Beauty & Style

Stop Layering Wrong: A Makeup Artist’s Guide to Skin That Looks Like Skin

March 28, 2026

Spring is here, and honestly? It’s the perfect excuse to rethink everything in your makeup bag. Not in a throw-it-all-out way, more of a reset and elevate kind of way. Breaking Beauty sat down with Lori Taylor Davis, Global Pro Lead Artist at Smashbox Cosmetics and a makeup artist with over two decades of expertise (yes, she’s worked with Sandra Bullock and Paris Hilton—no big deal), to get the real story on what’s changing in makeup for 2026.

Whether you’re a glowy devotee, a matte loyalist, or somewhere beautifully in between, Davis breaks it all down in a way that genuinely makes you rethink the “rules” you’ve been following. Below, we’ve distilled her best advice into a guide you’ll actually use.

The Guide

Rethinking ‘glow’ in 2026

Here’s the thing about glow: it’s not one-size-fits-all, and it never was. The super-saturated, drenched-in-dewy look that’s been everywhere? Davis says we’re entering a more nuanced era, one where glow is about dimension, not just shine.

“The more you make something matte, the more the glow pops forward. I’m going to mattify certain areas to make the glow come forward,” Davis says.

The key shift is balancing your finish across your face rather than going all-in on one texture. Here’s Davis’ approach:

Start with a mattifying primer closest to the skin. This controls oil before it ever meets your foundation, so you can actually choose any foundation you want on top.
Apply a radiant or tinted moisturizer for that skin-like, lit-from-within effect without going full disco ball.
Use loose setting powder strategically—T-zone and the lower cheeks—to create shadow and dimension. The glow on your cheekbones will pop more when the areas around it are matte.
Bounce a pore primer on top with a domed brush for a velvety, blurred finish that keeps shine at bay without looking flat.

How to wear matte (the modern way)

If you’ve always been a matte girl, this one’s for you. Matte isn’t going anywhere, but the way we wear it is evolving. Think “velvet matte” or “luminous matte” (yes, that’s a thing now), not the flat, one-note matte of the past.

Davis’ rule: matte doesn’t have to mean your whole face. Use it where you need it most, and layer in radiance everywhere else.

If your skin is dry, try a hydrating “primerizer” first. Smashbox’s is 70 percent hyaluronic acid. It lets you keep your beloved matte foundation while adding the hydration your skin actually needs.
Apply matte foundation only where you need it (hello, T-zone) rather than all over. Blend up and out, then stop.
Use a more radiant concealer under the eyes. There are no oil glands there, so you can (and should) go a little glowy. It instantly freshens the whole face.
Dust loose powder with a puff rather than a brush. You’re locking in layers, not adding another one on top.
Add a touch of highlight high on the cheekbone to break up the matte and give your face that lifted, snatched finish everyone’s after right now.

Covering texture without cake face

We’ve all been there. You’re trying to cover a blemish or smooth uneven skin texture and end up looking like you’ve applied three layers of spackling paste. The fix isn’t more product, but a different approach entirely.

Davis calls it “rolling” or “lasagna-ing”—the idea of thin, intentional layers rather than piling product on. You want to work with your texture, not against it.

Spot-treat with a pore-minimizing primer first, then smooth over with a blurring primer. Think of it as filling the canvas before you paint.
Choose lighter-weight foundations. A tinted moisturizer with coverage is your friend here. Heavy liquids pool in pores and make texture worse.
Go back to your fingers. The warmth of your skin helps product melt in and actually adhere, and it’s not just for contouring sticks. Buff and press; don’t swipe.
Work in thin layers, quad by quad. Sometimes Lori even starts with a cream blush or contour on bare skin first, then adds foundation on top in light layers so you never overload any one area.
The word of 2026 is “blurring.” Look for products that blur and smooth rather than add more texture. Finish with a blurring powder, bounced on with a domed brush.

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The new rules of contour

Contouring has had a whole evolution, and 2026’s version does not involve chiseling. You want to create a natural, lit-from-within shadow effect. The biggest shift? Going higher.

“We used to carve out the cheek and drag it down. Now it’s high—right on top of the cheekbone, back toward the ear, almost up to the temple. You’re lifting, not sculpting,” Davis says.

Sneak peek: Smashbox precision contour sticks

Slim, cream-based contour sticks with an angled tip designed to hug the jawline, inner eye, sides of the nose, and lip line. Davis notes they’re available in 5 shades—and yes, they double as eyeshadow and even lip contour. The Swiss Army knife of your makeup bag.

Go high and back. Place contour on top of the cheekbone (not below it) and sweep it back toward the temple. This lifts rather than drags.
Use the eye area. Carve out your crease with a contour stick to open the eye and rebuild any crease that’s shifted over time. It’s the eyelid wobble fix nobody talks about.
For the nose: A tiny X at the tip (using each nostril as your guide) to slim the end; shadow on the sides to narrow; a dot of highlight on the bridge tip to lift.
Choose the right shade. Fair skin? Go cooler-toned. Medium to deep skin? Warmer, skin-like shades look far more natural than anything too gray or ashy.
Contour = your personal lighting system. Create the shadows, and everything else naturally comes forward. You can even use a contour stick as a one-and-done product on no-makeup days.

The cream vs. powder blush debate—solved

Good news: there are no rules here. Davis gives us full permission to mix and match cream and powder blush depending on the effect you’re going for. Here’s the cheat sheet:

Powder blush on oily skin does double duty—it adds color AND absorbs shine. Win-win.
Powder first, cream on top = an extra pop of color and a beautiful creamy-powdery texture that melts together. Apply the cream with a brush (not fingers) so you don’t disturb the powder underneath.
Cream blush application hack: warm a tiny amount between your fingertips and use “spirit fingers” to press it on. Less product, more natural finish.
For highlighter, start high on the cheekbone and sweep toward the temple, not toward the center of the face. Starting back and lifting is the move for 2026.
Blush pairs best with contour placed just above it on the cheekbone—a little bit of spirit fingers and they meld together beautifully.

Davis says, “Blush is like wearing your favorite sneakers. You just have to put them on if you want to feel great.”

TLDR: Your spring reset, summarized

Spring 2026 is all about intention over intensity. Think smarter layering, knowing your finish, and using things like contour and matte strategically to make the good stuff (your glow, your blush, your highlights) really land.

The biggest takeaways from Davis: primer is everything, blurring is the beauty buzzword of the year, and your contour stick might just become your desert-island product. Oh, and give yourself permission to use your fingers again. Sometimes that’s all you need.

For the full conversation—including Lori’s thoughts on foundation shade selection and Smashbox’s new contour sticks—tune into the Breaking Beauty Podcast wherever you listen.