I think “rules” are important, so long as they’re breakable/bendable.  If we have no rules, I think some of us wouldn’t know where to start!  It’s good to recognize that not all rules are applicable to everyone or every situation.  I suppose guidelines might be a better term 🙂
Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
Discussion and debate are highly encouraged, and we expect community members to participate respectfully. When asking a question, please check the post above for information regarding pricing, availability, dupes, and availability, and keep discussion on-topic. If you have general feedback, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us.
Comments that include advertisements, self-promotion, insults, etc. may be in violation of our comment policy and subject to deletion. Please see our comment policy for more information.
If you don't see your comment yet, it's still in our moderation queue. We try our best to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind. Thank you for your patience!
I think it’s good to develop your own rules as you learn things. For instance, I cannot wear red eyeshadow, or even anything that leans too plum/maroon/burgundy/red. It just doesn’t work on me. So that’s one of my rules for myself. Otherwise, I think rules/guidelines are most helpful to beginners.
I agree with you also! I’m the exact opposite – all those colours you’ve listed look great on me whereas a lot of bronze and brown shades look bad. Black eyeliner looks hideous and because I have deep-set, big eyes anything with a very pronounced crease looks silly too… when I do a smokey eye I blend the dark colour up from the upper lash-line, not into the crease. It’s really a very personal thing what colours/techniques look good on you.
lol, that’s so strange, we’re on total opposite sides of whatever color wheel makes makeup look good on people! (that’s probably not a thing, but I wonder…) Yeah, bronze and brown tends to be what looks BEST on my eyes.
Wheee!! 😀 Ahem.
I’ve recently taken a great dislike to the “rules”. Guidelines ARE probably a better term, and yes we do need some guidance to know that, oh, lipgloss doesn’t really work if you put it on your forehead!
I know that I personally was so immobilised by fear of getting it wrong that for a long time I was very safe and limited with my makeup. I was in fear of breaking the “rules”. Then through reading this blog, other blogs, watching Youtube (Dustin Hunter especially, he’s amazing), I realised I can do whatever I WANT with makeup.
My point is: I feel a lot of the messages out there are negative. They’re a lot about what you can’t/shouldn’t do. There aren’t many positive messages out there. Makeup is supposed to be fun! And moreover, it’s about making you happy, not conforming to a bunch of rules.
Plus! Makeup washes off 🙂
I agree with what you say, the last part specifically. There are so many gossipy magazine/internet articles about the “unforgivable make-up mishabs of the celebs” that it can seem like the easier option to just stay away from all that drama. I honestly do think people should be encouraged to do whatever /they/ want and feel looks good on them, without set rules or even guidelines (as that implies a ‘norm’ or ‘supposed to be like that’).
I think it makes more sense to teach people basics – like: colour-wheel, how to blend, how to cut-crease, how to contour, how to highlight, what effect you get with what blush consistency/colour and then just let them take it from there.
Took the words right out of my mouth!
Very well stated and I couldn’t agree more.
BRAVO!!
I like the term guidelines instead of rules 🙂 For beginners, they’re helpful to have so you know things like how to put on blush and eyeshadow, and in general what colors may or may not work for you. But I think as you get more experienced with makeup and more creative with it (if that’s your thing) the guidelines are less important and it’s about figuring out how you want to play.
Technically, there *are* rules; however, there is no rule we have to follow any of them.
Every generation and/or culture has a “standard” of beauty, as a whole, but there are those who either look past it, or who have their own minds and decide for themselves what is beautiful.
I, for one, find nude “concealer lips” to be beautiful, as well as black lipstick, although I wouldn’t go anywhere near a neon pink lip. Most (it seems) who comment on this blog feel the exact opposite, and that’s okay. I don’t follow trends, and I wear what *I* find beautiful.
I think so, because it can be scary to start as a beginner without any idea of what you’re doing. Rules give you guidelines, which help you fee more secure in the choices you’re making as long as you stay within them. Once you’re more comfortable with what you’re doing, you can bend the rules and experiment!
I agree with Christine about ‘guidelines’. Some ‘rules’ may work/not work for myself but work/not work for others.
I do have some rules that I always stick to.
1) Throughly cleaning my face morning and night and sometimes in between. In between is usually Spring/Summer.
