Makeup: False Mask or Beauty Enhancers?

We live in the 21st century and I'm pretty sure we've heard it all...

"Why do you waste so much time putting on a MASK of makeup every morning?"

"How can a girl get a real guy, when she's a FAKE as well?  Hiding behind all that makeup...."

"Why can't you embrace your natural beauty? All that makeup makes you UGLY."

Okay boys and girls, makeup is not meant to be a mask. It was not made to be used as a way to give us girls an ability to hide our true selves. It was made to enhance our selves, bring beauty back into our own eyes. A way to allow us to see how beautiful we can be.

It only looks like a mask because of the way it's applied.

• Caky Foundation - foundation is meant to be applied evenly and sparingly. Not slapped on your face with a painting spatula. It's all about blending, buffing, and color matching. The color of your foundation is as equally important as to how you apply it. A shade too light will give you an instant caky effect with a ghostly complexion, while a shade too dark might make people think you just came from the set of Jersey Shores... Remember to use less rather than more because it's easier to add more foundation than to take it off. Don't worry about your problem areas still being noticeable after this step, that's why we have concealer. 
• Splotchy Concealer - just like foundation, you're going to want to have the right shade or else your concealed spots will stand out. I always recommend buying two shades, one darker and one lighter. Why would I recommend that? Well, our skin changes colors (slightly or significantly) with the change of the seasons. Having both a dark and light shade allows you to mix your perfect shade each time and also the ability to target certain areas:

          ~Skin tone shade: this shade can be used all over the face, no matter the area you                                                   are targeting. Highly suggested that the color best matched to your                                               skin tone should be used on areas that do not need to be highlighted                                           or contoured.

          ~Lighter shade: this shade should be used under your eyes, to brighten that area. To highlight                                                  under your eyebrows in order to give them an instant lift. Also use this shade to                                                conceal any problem areas you have on your face in the areas you would                                                          normally be highlighted . For example, I would use this shade on the top of my                                                  cheek bones, my nose, and the center of my chin.

          ~Darker shade: this shade should be used in areas of your face where you plan to contour. That                                                way it will add a deep base for your contour shade and it will also blend in                                                          more easily. For me those areas would be: my temples, hairline, hallows of my                                                  cheeks, and jawline.

• Clown face - now this term can be applied to multiple areas of your face, such as the cheeks, eyes, and lips. Let's take this one at a time... 

          ~Blush: it's suppose to look natural, like when you become flush around someone you like. Not a                                   hot mess like you just got kiss by the sun. No no no. Also, it's important to know where                                     your blush is suppose to be applied. The most common and natural area for blush to be                                     applied is to the apples of your cheeks and blended upwards towards your temples. The                                     color of your blush should be most pigmented on the apples. To locate the apples of your                                   cheeks, just smile. The little round puffs are your apples! MOST IMPORTANT TIP: use a                                 light hand when applying. Some times blushes can be tricky and you'll never know how                                     pigmented they'll be until you apply it. You can also add more, but never less.
          ~Eyes and Lips: these two are complementary to each other because they are the two areas on                                                  your face that people tend to notice the most. Since the eyes and lips go                                                          together, you want to make sure that the colors you use on both areas look well                                                together. My tip, and what most makeup artists/gurus recommend, is to draw                                                    the focus to only one of these areas at a time. If you feel like wearing a bold eye                                              look one day, then make sure your lips are a subtle color that complements the                                                look, and vice versa.

• Raccoon eyes - another term targeted at the eyes. There's multiple reasons as to why someone might end up with black eyes from makeup, the most common reason (REASON #1) is runny mascaras and/or eyeliners. A quick fix to this problem, from my experience, is buying drier formulated and/or waterproof mascaras and eyeliners (I highly recommend gel eyeliners over the pencil ones, there's something about their formulation that helps them last longer without smudging). Also, when applying mascara let it die a bit between coats. This can help prevent smudging. The other reason (REASON #2) is muddy looking eyeshadow. A lot of makeup beginners are unfamiliar with the concepts and understandings of how to bend colors and where colors go, but here's a CRASH COURSE: HOW TO APPLY EYESHADOW...

          1) Learn the shade of your eye and locate your crease
          2) Pick your look. Natural? Smoky? Colorful? After that, pick at least 3 colors that fit your look.                            Those 3 colors should include a mid-tone shade that you want to base the look around, a                                  darker shade in the same color family or a black/brown, and a light shade that can either be                                of the same color family or a color that complements. 
         3) Now the mid-tone shade you are basing the                        look off of should go all over your lid. You'll                          want to apply this color using a shader brush.                      The darker shade will go in your crease, use a                    fluffy blending brush to apply it. The lightest                        shade will be used at the edge of your crease                      to blend the darker shade out so it does not                        appear as harsh. You can use a blending blush                    to do this as well, and remember to blend up                        towards the brow bone (under brow).

See, now it's not the makeup's fault, it's our own faults. I hope who ever reads this learned a little something about makeup and how it's meant to be worn. Makeup should never be used as a way to change your look entirely, it should be used to enhance the looks you already have. Highlight the areas of your face that you like, and contour away the areas you don't. Makeup is definitely magic, it's all an illusion. Now how you use this new found magic to your odds is up to you, but...

Always remember to always be, simply you.