The Ultimate Beauty Guide

After years of cultivation, here are 10 of the greatest makeup tips worth knowing.

1. Blush for Your Face Shape

My bestie V always seemed to have perfectly blushed cheeks. Maybe this had something to do with her killer cheekbones, but maybe the girl just knew what she was doing. That being said, there are specific areas of your cheek you should be focusing on depending on the shape of your face.

• Oval – Apply at your ear line and further back on your cheek.
• Heart – Hit the middle of your cheek bone; right in between your nose and ears.
• Square – Find the apple of your cheekbone and apply in a circular motion.
• Round – Just below the cheek apple, spread a wider range of blush.

2. Tape Stencil

It took me quite awhile to “perfect” my cat eye. If you have troubles doing this, apply a bit of scotch tape underneath where you want to use your eyeliner. This will help avoid any mismatched lines or gel liner fails. Just gently remove after you’ve worked your magic.

3. Hide Under Eye Circles

Eye bags suck. Hide yours by using highlighter in the crease of your eye and a slightly darker shade of concealer on the puffy area. It will counterbalance the light and give the illusion of brighter eyes.

4. Highlight Your Eyes

Since we’re already on the subject of highlighting, make your eyes look bigger and brighter by perfectly highlighting. Apply a highlighter to 3 key areas: inner corner of eyes, the middle of your eyelid and just under your brow bone. Apply this highlighter first, then move on to your darker eye shadow shades.

5. De-Clump Your Mascara

You should be replacing your mascara every 6 months, but avoid clumping before that time comes. Have you ever noticed that you pump your mascara wand to get more mascara on the brush?

Don’t!

This dries it out and causes premature clumping. Run your wand under water before placing it back in the tube and this will help avoid drying it out.

6. Perfect Your Pout

I didn’t use lipstick until a few years ago because I had an irrational fear of color, but when I did, I noticed it didn’t sit great on my lips.

Turns out we should all be exfoliating our lips regular. Brush your lips with a sugar and coconut oil scrub and have perfectly soft lips to apply that lipstick to.

7. Even Bigger Eyes

I love white eyeliner. It comes in handy for a lot of fixes and here’s another one; making your eyes bigger. Line your inner, lower eyelash line with white eyeliner to give the illusion of bigger eyes.

Alternatively, use black eyeliner in this same spot if you want your eyes to appear smaller; though I’m not sure why you would!

8. Falsify without Fake Lashes

I don’t like applying falsies because I tend to muck up the glue or red wine weep them off, but there’s another way to make your lashes look extra voluminous without the fake lashes.

Before applying mascara, sweep makeup powder or baby powder over your eyelashes. Apply your first coat of mascara then wait 3-5 minutes before applying a second coat. The powder will help plump up your lashes and make them appear fuller.

9. Heat Your Lash Curler

Just like a curling iron, warming your lash curler will help intensify your lash curl. Just blow on it with your hair dryer for a 5-10 seconds then curl your lash. It will last all day!

10. Flawless Mascara

In a rush and don’t have q-tips to wipe away mascara smudges? Use a business card or small sheet of paper to protect your eye skin from coming in contact with unruly mascara brushes. It’s simple and prevents smudges. WIN!

Next time you’re getting all dolled up, give one of these 10 makeup tips a try. You’ll be surprised how easy and effective they are.