The art of corrective Make-up
Depending on how much experience you have applying make-up you may think you already have the basics down and don’t need any further advice; but cosmetics are like fashion, they change and evolve over time and many women walk around with a very “dated” or unattractive look and don’t even realize it.When doing a makeover, the only color on the face should come from blush, eye shadow, lipstick, lip gloss, mascara or eye liner. Foundation should be used as a "primer" to create the canvas, not add color! Your foundation must be totally natural-looking or your face will end up too pink, orange, ashy or two-toned.
It is very important to begin with a clean face because great results start with a flawless canvas.The first step in learning how to apply makeup is to select the right shade of foundation. This is the greatest challenge and many women go through their entire lives searching for the right foundation.Foundation is most important makeup product a woman can wear. The right makeup foundation should perfectly match your complexion without leaving your face pink, orange, ashy or two-toned look.
Concealers are of a denser composition than regular foundations and are generally available in sticks, tubes, pots, and creams. Concealers can be used to cover blemishes, dark spots, ruddy areas, marks, veins, freckles or under eye circles.
Your concealer should be one shade lighter than your foundation (and only in extreme cases should you use a concealer two shades lighter).Apply your concealer with a small fine tipped brush for an accurate application.
As with any other application, blending is the key
The only color that should be applied to the cheeks, should come from blush. Blush should be used to "lift" the cheek bones and sculpt the cheeks. They add warmth and color to the face. The look most women want to achieve is that of a warm, natural glow.
Blushers are available in powder, cream or liquid and in a wide variety of tones. Liquid and cream blush should be applied before powder. Generally most women prefer to use a powder blush as it is much easier to apply.
For easy application, sweep blush downward from the ear to mid-cheek, beginning in line with the top of the ear and ending at the end of the apple of your cheek. It is best to choose colors that are close to your skin tone.
Always remember, when it comes to applying your blush, less is best.
While there are rigid rules when it comes to foundations, it is with your eye color that you can allow your creative side to take flight. Your eyes are the focal point of your face. Be sure that your eye makeup techniques and choice of colors are most flattering to your eye shape and color.
With eye color you can create the illusion of new shapes and sizes. Always keep in mind that light colors highlight and dark colors shrink or recede.
Powder eyeshadows come in singles or color coordinated duos, trios or quads. Try to find eye shadows that are highly pigmented. Simply put, you want the shade you see in the container to be the color you see on your eyes.
When applying eyeshadow sweep the lightest shade over the entire area from lash line to brow. This shade will be your base color and is to your eye, what your foundation is to your face. It will hold your color and prevent creasing.
After applying your base color, apply a medium shade on the lower lid. This is the part of the eye that most women apply eyeshadow. Blend into your base shade.
A third color can then be added. Use a deep, dark shade to create depth. Apply this shade along the lash line, and at the outer corner of the eye, emphasizing the crease of the eye and brow bone. Blend well. This is your accent shade and when used can create a more defined eye.
For light-skinned women, gold, taupe or peach are all good choices. For medium-skinned women, gray, mauve or brown can work well. Dark-skinned women should try dark browns, blue or rich violet shades for the daytime.
The eyeliner market is extremely saturated with many brands offering a variety of options in terms of color, texture, and type. Most companies offer pencil, liquid, felt tip and cake eyeliners.
The tissue of the eye area is extremely delicate, therefore when choosing an eyeliner pencil be sure to select one that is soft enough to glide easily. This is one aspect of makeup application that not only takes practice but an extremely steady hand.
Pencil eyeliners tend to be quite popular because they are easier to control and also can give the look that you want to achieve. Liquid eyeliners on the other hand require more practice. They create precise lines once applied with enough control.
The new kid on the block - felt tip liners – are quite similar to liquid eyeliners in consistency and offers the user a bit more control. Cake eyeliners, traditionally used by professionals are now becoming very popular.
For wide set eyes, emphasize the inner corners of the eyes. For close set eyes, emphasize the outer corners, keeping the inner corners highlighted. For drooping eyes, turn the outer end of the liner in an upward direction.
