When you want your makeup to last all day (or night), there’s no better insurance than a good setting spray. True to its name, setting spray sets your makeup, making it last and look freshly applied for longer. Depending on the formula you choose, it can extend your makeup’s wear-time and make it transfer-proof, waterproof and sweat-proof. Some setting sprays mattify your face, while others give your skin a dewy glow. Keep reading to find out how to apply setting spray, when to apply it, and to shop some of our editors’ favorite formulas.
What Is a Setting Spray and What Does It Do?
As mentioned, a setting spray is a formula that you spray all over your makeup to lock it in and help it last for hours. It usually comes in a spray bottle format with instructions on exactly how to apply it. Different setting sprays can help you achieve different finishes — from glowy to matte. You’ll want to choose your setting spray based on the type of look you’re going for, plus your skin type.
When to Use a Setting Spray
In general, setting spray should be used as the final step of your makeup routine. When you spray it on last, it locks in the makeup you’re wearing underneath. However, if you want to give your makeup even more staying power, you can apply it in between every step of your base makeup — after foundation, then again after concealer, blush, contour, bronzer and setting powder. If you’re using powder products, a setting spray will help them appear more skin-like in addition to making them last longer.
Makeup is ever-evolving, and the preferred tools and techniques to apply it are constantly changing. Occasionally, that includes reconsidering the order of application. One recent example: Some creators on TikTok have been applying setting spray before blending their base makeup—and are claiming it's the secret to preventing cakey makeup.
We asked celebrity makeup artists Tayaba Jafri, David Birdwell, Dillon Peña, and Rea Ann Silva to weigh in on applying setting spray before blending your beat. Before switching up your routine, read on for what they had to say.
Meet the Expert
What Is Setting Spray, and How Is It Typically Used?
Setting spray is a mist that can be applied to your makeup look to protect against creasing, smearing, and fading. The are countless options on the market, many offering additional benefits: Depending on the formula, they can provide additional sun protection, hydration, refreshing vitamins, and acne treatments.
Setting spray can be applied to the face via several squirts of direct mist or a light cloud of a fine mist. "If you wanna spray it and walk into it, you can," says Peña, but he recommends using a liquid spray "to target the area" you want to preserve. Charlotte Tilbury's Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray ($38) and Milk Makeup's Pore Eclipse Mattifying + Blurring Setting Spray ($38) are two of his favorites for even application.
Setting sprays are usually applied after a full makeup look is complete—but as social media has shown us, that isn't a hard-and-fast rule. Some creators are spritzing on setting spray before blending their makeup, claiming it can decrease cakiness and improve wear time.
Should You Apply Setting Spray Before or After Makeup?
The choice is yours, but applying setting spray before the rest of your makeup can definitely have some benefits. "The right setting spray can absolutely help with a cakey makeup application before your blending step," says Birdwell. "It will emulsify your complexion products with hydrating and nourishing ingredients" and increase your wear time. Jafri concurs, albeit less enthusiastically, telling us that applying your setting spray before blending "may help you avoid cakey makeup."
Jafri says blending your makeup with a wet setting spray can help increase your wear time, too. "Essentially, you are mixing in a long-wearing liquid into your makeup as you apply, rather than just spraying on top," she says. "The success of this depends, of course, on the type of makeup you use and if it combines well with the spray."
That's not to say this hack is always successful. "Setting sprays come in a variety of finishes, but they all are designed to dry down to a 'fixed' state for makeup," Jafri explains. So this technique will work best "if you are using a setting spray that leaves skin looking dewy or natural and does not have a quick dry down time, and you are quick in blending your makeup before it starts to 'set.'"
How to Use Setting Spray Before Blending Your Makeup
To put this viral method into practice, Birdwell recommends applying all your base products, misting your face, then blending. "I like to do the face-mapping technique, where you place your complexion products onto the skin in strategic areas before blending out," he says. Then you mist on your setting spray (he suggests the Laura Mercia Translucent Pure Setting Spray, $40) and "use a beauty sponge—wet, of course—to airbrush the skin out and absorb the excess."
Jafri warns that, as is often the case with viral videos, you might not see everything it took for that creator to get to their flawless final look. "You see people doing this technique, but they don't show you how many times they had to 'rewet' the makeup with setting spray as they applied or blended," she says. And you don't want to spray too much or too often throughout the process: "Overuse of the spray can result in the final finish feeling super tight and dry," she says.
Her top tips for pulling off this hack? Opt for a formula that isn't dry or matte, "learn to blend really fast and use very little setting spray," she says.
More Setting Spray Hacks
Just as there are too many setting sprays to count on the shelves, the ways you can use setting spray go beyond a full mist over—or under—your makeup. For example, if you want to set a specific part of your face, Silva recommends taking your Beautyblender and dampening it with setting spray. Then, "bounce it on the areas [where] want a little more durability."
And you don't have to apply setting spray all over your face to reap its benefits. "I typically will not use the setting spray until I'm finished with the makeup application," Peña says, with one occasional exception: "If I find that the concealer is creasing a little bit, I will spray some on a Beautyblender and press that in to help cut that before I do powder or anything else," he said.
The Final Takeaway
Ultimately, your choice in setting spray—from formula to when you use it—will depend on your unique needs and skin type. But no matter what kind of setting spray you use or when you apply it, Peña tells us it's the work you did below that really counts: "If you don't prep the skin properly for your makeup application, it's not really going to work."