Tricks of the Trade - Applying Make-up Like a Professional

There are a number of different tricks and techniques that we have developed to make applying make-up easier, as well as more appealing. Let's start with the basics.

Always start your make-up with your foundation. This will even out your complexion and give you a good base to start with. Now for the trick. Use a make-up sponge to apply your foundation. This way your foundation will not change colors due to the oils on your fingers, and you will not contaminate your foundation. Another trick is to use a large Complexion Brush to smooth out your foundation around the hairline and jaw line. This way you will not have a line of demarcation around the edge of your foundation. Next apply your brow color. Follow up with a Brow Gel to keep your brows looking nice all day or night. Apply your highlighter next. The trick here is to use a highlighter like our Beige Eye-lite that is creamy instead of a waxy cover-up. When you are trying to hide lines on the face, using a waxy substance will not move with your face, thus causing creases and other wrinkles to form in the product. Using a creamy highlighter will get into the lines to lighten them and make them less visible. Again use your Complexion Brush to blend your highlighting after you have applied it.

Now it is time to concentrate on your eyes. Applying make-up is like being an Illusionist or Magician. It is not like an artist that paints, because we are working with three dimensions. This is why it is important to use three different eye shadows. Starting from the top eyelash choose a color of a medium tone. Apply that from the lashes to the crease in the eye. The next shadow should be two shades darker than the the first. Apply this shadow from the top of the first to the brow bone. The next shadow should be one shade lighter than the first to highlight the eye brows, because the eye brows are what gives you your expressions. Apply this shadow from the top of the second shadow to the bottom of the eye brows. This is how you give your eyes dimension, by going light, dark, lightest with your shadows. Now apply your eye-liner. The trick here is to use a shadow and firm bristle brush. This will give a more natural appearance. Always start from the outside going toward the center on the top and bottom. Another trick to this is to make sure you do not make the top and bottom meet at the corners both inside and outside. By doing this you will make you eyes appear larger. Something else you can do to your eyes if you would like them to appear whiter, is to use a white pencil on the inside of the lower lid. This way light will reflect off of the white onto your eyes. This is especially helpful for people that tend to have a lot of redness in their eyes. Now it is time once again to blend with your large complexion brush.

We are almost done. Your next step will be your blush. The blush is applied to the cheek bone, and if you stare at yourself in the mirror find the place where your cheek goes from flat and starts to curve back. This is where you should start your blush, then follow the cheek bone back. Now let's do your lips. Make sure that your blush color and lipstick complement each other when you hold them together. If they do not look good side by side they will not look good on your face. This is also important for the next trick. Use your blush as a base color for your lipstick. This will help your lipstick last longer and prevent it from bleeding. The next trick for your lips is to use a soft bristle brush like our Gold Lip Brush to apply your lipstick. You will have more control this way, and your lipstick will stay on better. Like your eye-liner start from the outside and work in towards the center on the top and bottom lip. If you have small lips and you want to make them larger apply your liner just outside your lips. Conversely if you have large lips you can line just inside to make them appear smaller.

Now that you know some of the tricks of the trade you can apply your make-up like a professional.

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