Makeup Tutorial by Nikki: Tips and Techniques for a Stunning Look

A handful of beauty YouTubers changed what a makeup tutorial could look like, and the Dutch creator behind the channel NikkieTutorials is one of the names that comes up most often in that conversation. Her videos lean toward full glam rather than five-minute routines, which makes them a different kind of reference point than most everyday tutorials.

This guide pulls out the actual techniques worth borrowing from that style of content — cut crease, baking, building coverage in layers — for anyone who wants the glam look without needing professional training to get there.

Nikkie Tutorials Makeup Look: What Made It Famous

Dramatic and full-coverage by design — sharp cut-crease eyes, heavy contour and highlight, a finish built to photograph well under bright lighting rather than blend into everyday skin — this is the style most people picture first. It sits closer to editorial or bridal-event makeup than a quick morning routine.

That's also exactly why it works as a learning tool even for beginners who'll never wear the full version daily — each individual technique inside a dramatic look is easier to see and practice precisely because nothing about it is subtle.

Who Is NikkieTutorials: A Beauty YouTuber's Rise

Nikkie de Jager, who posts under the channel name NikkieTutorials, started uploading makeup videos in 2008 as a teenager in the Netherlands. Her 2015 video "The Power of Makeup" went viral and pushed the half-made-up, half-bare-face format into the mainstream, with other creators picking up the same idea shortly after.

Brand work followed the channel's growth: a 2017 collaboration with OFRA Cosmetics on liquid lipsticks and a highlighter palette, a recurring judging seat on BBC Three's Glow Up, and eventually her own cosmetics line, Nimya, launched in 2021.

The Power of Makeup: The Trend Explained

One side of the face fully done, the other left completely bare — that split-screen format made the argument visually instead of in words: makeup as a creative tool, not a disguise. Other creators picked up the same format within weeks of the original spreading.

The trend is worth understanding less as a specific technique and more as a mindset — treating makeup as something worn for enjoyment rather than obligation tends to make the whole process feel less stressful for beginners specifically.

Nikkie Tutorials Foundation Routine: Building Full Coverage

A full coverage foundation routine built this way starts with color-correcting concealer for specific discoloration, followed by a medium layer of foundation applied and set section by section instead of across the whole face at once. Building coverage this way avoids the heavy, mask-like finish that one thick layer applied in a single pass tends to produce.

Setting each section with powder before moving to the next keeps the base from shifting once concealer and contour go on top of it later in the routine.

Nikkie Tutorials Concealer Technique

A single skin-toned concealer rarely cancels out a strong underlying color on its own. Color correcting first, then covering that with a skin-toned concealer, handles the discoloration in two separate passes instead of asking one product to do both jobs at once. NYX Professional Makeup's guide to color correctors notes that a peach or orange tone "helps counteract dark circles," while green "neutralizes redness," before the rest of the base — foundation and concealer — goes on top to even out the complexion.

Nikkie Tutorials Beginner Makeup Tips

Starting with one technique at a time, rather than trying to replicate an entire glam look on the first attempt, is the most realistic way to actually build toward it. Ten short sessions on just the eye, spaced out over a couple of weeks, add up to more real progress than one long attempt at the full face that ends in frustration.

A smaller brush collection, cleaned regularly, tends to outperform a large one used carelessly — knowing exactly which brush does which job counts for more than how many are sitting in the kit.

Nikkie Tutorials Glam Makeup Tutorial: The Core Steps

Skin prep, color-corrected and set base, cut crease or a similarly defined eye look, contour and highlight, then a bold or precisely lined lip make up the rough skeleton most glam tutorials in this style follow, even when the specific products change from video to video.

Blending time is the part beginners most often underestimate — a genuinely soft crease line or a well-blended contour takes considerably longer to execute than the finished result suggests when watched at normal video speed.

None of these steps require replicating the full look exactly. Borrowing just the eye technique, or just the contour placement, and applying it inside a much simpler everyday routine still captures most of what makes the style work.

Cut Crease Technique: A Beginner's Breakdown

A cut crease uses a lighter shade across the lid and a darker shade precisely along the crease line, creating a sharp division rather than a soft, gradually blended transition — the sharper the line, the more dramatic the finished eye looks. Tape or a similar guide along the crease, removed once the darker shade is set, gives beginners a straighter line than trying to freehand the same shape with just a brush.

Lip Technique to Match a Bold Eye

A dramatic eye generally pairs better with a simpler lip — a nude or muted shade — than with an equally bold lip color, since two competing focal points tend to fight for attention rather than balance each other. A stronger lip, when it's used, usually comes with a slightly toned-down eye rather than both maxed out together.

Makeup for Hooded Eyes

Hooded eyelids partially cover the crease once the eyes are open, so a cut crease drawn in the resting position often disappears the moment the eyes are actually in use. Drawing the shape slightly higher than the natural fold compensates for this specific eye shape, and matte shades hold their definition here far better than heavy shimmer, which tends to catch and blur in the fold.

Setting Powder and the Baking Technique

A heavy layer of translucent powder pressed onto areas prone to creasing or oiliness — under the eyes, the center of the forehead, the chin — and left in place for several minutes before being dusted off is what this technique actually involves. Wikipedia's overview of the baking technique describes it as "applying a heavy amount of translucent powder under the eyes and on the high points of the face" to help "soak up facial oils" and let "the foundation melt into the skin" underneath.

