13 Makeup Tips That Will Change Your Game
Like in every profession, the more you work and the more information you absorb, the more experienced you are! Experience provides you with tips and tricks that will change your work completely to make your work faster and of better quality. The same is with makeup. Some tips you will learn from YouTube videos, some tips you will read about in magazines, you can even go to a makeup school to follow your dream to become a Certified Makeup Artist and they will teach you the foundation of knowledge and provide experience. Additional tips you will learn from other Makeup Artists as you work in the industry and with all of this built up experience you will begin to build your perfect and unique skill set that works best for the Makeup Artist you aspire to be!
In this article, I am going to share the makeup tips that I learned throughout my career that can help you work with clients or can help improve your makeup game if you do it only for yourself:
1. Nothing is more frustrating than when you finish doing your eye makeup and you begin applying mascara and all of a sudden - it gets onto your perfectly blended eye shadows! To get rid of the smudged mascara just wait until the mascara is dry and remove it with a dry Q-tip.
2. If you feel like your mascara is not working effectively as it used to; it may just be dry, of course, but if you bought it recently and it just doesn't do the best job - try to remove extra product from your mascara wand. It will change your mascara game for sure (and prevent loads of clumps)! You can do it on a paper towel or on the sides of the mascara tube.
3. Eyeliner always makes us hold our breath and we pray it will turn out perfectly (even the most experienced Makeup Artist can have their off days!). However, have no fear, it can always be fixed - even if it isn’t straight enough, don't panic! You can fix it with a Q-tip dipped into eye cream and lightly applying on top of the crooked part; this will remove your mistake. Or, you can use a concealer with good coverage to correct the application. Take the concealer on a synthetic flat brush and cover the areas that need to be fixed – never forget to blend it!
4. When you have dry lips none of the lipsticks or colored lip glosses will look good on them (except possibly a clear gloss). To get rid of dead skin on your lips you can use a scrub, or a toothbrush. Go over your lips a couple of times to “exfoliate” and make them baby smooth. Also never forget to use lip balm or any hydrating lip product afterwards! If you do it regularly your lipstick or lip gloss will always look fresh and properly moisturized!
5. If you are looking into more natural makeup removers for your makeup, your search is over! Coconut oil is a great makeup remover.
6. If you forgot to bring blush with you on set or you are searching for a more natural looking blush, coming from within, try to use your cream lipstick as a blush. Be sure to blend, of course. Remember, you can not apply it on top of powder, only on bare face or on top of liquid or cream foundation. Otherwise, it will not blend!
7. If you decide to create a festive look with some glitter, removal can sometimes be hard. So the best tip is to use tape! You just press in onto the areas where you applied glitter and gently pull it off. Go over these areas until all of the glitter is removed - be gentle!
8. Do not ask your clients to smile hard when you apply blush and don't do it yourself. As when a person stops smiling her cheeks will go back down which leaves the blush at a lower spot than intended. This is an important professional tip for mature skin especially!
9. If you want a perfect skin when you are 60, having less wrinkles and lack of dark spots, wear sunscreen today and every day! You should always use sunscreen underneath your makeup as well.
10. Don’t neglect tightlining! Especially if you don't have a lot of lashes, or they lack volume. It changes the eye makeup game entirely making the eyeliner look complete, lashes thicker and lash line full. So many benefits, right?
11. If you still use your brushes to apply and blend out your foundation try to use a beauty blender for blending. Beauty blenders can truly be a game changer! It blends your foundation seamlessly making it melt so invisibly into your skin. It works magic with blending your contouring as well leaving no place for harsh lines!
12. If you don't have time to do a full glam on yourself or on anybody else, I mean foundation, contouring, brows, lips, lashes… Choose brows, they are the most important! As soon as you “wear” brows your face looks framed!
13. The brow game has to be strong! To get perfect brows you have to follow the rule:
a) Find where your brow starts by holding a brush upright along the side of your nose. “1 (shown in the photo below)” this is where your brow has to start.
b) Find your arch by angling the brush upwards through the center of your pupil. Your highest point of the arch has to be where “2” is.
c) Find where your brow should stop by angling the brush towards the end of your eye. The end of the brow will be where “3” is.
The beginning and the end of the brow has to be on the same level, the end might slightly be higher but never lower!
14. If you were not born with thick lashes, never fear, you can use this trick: after you prepped your eyes with primer use loose powder to set it and apply a bit onto your lashes. When you apply mascara afterwards it will give your lashes extra volume!
15. If you decided to go with smokey eyes and decide to highlight your waterline as well to make a bolder effect, do not apply eyeshadow, only use eyeliner. First, it can irritate your eye as the eyeshadow is chunky and its parts can easily get into your eye. Second, it will not stay there! Use gel eyeliners or eye pencils instead.
16. Never leave eyeshadows unblended, especially the darker ones. Unless you are doing an editorial or creative makeup look which is supposed to have this kind of application (for your artistic expression). If you decide to work with darker eyeshadows and don’t feel very confident that you will be able to blend them really well, use lighter colors as transition shades in the crease first and then application and blending of dark eyeshadows will be much easier! Even pro Makeup Artists use this tip!
17. One more tip about working with darker eyeshadows or eyeshadows that fall out really easy. Apply a load of translucent powder under the eye area. If you have fall outs you will dust it off easily with this powder in the end. Or you can use specially designed Shadow Shields for it. They stick to your lower eyelid making the area under your eyes secure from any fall outs. Or you can even use a napkin, lightly pressed under the lower lash line while you are applying the tricky eye shadow!
18. One little thing that can ruin your client’s attitude towards your work is when eyelash glue sticks the upper and lower lashes together and she cannot open her eyes! Be careful! A solution to this is while applying lashes don't ask your clients to close their eyes, instead ask them just to look down.
19. I know there is a ton of makeup products on the market right now, and the amount is constantly growing. It is impossible to buy all of them! I know the struggle is real, they look so beautiful whispering “you need me”. I am a makeup hoarder, I get it! BUT! The thing is that most of the best products are already invented and produced, you just have to really look into reviews to find what will work best for you. Don't play by the makeup brands’ rules which show you so many ads making you want to buy their products even if you already have 10 of the same products at home! If you still feel like you need this new product for your kit, read reviews before buying it and then see if you can test it out prior to purchasing! It is very often that a product does not meet your expectations when you read another person’s opinion and see swatches. I know that we can almost always return or exchange the product that is not right for us but why disappoint yourself after trying out the product without reading reviews? Of course also aside from the money saved – it is time saved and well spent!
You will learn a lot of makeup tips and tricks from everywhere – inspiration is all around you! Keep an open mind that not every product or tip will work for you – this is completely ok. We all have different eyes and face shapes, different skin colors and different skin types! Don’t worry if you cannot make a certain product or technique work. Find the ones that are best for you! It may take a bit of time but you will find it! Trust me!