2) Daily washing of all brushes used that day.
3) I am OCD about germs so I always wash my hands before applying/touching my make-up.
4) General cleanliness of my make-up.
5) Trashing make-up that has gone bad, UNLESS I put it in my collection (which is not often)
Yes some rules are important, not all rules can be broken.like for eg for eyeshadow highlight inside and go dark outside,blush highlighter and bronzing rules.some rules are breakable though. Overall some guidelines are v important.
There may still be a reason one chooses to wear darker shades on the inside, and lighter on the outside. One reason may be to make wide-set eyes appear closer together. In my original comment, I mentioned how different groups have different “standards” of what is beautiful. Back in “Old Hollywood”, MA’s would actually *measure* the proportions on an actors face, and there was a formula they would follow, with facial features being equal distance from one another. Very few people achieve this naturally, so makeup was used to facilitate this. Even in recent studies, subjects were shown photos of random people, and asked to judge who was more attractive. Those who had features that followed this formula were, in fact, deemed more attractive. As Terri stated, there are rules of light & shadow, and we can’t change them; however, we can use them (if we choose) to attain whatever aesthetic we want. Also, there may be people who just like to do things differently. Siouxsie Sioux used to put black liner far into the inner part of her eye, and she was a style-icon for many.
No. You only need self-confidence and an innate sense of aesthetics.
I agree with you – I like the term guidelines. And it is for helping us know maybe how to achieve one look or another. But when it comes down to it – what ever makes you feel amazing is what someone should go with 🙂
To a degree, perhaps — Guidelines rather than rules. I draw the line at obviously wrong shade of foundation and overdrawn/scouse brows. Unless ashy is the look you’re going for, wearing NC10 foundation with white powder is just silly when you’re an NW50.
I am half half on this question. I believe that there are IMPORTANT makeup rules because they serve as a guide to putting on great and flawless makeup finish but then again, it depends on the face, skin type, etc of the person. Different strokes for different folks 🙂
I agree with the idea of guidelines rather than rules for beginners, which then probably develop into a set of personal rules as people figure out what they like and what works for them as individuals. My top rules for myself are no to bright red or yellow eyeshadows and no to black eye pencil, especially on the inner lash line – which is a look that I know loads of people love!
Yes! Instead of “rules”, I like to think of them as baseline guides that work from most. And tweak as fun and necessary from there.
One of the “rules” instilled in me early on is that brown eyeshadow is best for brown eyes and that blues and greens are death!! I have more brown and beige eyeshadows than I can count!!!
Thanks to this blog, I have developed a certain fondness for teal, and oh how it rocks on brown eyes!!! I bought my first blue eyeshadow this century this year…Insider by Lorac…which is one of my go-to crease colours. The other is Mac’s Teal pigment. I also bought a handful of TT’s Spark of Envy eyeliners from Sephora, which will give UD’s LSD and Junkie a run for their money now!!
I will mention that my VERY FIRST eyeshadow purchase was this ghastly baby blue that I wore to Sunday School when I was like 12 or so…we’re talking late 70’s…I should have kept it as a reminder of oh so humble beginnings…
Oh, I thought it was the other way around. At least that’s what I follow. I was told not to use browns because of my cool skin tone but I have green eyes and brown/gold looks good on me (minimal use anyways) BUT green, blue looks absolutely AWFUL on me. Don’t need a rule to figure that one out!
Which begs the question: Can people even agree on what are ‘the rules’ to begin with..
I think some of the rules are merely just the latest trends, what colors are on the runways and how they’re being worn. If you don’t like the “rules” then wait a month and pick up another magazine. It’s hard to fine one that doesn’t contain a page or two telling us what’s hot and how to wear it!!
I think guidlines are very good. Clearly if you like stripey blush and you want to rock it then by all means do so. BUT I think guidlines exist as a “foundation” I mean the FACT of the matter dark colors give the illusion of shadows and light colors bring things forward. That’s just a basic physical rule. You can’t try to break that and be successful it’s just one of those things where it is what it is.
So rules and guidlines can HELP us be creative if the rules and guidlines aren’t too exact (eg the idea that only blondes can wear a blue red lipstick)BUT more help us achieve certain looks.
