Ways to apply make-up for a natural look
Applying make-up is art, though this doesn’t mean you must ‘colour block’ your face. One of the most essential factors of applying make-up is to understand your skin, from colour, type, tone, or what does or doesn’t irritates it. Once you have a clear understanding of your skin, make-up will be an easy task to a beautiful, natural and feature-enhanced you. Follow these tips to avoid clowning yourself.
Step 1 – Cleanse & Moisturize:
Using the right products for your skin type will keep it in a good condition. To ensure an even surface cleanse and moisturize your face twice daily, bathing your face more than twice will lead to breaking skin, thus damaging it. Your face will also store dirt and appear uneven if not cleansed properly or less than it should be cleaned. Most importantly, exfoliate or scrub your face at least two times monthly. Don’t (even when in a hurry) try applying makeup on your skin if it is not washed.
Step 2 – Apply foundation:
The right make-up foundation is one that perfectly matches your complexion without showing a multiple-toned look. Foundation is the base between creating the look of having naturally, flawless skin or a mask look, and can be used to cover blemishes, dark spots, marks, veins, freckles or under eye circles. You may use a sponge, foundation brush, or the tip of your right ring finger to apply the foundation. Start off by using less, then gradually adding once you’ve covered all the areas you wish to cover. Lightly dab the foundation on the skin working it into every pore. Ensure the entire face is evenly coated and that there isn’t a line of noticeable pigment on the chin.
It’s indeed a quite mind-blowing experience choosing the right foundation especially because cosmetics counters are packed with an array of choices. If you are a first time foundation buyer, you need the following basics:
- Available in both water-based and oil-based formulas, liquid foundations usually offer sheer coverage and provide a natural look. it is easy to apply, is pure, and gives a more natural look.
- Traditionally, cream foundations are the number one choice of make-up artists and are often available in compacts or sticks. This foundation provides a creamy flawless finish, good coverage, and can simply be applied. However, it’s more critical to mask your face because of the higher coverage.
- A “quick fix” for a modern Rustenburg lady is powder foundations (a powder and foundation in one), because time is precious, yet women still need to look presentable in no time. This basically provides the easy application of a powder with the excellent coverage of a foundation.
Remember, proper blending is the key. Blend your foundation under the jawline, into the hairline, on the ear lobes. Pay special attention to the corners of the nose, corners of the mouth, over and under the eyes. If you need to retouch a particular spot, re-apply lightly and blend. Lightly powder with a yellow based translucent face powder to set your foundation.
Step 3 – Enhance your cheekbones with blush
Use a medium-sized powder brush to enhance the cheekbones with blush. The only colour that should be applied to the cheeks should come from blush. A Blush is used to “lift” the cheek bones and sculpt the cheeks, adding warmth, natural glow, and colour to the face. For easy application, consider powder blush instead of cream or liquid blush, then sweep the blush downward from the ear to mid-cheek, starting from the top of the ear and down to the end of the centre of your cheek. It is best to choose colours that are close to your skin tone, and avoid those that are too bright or too light.
Step 4 – Define your eyes
For your eyes, daytime eye-shadow on the entire eyelid or a thin line on top of your eye lid works well. Don’t mix the two, don’t cover your lids with eyebrow pencil or eye line. Dab an angle brush into a copper-coloured eyeshade and line the eyelashes as close to the eyelash line as possible.
Alternatively sharpen your eye liner, close your left eye, and then stretch the end of your eye to the left using your left ring finger, lastly draw a thin line just on top of your lashes. This will define your eyes and make them more visible.
Step 5 – Open your eyes to new possibilities with mascara
Finish off your eyes with a few coats of mascara. Available in waterproof and regular formulas, mascara is your most effective make-up tool as it emphasizes the lashes. You’ll never look good if your eyelashes are not visible. Many brands guarantee to thicken, lengthen, darken, give volume and condition your lashes, thus it’s important to know which mascara you need. You won’t need lengthening mascara if your lashes are long but you may need to give them a little colour if they look pale. Nothing is as embarrassing as dark marks around your eyes because of cheap mascara or eye-liner, be sure to buy good quality waterproof products or those that can only come off when rubbed with water and soap.
Ask for assistance cosmetics and ask to try the product before purchasing them. Use either a brown or black mascara, stay away from all those colours like silver, gold, blue, and more, this applies also to an eye liner. Make sure the lighter colour from the inside of the eye, then earthly or smoky colours towards the end of your eye. This season is the sobert, peachy, colours (advised by Nthato Mashishi, make-up artist.)
To create a thicker looking lash with the ends separated and the base well defined, wiggle the mascara wand back and forth at the base of the lashes to deposit colour before rolling the brush through your lashes. Coat lashes from the very base to the tips with full strokes.
Step 6 – Get luscious lips
The most popular beauty product world over, is lipstick. Many women in Rustenburg have been spotted with dark lines around their lips and a bright lipstick. Come on, we’re in 2012, a silver lipstick was applied in the early 90’s, so please adapt to the recent fashion. The best lip colours for African skin are intense red, vivid plums, sweet pinks and definitely not chocolates, maroon, or pale.
To create that perfect juicy looking lips, line your lips with either a light brown or colourless pencil following your natural lip line, and then fill in with a lip colour of your choice. Don’t forget to blend the two so that there are no harsh edges.
If you are not fortunate to have full lips, wear the lightest, frostiest lipsticks you can find. They will cause your lips to look fuller. To emphasise and maximise a fuller look, apply lip gloss over lipstick or alone. If you were gifted with extra-full lips, it’s best to very sparingly use lip gloss.
Tip: To remove lipstick from clothing, apply glycerine on the spot, then rub calmly and wash as usual.
To finish up, examine the work and ensure that all the lines are even and the make-up is evenly applied. Always remember that with make-up, applying less is best. If your face feels a little bit heavy and uncomfortable, this means you’ve applied more than is required. Note that make up is to used to make up facial errors and not to ‘Barbie’ yourself. If you don’t overdo your make-up, you’ll look naturally beautiful as well as feel confident, get the town talking, drop jaws and turn heads.
For more details on how you can use make up, cotact Linda at Inspiration Hair and Beauty Clinic on 014 592 4966.
Article: Tshireletso Malapile