Watch Zara Larsson’s 10-Minute Everyday Makeup Routine

“Makeup allows you to express yourself, and it allows to show people who you are, even what your opinions are or who you are as a person before you even open your mouth,” Swedish singer Zara Larsson says in a new video for Allure — but it just so happens she starts that video by opening her mouth to sing a few lines of “Ordinary Girl” from Miley Cyrus’s Hannah Montana days. You know, as one does to kick off their 10-minute makeup routine. 

Larsson’s beauty routine actually starts off with a La Roche-Posay product, but perhaps not the one you were expecting. It’s the brand’s Purifying Hand Gel — yep, the hand sanitizer it launched when the pandemic was in its early days. “It feels extra nice, especially in these times to know that I’m really not making a mess of my makeup,” she says.

Not a fan of primer despite admitting she has some “sizable” pores, Larsson goes right in with It Cosmetics CC+ Cream, which just so happens to be an Allure Readers’ Choice Award winner. She applies it with a sponge before moving on to Tarte Shape Tape Concealer (yet another Readers’ Choice Award winner; clearly the singer has fabulous taste in makeup), which she blends with the same sponge. Worried that her complexion makeup shades are a little too light, she adds a little dimension back into her face with Benefit Hula Matte Bronzer, which — guess what — is an Allure Best of Beauty Award winner.

Larsson applies Glossier Skywash near the outer corners of her eyelids, blending with just her finger and following up with Nyx Epic Ink Liner. You may be surprised to see that, instead of creating a sharp cat eye as many do with a liquid-liner pen, she smudges it with a brush. “So this is what I’ll do every day,” she says. “And then I’ll do that for a couple of months, and then I’ll find a new technique, and then I’ll do that.”

After going in lightly with a brow pencil, and reminiscing about the days when we all put lots of highlighter on our brow bones, she adds mascara and goes in with a little more liner. She applies a nude MAC liner and lip gloss, but says it will last only about another 10 minutes because of how much she licks her lips. 

Watch her whole routine 10-minute routine below to find out when and why Larsson started wearing makeup, how Swedes approach makeup differently, and why she’s so fond of the baking method.