Makeup Tips: Using Makeup To Enhance Your Natural Beauty

Makeup was created to enhance your God-given beauty and looks just awful when used as a mask that effectively hides your natural skin quality and texture, or to redraw features such as eyebrows or lip line. People who are new to makeup, or who are not skilled with it, make the mistake of applying it too thickly and recklessly. "Pancake" face is just not a good look, and this is particularly true of younger women.

That said, makeup can give you a little extra boost when a brow is not bushy enough, a lash not long or thick enough, or when to give an extra glow to your complexion to highlight cheekbones and add glamour.

The following makeup tips will help you make the most of your natural beauty, without overdoing it.

Makeup Tip 1: Easy Does It
Makeup is designed to make your features more pronounced. When applying makeup remember: less is more. That means that your makeup should be applied not using a heavy hand. Use makeup to enhance and not overshadow your features.

Wearing makeup should encourage a second or third glance from people near to you. These admiring glances will be a result of highlighting your best features rather than hiding flaws. Makeup should not make you look like a completely different looking person.

Your goal when wearing makeup is to make it provide a little more detail to features you were born with and not add features you do not have.

Makeup Tip 2: How To Use Eyeliner
Apply just enough eyeliner so that the eyes to appear more defined. If your eyes are not slanted, do not add a line to make them appear to slant upwards. If they are slanted and you want to define the slant, use small line of eyeliner to enhance the natural curves of your eye. Be careful not to draw heavy lines under the eye or inside the rim as this will close up your eyes and make them seem smaller.

Makeup Tip 3: Using Concealer
Concealer was invented to hide the odd imperfection but should be used lightly. It can be a blessing when you have acne or other blemish or darkness under the eyes. Always blend in well. Most people use their finger but specific brushes have been designed for that purpose too and they can give a more even result. Smooth in the concealer until you can't tell where the concealer ends and natural skin begins. This will prevent that white circle look around the eyes (which can look kind of weird).

Makeup Tip 4: Applying Lipstick and Gloss
Adding colour to your lips as either lipstick or lip gloss will help complement the underlying tones of your complexion. Each one of us is born with a natural skin tone. It might be yellowish, greenish, redish or pink. You may be familiar with the term olive skin – that's skin with a yellowish tinge; rather than alabaster skin, which is more pink or even blueish; or chocolate, which has a very warm yellow base. Whatever your skin tone, we all have one. Choosing a lipstick that works with your skin tone rather than against it will create a more natural look.

Makeup Tip 5: Eye Shadow
Eye shadow is not meant to be, nor was it ever meant to be, worn everyday, all day, throughout the day. Eye shadow is used for glamour and is not appropriate to all situations. When at work, ditch the eye shadow. When you are going out for the evening or in difficult lighting, put some on (a bit of sparkle helps at night). When at church, apply just a little subtle colour.

Choose a base tone then complimentary tones from the same pallet, unless you are going for a totally out there 1980's look... in which case clash and cross match your eye shadows as much as you like (but you'll look anything but natural!).

Makeup Tip 6: Getting Lip Liner Right
There are those who have very small lips and those who have very large lips. Lip liner can be used to change the perception of the fullness or size of the lips. Lip liner can also be used to make the lips appear smaller. Adding just a small, darker line inside the lip rim and smoothing it to outline your lips can make lips appear smaller. Adding a thicker, brighter or lighter along the edge or just outside the lips then smoothing it to define the contour of your lips helps make lips seem more full.

Last Word On Using Makeup
Do not overdo it! Makeup when applied correctly, in limited amounts, can bring about a wonderful, subtle transformation that helps reveal you at your natural best. As fun as it can be to wear it, don't forget to take your makeup off at the end of the day. If makeup is not removed, it will add years to your face by clogging pores and impeding natural skin shedding.