Bake Your Way to a Flawless Complexion With Cornstarch

When Instagram beauty gurus started "baking" their faces, we weren't sure if the technique was just another passing makeup fad or an essential step in the making. But it turns out baking is an indisposable addition to a beauty regimen, and makeup-lovers are getting more innovative with the trick.

Instagram user Miriam Marroquin took to her feed to show off how to hack a pore-free "baked" complexion using a cheap ingredient from your kitchen: cornstarch.

In the quick video, she uses a blending sponge to apply thick coats of the powder to set her under-eye concealer and highlight her cheekbones. She finishes by dusting off the cornstarch with a buffing brush, as you would with a typically used pressed or loose pigment powder. The finished look? A flawless shine-free face that won't break the bank.

However, this affordable hack isn't risk-free. New York City dermatologist Doris Day, MD, told Cosmopolitan.com that she wouldn't recommend the technique. "It's food for yeast that live on the skin," she explained, which means that using cornstarch as loose powder could cause fungal infections on your complexion. Yikes! But if you still aren't looking to blow your budget on setting powder, try using a matte dollar-store eye shadow as an inexpensive substitute.
This post was originally published on March 23, 2016.