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Tricks of the Trade: Applying Make-Up

There are a number of different tricks and techniques that
we have developed to make applying make-up easier, as well as more appealing. Let's start with the basics.

Always start your make-up with your foundation. This will
even out your complexion and give you a good base to start
with. Now for the trick. Use a sponge to apply your
foundation. This way your foundation will not change
colors due to the oils on your fingers, and you will not
contaminate your foundation.

Another trick is to use a large complexion brush to smooth
out your foundation around the hairline and jaw line. This
way you will not have a line of demarcation around the edge
of your foundation. Next apply your brow color. Follow up
with a brow gel to keep your brows looking nice all day or
night.

Apply your highlighter next. The trick here is to use a
highlighter like our Beige Eye-lite that is creamy instead
of a waxy cover-up. When you are trying to hide lines on
the face, using a waxy substance will not move with your
face, thus causing creases and other wrinkles to form in
the product. Using a creamy highlighter will get into the
lines to lighten them and make them less visible. Again
use your complexion brush to blend your highlighting after
you have applied it.

Now it is time to concentrate on your eyes. Applying
make-up is like being an Illusionist or Magician. It is
not like an artist that paints, because we are working
with three dimensions. This is why it is important to use
three different eye shadows. Starting from the top eyelash
choose a color of a medium tone. Apply that from the
lashes to the crease in the eye.

The next shadow should be two shades darker than the the
first. Apply this shadow from the top of the first to the
brow bone. The next shadow should be one shade lighter
than the first to highlight the eye brows, because the eye
brows are what gives you your expressions.

Apply this shadow from the top of the second shadow to the
bottom of the eye brows. This is how you give your eyes
dimension, by going light, dark, lightest with your
shadows.

Now apply your eye-liner. The trick here is to use a
shadow and firm bristle brush. This will give a more
natural appearance. Always start from the outside going
toward the center on the top and bottom. Another trick to
this is to make sure you do not make the top and bottom
meet at the corners both inside and outside. By doing
this you will make you eyes appear larger.

Something else you can do to your eyes if you would like
them to appear whiter, is to use a white pencil on the
inside of the lower lid. This way light will reflect off
of the white onto your eyes. This is especially helpful
for people that tend to have a lot of redness in their
eyes. Now it is time once again to blend with your large
complexion brush.

We are almost done. Your next step will be your blush.
The blush is applied to the cheek bone, and if you stare
at yourself in the mirror find the place where your cheek
goes from flat and starts to curve back. This is where
you should start your blush, then follow the cheek bone
back.

Now let's do your lips. Make sure that your blush color
and lipstick complement each other when you hold them
together. If they do not look good side by side they will
not look good on your face. This is also important for
the next trick. Use your blush as a base color for your
lipstick. This will help your lipstick last longer and
prevent it from bleeding.

The next trick for your lips is to use a soft bristle
brush like our Gold Lip Brush to apply your lipstick.
You will have more control this way, and your lipstick
will stay on better. Like your eye-liner start from the
outside and work in towards the center on the top and
bottom lip. If you have small lips and you want to make
them larger apply your liner just outside your lips.
Conversely if you have large lips you can line just
inside to make them appear smaller.

Now that you know some of the tricks of the trade you
can apply your make-up like a professional.