The Newbies Introduction to Make Up

This weekend I received an email from a young lady who has never worn a drop of makeup before. She wanted to know how she could slowly introduce herself to makeup without looking, well, made up. There are four basic items that I believe every woman can use everyday to freshen up their look a tad bit. Just follow these steps and you'll be on your way.

Step 1: Start with a fresh face. Wash your face with your favorite cleanser, pat dry, then apply moisturizer.

(me barefaced. You can stop gagging now)

Step 2: Apply a liquid foundation to your face using your fingers. My guess is that if you are literally just starting out in makeup, you don't have a bunch of makeup brushes lying around. Even though I have more than enough makeup brushes, I tend to use my fingers to apply my liquid foundation when I'm going for a natural, everyday look. The great thing about liquid foundation is that it isn't too heavy, and if you find that it's giving you more coverage than you would like, just add a drop of moisturizer to thin it out.

(Me with foundation. See how evened out my skin looks? This morning I used Bobbi Brown's liquid foundation, and because I'm super oily I used Makeup Forevers HD powder in my t-zone)

Step 3: Use these three products to make your face look refreshed: mascara, blush, and gloss. Mascara helps to frame your eyes and bring them out. Blush gives some color/warmth to your face, and gloss gives you that pop. To go a step further I would do bronzer either instead of or with the blush, or use MACs Mineralize Skinfinish in Natural. This helps give your skin a natural sunkissed glow.

(Loreal Voluminous mascara, Mehron cheek cream in Geranium/10, MAC Dazzleglass in Baby Sparks)

Here's a tip: Cream blush can be a two for the price of one deal. Left your lipgloss at home and at a lost as to what to do? You can apply your cream blush to your lips to give them a little color and pop. 

Another tip: Some days I feel like I just have to have some color on my eyes even if it's just one. Blush is wonderful for a little pop of color on your eyes. Just sweep the color over your lids and voila!

I hope this was helpful to the newbies out there, and please keep your questions coming!

~HG