This Is What Angel Merino's Beauty Routine Looked Like For a Virtual Pride This Year

Merino began planning Virtual Pride on June 20, an Instagram Live event for members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies to come together, celebrate, learn, and raise money for two organizations, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Black Visions Collective. "I reached out to some of my friends in the community, and everyone was superexcited to be a part of that and come together to celebrate," said Merino. "I think we did a good job at mixing the fun with the subjects that were a little bit more serious."

Virtual Pride kicked off with the segment "Werk Classes With Laganja," where Laganja Estranja, dancer, singer, and drag artist from RuPaul's Drag Race, taught viewers how to work the runway and pose. "Everyone in the comments was just really having a blast," said Merino. "And that was the session that we actually raised the most money in." On the more serious side, Merino had a chat with Gigi Gorgeous on gender identity and feeling comfortable in your own skin.

Donations collected during the Instagram Live event and $10 from every Artist Couture Pride Bundle sold went to the two LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter-supporting organizations.

For Merino, camping out in front of his phone to host the Instagram Live was certainly a change from last year where he was on a float during the New York City parade. Still, he took his time with his beauty prep — if not more, considering he was celebrating at home.

"In the past, because I know I'm going to be out in a parade and at a festival all day long, I kept my makeup more minimal because I know I'm going to just be dancing and doing the most," said Merino. "This year, I knew I was going to be doing everything virtually, so I took the time to prep my skin for makeup, and then I actually took the time to have a full face of makeup and make it a little bit more dressed up."

Without having to worry about his makeup melting off in 90-degree weather, Merino was able to create a full-glam look for Virtual Pride. Ahead, he shared what that looked like.

"I love sheet masks. There's one that I like to use from Shiseido called Benefiance Pure Retinol Intensive Revitalizing Face Mask ($70), and it's infused with this incredible serum that I love. And I literally just had it on as I was laying in bed in the morning, because sometimes when I have events like that, I just need 15 minutes to just lay and think about my day."

"I started off with my Pat McGrath Labs Long-Lasting Foundation ($68), because I really like the coverage, and I love the way it makes my skin look. It's just really dewy. It's nice and lightweight, and with wearing makeup all day long, I don't want to feel like I'm wearing a lot of makeup, so it's the perfect thing for me."

"I did my usual superbright concealer, especially under my eye area, so I went in with a MAC Pro Longwear Concealer ($68)."

"I used the Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder ($46) to just set everything. And I find that the combination between the concealer and that powder just makes me look nice and bright, and it makes me look like I just slept for 12 hours, when in reality, I probably slept like, four."

"Then I just contour with the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer ($52). It's always my signature to really make sure that I look nice and chiseled and contoured. I really wanted to look nice and sun-kissed."

"Our highlighter that's in the Artist Couture Pride Bundle ($45), it's called Yasss — I wanted to make sure my glow was super, super on fleek, so I literally wore that highlighter all over my face. I used it on my eyes, too, because it just gives your eyes a really pretty sheen."

Artist Couture is donating $10 for every makeup Pride Bundle sold on their website to the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Black Visions Collective.

"Fr my eyes, I used our Artist Couture Supreme Nudes and Pressed Pigment Eyeshadow Palette ($40), which was the perfect everyday palette. And I used that to lightly warm up my crease."

"Then I used a pair of Lilly Lashes Faux Mink False Lashes Miami ($26). I really relied on the lashes to bring the look home for my eyes, because I wanted them to look really bright and awake. There's this style that she has named Miami, that I like that they're a little bit more piecey. In my opinion, it just kind of makes my eyes look a bit more doll-like, and it just makes me just look more bright and awake."