Make-up like a pro

There are numerous ways to apply make-up; hence it becomes very difficult to know whether what you are doing is correct. Australian professional make-up artist, Stephanie Lange, has shared a make-up application video on YouTube that discusses the common mistakes one makes. These are listed below:

Not Prepping Your Skin Before Make-Up Application

Fix: You need to use moisturizer or primer over your face, neck, and along your hairline with clean hands and wait 3-5 minutes so that your skin can absorb the product. If this is not done, the

make-up will penetrate your pores and cause breakouts. Moisturizer and primer enable your skin to stay hydrated and keep the make-up foundation from remaining in your skin creases.

Wrong Foundation Colour

Fix: Apply the different foundation colours one by one, on your neck and spend some time deciding what suits you best. Pick one that seamlessly blends into your skin. Also verify the foundation colour under different lighting, like natural sunlight, to check whether it still blends well. If not, try out a new shade/formula. You also need to ensure that you are using the correct foundation as per the season, i.e. you're not using winter foundation in summer and vice versa.

Do Not Rub The Foundation With Your Hands

Fix: Do not use your fingers to apply the foundation. This causes the foundation to enter your pores and will encourage your blemishes to stand out rather than cover up. Use a sponge and pat the foundation on your skin. This will cover your blemishes evenly and will not result in a patchy skin tone.

Not Waiting For The Foundation To Completely Dry-Up

Fix: If you use a liquid foundation and then immediately apply a powder product over it, your make-up will not blend properly. It’s mandatory that your foundation dries thoroughly, before you apply any other make-up on top.

Not Knowing How To Contour

Fix: Each one of us contours, but the majority of the us don’t know how to do so properly. The best fix to this problem, is to learn how to do so right. The best way, as suggested by Stephanie Lange, is first figuring out the contour for your face type. Once that is sorted out, apply the contour powder using a precise brush from underneath your cheekbone toward the top of your ears. Then use a fluffy brush to merge the deeper shade to make the look more natural.

Not Knowing Where The Blush Has To Be Applied

Fix: It’s very difficult to identify the area where the blush has to be applied exactly. As per Stephanie Lange, lightly apply powder or cream blush over the apples of your cheeks, and then sweep the brush up and away toward your ears.

Improper Use of Nose Contour

Fix: Use an angled eye shadow brush with a matte contour powder or brown eye shadow, a darker shade than your skin, and draw two perpendicular lines down each side of your nose. Then use your brow bone as a guide and apply the colour all the way to the tip of your nose. Then, touch-up with a highlighter or a lighter contour shade in between the two lines. Finally, merge, merge, merge.

Using A Shimmer Eye Shadow As A Base

Fix: To prevent your eyes from looking puffy, use matte neutral shades for your shadow base on the majority of your eyelid. The matte shades will make your eyes appear much bigger by creating depth. Use shimmer for highlighting your brow bone, or the inner and outer corners of your eyes.

Applying Eye Shadow Directly Into Your Crease

Fix: Use a deeper-coloured eye shadow slightly above your natural crease. If you apply your second eye shadow into the natural crease of your eyelid, it will make your eyes look smaller, as the surface area already covered by your base color is decreased.

Improper Use Of Lip Color

Fix: As every skin tone is different, identify your lip colour through a trial-and-error process, just like your foundation. To start with, look at the veins on your wrist. If they are blue, you should look for lip colour with blue or purple tones in them. If your veins look green, your perfect lip colour is likely a warmer hue.