Learning how to apply makeup is truly a trial-and-error kind of thing. Who hasn’t spent their Saturday afternoons trying to perfect the smoky eye, contoured to perfection face and winged eyeliner. I have no official training or a beauty business degree, but I have an eye for when a makeup job is done wrong. I can spot a botched contouring job a mile away. From our first meeting, I can tell if you’re using the wrong foundation. I’ll sit in silence watching someone, thinking of ways to accentuate their best features.
Here are some common mistakes I’ve done, and seen, so hopefully if you’re made aware of them now it’ll save you from cringing when looking back and old selfies on Instagram (been there, done that).
1. Getting the Wrong Shade of Foundation
Pretty sure it was my mom that taught me to never buy clothing for your future body, or, what you hope your body will look like after a month long trial of spinning classes. Same goes for foundation! Don’t buy foundation for your future skin tone, or what you imagine your skin will look like in the summer. Buy a winter and summer foundation, and get yourself matched by a pro. Believe me, the ladies at Sephora saved my life when they matched my skin colour – I was wearing two shades too lights but it happens!
2. Putting Powder All Over Your Face
A messed up powder job is really obvious, even to the untrained eye. I command you to put down the compact, and take a massive chill pill. Stick to powder only where you need it: T-Zone, under eye and on top of spots after concealer.
3. Using Only One Concealer
You actually need two; one that is one shade lighter than your skin for your under eye area and a second that is your skin tone for unwanted spots.
4. Wearing Eyeliner Only on the Top or Bottom
If you’re going to put eyeliner on, you might as well do it right. But if you’re going to opt for only one, just liner on the top is the lesser of two evils.
5. Not Blending
I should really write a whole post about this. Blend your makeup until your skin gets raw. Blend until your Beauty Blender literally falls apart. BLEND BLEND BLEND. A lack of blending, like mismatched foundation, is super obvious. Have you ever seen photos of celebs that look super white? Do you know why? Someone didn’t blend their translucent/ setting powder properly. The best way I like to check this, especially if I’m going out where pictures might be taken, is to take a selfie with flash on. If something doesn’t look like, grab that beauty blender and get to it.
6. Not Exfoliating Your Lips Before Lipstick/Lipgloss
This makes a world of difference. For a home remedy, lightly scrub your lips with a toothbrush and pat dry or you can smear some sugar on your lips and rub them together. It’s an easy, 5 second way to avoid peeling, chapped lips one hour into the day. If you’re spending mad cash on a good lipstick, you want to last.
7. Pairing a Dramatic Eye with a Dramatic Lip
This one is really more of an opinion. I personally think a bold lip/eye looks so much more striking on its own. When the two are together, the whole face becomes overwhelming. Keep it simple.
You can take my advice or leave it but I’m honestly just trying to help you babes out! Like I said, wearing makeup is a trial and error thing until you find your niche but I promise that if you can avoid these simple 8 faux-pas, it’ll make your experience a lot easier.
