Beauty Tips
By Joni

"How do you properly apply makeup?? I know I'm not the only one who has never bothered with anything more than just a lip balm...."

Hi beauties!!! Its me again, your Beauty Editor!! This question popped up and I decided it would be fun to give this a go, since I wear makeup daily. I used to be a Mary Kay lady (in the US, that is a cosmetics company who goes to the homes of the customers, giving them makeup tips, lets them apply new stuff, and helps them decide the colors best for them) So having said that, lets get into the wonderful world of making your face beautiful!!

If you've never worn makeup, or have tried but felt it made you look too made up, here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction.

First, take a look at your face in a mirror in strong light. Remember last month when I said take the time to determine if you have cool tone or warm tone skin?? It applies here also. Take a piece of white paper and lay next to your inner wrist. Does your skin look pink or even blueish next to the white?? You have cool toned skin if it does. Or is it yellow/peach/golden?? If so, its warm toned skin. Olive tones (slightly greenish golden) is also warm skinned. Now that you know what tone you are, its time to go shopping for your foundation and the rest of the goodies!!

Now you're in your favorite shop and are overwhelmed with all the shades, right?? It can be difficult getting just the right shade of foundation. Some companies offer samples that you can get to test the colors. The rule of thumb is when testing, test on your cheek. Blend it in good. Its the right shade if you can no longer see it. Too dark will make you look like you have painted your face. Too light and you will look like a vampire! Just be sure to blend it in lightly and when you cannot see the foundation, you have it correct. Light tones of skin need ivory or porcelin type shades. Alot of women just grab a bottle of "beige" and call it good, but beige is rarely everyone's skin color. Take your time choosing a shade. It is well worth the time spent.

Ok, you've finally selected a shade of foundation. Now what type of foundation should you get?? Follow your skin type. Do you have dry, oily, or combination skin? Combination is dry or normal cheek area and oily T zone (forehead, nose, chin). When you wash your face, what is it like 2 hours later?? If its tight and uncomfortable, you have dry skin. If its slilghtly tight in the cheek area, but shiny in the T zone, you have combination skin. If its shiny all over, you have oily skin. The best type foundation for dry skin is a cream foundation. It gives your skin the moisture it needs and doesn't get cakey. If you have combination skin, a liquid type is best. Some companies make foundation specifically for combination skin. Its pretty good stuff!!! Oily skin needs a long wearing foundation. Some have a liquid to powder finish that gives it staying power.

Now, you have your foundation in the correct shade and formula. Next, lets select a blush to give you a hint of glow. Again the rule of thumb for blush is the same as foundation; select pinks and roses for cool tones, peaches and corals for warm tones, and darker tones (black and olive) can use the brighter colors. The main purpose of blush is NOT to give you bright circles of color on your face, but to give you a hint of color.

Next lets get some eye color. This is a very fun part of makeup!!! For eye shadow, you want to use a color that not only accents your skin tone, but also brings out the color of your eyes. For instance, if you have blue eyes, you want colors that will make the blue stand out. Here's a list of what colors are best for different eye colors:

Blue eyes - browns and peach color (warm pinks too)
Green eyes - same colors as blue eyes, with gold also
Brown eyes - blues, violets, pinks (cool pinks)
Hazel eyes - depending on the two different colors involved (mine are a blue-gray hazel, so I follow the blue eyes colors)

You need to get 2 contrasting colors- one light and one medium. My favorite colors for my blue-gray eyes are cocoa and taupe. We'll get into how to apply them in a bit. Cream eyeshadows are nice, go on smoothly, but tend to navigate to the creases of your eye. Use them only if you have very dry skin. If you're older, you probably won't want to use cream eyeshadow at all. Powders are the most commonly used eye shadows. There is also cake eye shadow that you apply wet that dries to a powder finish. They can be tricky, so its best to leave those until you're more experienced.

Eye liner is a perfect way to make your lashes look thicker. The eye area is very delicated skinned, so liquid or a soft pencil work best. If you're a cool tone, you can use black or dark brown, navy blue, or any other cool toned color. For warm tones, medium to dark brown works best.

Mascara is a must. Many a beautiful face looks undone without mascara. The universal color is black; it suits all but the fairest skin tones. If you have very pale skin, a dark brown would be better for you.

Last but not least, lipstick!!! Lipstick has been used for centuries and today's formulas are so good!! Again, pick a shade that goes with your skin tone. I like the long wearing types, but some can become very dry on your lips (and I don't like the gloss stick that comes with it; it feels grainy to me) If you have dark skin tones, you can go with the brighter flashier shades. Pale skin tones should stick with something light and more natural.

