I had a great question pop up in my inbox this weekend and thought might be fun to answer it here on Betty Beguiles. Feel free to e-mail me (bettybeguiles at gmail dot com) should you have any questions dancing around in your heads and I’ll do my best to answer some of them here on Tuesdays.
The lovely reader in question asked if I have a favorite rule of thumb when it comes to make-up. In fact, I do! My make-up routine is quite simple, it has to be, but I am an unapologetic girly girl so I do delight in wearing it pretty regularly. My one and only rule when it comes to make-up is Eyes or Lips. By that I mean choose one to highlight and the let the other compliment. Here is my routine:
Regardless of whether I am focusing on my eyes or my lips I always start my make-up routine by covering any spots on my face that might be persecuting me with a touch of concealer (my personal favorite is Clinique Quick Corrector), applying a light pink tint to my eyelids (Clinique Touch Tint for Eyes) and brushing a bit of powder onto my face (Clinique Superpowder Double Face Powder).
If I feel like really making my eyes *pop* I line just the top of my eyes with a very thin stroke of brown liquid eyeliner (being sure to lift it a bit at the outer edge of my eye), curl my lashes and apply fairly heavy black mascara (always blink a couple of times after applying your mascara to coat the bottom lashes a bit). If you want to make your eyes extra smoky you can apply a little black, brown or gray eyeshadow onto the lower eyelid, around the outer corner and just below (almost on top of) the lower lash line. I usually save that look for nights out on the town. Of course, all of these colors happen to suit me well but you will want to personalize them to your own eye and hair color and skin tone. Once I’m done with that I simply apply lipstick in a very soft tone (Clinique Different Lipstick in Tenderheart) and I’m set. It truly doesn’t take more than five minutes and because I use waterproof mascara (Clinique High Impact Mascara) and liquid liner (Clinique Eye Defining Liquid Liner), I usually don’t have to do many, if any, touch-ups during the day. (Watch the video I posted here for more advice on emphasizing your eyes.)
On the other hand, if I want my lips to steal the show, I apply just a touch of mascara and then focus on my lips. I favor a very dark red shade (Loreal Colour Riche Lipcolour in Cinnamon Toast) but a bright pink could work well, too, especially for you blond hair/blue eyed cuties. I start by lining my lips with lip liner (L’Oreal Colour Riche Anti-Feathering Lipliner in Always Red) and then fill them in with my favorite lipstick of the moment. Here’s a tip: If you tend to lick your lips a lot throughout the day, as I do, apply one layer, dust your lips with powder and apply another layer. That will give your lipstick much more staying power and save you money, too!
Hope that helps, lovely Lisa! I hope you are all having a wonderful day!
3 Comments
Excellent tips Betty! I used to be guilty of playing up both, and my sister set me straight on that one. I had sparkly eyes and extra glitterly lips. That's a no, no, just as you've said. I'm going to try your ideas for eyes here – thanks again!
Had to share my new favorite lipstick find!
CoverGirl Outlast All Day Lipcolor–it has a non-transferring, non fading bottom coat, and a moisturizing top coat.
Fabulous!!!
Have you ever read Making Faces, the makeup book? If not you MUST borrow it. DO NOT forget that next time you're over here.