How to Apply Face Makeup

Beauty Enhancement Tips

Cosmetics can certainly enhance your features, as well as help you hide those imperfections that drive us all crazy. The skilled application of liquid foundations, powders, rouges, and shadows can make a dramatic transformation in your appearance, but there are a few tips to remember.

• There is a difference between daylight and nighttime illumination, so you will need to adjust the amount of makeup you wear accordingly. During the day, use your makeup sparingly. The idea is to apply just enough makeup to make you look good without it being too obvious that you are wearing it. Nighttime makeup calls for a little more drama, so you can play up your eyes, and add a little extra rouge.
• Try to stick to neutral shades that are found in nature. While a blue or green-eyed person may be able to get away with blue or green eye shadows, those colors give most of us a sickly skin tone when reflected. Quite honestly, those shades went out of style in the seventies, and they've never really regained popularity since. Shades of pink and coral, with some brown sparingly blended in for contouring look best with most skin tones. This way you are enhancing Mother Nature's hues, not Barnum & Baily's.

How to Apply Face Makeup

Let's break it down by feature.

Facial Skin

A painting is only as good as the canvas underneath, so you have to prepare your face for makeup with a thorough wash and moisturizing treatment. If you need to exfoliate, do it in the evening so your skin can recover some of its natural balance overnight. Once your skin is prepared, it's time to select your foundation. You'll notice that liquid foundations and powders come in a range of skin tones for the lightest to the darkest skin. Most stores have samples available that you can use to test for the best match to your skin. Blend a small amount onto the inside of your wrist. If it seems to even your tone without looking like a coat of paint, you've found the right shade for your face.

Working from your T-zone outward, begin blending a small amount of the foundation onto your skin. Take care to blend at the edges especially, or you will look like you're wearing a mask.

Tip: If you have dark circles under your eyes, use a lighter shade of cover up, or some white eye shadow over that area first, and then blend your foundation over it.

Tip: You can take attention off a crooked or bumpy nose by giving it the illusion of being straight. Screen actress Marlene Dietrich used to draw a line of silver shadow straight down the center of her nose from bridge to tip, right on top of her foundation, and then lightly powder over it. Worked like a charm.

Once your liquid foundation is properly blended, you may wish to brush some loose powder in a complimentary shade over your face to help reduce shine and give your foundation a little extra staying power.

Eyes

Apply makeup with ease.

Remembering the color tutorial above, select three compatible shades of shadow for your eyes. Many cosmetic manufacturers sell powder shadows in perfect trios, and this is the most fool proof way to make your selection, but you can get the same effect with cream shadow sticks too.

• Starting with the lightest shade, apply a thin line just under your brow. This will add a bit of highlight to the finished look.
• Now, apply the medium shade to the rest of your eye lid, and use your finger or makeup brush to blend both colors where they meet in the middle.
• Time for contouring. Using the darkest shade, apply a thin line along the crease in your lid, from the inside outward to the edge. Again, blend softly to create a beautiful look of depth.

Now it's time for mascara, and eyeliner if you wish. You can choose liquid liner, but it requires a steady hand to apply that thin line without wobbling. An eye liner pencil is easier to use, and you can keep the edges soft by blending with your finger. Since these products are also available in shades of black, navy and brown, select the color that looks most natural with your brow and hair color.

Mascara should be waterproof to avoid those tired smudges. Selecting a mascara with a curved brush helps to separate and curls lashes slightly. You can use an eye lash curler if you wish, but this sometimes gives you that false lash appearance. Just brush the mascara on the tips to add depth and length, being sure not to leave any clumps or flakes clinging to your lashes. When it comes to mascara, a light hand is best.

Cheeks

To make your cheek bones more prominent, use two shades of blush, one slightly darker than the other. Apply the lighter shade to the entire cheek area you want to enhance, and blend a small amount of the darker color along the bottom line of the cheek bone. Use your finger or makeup brush to blend where both colors meet.

Lips

For the full effect, you need a lip pencil to line the outermost edges of your lips. This gives you definition. Then, apply your lip color to the rest of the lips, press your lips together to even the coverage, and blot with a tissue to remove the excess.

How to Apply Face Makeup for Best Effect

Nowhere does the old adage "less is more" ring more true than when it comes to how to apply face makeup. Remember to use a light touch, stick with natural colors and blend, blend, blend for a beautiful face that won't remind anyone of a carnival.