How To & Tips: Natural Makeup

Think you can't be a natural beauty? Think again! Almost everyone can look amazing and refreshing, even if you just rolled out of bed. Here's a few helpful tips to achieve a natural, flawless look.

Let's Start With Skin
First, prep your skin with a good wash, exfoliate if you need to, and always moisturize, even if you have oily skin. Let your moisturizer set for 5 minutes, and either grab your favourite tinted moisturizer or your favourite primer and apply (note; only use a primer if you are going to use a foundation, if you are going to use a tinted moisturizer there is no need for a primer). If you applied a tinted moisturizer, skip on to the next steps, if you applied a primer, keep on reading. After you let your primer set for 5-10 minutes, grab your favourite foundation, as long as it isn't fake or cakey looking, and apply with your fingertips. Applying foundation with your fingertips will give you the most natural application, almost like a second skin, because your fingers help warm the product up. (Warning: to avoid streaks, blend very well into the skin.) Let your foundation set for another 5-10 minutes and finish off with some mattifying powder. If you'd like, you can add a very sheer, natural blush, highlighter, and/or bronzer to your skin, but of course, keep it very natural looking. (For bronzer, try to avoid anything with sparkles or shimmer, real tans do not sparkle).

I would say that the skin is the most important thing for this look. Having a flawless canvas, so to speak, is going to really make everything you do from this point on look better. If you feel comfortable enough, you can skip the next steps and just go out with flawless skin, I encourage you to go for it.

Next Up, Eyes
Eyes will consist of only a few things; eyelash curler, mascara, and maybe some eyeliner and nude eyeshadow.
First, give your eyelashes a good curl. Get your curler as close to the root as you can without pinching your skin, and pump it 3 times. Next, apply a thin coat of brown or black mascara. (Tip: to get a very natural mascara application, wipe the wand on a facial tissue to remove excess product.) If you want, apply some white eyeliner to your bottom waterline, this will make your eyes appear bigger. To make your lash line look thicker, apply a brown or black eyeliner (depending on which colour of mascara you used) to your upper waterline.
If you wish, you can apply a matte, nude eyeshadow to your lids, but it isn't necessary.

Lips
For this look, I would suggest a natural colour in either a matte lipstick or a lipstain, or just a clear gloss. Other than that, don't go for much else on the lips.

And, You're Done!
If you need to, fill in your eyebrows, add any finishing touch like a highlight on the brow bone and inside corner of the eye, and you're all set!