So everyone wants to look their best and bring out their natural beauty, well I am sharing my top 10 tips that you can use to make yourself look more beautiful everyday!
1. Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise!
Everyone always bangs on about how you should cleanse, tone and moisturise the skin, but seriously people, you should! Cleansing the skin removes make-up, dirt, excess oil and helps to unclog the pores, helping and preventing things such as spots and achne. Using Toner helps to minimise the pores, meaning after you have cleansed, the skin is clean and less likely to develop spots. Moisturising is the final step and helps to keep the skin hydrated making it softer, more pliable and ALOT easier to apply make-up on to. Doing this each day takes less than 5 minutes and is definitely worth it! There are many different brands of Cleansers, toners and moisturisers around but I like to use Simple. They don’t add any artificial ingredients or harsh chemicals and so is usually suitable for all skin types. It is available in Superdrug and Boots, and on their website.
2. Colour Match!!
One of the most important things in make-up is to colour match. Whether it be lips, eyes, skin or any product, it should suit your skin tone. Everyone’s skin has one of two underlying tones and these are yellow or red, these can be matched up in your foundation to ensure you have the correct colour. For example, if you are fair-haired with pale skin, you are likely to have a red undertone and if you are tanned with dark hair, you are likely to have a yellow undertone. If you are unsure of your skin tone, ask someone! People on make-up counters in places like Debenham’s or Boot’s are there to help and you don’t necessarily have to buy their products! Not only should you match your foundation, but you should match your eyeshadows, lipsticks and blushers too! Try out different colours and see which ones you think compliment you, think of the colour wheel when doing this, and remember opposite colours are complimentary.
3. Highlight!
One of my favourite things to do in make-up is to highlight!! It often gets forgotten but makes such a difference to the face! Highlighting is simple and quick to do and really emphasises your features. The main places to highlight are the cheekbones, under the brow, and the cupid’s bow (upper lip), these will create the most dynamics to the face, but you can also highlight the forehead and nose if required. Highlighting can be done with many different products, depending on the kind of finish you would like, for example if you want a natural look, try highlighting with a liquid such as YSL’s Touch Eclat. For a more exaggerated look I would use a cream concealer as this can be quite harsh but easily blended, and for a fashion or evening look, try using a shimmer eyeshadow! My favourite to use at the moment is MUA’s single pearl eyeshadow in shade number 2, it is unbelievable value at just £1!!!! It gives a beautiful soft but shimmering finish and is especially great for the cheekbones, try applying with a large angled brush for easy and neat application.
4. Fill your Brows!!
Filling your brows is an easy way to enhance your face! It makes such a difference to the facial dynamics, framing your eyes and giving them shape. To fill the brows most people use a brow pencil, however using a brow pencil can be quite messy as it is a cream formula and it can often be difficult to create a neat line. I would recommend using a matte brown powder eyeshadow and small angled brush. With the eyeshadow you can mix the colours to create the perfect one to match your brows and because it is a powder it creates a soft colour and can be easily blended or removed. If you think your brow doesn’t have a defined shape, then make one! With an angled brush it is easy to create definition and you can mould your brows into any shape you like! Give it a go and see the difference!
5. Brighten your eyes!
A really simple way to brighten the eyes and create a more ‘awake’ look is to add a light colour in the corner of the eyes. A shimmer/frost in white or cream really creates a open-eyed effect and makes the eyes pop. It can also be great for smaller eyes to make them appear larger. My favourite products for this are again the MUA’s single pearl eyeshadow in shade number 2 and the Make Up Store’s Eyedust in Mercury. These pearly colours really brighten and add a bit of sparkle to your complexion. Another great product I like to use is Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide on pencil in Yeyo, it a beautiful white shimmer and being a pencil is really easy to apply. It is available from Boot’s, Debenhams and House of Fraser.
6. Curl your lashes!
A lot of people seem reluctant to use eyelash curlers because of their appearance and the thought of them accidently ripping all their eyelashes out, but fear not, eyelash curlers are our friend! It can take some perfecting to curl your eyelashes efficiently but it makes such a big difference! Curling the lashes open the eyes up as well as framing the face making your eyes stand out more. You can buy them from loads of places such as Superdrug, Boots or Bodycare and some cost as little as £1!! My favourite lash curlers are from Shu Uemura and cost £20.
7. Use a brush!
Using your fingers can be really great when applying make-up, but using a brush can give extra precision and neatness. Fingers work well for applying creams and for blending but for things such as foundation and blusher, brushes work a lot better. Precision is something that really makes make-up stand out, for example if you apply a lipstick straight from the tube you are likely to get an uneven edge. However, when applying with a brush it is easier to get straight, neat edges and fill in the proper shape of your lips. There are thousands of different brushes, but you can use what is best for you and what you feel comfortable with. Here are a few basic ones that are useful to have..
8. Experiment!!
Why not try something new? Whether it be new products, new colours or a new way you wear your make up, have a go at something different! There are plenty on looks on youtube and in magazines for you to try, because you never know what will look good until you have a go!!
9. Remove your make-up before bed!
Its a standard thing to take off your make-up before bed, but I must admit I am a little guilty of neglecting this once in a while, but don’t follow my example! It is important to remove your make-up before you sleep because leaving it on can clog pores and create breakouts. There are many ways you can remove make-up and these include: Using a wipe, such as a make-up wipe or baby wipes, using your Cleanser, put a medium amount onto a cotton pad and use this all over the face, or make-up remover, also put this onto a cotton pad and use all over the face. The products that I like to use are Johnsons Baby Wipes, as they are very soft and gentle and so work well on all skin types. I also use my Simple cleanser as again it is good for all skin types and finally the make-up remover I recommend is Amie Bright Eyes Make-up Remover, it is so gentle on the skin and removes make-up so efficiently it is even better than Chanel’s make-up remover!! And finally……
10. Less is most definitely more!
I am a firm believer that less is more! This is my philosophy, if you wear a full face of make-up everyday, you know- foundation, heavy eye make-up, false eyelashes; the lot, then when you dress up for a special occasion, you will never look any different! However, if you wear natural and minimal make-up in the day and then glam up of a night time, people will really notice the difference. I know a lot of people wear heavy make-up for self esteem issues as they feel they need to, but trust me, you don’t! You can look just as beautiful with natural make-up as you do with a ton of slap, all you need is a lesson in what suits you, and some practice! Why not try looking at youtube tutorials and trying something natural, and then practising something glamorous for an evening? Everyone has natural beauty, we just need to know how to bring it out and emphasise it! One more thing not to forget is your confidence! Make sure you flaunt your stuff! ;)
Hope you like my top 10 tips, you should give them a go! Send me any questions or pictures, I would love to see! :)
Stay creative
Grace <3
