In the makeup community, whether it’s the celebrity makeup artists or social media makeup artists, they have similar lingo. Here’s a “how-to” guide to what all these words mean.
First term is “MUA“, an abbreviation of Make-Up Artist popularly used in pop culture.
“Beat your face“: This means that you have taken your time to do your makeup, from baking for the full 20 or more minutes to contouring and doing your eyeshadow.
“Cut Crease“: This means you “cut” a part of your eyeshadow with concealer or light eyeshadow to draw attention to the shape of your eye.
“Hitting Pan“: When you’ve reached the bottom of the container of any powdered product, like your eyeshadow pan or pomade container.
“Holy Grail”: This is used to emphasize how crucial and important part of your routine. It could be a makeup or cleansing product.
“Cakey“: People avoid looking “cakey” meaning your foundation or concealer gets thicker than it should be.
“Eyeliner Wing“: The small line past your eye towards your brow that looks like a wing on the side of your eye.
“Cat Eye“: Eyeliner wing that gives you the look of a cat’s eye and is normally sharp or pointy.
“No Makeup-Makeup Look“: The illusion that you have no makeup but in reality you have on foundation, concealer, eyeshadow, etc.
“Swatch“: Makeup artists swatch a product on their forearm to show the public how the color and texture of a product is in real life.
“Dupe“: An inexpensive alternative to a much more expensive product.
“T-Zone“: The T-shape that consists of the bridge of your nose and forehead.
There are many articles that included more information on terms. These are just a handful commonly used in social media. Many are easily understood while others are not. These terms can come up in day to day conversation or in makeup tutorials found on YouTube.