EG For X face products with Y appearence will aid in achieving that look.
Oh and let’s not forget the WHEN to do what rules. I wear a brown smokey eye to work often. and recently I wore a burgandy eye that matched my shirt and lipstick. I actually got tons of compliments on it.
BUT, I would never ever do such a thing for a job interview (I am in a very stuff shirt professional industry). There is a time and place for everything and a wise person knows when to get fun and creative with their MU and when to keep it low key.
I do not like the word ‘rules’ and I find people’s preoccupation with same when it comes to makeup to be tedious and pointless. Makeup is purely a subjective and artistic medium. For example, you cannot make me like a painting because it’s famous or because YOU like it. Makeup is a personal experience and about personal expression. I confess, I will never understand what makes people get their knickers in a knot over how someone else presents themselves with cosmetics. If makeup is your profession, then I do understand the need for some form of guidelines, but the majority of makeup users are in it just for the enjoyment of the ride and to gather a few tips and techniques along the way. We aren’t interested in criticism, we are looking for people who will be open-minded and who do not take it all too seriously. This is the type of environment in which we learn and adapt and create our own looks and improve our techniques. At the end of the day, who needs sanctimony over something that washes off. I for one do not.
I think rules are a great place to start, if you want a guideline. when I started to get into more high end makeup, it was all so overwhelming, especially with eyeshadows. I have blue eyes, so I went directly to brown eyeshadows and did a lid color, crease color, and highlight. that was it. that was what I found as a standard rule online, so that’s where I started. as I got more comfortable, I’ve started to branch out more. rules are a way to get your feet wet without getting in over your head, but in the end, aren’t rules made to be broken? 😉
Rules are just guidelines!
They are great for beginners until you get more comfortable with what you’re doing, but don’t need to be adhered to religiously. The only thing I think one needs to be strict about is hygeine. That’s just a basic for beginners and pros alike.
Besides, like someone else mentioned, some of these are very dependent on the era you’re living in. For example, in the 80s, the look was more is more – strong eyes, strong lip, strong cheeks all at once! Or the 90s trend of using a dark lip liner outside the lipline combined with a lighter lipstick. These would be considered terrible faux pas today and the rules of today generally “ban” these looks.
I think another thing that I generally dislike about “rules” is that they assume you always want a particular effect, for example, bringing out your eye colour. Eye shadow isn’t always to bring out eye colour and I’ve found that skintone is more important to which eye shadow colours look good anyway.
I really dislike when makeup artists are totally inflexible about what you can and cannot wear (Bobbi Brown, sorry!).
Ah, long rant, but I see I’m not the only one who feels this way!
Whoops, hit send before I’m done!
Oh, I suppose the best rules are to know the time and place to experiment, so for example, for most people, you wouldn’t go crazy at a job interview or wear peacock colours to a conservative environment, but those are social rules you have to respect really.
Just teach people general things like how light and shadow works for highlighting and contouring, how to make certain features stand out/not stand out, what dark colours achieve as opposed to light colours etc. etc.
Then people can make their own decisions whether they want to follow them or not, once they understand why the rules are there.
I just hate the general negativity and restrictiveness of it all, I suppose.
I think it depends on what rules but some are absolutely essential. If we didn’t have rules, we might all look like clowns with our makeup! But of course, not every rule should be followed but simply taken into consideration perhaps.
I think the only makeup rules I abide by are for hygiene. I understand that some people need guidelines to get started, but, I don’t find them to be a necessity.
A lot of makeup “rules” seem to be about making your face look more average. They’re tips for widening close-set eyes, or narrowing wide-set eyes, or minimizing a prominent nose, or making small lips look fuller.
That makes me sad. I’d rather see people playing up their unique features. We don’t need to all look the same! Also implicit in those rules is that some features are bad and need to be camouflaged, and that can make people feel ugly.
When I use makeup I try not to pay too much attention to those sorts of rules.
agreed and ditto. so well put!
Totally agree!
god bless you sabriel you get it out from my mouth. it annoys me so much that everybody has to look perfect and make ups aim should be bringing our best conventional look.maybe i dont want to be conventional maybe i like my wide set eyes ext. people can be so much more beautiful if they dont push so hard to be acceptable in conventional league, f..k that maybe conventional should change not my make up approach
The only “rules” I’ve ever stuck to were told to me by my Avon lady grandmother when I was about 10:
Always wash your makeup off at night.
