Common Makeup Mistakes

I have often noticed that many women are making the same makeup mistakes.  I am not talking about forgetting to check if a foundation is gluten free I am talking about using the wrong shades, or making themselves look older. Here are the common mistakes I am seeing as well as some suggested fixes.  
 

Foundation Mistakes:

 

Be it to light or to dark using the wrong shade of foundation sticks out.  Many people have lost pigment since last summer and so that summer shade doesn't work anymore or they have started to gain some and have to switch from the winter shade.  The best way to fix this is to use a tinted moisturizer or match the shade depending on the season.  It just looks weird when someone has a face one color and a neck that is another color.  Make sure you match!

Blend: No matter what foundation you are using you need to make sure that you blend around the neck and ears.  This way it doesn't look like you are wearing a mask.  Also make sure not to blend your foundation into your hair line, your hair shouldn't match your skin. 

Exfoliate and cleanse your face:  Just coming off the harshness of winter has left many women with dry skin; however there is almost no faster way to age yourself then to have foundation over dry patchy skin.  It ends up sitting on top and looking like you have wrinkles.

Eyes:

 

Bright blue or baby blue eye shadow works for almost no one.  While I have seen a few people that make it look fantastic, most people just look bad or old in it.  Let’s be honest if you are rocking this look, it feels like you are stuck in the late 70's or early 80's.  While this is not to say you can’t use blue accents I would steer clear of the fully blue look.

If you are over the age of 40 you should start changing the way you apply your eye makeup.  That is unless you are one of those women who don't look a day over 25 (if you are most of us envy you).  Once you have reached forty plus you start keeping those dark circles under your eyes.  Putting any eye makeup on your lower lashes will only make that circle look darker and you even older.

Using more than three colors on your eyelids: For everyday use one or two colors are more than enough.  For a dramatic night time look try to use no more than three colors.  I know how fantastic a lot of the looks in the magazines are, and we all want that.  However, be smart about it and choose the right times to give that look a shot, perhaps at a girls night in.   Just remember one mistake and you should work under a tent.

Eyeliner should match the time of day:  If it is daytime I don't want to see dark heavy eyeliner, you should look bright, natural and awake.  Try lighter shades such as light browns with a close line.  This has also been a personal failing of mine.  When the sun goes down however, feel free to have more fun with the dark shades and bold styles. 

Lips:

Lining your lips darkly or outside your natural lip line: I know the feeling of wanting your lips to look bigger or fuller, to have that perfect pout. However, using dark lip liner or lining far outside your natural lip line is not the way to do it.  Always choose a lip liner that closely matches your lipstick and/or lips.  If you do want to put a little on the outside of your lips stick to the very edge of your natural lip line.  Otherwise you end up looking like a child who ended up in mommy's makeup.

Eyebrows:

Over tweezing or shaving: it doesn’t look natural nor pretty when you have no eyebrows or your eyebrows are too thin, I am not saying that you should ignore them, however, they should still be visible.  Ladies you are fooling no one when you shave off your eyebrows and draw them back in.  It looks cheap and tacky.  Stick with a good shape and lightly darken them if needed.

Darkening your brows with a pencil:  I am occasionally guilty of this, since I am a natural light blond I want to darken using a brow pencil. However, it can look fake.  Try to buy an eye shadow that is close to your hair color and to lightly apply to the top of your eyebrows.  It will fill them out a little without looking overly tacky.  

Cheeks: 

Using to dark a blush to "shape" your face doesn't work.  Remember, you will be seen without bright lights and cameras.  This mistake ends up making you look garish or sick depending on what you did.  Stick with a pretty blush and experiment with the shape of it until you find one you like. 

The wrong shade of blush:  If you are using blush that is too bright for your skin tone you end up looking scary.  Make sure the shade is complementary to your own skin tone.  

 

Overall face:

Accent only one feature at a time:   If you are using dramatic makeup on your eyes, cheeks and lips you might want to add a wig to the mix.  The reason is you are doing too much.  Make sure that only one feature is highlighted at a time.  If you want to use brighter blush then tone down the eyes and lips.  Want large pouty lips, use light cheek makeup and med light eye makeup.

Glitter:  I love the way glitter makes me pop a little.  However, it is so easy to get carried away with it.  Use it only on one feature at a time. Want a shimmery pout?  Keep the glitter off the rest of your face.  Glitter can be fun and wild however only if used in moderation.

Luminous products: again this works like glitter, a little and you look great a lot and you look weird.  Keep this to one product at time.

Nails:

Keep light yellow and light green nail polish off your toe nails.  You end up looking like you have nail fungus.  I am not saying the bright colors can't be fun, but the light variations or worse yet sheer versions of these shades are not a great idea for foot use.

Match your nail style to your hand:  Personally I cannot use a strait oval manicure because of the way my hands are shaped.  If you have the wrong nail shape it can end up making your hands look odd.  Unsure of what to use, try a Sqoval (square oval) this is rounded on the edges and flat on the ends.  It is the most natural look.

Pointed nails: while using the new pointed nail trends is great, it can make you look with you might want to get someone’s dog if you do it wrong.  Make sure that you are not too sharp or too long.  A little point is cute and cat like.  A lot of point is going to make you look like you melt in water.