding practitioner. As WWD’s beauty industry coverage of the skin-first makeup movement in 2026 has documented, the professional beauty market is moving firmly toward lightweight, depth-building formulas. Surface-level definition is losing ground to methods that work beneath the skin.

For broader context on celebrity beauty this season, Runway Magazine’s coverage of how celebrity makeup at the 2026 Met Gala achieved a flawless base makeup technique tracks exactly how natural-sculpted finishes are dominating Hollywood’s biggest nights.

How to Underpaint Makeup: The Step-by-Step Method

Executing the blendable contour method correctly requires two things above all: cream products and a sheer foundation. Powders beneath liquid foundation create an incompatible layering system. They don’t bind to the liquid applied over them in a way that allows seamless blending. Monika Blunder stated it plainly: “If everything you’re using is a creamy product, by layering in this way you will be able to blend everything together seamlessly.” That is the non-negotiable foundation of how to underpaint makeup correctly.

The application sequence is defined and ordered. Start with moisturizer and primer on clean skin. Apply cream contour to the hollows of the cheeks, hairline, and jawline. Add concealer beneath the eyes and down the nose bridge — a slightly lighter shade here creates highlight rather than coverage. Apply cream blush to the cheeks. Add highlighter to the brow bone, nose bridge, and cheekbone peaks. Then, and only then, apply foundation.

Foundation choice is the most critical variable in the entire cream contour routine. Full-coverage formulas defeat the purpose. The goal is sheer to medium coverage that softens the layer beneath without erasing it. Stipple the foundation into the skin using a sponge — swiping disturbs the products underneath. Stippling preserves placement while achieving a seamless contour look at the surface. Finish with a light translucent powder to set without flattening.

Runway Magazine’s comprehensive beauty technique guide and makeup tips glossary covers the full spectrum of professional complexion methods working in 2026.

The Products That Make It Work

Product selection determines everything. Makeup artist Danessa Myricks sets the standard. Choose textures that “blend easily and evenly” and “lay smooth without being milky or sticky.” Avoid waterproof or quick-setting formulas — they don’t allow the adjustment time needed to finesse the layers. These are professional makeup artist tips that apply regardless of budget.

For the cream contour routine, blendable sticks perform best. The Westman Atelier Face Trace Contour Stick is the one Phillips favors. The Rare Beauty Contour Stick and NYX Wonder Stick are widely cited for their blendability at accessible price points. For blush, the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush and Fenty Beauty Cream Blush both deliver the buildable, natural flush the soft sculpting makeup trend requires. The key is applying less than you think you need — underpainting amplifies color once foundation goes over it.

Foundation choice defines the finish. Phillips applies a sheer moisture-rich fluid foundation as the final veil — tapping into what Vogue Scandinavia called the “skindation” approach, where coverage is light enough to read as skin. The Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk, Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder, and Chantecaille Future Skin appear consistently across professional tutorials. These are best contour techniques executed through product discipline — not skill alone.

For current makeup trends and product recommendations across every category, Runway’s coverage of the TikTok makeup techniques 2026 is reshaping for everyday beauty breaks down the platform’s most influential beauty movements in depth.

Why the Soft Sculpting Makeup Trend Is Replacing Traditional Contouring

The heavily contoured face of the mid-2010s reads as dated in 2026. That aesthetic is associated with a beauty maximalism that the current moment is actively moving away from. Modern beauty audiences are seeking finishes that suggest effort without showing where it happened. Makeup trends TikTok viral content confirms this consistently — the most saved and shared looks are those that read as barely-there while being technically precise.

Underpainting answers that demand more effectively than traditional methods. It eliminates the most common contouring failure points: visible lines, unblended edges, and stark contrast between sculpted and un-sculpted areas. Placing sculpting beneath foundation builds in a softening layer automatically. The foundation does the blending work that previously required significant surface-level skill to execute.

Natural contour makeup tips dominating professional education in 2026 share a consistent logic. They prioritize depth over definition, skin texture over coverage, and method over product. How to look naturally sculpted is increasingly understood as a sequencing and texture question, not a product question. The makeup application order 2026 audiences are adopting — color first, foundation last — is the answer that makeup artists have had for decades.

Meanwhile, Marie Claire’s 2026 analysis of natural glam makeup tutorial performance confirms that technique-centered tutorials outperform product-focused ones. That finding reinforces why underpainting has sustained its momentum well beyond the initial viral cycle.

Why It Works Across Every Skin Type

One key reason underpainting is sustaining momentum is its versatility. Traditional contouring settles into texture, accentuates dryness, and sits heavily on oily skin. Because underpainting places color beneath a protective foundation layer, it is inherently more compatible with textured, mature, dry, and oily skin alike.

Danessa Myricks specifically highlights its value for textured skin — the foundation layer smooths over the sculpting beneath without drawing attention to surface irregularities. Furthermore, for oily skin, the sealed layering system provides better longevity than product applied on top of a base producing sebum throughout the day. Modern contouring methods working across the widest range of skin types share this characteristic — they work with the skin’s surface rather than against it.

Advanced makeup tips 2026 from working professionals return repeatedly to the same point. Beauty hacks foundation routine content that genuinely delivers results tends to be technique-based rather than product-dependent. Underpainting is the clearest current example of that principle. It works because of how products are applied, not because any single product in the lineup is irreplaceable. The natural glam makeup tutorial that performs best is one built around a method that forgives variation. Runway’s profile of the best beauty and makeup trends defining celebrity style in 2026 covers the full range of professional techniques now crossing into mainstream beauty culture.

For more coverage of the beauty techniques and fashion culture moments defining 2026, explore Runway Magazine — the original independent voice of fashion since 1989.