Next to lipstick, mascara is your most effective makeup tool. It is a great eye opener that emphasizes the lashes. Apart from the obvious choice of color, many brands promise to thicken, lengthen, darken, volumize and condition your lashes. Mascaras are also available in waterproof and regular formulas.
Using a proper application technique when applying mascara is extremely important to achieve a finished look. You must ensure that the mascara covers the lashes from the root to the tip of the lash.
For your upper lashes, wiggle the mascara wand back and forth at the base of the lashes to deposit color before rolling the brush through your lashes. Coat lashes from the very base to the tips with full strokes. This method creates a thicker looking lash with the ends separated and the base well defined.
Hold the wand vertically when applying mascara to lower lashes, running this from side to side. Be extremely careful as to avoid smudging the under eye area.
When applying more than one coat, combing through lashes between coats will help prevent clumping.
You can find lipsticks in traditional tubes, pots, pencils, and even wands with innovative designs emerging daily. While color selection is a personal choice, current fashion trends also play a big part in influencing a woman's choice of lipstick.
To create that perfect pair of lips you should start by lining with a neutral colored pencil following your natural lip line. Using a lip brush fill in with lip color of your choice. Use your lip brush to blend the two so that there are no harsh edges.
Sacha Cosmetics lipsticks come in cream, frosted and matte shades.
Finally apply lip gloss over lipstick or alone. Remember that gloss would emphasize and therefore make your lips appear to be fuller.
It is very important to begin with a clean face because great results start with a flawless canvas.The first step in learning how to apply makeup is to select the right shade of foundation. This is the greatest challenge and many women go through their entire lives searching for the right foundation.Foundation is most important makeup product a woman can wear. The right makeup foundation should perfectly match your complexion without leaving your face pink, orange, ashy or two-toned look.
Concealers are of a denser composition than regular foundations and are generally available in sticks, tubes, pots, and creams. Concealers can be used to cover blemishes, dark spots, ruddy areas, marks, veins, freckles or under eye circles.
Your concealer should be one shade lighter than your foundation (and only in extreme cases should you use a concealer two shades lighter).Apply your concealer with a small fine tipped brush for an accurate application.
As with any other application, blending is the key
The only color that should be applied to the cheeks, should come from blush. Blush should be used to "lift" the cheek bones and sculpt the cheeks. They add warmth and color to the face. The look most women want to achieve is that of a warm, natural glow.
Blushers are available in powder, cream or liquid and in a wide variety of tones. Liquid and cream blush should be applied before powder. Generally most women prefer to use a powder blush as it is much easier to apply.
For easy application, sweep blush downward from the ear to mid-cheek, beginning in line with the top of the ear and ending at the end of the apple of your cheek. It is best to choose colors that are close to your skin tone.
Always remember, when it comes to applying your blush, less is best.
While there are rigid rules when it comes to foundations, it is with your eye color that you can allow your creative side to take flight. Your eyes are the focal point of your face. Be sure that your eye makeup techniques and choice of colors are most flattering to your eye shape and color.
With eye color you can create the illusion of new shapes and sizes. Always keep in mind that light colors highlight and dark colors shrink or recede.
Powder eyeshadows come in singles or color coordinated duos, trios or quads. Try to find eye shadows that are highly pigmented. Simply put, you want the shade you see in the container to be the color you see on your eyes.
When applying eyeshadow sweep the lightest shade over the entire area from lash line to brow. This shade will be your base color and is to your eye, what your foundation is to your face. It will hold your color and prevent creasing.
After applying your base color, apply a medium shade on the lower lid. This is the part of the eye that most women apply eyeshadow. Blend into your base shade.
A third color can then be added. Use a deep, dark shade to create depth. Apply this shade along the lash line, and at the outer corner of the eye, emphasizing the crease of the eye and brow bone. Blend well. This is your accent shade and when used can create a more defined eye.
For light-skinned women, gold, taupe or peach are all good choices. For medium-skinned women, gray, mauve or brown can work well. Dark-skinned women should try dark browns, blue or rich violet shades for the daytime.
