Make up artist classes

7. Now is the most crucial point of the blending of your foundation. If you are using your fingers, you do not want to “rub” your foundation into your skin. With a feather-light touch, use your ring finger in a small circular motion to blend the foundation over your face.

* If you are using:
a. A stippling brush: Dab the brush into the foundation and tap it all over the area in a circular motion for even application.
b. A foundation brush: Make small strokes in the same direction to give an even look for your foundation. Again, go lightly with the brush.
c. Any type of beauty sponge: Make small strokes with a small corner of the sponge making sure to go lightly with the sponge so all the foundation doesn’t get soaked up by the sponge; dab lightly around your nose and under your eyes to get into every corner.

8. Before you apply a setting/translucent powder, take a once-over look at your foundation and assess your coverage.

Questions to ask yourself:
a. Does everything look even? If not, make your touch-ups now.

b. Are there obvious lines where the foundation ends around my hairline and jaw? If there are, you may have put too much foundation around those areas, or the color isn’t right for your skin tone. If there is an obvious difference between your jawline and your neck, blend some foundation down onto your neck. It (your neck) is attached, not a separate entity to your face. A little trick to blending foundation down into your neck, is to add a little moisturizer to your foundation for below the jawline.

c. How does my skin feel? So often we forget about how a product feels because we’re so concerned with how it makes us appear. If your skin feels to dry, too oily, too covered etc. Then you probably haven’t yet found the right foundation. This is the one piece of makeup that takes a lot of trial and error to perfect. We all go through it. If you want a little less hassle in figuring it out, check out the end of this post.

9. Now you can apply your other makeup, but if you want to make sure that your foundation stays in place, you will not want to skip this step. Set your foundation with a finishing veil or translucent powder. You can apply it with a beauty puff (they are fluffy feathery things- all the glamorous ladies of the 40′s and 50′s used these things), or a powder brush. I like to use a good old kabuki brush. Again, you can use circular motions, or sweeping motions all over your face. Make sure you are doing it gently. After that, some people like to spray on a few shots of a fixing spray such as M.A.C.’s FIX spray.

10. Voila! You are finished with your foundation and ready to go on to your cheeks, eyes and lips.

BN TIPS:
a. If you want to avoid a giant hassle with figuring out your skin type, get a free skin consultation at Clinique or your local drugstore. You do not need to buy the products they suggest. Get a few consultations from more than one place so you have a few different options. If you are on a budget you know what you’re looking for the next time you head to Walmart or Shoppers.

b. When testing out a color of foundation on yourself, do a swatch close to your ear and swipe the foundation from the hollows of your cheek down past your jawline and onto your neck. Do this with three or four different foundations to see which best matches your skin… the one that camoflages itself into your skin is probably the best color for you.

c. If you aren’t sure about a foundation, get a sample and try it out at home for a few days. Sometimes the flourescent lighting in stores can be misleading as to how well your skin matches a foundation. Not to mention you want to see how your skin reacts.

d. Don’t worry if you buy something that ends up being a disaster. Take it back and exchange for a different color, texture or brand. I have yet to come across a cosmetic line that doesn’t offer a money back guarentee.

e. For those of you who have a particular skin condition, such as bad acne— Book an appointment with a dermatologist. They sometimes even formulate a product specifically for you. An original!!! If you don’t make it a priority, you could be doing more harm to your skin than good.

Cheers lovelies!