Five Beauty Tips That Changed My Life

I don't know if any of you know this but I only became interested in makeup in May of 2014. I've only been interested in makeup for less than a year and in that time I have watched an insane amount of YouTube videos from beauty gurus and read a copious amount of blog posts that deal with makeup tips & tricks. I watched a lot of videos before I even bought my first products for a collection and watched for instructions on how to use this and that so that I could see if I was comfortable enough to use it. I felt like Miss Congeniality when Gracie is left to fend for herself at the pageant and is rifling through the products and wondering which one is lipstick. In all the time that I've come up with my own techniques that work for me and I've going to share my top 5 of the moment.

APPLY CONCEALER AFTER FOUNDATION

 

You're either a foundation then concealer or concealer then foundation kind of person. I used to do my concealer first and then apply foundation but that didn't last long. For months and months now, I've been applying my foundation first and then my concealer. Here's why. When you apply concealer first, applying foundation over the top can shift the concealer and you then may need to re-apply it thus wasting product. Foundations come in varying degrees of converage and you sometimes might not need concealer and so it's better to see how well the foundation covers everything first before potentially wasting time and concealer.

FILL IN EYEBROWS BEFORE DOING LINER

 

This will ultimately help you with getting those much sought after matching cat-eye flicks. The best trick to getting those flicks is to follow the line from your lower lashline through and up towards the tail of your eyebrow. You can get it by placing some sticky tape or sticky note tabs that are lined up like that. But I find that they aren't the most reliable techniques. Filling in your eyebrows and cementing where you want that tail to end really helps you see where you're going to aim that flick. I've been doing this a lot recently and my flicks are so much more even. They may not be perfectly precise, but they look more equal than they did when I previously just winged it. Had to say it.

MATCH FOUNDATION TO YOUR NECK

 

This seems to be something that people don't realise is what you're meant to do. People instinctively match their foundation to their face and I've been so guilty of this - I'm still learning a lot of things here! I've tended to cheat it by bringing my foundation down to my neck so that you don't get that line between the jaw and the neck so it looks a bit more seamless. But in actual fact, it's best to match your foundation to your neck so that you're all the one colour. So to do this, take a very small amount of foundation from the tester and place it just under your jawline at your ear and if you can, go outside and see how it looks in daylight. The spotlights of stores are very misleading and I work with stage lights a couple of months out of the year so I know how washed out those things can make makeup appear. This is especially true if you self-tan and exfoliate your face a lot as your face will be a different shade to your neck. I once saw a womani in Belfast with a tanned neck and a porcelain face. Not a good look at all, guys!

LOOK DOWN INTO A MIRROR WHEN DOING EYELINER

 

Tilt your head down just slightly and look down more with your eyes than your head, if that makes sense. It'll really help you to see your lashlines and you aren't fighting with your eyelashes as much when doing your eyeliner. With mascara, however, it's best to tilt your head back to do your upper lashes and then down again for the bottom lashes.

KEEP YOUR EYE OPEN WHEN DOING EYELINER

 

As much as possible that is! Naturally there are points during eyeliner application when you need to keep your eye closed and I'm talking about the eye that you're actually lining. I've found that whenever I'm lining my eye whether it's with eyeshadow or gel liner or liquid liner, it is easier to see what is happening with my lashline when my eye is open and I'm looking down into a mirror (see previous point). It's easier to see how thick that line is going onto your lid and you can see how evenly you're drawing it. Eyeliner can look deceptively thin when the eye is closed and then when you open it, the line is so much thicker than you intended it to be, so try to keep it open as much as you can. It's easier to even it out when both of your eyes are open. It may be easier to hit my eyelid accidentally with the product but que será, I'll live with that when I have an even line.

 

 

This seems to have a lot of tips and tricks to do with eyeliner but they are tried and tested and I'm not the only one advocating some of these. I hope that these help you in your makeup application and I'll share some more at a later date.