When I was at school a friend of mine was given a voucher for a makeup tutorial for her seventeenth birthday by her mother. My friend was not impressed at the time, however, that tutorial showed her how to properly apply makeup and years later her presentation is always of a very high standard.
Makeup is often a very personal choice. When we start wearing it, when we wear it and how we like to apply it are all decided based on our own experiences and ideas, as well as what is ‘in’ at the time.
Heavily applied black eyeliner is a favourite for some, whilst others opt for a more sparingly, barely there look.
Is there a right and a wrong way to wear makeup?
Makeup should enhance our appearance, if it is applied properly. Wearing makeup should not been seen as correcting or altering the way we look, rather it is a way of enhancing our natural and inherent beauty that God gave us. Further to this, we shouldn’t ever give in to the vice of vanity. True, our appearance and presentation does say a lot about us and is often the first impression that people have of us but this does not mean that we should take an excessive amount of time getting ready.
In fact, most stylists agree that a daily make up regime of five minutes – yes, just five minutes – would be enough for each woman to achieve a polished and natural look.
Here is one such 5 minute routine:
- Apply a concealer to any red or dark areas and blemishes.
- Apply a liquid or powder foundation to your entire face including your eyelids. Start from your forehead and work downwards, blending the foundation to your skin just below your jaw line.
- If you used a liquid foundation in step two you will also need to apply a translucent powder. Apply in same manner as liquid foundation, starting from forehead and working down to your jaw line.
- Apply blush, starting from the centre of your cheek and working up and out on your cheek bone. Never apply blush below your cheek bone. Many makeup technicians recommend applying a little blush to your chin and tip of your nose for a sun kissed look.
- Apply eye shadow in a three step process using a trio colour pack. Cover the entire eyelid with the lightest colour, applying the second colour to just above the eyelashes and add depth by applying the darkest colour to the crease of your eyelid.
- Apply eye liner, working from inside to outside on your upper eyelash line. Apply thinly. For your bottom lid start a little more than halfway along the lid and draw outward.
- Curl eyelashes if necessary.
- Apply mascara to your top eyelashes and apply to your bottom eyelashes only if you’re not in the habit of touching your eyes a lot during the day.
- Apply lip liner to the outside line of your lips, then fill in.
- Fill in with lipstick of a matching colour.
Okay, so that’s a five minute makeup application you can do every morning. But these are not hard and fast rules. It might be more age appropriate to apply only one shade of eye shadow and use lip gloss instead of lip liner and lipstick.
Applying eye liner too is often a personal preference and many women opt for just mascara to add definition to their eyes.
Some things to remember when it comes to choosing your makeup – foundation, eye shadows, lipsticks and blush – consult your colour palette and make sure you select your optimum colours. If you’re a cool or light cool you’re not going to look well in any browns or bright red shades. And if you’re a warm or light warm, refrain from using black and instead use mascara and eye liners that are brown or dark brown.
Remember, keep it simple and natural. You want to enhance your natural beauty – not distort it!
Originally posted 2014-06-05 02:18:45.