How I Prevent Patchy Makeup

[sorabor]

For two years I had these random days where I'd wake up, prep my skin, (attempt to) apply my makeup- and be smacked in the face with the most annoying result. Patchy concealer or foundation- especially on my nose. I didn't know what the problem was because of the inconsistent intervals in which it occurred- until FINALLY, I figured it out.

Sleep. Literally just sleep. I've found that on the nights I either sleep less than 5 hours, or the nights where I go to sleep when it's not night anymore and birds are chirping, are the nights that precede my worst skin days and my worst skin-rejecting-makeup days.

When I realized this, I decided to test it out to make sure that I was correct in believing that sleep (rather, lack thereof,) was the problem, and not some underlying skin issue, or an oil vs. water based makeup issue. I stayed up until 5am, went to sleep until 9am, and then attempted to do my makeup. Patchy, flaky, horrible. Hooray! I was correct! (And exhausted.) I kept the bad sleep schedule going over to the next day, and the skin/makeup issue followed me. That night, I went to sleep at 10pm, woke up at 8am, did my makeup, and voilà! Smooth and easy makeup application.

I'm posting this because I've had friends mention similar issues regarding makeup being patchy on random days, and when I told them to try and sleep a little better that night, most of them said that the patchy problem resolved. Obviously, not all patchy makeup issues are a result of bad sleep- acne, dry skin, conflicting ingredients in makeup products, an insufficient skin prep routine, etc., can all be causes for this issue! But lack of sleep tends to be the root cause of most of my surprise skin problems, so if you've crossed out all the other possible reasons for your predicament- try and sleep a little more! It might help.

[lmaster]

@sorabor have you tried exfoliating and hydrating your skin? Definitely make sure your products you are using are not expired 

[sorabor]

Yes! I exfoliate once a week and I use only hydrating cleansers and moisturizers. My skincare routine is perfect for my skin, I believe lack of sleep is the foremost cause for my patchy makeup problems.