It's a technique built for cameras and long-wear situations specifically, rather than an everyday step — the heavier initial powder layer can look chalky in person before it's brushed away, which is part of why it's rarely used for a quick daytime look.

Highlighter and Contour Placement Together

These two products are meant to work as a pair, not separately — contour carves shadow into the hollows of the face, and highlighter picks out the raised points just above those same hollows to catch the light. Using one without the other flattens the overall effect instead of sharpening it.

A cream highlighter, blended in before powder products go on, melts slightly into skin and reads more natural than a powder version applied cold on top of an already fully set face. A small amount goes further than it looks like it will in the pan, so building up gradually avoids the greasy, overly reflective finish that too much product in one pass tends to create.

Brow Technique for a Defined Glam Look

Brows in this style of makeup tend to be more structured than an everyday routine calls for — filled in with short, hair-like strokes rather than one solid block of color, then set with a clear or tinted gel to hold the shape through several hours of wear. A slightly sharper, more defined arch balances out the heavier eye makeup elsewhere in the look.

Overfilling is the most common mistake at this stage; building color gradually and checking progress from a distance, not just up close in the mirror, catches a too-heavy brow before it's fully set.

Nikkie Tutorials Products Used: A General Overview

High-end and drugstore products both make regular appearances in this kind of content, generally grouped by function rather than price point — a full-coverage foundation, a cream or gel-based contour product, a precise eyeliner brush, and translucent setting powder cover the core tools regardless of which specific brands get featured in any given video.

The underlying steps — color correction, sectional setting, cut crease, baking — transfer to a wide range of budgets and brands. Learning the sequence itself is what carries over; the exact products shown on camera don't need to be tracked down and bought to get a comparable result.

Drugstore Alternatives to High-End Products

The actual method — how much product, in what order, blended for how long — is what determines the result, not the brand printed on the packaging, so most of the core techniques translate directly to budget products.

A budget cream contour stick and a translucent setting powder cover two of the more expensive-feeling steps in this routine for a fraction of the cost of the high-end originals often featured on camera, without changing how the underlying technique is actually applied.

Nikkie Tutorials Products Available in India

International brands featured in Western beauty content aren't always sold locally, though several — Maybelline, L'Oréal, and a growing number of Korean and Indian indie brands — cover comparable formulas across foundation, contour, and setting powder categories. Checking an Indian retailer's own bestseller lists in each category often surfaces a workable local substitute faster than searching for the exact imported product.

Import listings for specific international products do exist on Indian marketplaces, though checking seller authorization and reading recent reviews first avoids the counterfeit risk that comes with unusually discounted listings in this category.

Skincare Before Makeup: Prepping the Base

A full-coverage, long-wear look depends more on what happens before foundation than most beginners expect — fully absorbed moisturizer, a mattifying primer on oilier areas, and skin that isn't actively flaking or irritated all affect how evenly the base sits and how long it lasts through a long day of wear.

Skin that's dry or peeling grabs onto powder unevenly no matter how carefully it's applied afterward. Whatever gets skipped at the skincare stage tends to resurface visibly a few hours in, once the makeup on top has had time to settle into the texture underneath.

Recreating a Nikkie Tutorials Glam Look at Home

Picking one or two signature elements — a defined crease, or heavier contour — and applying them inside a shorter, five-step routine captures much of the visual effect without the full time investment a complete glam look actually requires on camera.

Practicing on a day with nowhere to be, rather than the morning of an actual event, gives enough room to redo a step that doesn't come out right the first time — most of the polish in this style of makeup comes from repetition rather than a single lucky attempt. Filming a quick video of the process, even just on a phone, also makes it easier to spot mistakes afterward that were hard to catch while actually applying the product.

Frequently Asked Questions

What foundation coverage works best for a glam look like this?
Full-coverage, long-wear formulas hold up best under the amount of powder, contour, and setting product a dramatic look typically involves.

How do I get sharp, clean lipstick lines like in glam tutorials?
Lining first with a matching pencil, then filling in with the lipstick itself, gives a cleaner edge than applying lipstick directly from the bullet.

Where can beginners find genuinely beginner-friendly tutorials in this style?
Searching for "beginner" or "simplified" versions of a specific technique, rather than a full glam tutorial, usually turns up content paced more realistically for a first attempt.

How should glam makeup be adjusted for photos specifically?
Slightly heavier contour and a matte base generally photograph better than a dewy, lightly-set look, since camera flash tends to wash out subtler definition.

What's a simple way to practice contour without overdoing it?
Starting with a cream product one shade darker than skin tone, placed only in the natural hollows of the face, avoids the harsh stripe that comes from a shade that's too dark or too far from those hollows.

Are branded palette collaborations from beauty YouTubers worth buying?
They're worth it mainly for the specific shades or formula a particular collaboration is known for — checking reviews for how those shades perform on a range of skin tones is more useful than buying on name recognition alone.

Final Thoughts

A phone camera set to flash tells the truth about a finished look faster than a bathroom mirror does — it's the same harsh, flattening light most event photography uses, which makes it a genuinely useful check before deciding a technique is actually working.

Our own guide to contouring for round faces and breakdown of eyebrow shapes go deeper into two of the specific techniques touched on here, for anyone wanting to practice them individually before combining everything into a full look.