Ashley Graham Makeup
Image credit: Instagram/ashleygraham

Ashley Graham is the breath of fresh air we all need on Instagram, and her relatability extends right into her beauty routine. The model, who is also the face of Revlon, uploaded an Instagram makeup tutorial yesterday and it’s quite literally one of the finest examples of its kind (in our opinion). Between the Stevie Wonder playlist and slapdash foundation application, she’s just like the rest of us (sort of) when it comes to putting makeup on. Better still, she’s a fountain of knowledge when it comes to offbeat beauty advice, so we did the work and have listed the best Graham pearls of wisdom below. Enjoy.

She stans this beauty editor-approved antioxidant serum

“I use Skinceuticals Vitamin C serum” [Skinceuticals CE Ferulic]. And “their moisturizer is my favorite.”

Mix your highlighter into foundation

Graham adds a touch of Revlon Skinlights Face Glow Illuminator into her Revlon Candid Foundation for “a little extra life.”

Fingers are best

“I think fingers are the best thing to use in the whole world when it comes to makeup.”

Smudgy liner is perfectly acceptable

Graham is all of us when she applies her chocolate eye pencil haphazardly along her lash line. But blended out with a brush, it looks 10/10. “This is a rock ‘n’ roll smudgy eyeliner… you can be as messy here as you want. If you want to pump it up more, you do black.”

Too smudgy? Use a Q-Tip

“If you get out of the lines, just use a Q-tip to clean it up. That’s what I’m gonna do.”

Swap $$$ brow gels for $12 hair gel

Make like Graham and skip pricey brow mascara for a sticky supermarket hair gel. Just apply a little with a clean spoolie, brushing the brows upwards. The texture will ensure they stay put all day. Genius. “I use [Shwarzkopf] Got2B hair gel for eyebrows. Katie Jane Hughes got me onto it… I am going to pull them up because these girls like to lay down.”

She also likes Oribe but “didn’t bring it” to Nebraska. Good to know.

Blend Your Bronzer

Graham has some sound advice for carving out cheekbones with bronzer without looking like an Instagram filter: “Take your bronzer right into the hairline.”

Giraffe Lashes are a thing 

“I wish I had giraffe lashes where they went out to the side, but I don’t so I have to build out my mascara.” Unless you’re Kendall Jenner, heed Graham’s advice and apply lashings of Revlon So Fierce Mascara, concentrating on the outer corners. “I’m not saying it’s natural. I’m not saying it’s big and chunky. I’m saying it’s right in between.”

Even models have a good side

Graham, on one side of her face versus the other: “You’re cute too… but I like you better.” Models, they’re just like us.

Use eyeliner to color in your mole

In another stroke of makeup wizardry, Graham recommends using a brown pencil to embellish your existing moles. Just “warm it up and press it in,” she explains. The resulting mole is defined, but not in a Marilyn Monroe beauty spot way. “We don’t want her to be fake but we want her to be out and about.” True.

Brow pencil as lip liner is the makeup trick we never knew we needed

Graham also lets us in to another Katie Jane Hughes makeup secret: brow crayon as lip liner. She uses a taupe shade to pull them out and up and the results are pretty spectacular. Try Revlon Colorstay Brow Pencil in Soft Brown.