Ok, you have all your makeup bought...what next?? Lets start with a CLEAN face. If you have dry skin, make sure to use your moisturizer before hand to allow the foundation to go on smoothly.

Begin by pulling your hair back off your face (I always put my makeup on while my wet hair is in a towel). Dot the foundation on in 3 places on your forehead. Smooth on using your ring finger tip (the ring finger has the least pressure). Blend to your hairline and down your temples. Now, put a dot under each eye. Again, using the ring finger and a very light touch, smooth the foundation under your eyes, over your bridge of your nose, and then lightly across the lids of your eyes. This will help your eyeshadow adhere better. Continue down your face, one spot at a time. When you get to your jaw line, blend blend blend. You do not want to see a line there when you're done. When applying the foundation, make sure to blend under the eyes by starting at the outer corner and move in towards your nose. At the chin area, use sweeping up motions. This prevents your skin from being dragged down. Make sure to blend towards the hairline at your temples also. And never rub it in....you want to just glide it over your skin.

Next we can apply your blush. This too is tricky - you do not want to end up looking like a clown! When applying blush, I prefer not to use the brush that comes with it. Instead, I bought a bigger puffier brush that covers more area. Sweep your brush across the blush (unless you bought a cream or gel blush) and then tap the brush to remove excess powder. Less is more! Starting at your temple area, move down to where your cheek begins to puff (your cheek bone) Sweep along the cheek bone, in a down, then in type motion. Do not go further than the iris of your eye. Too many women take the blush to far in, making them look like they are wearing a mask. You only want enough to enhance the cheekbone. If you feel its not enough color, you can do it again, but remember to tap the brush FIRST. If you have another brush (I use a powder brush for this), lightly brush over the area again.

Next, on to eye shadow. Take your lightest color and sweep it over the entire lid, from last line to eyebrow. Next, take your darker color, using it sparingly, and sweep it into the CREASE of your eyelid. Don't use alot of color (you can tap the applicator before using it also...a great way to remove excess color!) You should end the color in an angle from the end of your brow to the corner of your eye. Its a good idea to use the lighter color again just under the brow bone.

Now, take your eyeliner and using the ring finger of the opposite hand, lightly pull the skin taunt of your eye lid. Staying as close to your lash line as you can, draw a line from inner eye to out, keeping the line thin until you get just halfway across, gradually getting a bit thicker. End the line at the end of the las line. If it looks stark, take a QTip and lightly LIGHTLY go over it to blend it a little. Under the eye you can do the same, but do not thicken the line to the end. And instead of starting at the inner eye, go just below your pupil to start.

Now mascara only LOOKS tricky!!! When you're beginning, pull the brush out of the tube and if there are any clumps on the end of the brush, remove them. These will just build up clumps in your lashes. Start by putting the brush right at the lash line, using a wiggling back and forth movement, cover the bases of your lashes. Then brush UP and out to get the tips of your lashes. Wiggling back and forth slightly gets every lash covered. On the bottom lashes, simply brush it on, starting at the lash base. Now, take the tip of the brush and CAREFULLY brush the lashes at the corners of your eye. Go over them all again if you feel you need to. Do not pump the brush into the tube when getting more mascara...this introduces air into the tube and allow bacteria growth. If you happen to get some on your skin, take your QTip, dip it in your foundation, and carefully erase the dot.

You're almost done!!! The last thing to do is apply your lipstick. Lip liner is a good way to keep that color within your lip line. If you do use lip liner, please make sure its a coordinating shade of your lipstick. Only Hollywood stars (if they are lucky!) look good with a darker lip liner. Applying liner is easy...just follow your lip line (do not go over the line to try to make your lips look fuller...its too tricky to get right!) Start at the outer corner and move in to the middle of the lip. When you have your liner on, do the same with the lipstick itself. Press your lips together, then with a tissue, folded in half, do it again with the tissue between your lips. This is blotting the exess off. If you want more staying power, and you have facial powder, carefully blot powder on your lips, brush off the excess, and reapply the lipstick.

Finally, if you bought facial powder (dry skin should not use, and its almost a must for oily skin!) using a big puffy brush (not your blush brush!!), dip it into the powder, tap off the excess, and dab onto your face, avoiding the eyes. Then tap out your brush again and lightly brush your face to even out the powder and rid the excess. (This is best done BEFORE the lipstick...LOL)

Now, aren't you just lovely??? The trick to using makeup is to enhance, not change, your basic look. Think of your face as a blank canvas to which you want to paint a lovely natural scene. You can do it....and you'll look beautiful!!!

Until then, stay beautiful!!!