Make-Up 101

I don't like rules, never have they always frustrate me. This is why makeup is so fun! There are no rules for makeup, just guidelines that you may choose to follow, manipulate, or go against completely. Makeup should be fun, not fascist.

As one of my heroes, Kevyn Aucoin said, "No matter how artistic a person is, without quality tools and products even a genius like Michelangelo would not have been able to paint the Sistine Chapel."
Now, I am not saying by any means that to achieve great makeup you need to go out and make an expensive purchase. It's about finding what works for you and accumulating what you like.
There is no "magic" makeup, it's all in the application. There are going to be cosmetic lines that you may have allergies to, don't like the way they go on, or just don't work for you. It's your choice.

In the next articles I am going to go over different looks you can easily create at home and what tools work best with what products. For today we are just going to go over different tricks and tips I have picked up and use to make your experience with makeup painless.

First things first, when you are doing your makeup a good tip is to start with your eyes. Especially if you are going to be using darker colors. Reason being, when you apply powders to the eye area we usually create a bit of a mess under our eyes. So, instead of perfecting everything, and having to wipe off the fabulous job we did with our concealer and blending because some darker powder fell where we didn't really want it, let's just make it easy and start with our eyes. *Mascara is last*
For all day wear with no creasing of our eyeshadow an eyeshadow primer really does the job. You will find your eyeshadow goes on truer to color and stays put all day! Also, using a powder as an eyeliner instead of a pencil, you will have little to no migration throughout your day as well. Pencils are made of wax, and wax combined with our body temperature melts, thus giving us "raccoon eyes". Powder can be used wet or dry depending on the look you are going to achieve.

So, our eyes are done except for mascara. The following area I like to work on is cleaning up the under eye with some makeup remover. Now, let's talk about concealer. With concealer I believe less is more, especially under the eye. We don't want to look like we caked everything on! Besides, we still have foundation to apply and that will cover as well. I apply concealer under eyes sparingly and I also conceal any blemishes or imperfections I want to cover up. A good guideline to follow is to also feather out the concealer so there is no hard line, this will help with your application of your next step.

Foundation! We are almost done!! When you are trying to find the right color for your foundation the best place to test is your jawline. Your wrist and your face don't match! Put a few different strips along your jaw, running from jawline to where your neck and jaw meet, and compare the colors to find the best suited color for you. Also, when the seasons change you might want to double check and make sure your skin and foundation are still matching. Try not using a foundation color too dark or too light in comparison to your actual skin color, there is always bronzer.
Starting the application from the center of our face and blending out towards our ears and also, make sure you don't forget your neck!

Now, we are ready for our final touches. This is when I like to fill in the brows with some powder if they need it and apply my blush.
There are no rules for where your blush should go. Another common misconception. I use my blush as a bronzer, I apply it where ever the sun would kiss us. Cheeks, nose, chin, and forehead. Some like their blush on the apples of their cheeks and others like applying it just below. It's up to you, be creative!
You can curl your eyelashes if you like, or you can just go ahead and apply your mascara. I like to start on the bottom lashes first and then do the top. Reason being, when you apply mascara to the bottom lashes we typically look up. So, if you already had mascara on your top lashes you might get left with little dots on your eyelid.
And, last but not least, lips. They come in all different shapes, sizes and colors. This part is completely up to you and your look. If you want to line them, go for it. If you want lipstick go for it. Or, gloss 'em up!

I want you to always keep in mind that these are steps that I like to follow. They make my applications easier and faster. If you find something that works better for you, great! Share it with me, maybe I can use it too.
Whatever you do , don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. Keep it fun, creative and easy!