In the Chair: How to Nail Flawless Race Day Makeup

A step-by-step guide to creating the ultimate makeup look for your next race day.

Welcome back to In the Chair, our beauty series where we break down today's most sought-after makeup looks with guidance from industry experts. From timeless classics to innovative techniques, each edition is designed to help you build confidence in your approach to makeup and recreate professional results at home.

This time, we're focusing on perfecting race day makeup.

Unlike weddings or evening events, race day beauty has its own set of considerations. Long hours, changing weather conditions, outdoor photography and elevated fashion all play a role in how your makeup needs to perform. Think perfected skin with a healthy glow, softly sculpted features, flushed cheeks and eyes that feel defined. It's understated occasion makeup with longevity at its core.

Follow along as makeup artist Diana Macoveiu shares her expert techniques for creating a polished race day look with ease.

Written By: Madelaine Law - Published: 15.06.2026

Step 1: Create the Perfect Canvas

Race days usually involve early mornings, hours spent outdoors and countless photo opportunities, so taking time to prepare your skin is well worth it.

Begin with hydrated skin and a primer suited to your needs, whether you're looking to minimise shine, blur texture or enhance glow. Apply products sparingly, concentrating on the T-zone and avoiding heavy layers. For makeup that lasts from opening race to the last champagne toast, build coverage gradually with thin, even applications.

Step 2: Neutralise and Brighten

Before reaching for your complexion products, take a moment to colour correct. A peach-toned corrector helps offset blue or purple shadows on fair to medium skin, while orange tones are better suited to deeper complexions.

This simple colour-balancing step prevents discolouration from showing through later, resulting in a fresher, more skin-like finish for longer.

Step 3: Perfect Your Complexion

Apply 3-4 pumps of foundation onto the back of your hand. Using a dense foundation brush - rather than a beauty blender - keeps the coverage exactly where you want it. With small stippling motions, buff the product into the skin for a seamless finish.

Apply concealer to brighten the under eyes, centre of the forehead, and along the jawline. For extra coverage, blend with a dry powder puff. Building coverage in thin layers helps maintain a fresh, natural-looking finish that won't feel heavy as the day goes on.

Step 4: Sculpt with Cream Formulas

Layering cream formulas helps enhance wear time. Add depth with a cream bronzer, sweeping it just above the cheekbones, across the forehead and temples - anywhere the sun would naturally touch.

For a more defined effect, blend it along the sides of the nose or under the jawline. Complete the look with blush on the apples of the cheeks for a gentle, flushed glow.

Step 5: Lock Everything in Place

With all cream products laid down, it's time to set. Using a loose setting powder, saturate a clean puff and tap off the excess on the back of your hand, ensuring application stays light.

Focus on pressing it beneath the eyes, through the T-zone and chin, then softly press over the rest of the face for a smooth, locked-in finish. This extra step helps minimise unwanted shine and keeps everything looking polished throughout a day spent outdoors.

Step 6: Reintroduce Shape and Definition

It’s time to layer back in the definition you created with creams. Keep application light handed and intentional, using powder bronzer and blush to follow the same placement as previously mapped out with the cream products. This step helps to set the face and extend the wear of your makeup.

Step 7: Mist for a Seamless Finish

With your base perfected, it helps to have two setting sprays ready. One is used to melt everything together for that skin-like finish, while the other locks everything down, ensuring your makeup stays exactly as you've applied it throughout the day.

Step 8: Enhance and Define the Eyes

Start with a neutral wash of colour through the crease and waterline to create soft depth. On the outer lid, take your deepest shade and buff it in using small circular motions, diffusing it toward the centre - the neutral base will keep everything seamless.

Then, with an angled brush, press that same shade along the lower lash line. Brighten by adding your lightest shade to the inner lid and tear duct for a lifted effect. Finish with a light shimmer across the lid for extra impact.

Step 9: Create Fluttery, Fuller Lashes

To create fuller lashes, begin with a tubing mascara, working it through from the root with a gentle side-to-side wiggle for even coverage and separation. Follow by applying cluster lashes underneath your top lashes, allowing them to blend effortlessly into the natural lash line.

Step 10: Finish with a Polished Lip

Start with a lip liner to define the shape, then gently set it using a touch of powder for extra longevity. Apply a lipstick slightly lighter than your liner and add gloss if you want a more luminous finish.