Picture it, a minimum of an hour painstakingly spent carefully applying makeup, just to look into the mirror with caked foundation, slug eyebrows, misplaced contour and mascara all over your eyelids. If you are here reading this article, you probably know the feeling.
Looking back, I don’t blame the kids that started doing makeup when they were 12 because now, they produce looks like makeup artists. I was not one of those girls or boys, so I am left here looking like I dipped my face into paint – in a violent manner. It is truly disheartening, especially when you have an event to get ready for with no skilled friends free to help you out. I am ridiculously reliant on a friend that gets me ready for every night out and date as I am just too hopeless.
While in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t the end of the world, it is upsetting when you fail at a ‘simple’ task of lining your eyes. So, while I am still not an expert at all, I can produce a basic look after researching online and through friends into how to help the makeup process. Here are the tips I actually found helpful:
I cannot emphasise this enough. While I admit I have given up after months of a basic yet dedicated skin regime, I did see a huge difference in the application. Prior to the change in my ways, my skin routine was water and wet wipes – horrific I know. My makeup always appeared caked as while I had minimal breakouts, I had awful skin texture.
After a couple of months of putting a routine in place with a proper cleanser, exfoliator, and moisturiser, I found my texture improved massively. While this might not have the extreme effects for you that it did for me, either way, your skin will be healthier – it’s a win-win situation!
No matter what products you use there will almost always be some kind of fallout. And while many can just brush it away or blend in more concealer without disturbing their efforts, if you’re like me it isn’t that simple. You will go for the wet wipes exposing the mess that is your skin underneath and struggle to reapply and blend the foundation back in. So, in my inept opinion, always leave the foundation until you have ‘perfected’ the eyeshadow and eyebrows.
While I have not yet ventured into colourful eyeshadow looks, I am now capable of producing a natural look which I will occasionally mix up with a bit of glitter. I do the basic cover coat of a light beige, with light brown at the outer eye, a warmer colour over the crease and a pop of highlighter on the inner corner. And while it typically goes well as it is pretty basic, sometimes the different eyeshadows just form to look like patches all over my eyelid.
When this happens – this will make the experts squirm – I just grab a medium-sized brush (just slightly bigger than my eyelid) and blend. While too much can end up removing a lot of the eyeshadow just the right amount can fix your failure. This will also work at any time you have over-applied any product, so it does come in handy.
This may seem like an easy step but for some strange reason, I struggled with this one the most. Most likely because my face is a frustrating combination of round, oval and rectangular – yes, it’s probably impossible but I just cannot identify which is mine. However, every person I have asked says mine is oval so when I do contour, I go with the recommended placement suggested by the website Iconic London.
I can’t really tell if it makes a huge difference but whenever I do it, I get compliments, so I won’t stop any time soon. Also, do not use warm products when you have cool tones and the reverse, you will look like a clown.
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