By the time I was in high school, little me thought I would be showing up to class in the latest makeup trends and hottest fits. So much for going to a private catholic school, am I right? I didn’t begin learning how to do makeup until midway through my junior year. Not a lot of my friends are big makeup girls, but whenever they do want to begin, I’m more than happy to help out! You have called the right girl. Here are some tips and tricks to help begin your makeup journey.
- Eyes
I believe the best way to start your journey is to work on your eyes. Eyes are the hardest part of makeup. I remember my cousin gave me my first makeup products which consisted of Elf liquid eyeliner, Elf eyeliner pencils, and Elf mascara. Wearing just mascara can help that transition from wearing no makeup to eventually doing a full face. After, I suggest playing around with eyeliner and finding what suits you. It’s helpful you have no base, to begin with, therefore you have a clean area to work with and have room for mistakes and hacks, such as tape and wipes.
- Eyeshadow
Eyeshadow is the second step after mascara and eyeliner. It’s important to put concealer on your eyelids before you begin. I use the Elf camo concealer. I trace the outline of my bottom brow, draw a line connecting from the end of my brow to the end of my eye, and then blend. This gives you a smooth clear base to make the colors pop. Any eyeshadow palette can be used. My first one was a random palette I found in Macy’s with my mom. First, start with one solid color and place it on your lid using an eyeshadow brush. It’s easy and simple. It helps you get used to having color in your eyes. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, feel free to start experimenting with different colors. You can use multiple colors and even start playing around with concealer and cut ceases. You can find tutorials on YouTube and inspiration from Pinterest. Make sure to add mascara and eyeliner after you have finished.
- Base
Congrats! You have made it to the last step to learn. In my opinion, base has the most steps, but is the easiest to learn. It’s the first step when it comes to doing a full face. Start off by doing some shopping for a beauty blender, primer, foundation, concealer, setting powder, and contour, all in the right shade for your completion. Of course, you do not have to learn all of these steps in one day, take your time and start with what you can do.
- Start by cleaning your face and drying it. You can then take a little bit of primer and put it all around your face. This makes sure your makeup stays in place.
- This step is not necessary by any means, but if you have horrible acne like me, this will for sure help you. I like to take concealer and go throughout my face covering any dark spots and acne. I, then, go back and blend them just a little.
- After, take your foundation and place a little onto the beauty blender or your cheek. Then taking your beauty blender, you pat it onto your face repeatedly, blending it onto your face. Make sure you do this step with every part of your face. I like to start off with my right cheek going to my left cheek, then my chin, below my nose, my nose, and then my forehead. Whatever is left from the concealer blends out with the foundation.
- Concealer is to help brighten your face and hide those eyebags from staying up all night. Place your concealer on your undereye and then blend. Some concealers dry fast, I like to place it in one area and then blend, while others prefer to place it all at once and then blend. Do whatever is easiest for you. I place it on both my under eyes, my chin, between my eyebrows, the tip of my nose, the bridge of my nose, under my nostrils, and below my cheeks.
- I never saw the point of setting powder until after a year into makeup. You’re playing around with a lot of liquid products which can look glossy and setting powders helps to matt that and set it into place. You can take either a beauty blender or a powder puff and dip it into your powder. Place it wherever you place your concealer. Let it set for a couple of minutes. I like to do my eyeshadow as it’s setting. When you’re done, take a brush and brush whatever is left of the powder off.
- Now that your face looks 2 dimensional, it’s time to add some structure back. Contour is made to add color back to your face. Contours come in all different types of colors, make sure to choose one that blends out well with your foundation. Using a brush, you want to place the contour along your cheekbones going up to the top of your forehead. Then, place some along your jawline. Contouring the nose can be a little tricky. Place the contour along both sides of the bridge of your nose. Then using more contour, trace the tip of your nose in a circular motion.
Additional steps such as blush and bronzer can be learned at later times. These are just some of the basics I recommend for beginners. Makeup can be a little intimidating, but it takes a lot of time and patience. Soon you’ll be able to do these steps in the car or on a plane and be able to look back and laugh. Or you might choose to keep it simple with mascara. Either way, you are beautiful with or without it.