Makeup Application Done Right

Do you remember how you felt the first time you ever wore makeup? Whether your infatuation with a little mascara and eyeliner developed slowly or the instant you put it on, many of us did not achieve the perfect look the first time around. I mean really, how many of us mastered winged eyeliner at first try? With a little practice we turned from novices to experts, who are able to glam it up in the 15 minutes your friend tells you, you have until they are coming to get you to go out.

Whether you wear makeup every day or for special occasions only, here are some great application tips to help you look fierce and fabulous no matter what. We enlisted the help of a local expert: Lien Ngu, a hair stylist and makeup artist at Looks Hair Salon in downtown, dishes all the details on the best makeup techniques.

Before you do anything, your face should be in pristine condition. This means you should remove all impurities and moisturize (preferably something with SPF) before dabbing on any makeup. By doing this, you are preparing the skin for the makeup to be applied and helping to create a smoother overall finish.  By not doing this, the oils our skin naturally produces could mix in with your foundation and cause streaking. A simple face cleansing lotion will do the trick.

“After you have finished cleaning your face, use a primer before you put on your foundation and concealer. It seals your pores and keeps your makeup stay on for hours. You should use a separate primer for your eyes as the skin there is more sensitive than other areas of your face,” Ngu says.

There has been some great debate about whether the order of operations should go foundation before eyes or eyes before foundation, kind of like the chicken or the egg argument. Well, it depends. When you are doing a smokey or dramatic eye, it is best to do the eyes first because you can easily wipe away any fallout with a tissue without taking off your foundation.

The phrase “less is more” could not be more true when it comes to putting on mascara. We may want those lashes that extend from our eyes to outer space, but continuously stroking the lashes creates clumpiness. Our local expert recommends going over your lashes no more than four times.

Finally, use a lip scrub for your lips and then apply lip liner. The lip scrub removes dead layers and prevents cracked lips. The lip liner helps lipstick stay on longer.

With so many new products and tools coming onto the market, applying makeup seems like a fancy-schmancy technique meant only for the Picasso makeup artists of the world; but it doesn’t have to be this way. You can make the most of what you do have. Just learn the basics.

Photo credit: Danielle Gallo