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What makeup advice are you most thankful for?
There are no rules in makeup — makeup is supposed to be fun!
— Christine
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A basic one was not applying concealer too close to the lash line- apply it lower, and allow the residual product from blending to cover the bags! It helps reduce creasing and also prevents the unnatural skin/waterline barricade!
My answer is very similar. I learned just recently not to layer concealer and foundation. I’ve been doing this for decades, so it’s been a hard habit to beak.
Covering under my eyes with concealer alone looks much better.
If makeup makes you feel good, then pack it on.
Wear sunscreen!
I’m most thankful for the advice on how to determine the best foundation color match for my complexion.
For a couple of years, I had been purchasing foundations based upon a swatch on my wrist, or simply by looking at the color of the content in its container. I had often worn foundations that were either too light or too dark.
Thank goodness that nightmare is over.
Hi! I have that exact problem. What is the best way to find out? How did you find your perfect match?
I had learnt the process from YouTube’s makeup artist, Jackie Aina.
In (a) store(s) that allow sample testing: You should swatch your desired foundation shade(s) on your chest or along your jawline to find your perfect match; make sure to blend the swatch(es) into your skin.. If possible, walk around for a little while (10 – 20 minutes) with the swatch(es). This will show if the foundation will oxidize over time and if it will still match your skin. Also, if possible, see the swatch(es) in sunlight. Take a selfie, if you have to. You should see the shade swatch in various lighting.
Of course, this technique may be tricky with testing drugstore foundation shades. You may want to ask a drugstore clerk what’s the return policy for cosmetics. Some stores allow you to return an open item if it doesn’t match your skin. It’s best to do research online (via watching videos or reading blogs) regarding the drugstore foundation shade you are interested in purchasing. Knowing your skin’s undertone is very important when doing your research.
For me, swatching on my chest yields the best foundation match result. My chest is the same shade as the center of my face (and elsewhere). My jawline, and the outer perimeter of my face, is a touch darker than my chest. It may be different for you, since some individual’s chest may be darker than their face.
The key focus is making sure that your face and your neck/chest match.
Applying blush over my finishing powder instead of under it. Also, using separate blush and highlighters on top of each other as a daily process. So many shimmery blushes default to the same old gold shimmer (and often too much of it), so if you have different undertones or want to control the amount of shimmer, it’s easier to use a matte blush and a well-chosen highlighter on top instead of trying to find everything in one blush product.
Right now, I would have to say the scotch tape trick for eyeshadow. With hooded eyes, the lift from shadow well placed is becoming more important to me. It also helps address uneven application from texture issues by keeping a very nice clean line. The surface of the outside corners of my eyes is not exactly entirely smooth anymore (retinol eye cream has helped, but blepharoplasty surgery is the only answer for reducing hoods and I’m just not game at this point ..maybe when gravity pulls them down every further..dunno.. don’t feel they are bad enough to qualify going under the knife for it).
I hear what you’re saying about the hoods! When I was in my late teens, I literally BEGGED my parents to let me get mine “fixed”, they told me to get a good job and save up my money, because they weren’t going to pay for what they thought was me “being ridiculous”. Needless to say, I still have my hoods. ?
I have hooded eyes and I LOVE them! Sure it took me a while to learn how to apply makeup that made them look good and I hated that I couldn’t have cat eyes without making them look worse or that I didn’t have a lot of space between lids and brows to do crazy makeup like I would see on youtube. But once I learned that my crease color should come all the way up and that my brow bone highlight should never be shimmery and basically a very bright and tiny blended “streak” and that it should start at the inner side of the brows and make it’s way to the arch; I really started loving my eyes and its “mysterious” vibe.
Back then, I looked a lot at what Amy Lee’s makeup artists were doing, and later Taylor Swift and J Law.
I have hooded eyes and I LOVE them!
Sure it took me a while to learn how to apply makeup that made them look good and I hated that I couldn’t have cat eyes without making them look worse or that I didn’t have a lot of space between lids and brows to do crazy makeup like I would see on youtube. But once I learned that my crease color should come all the way up and that my brow bone highlight should never be shimmery and basically a very bright and tiny blended “streak” and that it should start at the inner side of the brows and make it’s way to the arch; I really started loving my eyes and its “mysterious” vibe.