Your makeup isn’t “done” until your eyebrows are groomed.
Wear whatever makeup you like, as long as it makes you happy.
Oh! And if you’re feeling blah, wear a bright lipstick. It will make you feel a little bit happier.
Like any other thing out there, there are always guidelines. Like many of you have said, guidelines are good for beginners, but then once you are more comfortable with your skills, you can do whatever you want. I think that make up should’t be based on the season, whats hot or what is trendy, but rather on what you like. I don’t think you should only rock vampy lips for fall, or smokey eyes for nights, I think you should do whatever you want as long as you feel confident. I guess confidence should be the only one rule for make up.
I think everyone should be able to wear whatever they want, makeup is fun and can be wiped off so easily! I think rules can help people achieve a certain look or disguise a flaw but other then that useless. I think makeup comes down to peoples tastes. When I was a MUA people would always have different ideas about natural and dramatic, so it truly is subjective.
I have some guidelines I follow though:
1. Clean your face once a day, even if its just with a wipe! (And always after a workout!)
2. Moisturize before foundation.
3. Light makeup for work (depending on your job), dramatic makeup for play.
4. Less is more.
5. Under eye concealer should match my skin tone, not two shades lighter, that looks odd to me.
6. Always wear sunscreen.
7. Throw on a little makeup for work! Makeup always makes me look and feel more polished and gets me ready for the day.
8. Eyeliner is the best pick me up for tired eyes. And blush is the best pick me up for sallow/dull/lackluster skin.
9. You can’t go wrong with a red lip.
10. Experiment and Have FUN!
I think it’s good to start out following rules so you can learn how to break them correctly! For example, I’ve heard a lot of people say to never wear blue eyeshadow. That would have been a great rule for me to follow in 7th grade (icy blue cream shadow, oh my!), but I think now if I work some navy into my crease it looks quite nice.
I believe that there should be some guidelines as making sure you blend eyeshadow, properly putting on lipliner, doing eyebrows, etc. however, I think when it comes to “rules” or guidelines that I have heard like if you wear bold eyeshadow don’t pair it with a bold lip. I think that one is rediculous. Or when people say you can’t wear a certain color.I think that there are basic guidelines to makeup, or should I say “how tos” but when it comes to how you want to wear your makeup, I think anything should go! 🙂
wear make up appropriate to your age.
Maybe not rules as much as guidelines, like checking if a product is safe to use on any part of the body other than what it’s initially intended for (eyeliner as lip liner, or lipstick as blush and eyeshadow). Rules give off the sense of being absolute, which could take away the creative aspect of makeup. However, with skin care, I think there should be rules! Like, take off your makeup every day, or keep your brushes clean. 😛
Hmmmm… Guidelines/rules. As a tutor of makeup, I find it’s really important to have an established process in place, that is easily learnt, fun to play with and works!
Alot of my work is to convince clients that they do have bone structure and they do indeed have eyesockets they can play with!!!
I think the the moment a person feels more confident and knows the routine, that’s when they can ease-up on the guidelines a bit.
In this case, Yay rules! They rock!
Makeup rules are important as guidelines but at the end of the day ..
Its ok to color outside the lines -once you have a firm understanding of the guidelines.
Happy Early Halloween Everyone… NYC is going through it with Hurricane Sandy right now..:(
If you want to look “normal” or socially acceptable, absolutely. If you don’t care at all, absolutely not. I think most of us fall somewhere in between those two extremes, and I always encourage less normal and more not caring!
A lot of great comments here, but what I’m really loving is how most people seem to agree that ‘makeup rules’ are like The Pirate Code – “more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules” 🙂
(Pirates of the Caribbean reference, of course 🙂 )
Rules? Vee don’t need no stinkin’ rules!
Seriously though, as a makeup artist, I had to learn “basic” rules in the beginning, but then had to toss them all out the window in order to be able to practice my art. Of course there will always be a need for very knowledgeable application skills for weddings and such, but wherever would we get our fun new trends and fashionable color mixes if someone weren’t willing to play around, bending the rules? Breaking all the old rules is my favorite part of being a MUA.