The eyeliner market is extremely saturated with many brands offering a variety of options in terms of color, texture, and type. Most companies offer pencil, liquid, felt tip and cake eyeliners.
The tissue of the eye area is extremely delicate, therefore when choosing an eyeliner pencil be sure to select one that is soft enough to glide easily. This is one aspect of makeup application that not only takes practice but an extremely steady hand.
Pencil eyeliners tend to be quite popular because they are easier to control and also can give the look that you want to achieve. Liquid eyeliners on the other hand require more practice. They create precise lines once applied with enough control.
The new kid on the block - felt tip liners – are quite similar to liquid eyeliners in consistency and offers the user a bit more control. Cake eyeliners, traditionally used by professionals are now becoming very popular.
For wide set eyes, emphasize the inner corners of the eyes. For close set eyes, emphasize the outer corners, keeping the inner corners highlighted. For drooping eyes, turn the outer end of the liner in an upward direction.
Next to lipstick, mascara is your most effective makeup tool. It is a great eye opener that emphasizes the lashes. Apart from the obvious choice of color, many brands promise to thicken, lengthen, darken, volumize and condition your lashes. Mascaras are also available in waterproof and regular formulas.
Using a proper application technique when applying mascara is extremely important to achieve a finished look. You must ensure that the mascara covers the lashes from the root to the tip of the lash.
For your upper lashes, wiggle the mascara wand back and forth at the base of the lashes to deposit color before rolling the brush through your lashes. Coat lashes from the very base to the tips with full strokes. This method creates a thicker looking lash with the ends separated and the base well defined.
Hold the wand vertically when applying mascara to lower lashes, running this from side to side. Be extremely careful as to avoid smudging the under eye area.
When applying more than one coat, combing through lashes between coats will help prevent clumping.
You can find lipsticks in traditional tubes, pots, pencils, and even wands with innovative designs emerging daily. While color selection is a personal choice, current fashion trends also play a big part in influencing a woman's choice of lipstick.
To create that perfect pair of lips you should start by lining with a neutral colored pencil following your natural lip line. Using a lip brush fill in with lip color of your choice. Use your lip brush to blend the two so that there are no harsh edges.
Sacha Cosmetics lipsticks come in cream, frosted and matte shades.
Finally apply lip gloss over lipstick or alone. Remember that gloss would emphasize and therefore make your lips appear to be fuller.
Some other tips to enhance your makeup
Enhance Shaping you Lips
The size and the shape of a mouth can also be improved by lipstick, lip brush and a little skill. Whenever you use a lipstick, first clean the lips thoroughly and then cover them with the same foundation that you have used on the rest of the face. If you have a lip pencil, outline the shape of the lips you would like to have-smaller, fuller or prettier than the ones you already have. Fill the lip color in carefully the way an artist paints in colors.
For a protruding lip, whether it is the upper or lower one, use a slightly darker lipstick on that lip to make it look smaller. Use a lighter shade of lipstick on the finer lip.
Very fully lips should be outlined just inside the natural line Very fine lips can be made to look fuller by drawing the lip line in a lighter shade of lipstick outside the natural one.
To make that special pleasant expression, bring the corners of the lips a little higher than the corners of the mouth, as you fill in the the lipstick, make the color meet this point at the corners. If you wish to make the finer lips look the same size as the protruding one, use on it a lipstick one shade lighter.
Enhance your eyes
Eyes should be shaped with Kohl pencil or eyeliner. Camouflage dark circles with
concealer stick which is the same color as your facial skin.
The eye liner should start from the center of the upper lid for normal eyes.
For eyes that are set too wide apart, the eye liner should start from the innermost corner of the eye, working gently outwards.
For an oriental look, draw the line slightly extended at the outer corners, giving an almond shaped effect.
To bring out pale, sunken eyes, use a light shade of foundation over the sunken area. Very light shades of color should be used close to the lashes. Eye liner and mascara should be used on the upper lashes only.
