Basic Application Techniques
30 articles
Setting spray is the last thing that touches the face. Everything else goes on first, powder included, and then you…
Go lighter than feels necessary. That's most of the technique with liquid blush. Put one to three small dots on…
The usual mistake with translucent powder is using too much of it. Press a thin layer onto the zones that…
Most flaky lips respond to a kitchen scrub made from equal parts brown sugar and honey or oil, rubbed in…
Primer goes on after moisturizer and sunscreen, in a thin layer about the size of a pea, and it needs…
Cleanse, put on a hydrating serum and a moisturizer, finish with broad-spectrum sunscreen, and let each layer sink in before…
Blush placement mostly comes down to height and direction. Color placed higher and blended upward lifts a round face, and…
Timing matters most when you apply setting powder. Press a thin layer onto foundation and concealer while they're still tacky,…
Most people swipe a makeup sponge across their face the way they would a brush, and that is usually why…
Most bad foundation days trace back to what happened before the bottle was opened. Dry skin and a mismatched shade…
Most of the work in a Laura Geller routine happens with the brush. The baked formulas start out as cream…
Whether highlighter flatters a mature face mostly comes down to finish and placement. A cream, stick or liquid with a…
Laura Mercier and L'Oreal Paris print opposite instructions for where highlighter sits relative to setting powder, and both are right.…
Cream blush goes on over a finished base. Put 2 to 3 small dots on the apples of your cheeks,…
Makeup goes on in order of texture. Liquids first, creams next, powders last, so every layer has something to cling…
Under-eye darkness rarely has a single cause. In a clinical analysis of 65 patients, 78% of dark circles were mixed…
A red that looks right in the tube can look wrong on your mouth, and the pigment underneath is usually…
Lipstick goes on first. Blot it, add a thin dab of gloss at the center of the lips, and press…
Black lipstick doesn't hide much. Dry patches show through it, and so does an edge that wanders even slightly. Most…
Lipstick that looks clean at 9am and has crept into your upper lip lines by lunch usually isn't a bad…
Lipstick leaves a mark on the cup because it's still wet when the cup touches it. What people call transfer…
Line the lips in a darker shade, put a lighter one in the middle, and blend only where the two…
Most lipstick on teeth starts in one place, the wet strip along the inside of the lip. Product collects there,…
To set lipstick with powder, blot the color, lay one ply of tissue over your lips, and brush translucent loose…
Placement does most of the work here. Line a hair outside the natural lip line, at the center of each…
Most red lipstick problems start before the lipstick comes out of the bag. Flaky lips and a wobbly edge are…
Fill the whole lip with a waxy liner and set it with translucent powder. Then build the color in thin…
Formula does most of the work. In the inventor's own comparison, described in a US patent filed in 2001 and…
Lipstick wear claims are rarely backed by measurement, so a 30-person clinical study makes a useful reference point. A bright…
Lipstick fades during a meal no matter what you wear. What changes is how it fades. With some prep it…