Makeup Mistakes + Fixes!

As we get older, we find new ways to do old things. So I present to you a few of the mistakes I used to do when I first started applying makeup. If you are a novice you might be able to learn from this, however if you are a pro at makeup then these may sound a bit familiar!

1) Artificial Lighting

Not having the right lighting can be catastrophic when it comes to makeup application. I'm not even exaggerating. I've applied makeup to go out in the day and when I came across a mirror the truth was revealed!

Dark lighting can make you over-apply products because you can't see it show up well on the skin. Artificial lighting is a bit more deceiving as it goes two ways, making you look flawless or it makes every attempt to hid your insecurities come out. I think the best way to deal with lighting is to go with natural lighting - as this is representative of how you will look outside. Actually, it might be a good idea to use the lighting that you will mostly be in, so natural lighting if you are spending the day outside, artificial lighting if you will be cooped up inside all day - this way the makeup you apply will look the same in your destination.

2) Eyeliner stability

Eyeliner is a product that almost everyone wants to master, however no amount of tutorials can really help with application, as you need to tailor your eyeliner to your eye shape and do this independently. I remember trying to learn how to do a liquid liner that suited me and it was a painfully slow process and no matter what I did, my liner would never be smooth and fluid, there would always be some bump in the line. So one tip that really helped me was to keep my elbow propped up by my desk. This meant that my hand couldn't drop down if I paused and just gave me more stability, rather than doing my liner midair.

3) Flat foundation brush

Brushes and makeup tools do have their day, and when I started to apply makeup, it was the age of the flat foundation brush. This isn't a bad tool at all, I think in combination with the bad lighting and my over-inflated confidence I misused this tool. I literally used to paint my face, so there was no blending out the edges of the face or just blending in general. I found that my makeup used to sit on top of my skin rather than be a part of it. Now I still use brushes, but for my base makeup, my Beautyblender is the holy grail, as it makes my makeup looks more seamless and skin-like, with minimal effort!

4) Blending eye shadow

Eyeshadow was one of the last things I got into. I used to wear foundation and blush mostly when I was 15 and although I liked eye shadow I knew that I didn't know how to be a pro at applying it. One of the biggest mistakes I made was using the same brush for everything, for the all over the lid colour and the crease shade and sometimes I still do this now, however my precision has changed. Before I just wanted to maximum pigment on my eyes and then things would be really tough to blend. Now I'm more keyed up to how well things will blend out, and if I want a subtle eye - how to go about it. One of the tricks that I know a lot of people use is to use a clean blending brush constantly to make sure there are no harsh lines. I think this really works, as when you use a blending brush that was used previously, the colour is still on the brush and you don't get that seamless finish, ombre style.

5) The use of products

When I was a kid, I was never really taught why people wear makeup. As in, I think when I first started to apply it, my goal was to make myself look like someone new - I think sometimes in the media we see the total transformation that makeup can really do. However I think there is some good inspiration on the internet, teaching kids nowadays the purpose of products and how they should be applying it. For instance, foundation is to even out the skin tone, so we don't treat it like concealer because the goal is to even out the base, not hide imperfections. Eyeliner is used to define the eyes, but we don't always need a jet black liquid liner to do this, a simple brown eye shadow blended in at the root of the lashes can also do the trick. I think this information is out there, however I don't think everyone accesses it.

I would love to know what makeup mistakes you guys used to make that seem so obvious to you now! Let me know down below and be sure to follow me on Bloglovin to stay up to date with my posts!