Long Wearing Makeup Must-Haves for the Workday & Beyond

Products with True Staying Power to Last You Through the Day

In my previous life {or at least it feels that way sometimes} I worked in the event industry, where I often was working 16-18 hour days. By the time the night was over, you can only imagine what I looked like lol. I don’t work quite that many hours a day in my current career, but I still find it hard to find makeup that will last through a full day at the office, let alone if you have something to do after work. After many Sephora trips testing out product after product over the years, I’ve finally found some essentials that I wanted to share with you in case you too feel like your makeup isn’t making it 8+ hours.

I’ll start with the eyes. If you’re anything like me, concealer is a must, especially as the day goes on. And for some reason, it’s really hard to find a concealer that stays put. In the past, I’d find concealers either wearing off after only a couple hours or creasing up under my eyes in the little wrinkles there, or it would just look cakey but last a little longer if I used a heavier concealer. Just a couple years ago I finally found what I believe to be the holy grail of concealers. Once you try it, I think you’ll see why!

This concealer is a liquid concealer, but finishes like a powder basically, so no additional step of a setting powder needed to make it stay put, and it lasts ALL day! I wear the Ivory (2) color for reference. Simply use the applicator wand to dot it on under your eyes {I do about 3-4 dots per eye} and then pat it in in a semi-circle motion going all the ways from the outer eye/upper cheekbone area to the inner crease of your eye. You can also use a concealer brush or sponge of some sort, but I’m lazy so just use my fingers and it works fine lol. I can see all the makeup artists cringeing now lol.

This eyeliner also has major staying power. It literally never wears off. Sometimes it’s still on the next morning after I wake up lol! The shade I wear, “Blitz Brown” is a gorgeous color, kind of a multifaceted deep brown with a little shimmer in it that’s not noticeable to the eye but helps reflect light in your eyes.

I typically apply this from the outer lower eye area and lighten up on it as I get closer to the inner crease so it’s not too heavy. Sometimes I will put it on the top lids as well near the lash line, which I should be doing every day to really make my eyes stand out, but I usually do my makeup in about 5 minutes flat so often don’t take the time. When I do though I love the effect 🙂 The only thing I wish this eyeliner had was a built in smudger, but I just use one from another eyeliner to kind of soften it after I line. Plus, it does come with a sharpener so that’s a bonus!

Maybe 5 years ago or so, I was getting super fed up with the mascara on my lower lashes rubbing into my concealer and making dark grayish marks in my undereye area like I hadn’t slept in weeks. I decided to start using waterproof mascara on my lower lashes and voila! it doesn’t rub off!

I use Maybelline mascaras because really I don’t believe mascara is something that you need to buy high end on. They don’t last very long either way so it’s just not worth the investment in my opinion. And drug store mascaras work just fine. This one is the one I’m currently loving for my upper lashes {in non-waterproof} too. My other favorite for the lower lashes is this one because I feel the brush works better for tiny lower lashes like mine. If you have luscious lower lashes then use the one pictured {and know that I am very jealous of you lol}! I always get blackest black or very black in my mascaras.

Last for the eyes is this eyeshadow primer. For years I didn’t know eyeshadow primers existed, and if you’ve never tried one, I promise you once you do you’ll never go back! I’ve used a bunch of different ones over the years, but have been consistently using this one for the last couple years and really like it. I use the Eden shade, but it also comes in a couple other options depending on your skin tone and I just noticed they have an anti-aging one here that I might try out next time I need to restock!

You will just dab a small amount of this on your lids {believe me, you don’t need a lot} and then use your finger to spread it across the lid and upper lid area up to the brow line. Then apply your eyeshadows as usual overtop! You will immediately notice that your shadows not only go on much more smoothly, but the pigment of your shadows shows up so much better when using a lid primer so you actually can use less eyeshadow, win win! This will make your eyeshadow last through the whole day and into the night. And if you do have afterwork plans or on the weekend are going out in the evening and want to make your look a little more nighttime-esque, but don’t want to redo all your makeup, you can simply touch up the shadow and add any accent colors you’d like right on top because the primer will still be holding strong, no need to reapply it!

On to the lips. The eyes and the lips are of course the two areas that stand out most, so if you only have a little bit of time or can’t be bothered with a big makeup routine, I recommend just focusing a little attention on each to get the most impact for your efforts.

This lip liner is the first lip liner I have ever really consistently used. I don’t use it daily because again, lazy lol, but when I do, I always wonder why I don’t use it daily lol. The best thing about it for me is that you can actually just line your lips with it and then pencil up and down into your lips with the liner to fill them in entirely and don’t have to worry about matching your lip color to your liner since it’s all one. Then I just add some carmex or a little gloss on top so it’s not so matte. Or if I’m going for a stronger lip look, I’ll add my lip stain {up next} on top and the liner helps give it a foundation kind of. I have the Pillow Talk and Pink Venus colors and love them both. Pillow Talk is a little more subdued whereas Pink Venus is brighter.

Last but definitely not least is my favorite lip stain. I love this stain so much I have it in 4 colors lol. And I got my mom turned on to it too {same with the concealer above} 🙂 I tried a lot of lip stains in the past, because who wants to be reapplying lipstick all day long? Ain’t nobody got time for that {shaking my finger with some sass}!

Most of the time I found that lip stains would make my lips look super dry and start crinkling over time or they really wouldn’t last or the worst, they would end up leaving a lot of pigment on the outer line of my lips but fade everywhere else so I looked like I put lip liner on and forgot lipstick lol, not a good look! I honestly had practically given up on ever finding a lip stain that worked for me before I found this one.

What I love about this stain is that it’s mixed with oil…I’m not a chemist, but they say it’s a “water-in-oil emulsion” – I’ll just call it magic lol. So it goes on feeling super moisturizing and you can work it around by smooshing your lips around if you want, but then after maybe 30 seconds, it dries in place and doesn’t budge. The cone-shaped sponge applicator is also really helpful for getting a natural, soft look, rather than a painted on look.

Start by shaking this up to mix the liquid and oil, then open it up and apply, easy peasy! One of my favorite every day colors is pictured and linked here “Sea Sand & Sun” but they have a vast line of color options so try them out if this one isn’t your shade. I’ll be doing a post solely focused on lip stains in a few weeks so stay tuned for that too! And if you missed it, check out my Lip Care post here for how to prep your pout for best results prior to using any lip stain or liner.

Hope you try out some {or all 😉 } of these products and love them and their staying power as much as I do!

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