For eyes that are too big a very fine line can be drawn along the upper lid. This sounds easy, but it is not. The line must be so fine that even with a hand mirror, nowhere on the skin should the actual line be visible.
A dark shade of powder is useful for reducing puffiness under the eyes. On the other hand, if there are dark cirlees and dark rings, lighter colored foundation and powder effectively conceal the haggard look.
Very round eyes can be elongated by drawing a faint line from the outer edge of the eye and fading it away gently so that there is no perceptible ending.
Eyebrows are very important in the art of illusion makeup. You are to make sure that they are well groomed. They form an exotic frame for the eyes and must be kept in perfect balance with the shape of the face.
In order to achieve this effect, a fine eye liner brush should be used over the upper lid, at the point where the eye lashes meet the skin (the actual line is more on the hairline than on the skin). Large eyes are normally considered signs of beauty in India, and their effect should be emphasized subtly for glamor. Eye shadow should be used on the upper lid only.
Beautifying the Nose
For a short,wide nose, foundation that is two shades darker than the skin tone should be applied at the sides of the nose from the eyebrows to the nostrils. If this is not possible, use a foundation a couple of shades lighter than your skin tone. Streak down the center of your nose, from the bridge to the tip.Be careful to apply the tip also.
In order to make a long thin nose look broader, use a foundation-one or two shades darker than the skin tone, under the tip of the nose. A pug nose can be made to look softer by using foundation one shade darker down the top of the nose and on the edge of the nostrils at the lower end.
Be careful that there is no line of demarcation between the lighter and darker shades, otherwise the illusion is lost.
If our nose is very large, you can make it look less conspicuous, by using powder, a couple of shades darker than the rest of the face.
In this way your can conceal the drawbacks of your face and make it appear prettier than nature intended it to be. Choose the tricks one that suits you, highlight your good features and disguise your weaker ones.
Setting your hair
The wet look for Straight Hair
After shampoo blow dry and library apply gel and comb.
The wet look for curly hair
Apply get in wet hair and use fingers to comb your hair
The dry look for curly hair
Use finger, apply gel and allow to dry and set with fingers.
The dry look for straight hair
Apply gel to wet hair and blow dry. As you dry finger massage hair into different direction.
Enhance Shaping you Lips
The size and the shape of a mouth can also be improved by lipstick, lip brush and a little skill. Whenever you use a lipstick, first clean the lips thoroughly and then cover them with the same foundation that you have used on the rest of the face. If you have a lip pencil, outline the shape of the lips you would like to have-smaller, fuller or prettier than the ones you already have. Fill the lip color in carefully the way an artist paints in colors.
For a protruding lip, whether it is the upper or lower one, use a slightly darker lipstick on that lip to make it look smaller. Use a lighter shade of lipstick on the finer lip.
Very fully lips should be outlined just inside the natural line Very fine lips can be made to look fuller by drawing the lip line in a lighter shade of lipstick outside the natural one.
To make that special pleasant expression, bring the corners of the lips a little higher than the corners of the mouth, as you fill in the the lipstick, make the color meet this point at the corners. If you wish to make the finer lips look the same size as the protruding one, use on it a lipstick one shade lighter.
Enhance your eyes
Eyes should be shaped with Kohl pencil or eyeliner. Camouflage dark circles with
concealer stick which is the same color as your facial skin.
The eye liner should start from the center of the upper lid for normal eyes.
For eyes that are set too wide apart, the eye liner should start from the innermost corner of the eye, working gently outwards.
For an oriental look, draw the line slightly extended at the outer corners, giving an almond shaped effect.
To bring out pale, sunken eyes, use a light shade of foundation over the sunken area. Very light shades of color should be used close to the lashes. Eye liner and mascara should be used on the upper lashes only.
For eyes that are too big a very fine line can be drawn along the upper lid. This sounds easy, but it is not. The line must be so fine that even with a hand mirror, nowhere on the skin should the actual line be visible.