Back then, I looked a lot at what Amy Lee’s makeup artists were doing, and later Taylor Swift and J Law.
Also, eyeliner has to be *very* thin. On a daily basis, I don’t wear it at all!
Hey Mandy: I’m 52 so.. I’m doing okay and up until I hit my 50s, I really didn’t give a crap about having hooded eyes. To a certain extent, I still do not and absolutely agree they lend a mysterious vibe to the face. I’m thinking in my case, that fold of skin is eventually going to hit my lashes and when it does, I might consider surgery as an option. I may accept it gracefully, but I may not. I’ve learned to never say never and at least it’s good to know there is an option. For now, makeup works 🙂
Perfectly stated, Christine!
blending skills!!!
Blend. 🙂
Same! Don’t be afraid to experiment and do your own thing! There is no absolute right or wrong in make-up!
“Brows, Lashes, Lips. Frame the face. It’s simple, it’s five minutes.” – Jeremy Renner
Honestly I’ve been working with this mantra every day for 2 months now and it’s sound advice HAHA.
Even on the most minimal makeup days, always do the brows! That’s a step I ignored for most of my adult, makeup-using life, because I didn’t like the few products I’d tried, and didn’t know the right techniques. Now that I both of those two factors figured out, I can’t believe what a huge difference it makes!
It’s no wonder that even with my best, most meticulous makeup efforts over the years, I always felt like I looked… not quite *done*, for some reason I couldn’t put my finger on.
Makeup is to show your beauty, not to cover the imperfections. ♡
This made me think and act different about makeup and applying it.
I’d like to put a meme from Pirates of the Caribbean here. “More like Guidelines” no real rules just a little bit of suggestion. I’m not a rule breaker but I’m not a rule follower either. Dark lips and dark eyes is fine. Do you!
*There are no rules. Wear what you love.
*Experiment. It’s just makeup; it washes off.
*Using tape to get a sharp outer edge on eye looks. It’s great for hooded eyes.
Probably that I do not have to “set” my foundation with setting powder. I don’t know why but it was ingrained in my brain that my foundation would never stay on if it was not powdered. Not true at all. I usually will put a light touch of Meteorites or Hourglass ambient and setting powder on my t-zone. But, many days, I use no powder except my t-zone. My foundation wears fine and my skin doesn’t feel like the Sahara!
Best thing I ever discovered was back in the 80’s when Prescriptives came to my town. I am super pale with yellow undertones. All thru the 70’s I struggled with foundations-my mom is also super pale but has pink undertones so her foundation looked horrid on me. Light bulb went on when the Prescriptives SA put swatches of 3 pale foundations on my jawline and the one with yellow undertones literally disappeared into my skin. There is a lot more choice out there now but it can be a struggle with drugstore foundations where the palest shade defaults to pink undertones. Very happy with MUFE, Laura Mercier foundations but would love to try Dior but palest yellow is too dark.
Don’t you miss Prescriptives? I wish they’d come back to the department stores – I still have my “prescription” for perfect finishing powder.
I really do. They have a website that you can purchase some products from but they don’t ship to Canada unfortunately.
I had the same experience! I have yellow undertones, and growing up, all the DS foundations looked horrible on me because they were orange or pink based. When Prescriptives showed up, I was so thrilled! I saved up some money and got my first custom blended foundation. Now their are so many more options, thank goodness.
Your face is a blank canvas – and on it you can paint any picture you want 🙂
I could never narrow it down to one piece of advice because I always get so much great advice from you and your amazing Temptalia! I am very thankful for this. I am sure a lot of people agree with me!
Tightlining my upper lashline from underneath instead of lining the entire upper lashline from above has made an enormous difference! Life changing advice for me as my mobile lid has limited real estate to work with, at least now one can see a glimpse of the lid color I have on!
Also, a YT video demonstrating how to do a cat eye winged liner look for us “hoodies”, to start from the outside, pulling in, but also starting our line straight upwards, not sideways at all!
Nancy whose tutorial was that? Stephanie Lange or Wayne Goss perhaps?
