in case you’ve ever been curious as to how i do my make up, this is the post you’re looking for. i would’ve gladly made a video, except my recorded voice sounds like a banshee and i would also find the recording process increadibly awkward – so here is a consolatory middle ground! a step by step photographed guide to my basic make up, which takes no longer than 10 minutes. it’s suitable for day, and if you tweak it a little and exaggerate it slightly, it’s perfect for night.
moisturisers and face creams are incredibly important before make up so that your skin doesn’t dry out underneath it. usually i don’t use a creamy foundation so i would just be putting on a powder straight to my face, which means having a moisturised face is even more important.
first, i used the black up creamy foundation and then over that, i used to the iman powder foundation. it evened out my skin tone and creates a nice canvas on which to art your make up.
3. eyebrows
your eyes are, in my opinion, the most important part of your make up regime. they’re certainly the part i focus the most on, and in particular, the eyebrows. a common misconception with eyebrows is that you have to colour them in – this is 2296249861869124% WRONG. do not, do not (!!!), do that! eyebrow pencils were created to fill, not to colour in. so, i begin with brushing my eyebrows up so that the shape is clear, then i use the pencil to solidify the shape by outlining the lower bound, starting from the edge and then i do the upper bound, starting from about 3/4 in, so that your eyebrows do that cool ‘light in the beginning’ thing.the pencil is your tool to emphasise your arch, so use it! then brush out the pencil once more so it looks natural.
4. eyes
in the picture of my make up used, there are 3 dashes on the eyeshadow pallet to show which 3 colours i used. i believe in the tritone gold eyeshadow pallet because it sort of adds depth to your eyes, and gold works well with my skin tone. in any case, i started with the lightest colour (the top right dash) for the corners of my eye and brush it out until the first third of my eye.
then i used the darker gold (bottom left dash) and used that for the remaining two thirds of my eye (pictures 1,2). with the darkest gold/bronze (bottom right dash), i make a ‘v’ formation from my brow-bone to my lash-line – like a sort of arrow head pointing towards my ear. this ‘v’/arrow creates that darker crease in your eye socket and adds a lot of depth – it also is a sort of guide for your liquid eyeliner.
again, using the lightest colour (top right dash), you carefully go under your eyebrow arch and on the actual arch (very lightly) to highlight your eyebrow and also help clean up and define your brow. this is a very subtle thing, so don’t use too much eyeshadow.
5. concealer
after the eyeshadow, i apply the concealer, in particular to cover up any loose eyeshadow. concealer really makes an impact on my face because the bags under my eyes are so deep, they’re birkin bags.
6. eyeliner
i honestly used to abhor liquid eyeliner before i discovered eyeliner pens, in particular the incredible essence one (i got it from clicks). it’s so much easier to hold and to use – it saves my life. the way i do eyeliner is i start at the edge of my lash-line, in the same line as my lower lash-line, and i sort of just continue to the line. basically, i do the tail first. then, i switch directions and, from the edge of the tail, i draw it back towards my upper lash-line and then just carry on, as close to my lash-line as possible. then i just go over those lines until i’m happy with the thickness, and voila!
7. mascara
i used to use this avon mascara, that was absolutely brilliant, but i don’t think anything can compare to maybelline. all the women in my family use it and with good reason – it’s not too clumpy and it doesn’t give you those creepy spider lashes. i always start at the end of my eye and stroke up as i move in from underneath, then i go from above and twist it out. as you noticed, i don’t use eyeliner of mascara on my bottom eyelid because i have a large face and smaller eyes, and using eyeliner just shrinks my eyes some more, when i actually want to open them up.
8. blush & bronzer
first off, i use the mac blush on my cheekbones and apples of my cheeks to restore some colour/depth/tone to my face, and then i use bronzer like everywhere. i go over my blush with my darker bronzer, then i use it on my forehead and nose (T zone), my cupids bow and my chin. i then use the lighter bronzer in the two tone bronzer just underneath my cheekbones and on the sides of my nose – some lazy last-ditch contouring, if you will.
9. lipstick/lip balm
i dab juuuust a little bit of red lipstick on and then smear it with my finger, just to add some colour to my lips. i go over it with my absolute fave – eos lip balm – and then i just use the lip balm during the day. honestly, i understand eos’s hype now. at first, i just thought celebrities were just getting paid to say they like it, but i really get it now! after like a week or two of continues use, your lips are so soft and they just smell/taste amazing to boot. and they look like eggs, which is always funny when someone wants to borrow yours and they stare at it in bewilderment.
and voila!
now you can see the epic difference between eye make up and no eye up and brow shaping or nah. i hope you liked this post and you learnt something, and even if you didnt, at least you now know how i do my make up 🙂 wishing you all a great week!
I can’t do without my EOS lip balm! And you really pretty xx
-m
it is absolutely lifesaving! and thank you so much! 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for the tips. Xxx
Hi,
I have the blackup creme to powder foundation as well. Because I have acne scarring, I like to use the LA Girl orange concealer. But i found that the Blackup foundation doesn’t quite cover up the orange concealer well. Any tips?
Author
Hey there! I would suggest using a liquid foundation or a stick foundation rather than the creme to powder. Else blend in the colour corrector and set it with (tinted) translucent powder first, and that should prevent the colour from peeking through! But a liquid foundation with medium or full coverage should cover it up completely.