A dark shade of powder is useful for reducing puffiness under the eyes. On the other hand, if there are dark cirlees and dark rings, lighter colored foundation and powder effectively conceal the haggard look.
Very round eyes can be elongated by drawing a faint line from the outer edge of the eye and fading it away gently so that there is no perceptible ending.
Eyebrows are very important in the art of illusion makeup. You are to make sure that they are well groomed. They form an exotic frame for the eyes and must be kept in perfect balance with the shape of the face.
In order to achieve this effect, a fine eye liner brush should be used over the upper lid, at the point where the eye lashes meet the skin (the actual line is more on the hairline than on the skin). Large eyes are normally considered signs of beauty in India, and their effect should be emphasized subtly for glamor. Eye shadow should be used on the upper lid only.
Beautifying the Nose
For a short,wide nose, foundation that is two shades darker than the skin tone should be applied at the sides of the nose from the eyebrows to the nostrils. If this is not possible, use a foundation a couple of shades lighter than your skin tone. Streak down the center of your nose, from the bridge to the tip.Be careful to apply the tip also.
In order to make a long thin nose look broader, use a foundation-one or two shades darker than the skin tone, under the tip of the nose. A pug nose can be made to look softer by using foundation one shade darker down the top of the nose and on the edge of the nostrils at the lower end.
Be careful that there is no line of demarcation between the lighter and darker shades, otherwise the illusion is lost.
If our nose is very large, you can make it look less conspicuous, by using powder, a couple of shades darker than the rest of the face.
In this way your can conceal the drawbacks of your face and make it appear prettier than nature intended it to be. Choose the tricks one that suits you, highlight your good features and disguise your weaker ones.
Setting your hair
The wet look for Straight Hair
After shampoo blow dry and library apply gel and comb.
The wet look for curly hair
Apply get in wet hair and use fingers to comb your hair
The dry look for curly hair
Use finger, apply gel and allow to dry and set with fingers.
The dry look for straight hair
Apply gel to wet hair and blow dry. As you dry finger massage hair into different direction.
Some other Tips
- Take as much time as you need. It allows you to figure out what looks best on your face. If you try to rush, you might do some damage to your skin by dragging.
- Make sure you use makeup and mascara remover before going to sleep. You can use cotton balls, or makeup remover pads. You can usually find makeup remover at your local grocery store and drug store. Taking off your makeup before going to sleep is very important, it's bad for your skin if you don't remove it before going to sleep. Make sure you wash your face after too, it gets off the rest of the foundation and powder. Baby wipes work well, too. Another way is to apply olive oil (or any other kind of oil) to your entire face, rubbing it to make sure that all the makeup is covered. Then, wipe it off and rinse. It will take the makeup off and help your skin too.
- For the best results, apply your makeup with good, natural lighting.
- It's best to start light and add more as you need it.
- If applying both lip color and eye makeup, emphasize one, or the other, never both.
- Make sure all of these colors go with your skin, eyes, and hair colors.
- Have waterproof makeup remover available, and make it part of your daily routine to clean any and all make up before going to bed.
- Younger people should go for a sheer coverage unless you have serious blemishes that need coverage.
- All makeup is different so make sure you get the closest color to your natural skin tone.If you want your makeup to stand out wear really colorful eye shadow in combination with red lipstick. If you want to cover up pimples, only go with liquid spot remover then put brown blush over it. This makes it look more natural.
- Keep in mind the difference between day makeup, night makeup, and special occasions. Day makeup is light and tinted with neutral colors. Night makeup is more strongly tinted but never very heavy or caked on - use stronger colors. Special occasions take special items like false eyelashes, liquid liners, and highlighting under the eyes - look at the magazines around awards season.
- Focus on one part, or two at most, of your face. Don't use a bold hue of lipstick with stand-out eyeliner and a bright shade of blush. Instead, zero in on the eyes and lips, or blush/skin. Keep it simple; don't over-do your makeup applications.
- The amount and type of makeup that you wear is completely up to you. You know your face better than anyone - take the time to experiment. Makeup is, quite literally, the art of painting faces. Experimenting allows you to find what works best for you.
