If you’re a dance mom, you already know: competition makeup is basically its own event.
There are early call times, hotel bathroom lighting, lashes that refuse to cooperate, lipstick touch-ups between numbers, and at least one moment when someone asks, “Mom, where’s my ___?” while you’re holding approximately six other things.
After plenty of competition weekends, we’ve figured out which products actually earn a permanent spot in our makeup bag. These aren’t products sitting untouched at home waiting for the perfect occasion. They’re the things we pack, use, repack and inevitably dig through backstage.
So, unzip the bag. Here’s what’s inside.
First Things First: The Bag
Before we even get to the makeup, can we talk about the actual bag?
A good competition makeup organizer is one of those purchases that doesn’t seem exciting until you’re trying to get a dancer stage-ready at 6:30 in the morning in a crowded dressing room.
We love a hanging travel makeup organizer with clear compartments because we can actually see everything without completely unpacking it. Brushes have a place. Lashes have a place. Lip products have a place.
Does everything always make it back into its designated place during competition chaos?
Absolutely not.
But we start with good intentions.
SHOP IT: Hanging Makeup Organizer
The Base
Stage makeup has to do a little more work than everyday makeup. We want enough coverage to hold up under stage lights and through a long competition day, while still looking like our girls.
This has earned its spot in our competition bag as our foundation/base. It’s easy to work with, affordable, and gives us the coverage we need for stage and doesn’t require us to bring half of Sephora to competition.
SHOP IT: Maybelline Fit Me Foundation
Nothing glamorous here, but they’re a must. We keep beauty sponges in the bag for foundation application, blending and quick touch-ups.
And yes, this is one of those things we like having extras of.
THE 8 COUNT EDIT — BUY THE BACKUP: If it’s small, inexpensive and absolutely necessary when you’re getting ready, put an extra in the bag.
SHOP IT: Beauty Sponges
Eyes: Where Stage Makeup Starts Looking Like Stage Makeup
Competition eye makeup is definitely not the time for our everyday barely-there look. Stage lights change everything, so eyes need enough definition to actually show up from the audience.
A neutral Morphe palette gives us the shades we need to create a competition eye without packing five different palettes. Light shades, transition colors and deeper shades for definition—all in one place.
SHOP IT: Morphe Eyeshadow Palette
Eyeliner is one of those little products that makes a huge difference onstage. It helps define the eye and finish the competition look, so there is always one tucked into our bag.
Preferably two.
Because competition weekend is not the time to discover your eyeliner has dried out.
SHOP IT: Eyeliner
Even with false lashes, mascara stays in the bag. It helps blend everything together and is great for touch-ups throughout the day.
SHOP IT: Mascara
Tiny? Yes.
Easy to forget? Also yes.
Annoying when you realize you left it at home? Absolutely.
Into the competition bag it goes.
SHOP IT: Eyelash Curler
Lashes. Because Obviously.
Is it even competition morning until someone is sitting completely still while a dance mom gets dangerously close to their eyeball with lash glue?
False lashes are one of those things that instantly takes makeup from regular makeup to stage ready.
We keep our competition lashes right in the makeup bag along with adhesive so everything is together when it’s time to get ready.
We like stage lashes that add enough drama to be visible under competition lighting without completely overwhelming the dancer’s face.
SHOP IT: Competition Lashes
This deserves its own paragraph.
Pack. Extra. Lash. Glue.
We don’t care if the tube in your bag feels full. Bring another one.
THE 8 COUNT EDIT — DANCE MOM RULE: If losing it, breaking it or discovering it’s empty could cause a backstage crisis, pack two.
SHOP IT: Lash Glue
Stage lights can wash everything out, which means a little color goes a long way toward bringing dimension back to the face.
Thrive Causemetics Blush Stick
Blush is one of those products that can look like a lot when you’re standing in a hotel bathroom and then look completely normal once your dancer hits the stage.
Competition makeup math.
We keep our Thrive Causemetic Blush stick in the bag for color that will actually show up under the lights.
SHOP IT: Thrive Causemetics Blush Stick
Lip products are probably among the most frequently touched-up things in our entire bag.
Eat a snack? Touch up.
Drink water? Touch up.
Finish a number? Check the lips.
Take team pictures? Definitely check the lips.
We keep our competition lip color right where we can grab it quickly throughout the day.
THE 8 COUNT EDIT — BACKSTAGE TIP: Once you’ve found the exact competition lip color you need, buy a second one and leave it in the competition bag. One less thing to remember when packing.
SHOP IT: Competition Lip Color
The Little Things That Save You
Not everything in our makeup bag is actually makeup.
Some of the least exciting items are usually the ones we’re happiest to have when something goes wrong.
We keep Q-tips/cotton swabs around for fixing eyeliner, cleaning up lipstick and dealing with lash glue. We also keep extra applicators, brushes and little tools tucked into the compartments because competition morning is not the time to realize something is missing.
These aren’t necessarily the products that make the pretty Instagram flat lay.
They’re the products that save you backstage.
SHOP IT: Cotton Swabs
And Then… We Have to Take It All Off
Possibly the least glamorous part of competition day.
After the costumes, awards, pictures, adrenaline and approximately 47 trips back and forth to the dressing room, there is still one final event:
Removing competition makeup from an exhausted dancer.
This is why makeup remover permanently lives in our bag.
Physicians Formula Coconut Milk Eye Makeup Remover
Eye makeup remover is especially important when we’re dealing with mascara, eyeliner, lash adhesive and everything else we’ve put around the eyes.
SHOP IT: Physicians Formula Coconut Milk Eye Makeup Remover
Neutrogena Makeup Remover Wipes
We keep individually wrapped Neutrogena makeup-remover wipes tucked into the bag because they’re easy to travel with and perfect for competition weekends.
They’re also great for quick cleanup when makeup somehow ends up somewhere it was never supposed to be.
Which it will.
THE 8 COUNT EDIT — BACKSTAGE SAVIOR: Individually wrapped makeup wipes. Toss a few in every dance bag and thank yourself later.
SHOP IT: Neutrogena Makeup Remover Wipes
Shop Our Competition Makeup Bag
If you’re building your own competition makeup bag—or realizing yours could use a little restock—here’s the quick version of what you’ll find in ours:
Hanging Makeup Organizer • Foundation • Beauty Sponges • Eyeshadow Palette • Eyeliner • Mascara • Eyelash Curler • False Lashes • Lash Glue • Blush • Competition Lip Color • Stage Glitter • Cotton Swabs/Applicators • Eye Makeup Remover • Makeup Remover Wipes
This Is Just the Beginning…
The makeup bag may be packed, but if you know competition dance, you know that’s only one bag down and approximately 47 more to go.
That’s exactly why we’re turning this into a series.
In Inside Our Competition Bag, we’ll keep opening up the bags, bins and suitcases that travel with us through competition season—from hair essentials and backstage emergency supplies to snacks, recovery favorites, hotel must-haves and all those random little things you don’t realize you need until you really need them.
At this point, we’ve learned that being prepared for competition isn’t about bringing more stuff. It’s about knowing that when you’re sitting on the floor of a dressing room with one dancer halfway through makeup, another looking for her costume earrings, someone asking what time awards start and approximately seven minutes until you need to be backstage… the thing you need is actually in the bag.
Will we still forget something eventually?
Probably.
But hopefully it isn’t the lash glue.
Life behind the eight count is a little chaotic. At least the makeup bag can be organized.
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