Tate McRae's 10-Minute Makeup Routine Involves an Internet-Famous Foundation Hack and a $9 Mascara

Tate McRae, singer, songwriter, and all-around Gen Z beauty icon, recently shared her go-to 10-minute makeup routine with Allure. Even though it's only 10 minutes, it packs a punch. First, she shares an internet-famous foundation hack that keeps her makeup from looking too heavy. Then, she applies a $9 mascara she swears by for bold, look-at-me lashes, an iconic lip liner, and more. Needless to say, I took notes (and shopped a few of her favorite items while I was at it).
In the video, she says she keeps her makeup routine simple with the defining elements being subtle winged eye shadow, sparkles, and bronzer. "Just what I would do for old competition dance, kind of," she says. If it's not broke, don't fix it, right? Keep scrolling to see the 11 tried-and-true items in her makeup bag.
The first item McRae uses is actually a moisturizer and a drugstore one at that. "I've actually been seeing this all over the internet recently where people take moisturizer and they mix it with their foundation, so I started trying it, and it's been so great." She says it's a good trick "if you just don't want your foundation too heavy," because she hates "it so much when it's too heavy."
She mixes the moisturizer with this foundation-sunscreen hybrid. "Usually I go very natural on the foundation," she says. "I don't like to do too much, especially because when I get on stage or go throughout my day, I'm doing a lot—usually being really active, dancing, working out, so I like to not clog my skin."
For brows, McRae ditches pencils and pomades for this transparent, strong-hold brow gel. She brushes it up and out to shape her arches before pressing down with her finger, which is a trick she learned from her makeup artist, Lilly Keys. "I think it stays more," she says.
McRae uses this concealer sparingly to brighten her under-eyes and the space between her brows. She blends it in with her trusty Beautyblender ($20). "I use Beautyblenders for everything," she says. "I think it's so much easier than brushes."
Next, McRae reaches for this bronzer. "It's one of my favorites," she says. She even uses it to contour her nose with a small eye shadow brush.
McRae uses this luminous blush on her cheeks, nose, and eyes for a monochromatic, pink glow. "I kind of like to do this across my nose, on my cheeks—I like that summer, sun-kissed look. Then I put some on my eyes, cause why not?"
After applying faux freckles with what looks like ColourPop's Freckle Pen ($9), she focuses on eye makeup—specifically glitter eye makeup. She calls it her "favorite part." Using a mix of neutral shades to define her eye shape before going in with a gold-toned glitter on her eyelid, she says, "This is, I think, the only reason people think I'm good at makeup is because I cover myself in glitter on stage. I love glitter. It makes everything so much better."
Once her eye shadow is done, McRae reaches for this lengthening and volumizing mascara, which she says is "actually so good." After seeing the way it lifts and defines her lashes, I have to agree.
McRae was in the Rhode Lip Shape campaign with Hailey Bieber, so it's no surprise she uses one in her go-to makeup routine. She applies it roughly to the perimeter of her lips for blurred definition—almost as a lip contour rather than a lip liner.
For *actual* lip liner, she uses the iconic Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk pencil. "This is just a classic," she says. "I've used this for so many years, and I can never get enough. It's the best shade. It's such a cute little pink color."
As the cherry on top of her go-to makeup look, McRae uses this hydrating lip oil from Neutrogena. "I've never done a matte lip," she says. "I'm sorry. I love a gloss. I'll always be a glossy girl. It's such a fresh finish to makeup routines."

Kaitlyn McLintock is a Beauty Editor at Who What Wear. She has 10 years of experience in the editorial industry, having previously written for other industry-leading publications, like Byrdie, InStyle, The Zoe Report, Bustle, and others. She covers all things beauty and wellness-related, but she has a special passion for creating skincare content (whether that's writing about an innovative in-office treatment, researching the benefits of a certain ingredient, or testing the latest and greatest at-home skin device). Having lived in Los Angeles, California, and Austin, Texas, she has since relocated back to her home state, Michigan. When she's not writing, researching, or testing beauty products, she's working through an ever-growing book collection or swimming in the Great Lakes.
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