- Don't apply harsh colors to cheeks especially if you have larger pores, this will help with the invisibility of your pores. If you don't have visible pores still use this tip because it will look fake and you will get the stripe that is mentioned a few tips down.
- Make sure that your lips do not look chapped or cracked before you put on lipstick. If your lips are chapped, lightly brush off the dead skin cells with a toothbrush or towel. Next, apply chapstick with an SPF of 15 so your lips will look great all day. This way you have a nice, smooth, clean canvas to work with.
- Lipstick and lip gloss are very different - keep this in mind when you apply them. Lipstick adds color to your lips while lip gloss just makes your lips shiny and sometimes sparkly.
- If your skin doesn't look smooth, put foundation on before the other makeup, making it look smooth.
- Quality is always better than quantity. If you have $50 for your entire face, don't get 10 cheap things, get 4 good-quality things ($25 foundation, $10 mascara, $10 for blush, and then a $5 lip-gloss).
- Try using tinted moisturizer instead of foundation. It looks more natural and it's much easier to match to your skin tone.
- Wearing lighter colors makes it easier to avoid over-application.
- Always apply a foundation that contains at least an SPF of 15. If your foundation does not contain sunscreen, apply a separate sunscreen before starting your makeup routine. Wearing sunscreen will keep your skin looking healthy and decrease the likelihood of wrinkles. Look for something that is oil-free to reduce the chance of getting acne. It will also smell less strong. Your make-up might also turn a different (darker) color that will not blend with your skin tone as well.
- Sometimes they have free makeovers scheduled at the mall on a walk-in basis. It's fun, and you learn a lot about your skin without spending a ton of money.
- When choosing eye makeup, take the occasion into consideration. For everyday makeup, just use a pencil. Black or dark brown will do. Liquid eyeliners are best for special occasions. Your eyeliner should be more natural looking for day makeup, and can be a bit heavier for evening looks. If you want a more dramatic look, dot the eyeliner under the lash line, then use the angle brush to blend. Your mascara will bring the eyes out more.
- If your lashes don't stay curled well, or you need to keep them curled for a long period of time, try blow drying your eyelash curler before using it. Just make sure it isn't too hot. It's like a hot roller for your eyelashes and keeps them curled even when you have a lot of heavy mascara on.
- Eyeshadow sometimes falls onto your eyelashes and on oily skin, and it can smudge underneath your eye. To avoid this, use a make-up wipe or a cotton bud with a little make-up remover on it, and gently sweep it over your eyelashes from root to tip to pick up any leftover eyeshadow.
- To prolong your eyeshadow staying power use an eyeshadow base. Or you can use a good vitamin E cream (this also moisturizes your skin).
- Petroleum jelly takes off eye makeup really well. Put it over the eyeshadow and over any eye makeup, and get a towel to wipe it off.
- When you apply eyeshadow, it's common for specks of color to fall onto your face. This is a pain to get rid of after you've already perfected your foundation. If this happens frequently, apply your eyeshadow first, clean up the mess and then apply foundation. Alternatively, if there are only a few specks, you can just very carefully pick them up off your skin with tweezers.
- If you are an active person who needs to wear makeup to the gym, make it waterproof.
- If you don't have eye makeup remover, you can use baby shampoo, that way if it gets in your eyes it won't sting.
- Try to buy non-comedogenic makeup (it won't clog your pores). Read the packaging for more information.
- Know your style and work it. Show off your inner beauty with your eye makeup.
- Don't copy some other person's makeup, switch it up. Be yourself. Do what you want. But, if you like it, take parts.
- Clean your makeup brushes at least once a month with a makeup brush cleaner. Also, try not to share brushes.
- Always remember little goes a long way. You don't want to end up looking like a clown!
- Allow yourself to purchase different mascaras to enhance length, durability, and volume to your lashes. This could a have an impact on what look you would like to achieve.
- Drugstore makeup works really well if you choose the right things. Check reviews online, and don't waste money on high-end products.