Beauty Makeup Tips

A Pro Makeup Artist Taught Me How to Do My Makeup for Zoom…and It Totally Blew My Mind

Zoe Weiner

July 9, 2020

In the early days of quarantine, I was thrilled at the prospect of not having to wear makeup. I had high hopes of my skin restoring itself to its natural glory, and thought for sure after a few weeks I’d be a glowing, radiant goddess who didn’t need foundation or concealer to help me fake the look of even skin. But thanks to mask breakouts and stress acne, that didn’t exactly happen. And after a few weeks, my skin issues combined with an impending video first date (and the general psychological torture of staring at my own face on Zoom) brought my makeup-free days to a screeching halt. So I decided to consult celebrity makeup artist Katey Denno to teach me how to do my makeup for Zoom.

As I learned, applying makeup that looks good on camera is totally different than applying makeup IRL. “It’s all about emphasizing features you want to come forward—like turning up the contrast on a picture,” says Denno. “It’s nice to have a little color on the cheeks and the lips.”

To help me amp up my look, Denno spilled on the one tool I need to wake up my eyes (which is very important for those Monday morning meetings), how to make my lashes look thicker without a professional treatment, and an easy trick to instantly plump up my lips. And the most mind-blowing tidbit she shared? The most effective way to conceal dark under-eye circles is with lipstick... not concealer.

By the end of our lesson, I looked like I had the “touch up your appearance” filter with no filter at all. And I felt great. The most important takeaway from our lesson was that you can choose your own adventure when it comes to applying Zoom makeup, and mix and match her methods depending on what you need on any given day. "Just like you can in real life, you can go on Zoom with absolutely nothing on your face and look gorgeous," says Denno. "Or you can choose any one of these products we put on just to have a little va va voom. It's all about personal preference—you're your own canvas, so just have fun."

Press play on the video above to steal her tutorial tips for your own, and get ready for a barrage of coworker compliments the next time you log on.