Pixiwoo!!! And Stephanie Lange, and a few others as well. But Pixiwoo’s was the BEST! Even though I always *thought * I was already pulling it upwards, once I was done, and opened my eyes, I could NOT for the life of me figure out why it was looking straight across, which made my eyes look droopy! But after doing it according to how she demonstrated, my eyes looked LIFTED!!!
Yes applying concealer in the triangle way and lettting it dry for a bit then blend witb b blender or brush it looks natural and correctly applied
& applying liquid foundation from the center of my face then outwards it makes everything come together (blending for a few seconds) etc
One rule, and a few tips.
Rule- there are no rules, do what you want.
Tips- Concealer after foundation so you don’t blend it out while blending in your foundation. Lip liner helps lipstick stay longer and not feather as much. Powder to set concealer. The tape trick for eyeliner. Blend, blend, blend! Undertones for foundation are a thing, so find yours.
Blending is key.
Wear as little base makeup as you’re comfortable to get away with.
Experiment and get to know your face and what works for you.
1. Using primer before foundation
2. Using a serum at night before a moisturizing night cream
3. Learning how to apply my eye shadow so that it suits my hooded eyes
4. Following your blog Christine has taught me so much about makeup in general and by reading the comments and by taking note of the tips of my other fellow readers has improved my makeup look a great deal.
5. That there are plenty of cruelty free brands out there to follow.
I always thankful for every advice about makeup coz makeup always be my interest…
That your eyebrows are sisters, not twins – they don’t have to be 100% perfectly symmetrical to still look great!
I love this. They said this is a Sephora class I took a few weeks ago.
Tightlining
The best advice that I have ever gotten in makeup is exfoliating the lips to have a smoother service before applying matte lipstick. Actually, before any lip product goes onto my lips I try and make sure that I have a smooth canvas to work from. Also, to moisturize then remove so that the lip color will last even longer. I also even use lip liner so that I can outline then fill in like coloring a coloring book.
How to correctly wash and dry makeup brushes and these frequency. I used to dry them with the bristle up. Very bad.
My greatest makeup tip was learning to remove flecks of glitter off your face by using scotch tape!
I learnt that makeup is for you, nobody else and that it isn’t a ‘mask’ – accentuate what you have and smile 🙂
I learned the importance of a good skin care regimen (I use Paulas Choice faithfully) and I found the brands that do not test on animals and buy those exclusively (goodbye MAC…)
I usually don’t follow the rules, but I always ALWAYS wash my makeup off. My mom told me so, so I do it 🙂
Probably to tightline my upper waterline! Once I started doing that it made my liner and mascara look so much cleaner/better in pictures and in person.
The makeup advice I’m thankful for is waiting until I was old enough to wear makeup. I started wearing makeup at 15 years old. My mom took me to Carson Pirie Scott to purchase my first tube of Fashion Fair lipstick. The color was a beautiful chocolate raspberry color that complemented my skin tone and didn’t make look crazy. My friends at the time were already wearing makeup. They wore makeup around sixth and seventh grade. My mom thought was too young for me to start. I would look grown before my time. In my years of wearing makeup, I learned through trial and error with experimenting which colors flatter me and the ones that don’t. I been through the all the trends from glossy lips, shimmery lipstick, satin lipstick, etc. Going through all of these phases in my life through makeup helped shaped my preferences for the years to come. Now, I’m 38 years old and prefer liquid black eyeliner, matte and cream eye shadow, matte lipstick, lip pencils, and volumizing mascara. I also love using eye shadow primer, mascara primer, and lip balm as “adhesive bases ” to make my makeup last longer. I am also thankful that I don’t sleep with my makeup on, I actually wash and moisturize my face before I go to bed. I think I did very well in how I select and apply the makeup I wear. I make sure the colors I wear on my face and nails are timeless and go with everything I wear . I get compliments on my makeup, nails and fragrance everywhere I go. That’s what happens when you don’t rush wearing makeup before your time. I wish the young ladies coming up this time can savor their childhood and not be in a rush to grow up. You have plenty of time of being an adult. Savor your childhood right now.
Since I hereditarily have dark circles anything to make eyes look bright using a skin colored eyeliner, a highlighter in the inner corner and especially using concealers the right way using an orange or salmon feast color underneath and then a light concealer on top with a brightening powder to set