Inspiration: Go Ahead, Dear To Wear A Beautiful Bold Eye!

Nervous to go for a bold eye? Have amazing colours but don't really know what to do with them? Here are some amazing pictures I found that I thought would inspire some of you to go for it and wear an amazing bold eye and get everyone to stare in awe as they wonder "How did you do that!?"

Go ahead, dare to wear!





   

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!

Beginner's Makeup Tips: Eye Makeup

Tip 1: Always start with a good base. They make your eyeshadows go on more vibrant, keep them on all day and night, and help stop the eyeshadows from creasing. One of my favourites are MAC Cosmetic's Paint Pots. You can read my full review of them here. Some other ones that are popular are Urban Decay Primer Potion and Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

Tip 2: Make sure you test eyeshadows at the store to make sure they are pigmented, smooth, and easy to blend. Just open the container and rub your finger around in the shadow. What you're looking for is to see if the colour on your finger matches the colour in the container. This is called swatching. Another good idea is to then rub that finger on the back of your hand to see how easy it is to move around, and how much it fades out. Also, make sure you get eyeshadow colours that you love. If you don't love the colour, you will probably never wear it, and there goes at least $15 down the drain for no reason.

Tip 3: Invest in good brushes. Most makeup artists will probably agree that brushes can be more important than the makeup itself. Learn what kinds of brushes work best for certain things. Animal hair brushes will give you the best pigmentation and are softer, while synthetic brushes give more sheer application and are much more durable. Don't be shy when you go to makeup counters, ask any questions you have about the brushes there. I find the people who work at MAC (at least around where I live) are very knowledgeable about how their brushes are made. They know that the animals are shaved, not killed, for their real hair brushes, and they know how the animals there are treated. Don't shy away from animal hair brushes just because they are natural, not all real hair brushes are made by killing the animal, so just ask. Learn how to work with your brushes as well. It's one thing to have nice brushes, but it's another thing to know how to use them and clean them properly.

Tip 4: Practice makes perfect. The best way to learn basic eyeshadow and eyeliner techniques, and the way that I learned, is to watch endless videos on Youtube. Then, just copy what they're doing. Practice the techniques over and over again until you're comfortable with your brushes and your product. Don't feel discouraged when you mess up, it's no problem, even the most experienced and professional make up artists screw up from time to time. There is no shame.

Tip 5: Find out what compliments your eye shape and colour the best. Blue eyes are complimented by browns, green eyes are complimented by plums, and brown eyes can pretty much wear anything. Find out weather or not you have hooded eyes, almond eyes, big eyes, small eyes, wide set eyes, close set eyes, droopy eyes, etc.

Tip 6: Figure out what's easiest for you. Just because a certain technique or tip works for someone else, doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you. Everybody is different and everybody does things differently. Find your own rhythm, pattern, and style. Just because everyone wears cat eye eyeliner doesn't mean you have to wear it too if you don't like the way it looks on you.

Tip 7: Skip the spider eyelashes! You know, those clumpy, gross eyelashes that fuse together and just make you look sloppy and like you never take off your makeup. Like this. If you work hard blending, smudging, and building up your eyeshadow, why ruin it by doing this to your poor eyelashes? Just apply one or two coats of mascara and leave it at that. A tip to happy, pretty, wispy lashes like this, just take a face tissue and take the extra mascara off of your wand. You will notice that it almost just looks like you tinted your lashes a darker colour. It really helps you stand out in a very natural way.

Tip 8: Last but not least, remember to just have fun with it. If doing your makeup feels like a chore, you're doing it wrong. You should be having fun, not wanting to throw your brush across the room. Find your own style, play around with it, and do what you like.