There is no specific makeup brand that is better than the rest. All you need is a good combination of products that work for you and that are safe to use.
Shopping for foundation
A makeup artist breaks down a super easy way to find the right foundation for your skin tone, and it doesn’t require testing a million shades!
When you’re testing foundation shades, it’s critical to identify your underlying skin tone and find a foundation that matches it. This can be tricky because your underlying skin color may not be what you see on the surface. For example, you may have a ruddy or ashen (gray) skin tone on the surface but your underlying skin tone is actually slightly yellow to beige. You want to neutralize whatever overtones are present with a neutral- to slightly yellow-toned foundation, thus matching the skin’s natural undertone.
Why a slightly yellow undertone? Because skin color, more often than not, always has a yellow undertone: that’s just what the natural color the predominant form of melanin tends to be. For the most part, regardless of your race, nationality, or age, your foundation should be some shade of neutral ivory, sand, neutral beige, tan, dark brown, bronze brown, or ebony, with a slight undertone of yellow but without any obvious orange, pink, rose, green, ash, or blue. Adding those colors to a foundation is never flattering and tends to look obvious and contrived.
Regardless of which of these categories you fall into, trying foundation on and making it sure it matches your skin exactly is the best way to get a color that looks natural, not like you’re wearing foundation or, even worse, a mask.
“A natural makeup look begins with a clean,moisturized face followed by a foundation of the correct tone and finish for your skin and concealer that matches the foundation”
Meet your match
To identify what shade is right for you, dip a Q-tip into the foundation container and then apply it to the center of your jawline area along the side of your face. If the shade appears invisible, you’ve met your match!
But, before you go selecting your shade, many girls make the mistake of choosing a foundation based on how light or dark they are, when we should be looking at our undertones. We are either neutral, cool, or warm. Ten Tips every woman should know when putting make-up on her face:
- Never put concealer or foundation on your eyelids as a base, it will cause your eye makeup to crease.
- Use your fingers to apply your foundation if you want sheer coverage and a brush if you more polished, medium to full coverage.
- Always apply powder where you are shiniest first, which it usually your T-zone, with a very light dusting everywhere else.
- You should put bronzer on your neck, face, and chest to even out your skin tone. Be sure to take a step back and make sure everything is the same color.
- When applying blush, first smile, then start on the apple of the cheek, blend the blush back towards the top of the ear, then down toward the jawline.
- Always apply your brow pencil or powder to the upper portion of the eyebrow to lift your face up.
- You want to make sure your lipstick is not too defined at your cupid’s bow (the top of your lip), and that it goes all the way out to the inner corners of your mouth. Be sure to press down hard as you apply.
- Always start with a base shadow without any shimmer that matches the lightest skin tone on your face and apply all over your lid up to the brow. You should use this base shadow to make sure the darker shadows used on your lid up to the crease are properly blended.
- Instead of looking straight ahead at the mirror, get as close to it as possible, stick your head up and bring your chin toward the mirror. You want to look down as you apply, starting at the inner corner and making sure to go all the way out to the fold on the outside of the eye.
- You don’t want to do quick soft motions when you apply mascara. Instead, jam the wand into the root of the lash and do zigzag motions as you go up.
By Justinah Kathambi