The Best Makeup Setting Sprays of 2024

Rare Beauty’s Always An Optimist 4-in-1 Mist has such a fine mist that I couldn’t tell if I was coating my face. While this may sound like a negative, I liked that I could casually spritz this without ending up with a drenched face and smeared makeup. After several sprays, I saw a finish that looked shiny in a healthy, dewy-skin way.

I also saw an immediate effect on my under-eyes with this spray. Though both sides of my face looked more powdery than I’d prefer (thanks, dry skin), the sprayed side appeared much better hydrated. My makeup still faded after several hours of wear, but this rang true in varying degrees of every spray on this list. That said, I’d recommend this for someone who is more concerned with adding luminosity and hydration to their skin post-makeup application.

In general, the sprayer on the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Set + Refresh Spray evenly coats the skin, but I could feel some extraneous large droplets landing on my face. Luckily, they didn’t interfere with my makeup, so this was easy to forgive. My skin felt tackier on the side I sprayed but not at all uncomfortable, and the formula dried within a couple of minutes.

Like our Best Overall option, the magic of this setting spray is apparent after several hours of wear. On the sprayed side, my makeup looked less powdery on my cheek and the creases of my concealer—an inevitability for me—were only visible directly under my eye and didn't fan out beyond the outer corner of my eye as they did on the side without spray. I think this spray is a solid option because it produces similar results to our Best Overall, but the application of our winning pick is better because of its finer mist.

The Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray mimics a couple of sprays on this list, including our Best Overall, as the reduction in creasing by the end of day made more of an impact on my experience with it than the initial application.

I used four to five sprays to coat my skin; the formula dried quickly and didn’t feel tacky or uncomfortable at any point. My skin looked dewier on the sprayed side, but I only noticed because I examined my face closely for testing. After several hours of wear, though, my concealer appeared very creased on the side sans spray compared to the side with it. I’d use this option again because of those under-eye results, but I don’t think it offers anything unique from the other sprays on this list.

At first glance, the One/Size On ‘Til Dawn Setting Spray has a lot of similarities to a hairspray for your face but without the sticky, uncomfortable finish. Unlike most of the sprays on this list, this one has a strong, perfume-like fragrance and it’s housed in an aerosol can. Together, these two elements may make you feel like you accidentally pulled the wrong product from your shelf.

As for actual application, it doesn’t leave the skin feeling wet, which means a faster drying time, but that also made me wonder whether I applied enough to see the purported results: keeping the skin matte for 16 hours. Post-application, I could tell that my skin looked slightly more matte (as opposed to shiny), but perhaps because several of my face products, like the Supergoop Glowscreen Sunscreen, impart their own sheen, the matte effects of the spray weren’t very obvious.

Like many of the other sprays, my makeup wore off about as much as I’d expect it to, but I also did not see any difference between the two sides of my face to indicate that one side stayed put or produced less shine.

The Too Faced Hangover 3-in-1 Replenishing Primer & Setting Spray feels refreshing on the skin without making it too damp. It dried quicker than most and didn’t leave a hint of tackiness. All of these qualities make it an easy, comfortable product to use.

It left my skin with a pretty sheen, but I’d want to tamp it down in certain areas, like my forehead and around my nose to prevent my face from looking oily. At the end of the day, I saw less creasing under my eye with the setting spray, but overall, it didn’t make enough of a difference for my skin to warrant the extra step in my routine.

Based on my experience, Milani’s Make It Last Setting Spray has a wetter formula than most. My skin felt drenched despite applying it in the same quantity and from the same distance away as I’d done with everything else. After fanning my face with a piece of paper—something I did with most, if not all, sprays—I was relieved to see it finally dry in about two minutes, but it left behind a tacky, shiny finish that I didn’t love.

I used this briefly years ago and remember liking it, but my skin was drier then, which leads me to believe this formula could be a great option for those with very dry skin who want that ultra-hydrating formula. I also think you may like it if you want something refreshing to keep in your bag in the warm months. It delivers cooling results, but it didn’t do much for my makeup.

There’s not much to say about the E.L.F. Makeup Mist & Set. The mister provides an even coat on the skin and leaves a luminous, yet not-too-damp or shiny finish with a few sprays. I’d still prefer a more matte finish to avoid my skin looking oily, but I didn’t mind this. At the end of the day, my makeup looked the same on both sides—a little dry, in this case.

The NYX Professional Makeup spray is supposed to leave the skin with a matte finish, but I would have thought it promised a dewy one based on my results. Because of the tackiness I felt on my skin, I thought the spray may just need even more time to dry to become matte, but that wasn’t the case either.

After my full-day wear test, the side of my face with the spray looked drier and my pores were more noticeable. If my skin had zero shine to it, I’d understand the dryness and attribute it to the claims of a matte finish, but my skin still looked dewy—it just also had areas where the foundation looked patchy and dry. I’d suggest you skip this, especially if you have dry skin.

As its name implies, the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist is supposed to leave the skin with a glow, and in my experience, it delivered on its claim. However, when I touched my skin to compare how tacky one side felt compared to the other, the side with the spray left foundation residue on my fingers and felt slick—it was almost like Tatcha never dried. I wouldn’t mind this so much if the oilier formula led to a long-lasting sheen on my skin, but both sides of my face appeared equally dry and makeup-faded at the end of the day.

The M.A.C. Cosmetics Prep + Prime Fix+ fell toward the bottom of this list for a simple reason: It made my skin look drier than the side without spray. Sure, others didn’t provide noticeable benefits, but few made my foundation look patchy right off the bat. My makeup also wasn’t any more preserved on the side with the spray after hours of wear.

Right out of the container, I didn’t like the artificial, sweet scent that the Wet n Wild Photofocus Setting Spray had, but my complaints didn’t end there. My makeup looked heavier and my pores more noticeable on the side of my face I tested this on than on the no-spray side. Hard pass.