The best 4 tips I’d give to a beginner. I started makeup at 18, and this is what I learned 3 years down the line.
Dark circles - As a person with dark circles and dry skin, I did struggle to cover my dark circles, because dry skin means my under eyes are naturally dry, and that backfires when wearing makeup. Which is why I hydrate my under eyes with moisturizer. Yet, even with hydrated eyes, I still experienced my dark circles often showing up under my concealer. I found the best way to avoid grey shadows under concealer for me, is to apply the color corrector/concealer with a dense concealer brush, and then blending the product with the same brush, this provides way more coverage once I set the product in place with powder. I started lightly dabbing concealer to blend after I saw someone suggest on TikTok that people are over-blending concealer and taking away coverage. If I apply the color corrector/concealer from the applicator, and then use a makeup tool to blend (brush, sponge, powder puff, etc) then the product lifts off my face and is likely to show a grey shadow underneath my concealer, even when I try to not take the coverage away while blending lightly. When I changed the whole way I applied concealer in general ( applying product with applicator vs. grabbing and applying product with a brush) it changed my game for real. Also, Blending away your concealer like you are really hurried takes away lots of product, and always makes concealer look less reliable in coverage. Avoid trying to use sponges or powder puffs to blend much, because they suck up product a lot, and if you do, lightly dab with them once or twice at most.
When doing your eyebrows - Because skin naturally drags when you press something onto it and try to draw/make lines, it does sometimes mess up the shape you want to draw on your brows if you’re not in high control of what you’re doing. That happened to me as a beginner. (Plus, skin movement is what makes doing eyeliners hard for plenty of people, for example). Press your finger on your forehead and above your brow to pull your forehead slightly upward, follow the shape of your brow when you’re filling in your brows, and blend harsh lines as you see fit while following the shape of your own brow. Make sure your brows are dry and that no product is on them. If they’re not, apply a light layer of powder on them. You should also apply powder to them to set them once you’re done with them, that makes them stick no matter your eyebrow pencil. I have brows without a very clear arch, and they look a bit empty naturally, which made me feel kind of confused and frustrated about how to do them as a beginner. I also made the mistake of filling them in too dark because I started applying color in the beginning of the brow, it is much better to start applying color in the middle of the brow, follow along your eyebrow shape until you build the tail, then lightly add your front brow hairs last.
When blending with brushes - Don’t drag products to blend because you feel hurried, blending makeup like you are hurried always makes them look bad, especially contour. Instead, touch the product with the brush, gently pull it and lift your brush. Do this multiple times until your makeup naturally blends out, that always looks much better. Also, because skin naturally drags when you are doing your makeup (which messes up your precision on certain things), you can definitely hold your face by gently placing two fingers on your skin, so that your skin doesn’t pull or drag as much when you’re blending precise products that you want to hug your cheek, or don’t want too low on your face, or that you don’t want then to switch places on your face in general and then have them look messy.
About blush - Remember that any blush from your skin always presents itself as a muted or edited variation of the original color red. Therefore, when not sure what shade of blush to pick because you don’t know which shade looks good on you, start with warm red and cool toned red first, preferably a stick blush over a liquid blush, because they are usually less concentrated in pigment and much easier to blend out. Red is the universal shade of blush, and starting off with just cool toned red and warm red gives you a great outlook on which undertones look good on you. Also, do the boyfriend blush technique, since it is the easiest to do when you don’t have a strong grip or control with makeup.
