Selena Gomez's makeup artist wants you to stop doing your concealer like this
Most celebrity makeup artists like to keep their signature tips and tricks to themselves.
But Melissa Murdick (AKA Selena Gomez’s makeup artist) is one pro who doesn’t believe in gatekeeping knowledge – especially when she sees people applying trendy makeup when it doesn’t work for them.
“Please stop doing your concealer like this,” Murdick begged via TikTok pointing to two stripes of concealer under her eye.
The alternative? A subtle technique that she uses regularly on her celebrity clientele (yep, Selena Gomez does it too). Here’s how she gets A-listers under eyes ready for the red carpet…
“Stop doing your concealer like this – it’s driving me nuts”
Murdick’s main issue with applying concealer directly under the eye is that you risk using too much product, resulting in an unforgiving finish.
“Of course when you’re younger you can get away with putting on more makeup,” she explained in the video. “But when you have any type of fine lines, this is going to settle into them, it’s going to look cakey. You do not need this much concealer.”
“If you need this much concealer, you need to be using a colour corrector underneath your concealer to actually cancel out the darkness,” she continued.
The other reason Murdick’s not a big fan of applying your under eye concealer with wild abandon (especially the outer corner of the eye)? “It visually widens the face and that is not flattering on everyone,” she explained. “For instance, on somebody like Selena Gomez, that is the widest part of her face naturally.”
“I would never highlight there, and you shouldn’t either,” Murdick advised. The one exception? “If you know that it flatters your face.”
“This is so much concealer I can barely blend it out,” she said. “You might be looking at it thinking ‘oh my god, that looks great, it’s so bright’. But this is so much in person.”
“What should you do instead?”
The answer is simple: “Never put the product right on your face.”
Instead, Murdick advises using a brush to pick up the product then blend and build to your heart’s content. “I like to use a blending brush and pick up a teeny amount of product and sweep it under the eye. Just blend it out in the areas that need less coverage… [like] the outer edge of your eye.”
If you’re on the fence and like to conceal your outer corner, Murdick recommends using a small spot rather than a healthy swipe of concealer. And you can always rely on a colour corrector underneath your concealer to cover dark circles.
“I know that it’s super hard when you’re learning makeup on Tiktok to kind of figure out if these trends are something that is going to work out for you,” she sympathised. “That’s why it's important to learn the principles behind makeup, so you know why you’re doing what you’re doing, instead of just blindly copying people's routines.”
Want to see the celeb makeup artist’s concealer application technique for yourself? Check out the tutorial below:
After a new concealer to tackle your under eyes? These are the most-trusted concealers for covering dark circles and tired eyes.
Main image credit: @makeupbymelissam
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
