Makeup Should Enhance Not Wreck Your Natural Beauty
Makeup is a secret weapon for highlighting your best features, creating a more youthful radiant glow, and enhancing your natural beauty. Applied right makeup can also disguise flaws, fine lines, and skin imperfections. The art of applying makeup can also boost your confidence and mental health according to Pure Wow. Get it wrong or apply too much and it will do the opposite. Here are 15 common makeup mistakes that could be exaggerating your flaws making you look older and less attractive.
1. Applying Makeup in Bad Light
First things first: Always apply your makeup in natural light or with a well-lit mirror as poor lighting can cause you to miss spots. This will result in uneven coverage, excess application, and embarrassment.
2. Not Prepping Your Canvas
Always prep your skin before applying foundation or makeup. The skin dries out and develops fine lines and wrinkles with age and without adequate moisturizer according to the beauty experts at Real Simple. Implement a daily skincare routine and apply a hydrating moisturizer followed by a primer to smooth the skin’s texture and create the perfect canvas for makeup application. Skipping these steps makes the application uneven, highlights skin imperfections, and ruins the texture and appearance of the skin.
3. Foundation Faux Pas
Ensure your foundation matches your skin tone as shades that are too light or dark look unnatural and age you. And don’t be heavy-handed. Thick layers of foundation especially heavy matte formulas make the skin look dry, dull, and cakey and settle into fine lines and wrinkles making them more obvious.
4. Don’t Forget To Set The Scene
Now that you’ve done all that hard work, set the scene with a light dusting of translucent powder and setting spray to keep it fresh all day. Be sure not to go overboard as excessive powder makes your skin look drier and accentuates fine lines and wrinkles. It’s best to apply powder only to the T-zone to control shine.
5. Conceal Don’t Reveal
Concealer works to disguise blemishes, dark circles under the eyes, and aged brown spots. Use it sparingly as applying too much or using the wrong shade can draw attention to wrinkles and imperfections. It’s best not to attempt clever contouring (unless you’re a professional makeup artist) or it will also highlight flaws and make your application look uneven.
6. Mascara Mistakes
Mascara can open up your eyes and make your eye color pop and the trick is to apply to your upper and lower lashes. Applying it up top only can make your eyes look smaller and your eyelids droopy. Fan your lashes out and up to create more volume and lift.
7. Bad Brow Job
Your eyebrows open up the eye area and can disguise a droopy brow. A full, defined brow frames your face and makeup and looks more polished and youthful. Don’t over-pluck your eyebrows as they will become thin, and sparse, and take a long time to brow back. Get a professional brow job to shape and define them or use a brow pen with fibers to help plump them up.
8. Beware Heavy Eyeliner
Thick, dark, heavy eyeliner will make your eyes look smaller and your face look older and harsher. Leave this one for the goths and instead opt for a softer shade and apply a thinner line close to your lashes for a more natural youthful look.
9. Shimmery Sins
Our eyelids droop and crow’s feet and wrinkles appear around the delicate eye area with age so the last thing you want to do is draw attention to this. Shimmering, metallic, and glittering eyeshadows highlight signs of aging especially if you use bold colors and apply with a heavy hand. Use matte products in soft shades or apply shimmer sparingly (or not at all) on the inner corners of your lids.
10. Wrong Lip Stick
Always wear the right lipstick shade for your skin tone and avoid dark colors and textures that make you look older and less attractive. Lips lose plumpness and moisture with aging and as a general rule, heavy matte lipsticks and blue-based reds aren’t flattering and can highlight wrinkles and make your teeth look yellow. It’s better to opt for softer shades and hydrating satin textures according to the beauty gurus at Allure.
11. Blush Disasters
A hint of blush can give you a healthy glow, but applying too much or using a heavy powder formula can make you look unnatural, overly made up, and aged. It’s better to go for a soft well-blended swipe and use a cream or liquid blush in a soft peach or pink shade or something close to your natural skin tone.
12. Too Much Makeup
Makeup should look as natural as possible. Wearing too much or using heavy products can make you look like a train wreck and much older than you are. Avoid harsh eyeshadow lines by blending your shadow well. It’s also best to choose one feature to highlight. If you go for a heavy look on the eyes, keep the lips nude, or go for a strong lip and leave the eyes natural — a little mascara will do the trick.
13. Art of Application
Makeup brushes and sponges are breeding grounds for bacteria and applying foundation or makeup with a dirty applicator can cause congestion, irritation breakouts, and uneven skin texture. It’s better to apply foundation with your fingertips, ensuring you have washed your hands thoroughly first. Or if you use a sponge or brush, clean them after every use.
14. Forgetting Lip Liner
If you skip lip liner, your lipstick can bleed into the fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth making them more noticeable. Apply lip liner before lipstick to add fullness and help your lipstick stay put as lips thin and become drier with age. Make sure your lip liner complements the shade of your lipstick as a contrasting color can look tacky and aging.
15. Sleeping in Makeup
Sleeping in your makeup is one of the biggest beauty sins as it can block the pores, and cause redness, irritation, and breakouts. If you don’t cleanse your skin properly before bed, your makeup will restrict its ability to breathe and regenerate overnight and cause oxidative stress which triggers premature aging.