Though it’s not rocket science, putting on makeup does require some serious know-how. Without it, you can easily mask your beauty, instead of bringing out your beautiful features. Learn more about the most commonly made mistakes and what you can do to avoid or correct them.
1. Cheek contouring
Slip-up: Using darker shades of blush to shape your cheekbones? Unless you’re a professional who’s creating a look for the big screen or a magazine shoot — stop. Instead of contoured cheeks, you’ll inevitably have a confused complexion.
Solution: Rather than wasting makeup to create what you don’t have, use it to accentuate your features. That begins with finding the right blush shade for your skin: InStyle suggests buying a shade that matches the color of your cheeks after lightly smacking them. Or stick with the standard:
For a natural, radiant look, here’s how to apply your blush:
- Dip the brush into the blush and tap off the excess.
- Smile to reveal the apples of your cheeks.
- Lightly apply the blush only to the apples.
- Finish the look by blending the color.
2. Tarantula lashes
Slip-up: Can’t put down the mascara? Well, it shows! After all, what’s so attractive about big ol’ clumps on your eyes? The lashes are naturally delicate features, so simply stick with enhancing their look.
Solution: To avoid tarantula eyes, keep the mascara at the base rather than the tips of your lashes. "It weighs the lashes down," makeup artist Jake Bailey tells the Chicago Tribune. "You want the separation at the end," he adds.
To guarantee this separation:
- Thoroughly clean a mascara wand you don’t use anymore.
- Comb it through your lashes right after you apply your mascara — and voila! It’s an instant clump cure.
For another option, use a mascara primer like Blinc Lash Primer to condition, strengthen and separate lashes before you apply mascara.
3. Lots of liner
Slip-up: Have you been caking on or circling your liner? Too much eye liner only drowns your eye in color and looks like a big mess — taking away from your features. So, leave the heavy liner to the rock stars.
Solution: Instead, to maintain a classic, natural look, use a water-resistant, natural-colored liner like Blinc Kiss Me Eyeliner Brown.
Remember, eye liner should shape your eyes and make your lashes look thicker and deeper. If you have larger eyelids, make the line along the lid thicker, yet soft. Those with smaller eyelids should make the lid line thinner, yet intense. According to Paula Begoun, author of The Complete Beauty Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Smart Beauty, here’s how to apply your liner:
- First, get as close to your lash line as possible.
- Draw the line in one fluid stroke from the inner corner to the outer.
- Repeat for a thicker line.
- For the classic look on the lower lash line, start one-third in from the inner corner of your eye and only line the outer two-thirds, meeting the lower line with the upper.
- Be careful not to touch your eye rim — the part between your eye and lower lashes — because it’s right up against your eyes’ mucous membrane and irritates easily.
4. Over-penciled brows
Slip-up: Fess up — are you too generous with the eyebrow pencil? Or too liberal with your tweezers? "As we get older, the brows naturally become more sparse, so if you tweeze your brows too thin, they might never fully grow back," makeup artist Jessica Liebeskind tells MSN. Naturally, because you over-tweeze, you begin using your pencil even more to compensate for barely-there brows — leaving you with an unnatural look.
Solution: To keep eyebrows in check, use their natural arch as a guide, tweezing above and below it. If you’d like to enhance them, replace your pencil with a brow-enhancing powder, like Billion Dollar Brows Brow Powder Blonde.
To polish your brows, Prevention recommends:
- Use a toothbrush to brush up your brows.
- Then, use a wedge brush to apply the powder, filling in spaces where necessary.
If you have high brows, you might want to bring them down by applying a little color immediately under the brow as well. If your brows fall lower and closer to your eyes, just focus on filling in the hair.
To remove excess powder, according to Good Housekeeping:
5. Foundation face
Slip-up: Is it obvious you’re wearing foundation? Does the color match your natural skin tone? If not, your face might look unnaturally pasty or artificially tan in comparison to the rest of your skin.
Solution: To find the right shade, Liebeskind suggests a simple test at a local beauty counter.
- Pick three shades of foundation.
- For the first, pick the shade you think best matches your skin tone.
- For the second, pick one shade darker.
- For the third, pick one shade lighter.
- Then, apply a line of each shade from your cheek to your neck and blend. Which one vanished? That’s the shade you want.
To secure your flawless face, make sure you’re using the right foundation for your skin type.
- If you’ve got dry skin, avoid powder foundation and stick with liquid, creamy formulas.
- Cream-to-powder foundation manages both oily and dry areas for combination complexions.
- For oily skin, find an oil-free foundation.
6. Off-color concealer
Slip-up: Since you’re using concealer to cover up blemishes, why select a shade that spotlights your imperfections? Unfortunately, picking a shade that doesn’t conceal — but actually reveals — imperfections is very common.
Solution: For the right color, find a concealer that either matches or is one shade lighter than your natural skin tone, suggests Ladies Home Journal.
If you’re still concerned that your color is off, try Philosophy Supernatural Concealer, which contains three shades, allowing you to custom blend your own perfect shade.
Then, apply your concealer only to dark or red areas and blemishes, according to makeup artist Brigitte Reiss-Andersen in Martha Stewart Weddings.
7. Lips: Dark on the outside, light on the inside
Slip-up: Lip liner should accentuate your lips — not outline them. Be wary of dark liners; they can actually bring out those fine lines you try so hard to conceal. "The goal isn’t to make your lips look like you got silicone injections, but just to create the best version of what your lips can be," says Liebeskind.
Solution: First, apply your main lip color, whether you use lipstick or gloss. With a matching liner, lightly draw a thin line on your lips’ outermost edge, recommends Liebeskind.
Don’t want to buy a bunch of lip liners? For a universal option, Ladies Home Journal suggests buying a neutral-colored liner. It’ll complement your lipstick, no matter the shade.
See also:
3 Top Tips for Applying Makeup
Makeover Your Beauty Routine
8 Must-Haves for Your Beauty Kit