Over my 15 years of experience, I have found a few repeat offenders when it comes to
makeup mistakes. No-no’s like over-lining lips with severely dark lip liner or a ring of
pink foundation encircling the face make me want to travel town-to-town with face
wipes. Makeup is meant to enhance, not distract, so follow these easy fixes and you can
be sure you will never wind up on a “don’t” list.
Dark lip liner: Colored lip liners became big in the 80’s, and matching them to lipstick
sounded like a great idea. The problem was when your lipstick wore off you were left
with that ring-around-the-lip look. Some of you even choose a lighter lipstick than the
liner, creating a clownish effect. Not pretty. Today a better approach is to choose nude
or flesh-colored lip liners that act like a seal, keeping lipstick from bleeding into the fine
lines around your mouth.
Drawn-on brows: Women with sparse brows need a little help filling them in to create a
polished look. The problem is drawing them on with a pencil like little tadpoles just looks
silly. For a more natural-looking brow, use a stiff angle brush to feather on color.
Smudge the pencil on the back of your hand and then use the angle brush to pick up the
color and deliver little feather-like strokes across the brow to fill in any gaps for a natural
looking finish.
Wrong color foundation: Choosing foundation can be a daunting task, especially for
women with very light or very dark skin. The wrong undertones can look strange on the
skin, and if not blended well can give you a mask-like look. To find your best possible
match you may need to spend a little extra cash, but it will be worth it. Visit a makeup
counter that can custom blend your foundation, or try before you buy by asking them to
apply it to your face then wear it out and see how it looks and feels first. Drug stores have
cheap offerings, but these come in sealed packages so you can’t see the true color on your
skin. To test a foundation yourself apply three different colors that are close to your skin
tone along your jaw line and pick the one that disappears into your skin.
Runny eye makeup: Ever flawlessly apply your makeup only to find it turning into black
smudges under the eyes a few hours later? Keep it in place by following a few simple
steps. When applying your foundation and powder, make sure to cover the lids and under
the eyes. This acts like an eye shadow base, so colors will stay true and really stick.
Sweep on powder eye shadows and choose waterproof eyeliners for staying power. Try
using waterproof mascara on the top lashes only so it won’t travel under the eyes during
the day.
Blush overload: Nothing looks worse than women with clown cheeks. Avoid applying
bright blush with a regular blush brush and use a bigger powder brush instead. This large
fluffy version hugs the cheeks and delivers less powder to the area giving a nice flush. If
you apply too much, simply buff the color down with a clean sponge or dust a little
translucent powder on top to tone it down.
