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Mother Magnetism

Common makeup mistakes.

By Kelly Reising

February 14, 2007


My sister-in-law was over the other day and made a comment about my eye shadow. She said that “women of a certain age” should not wear shimmery shadows. I’m only 32! Should I not wear it? Are there any other mistakes I could be making?

First of all, your sister-in-law was probably just jealous of your keen sense of makeup artistry. I bet she’s one of those that doesn’t wear a drop of makeup, and thinks she looks fine. A soft, shimmery shadow looks pretty and fresh on anyone. I have even applied one on my 83-year-old Grandmother and she looked divine! The new eye shadow formulas are not garishly frosted like they used to be. The shimmer shadows of today have more of a light, reflective quality that makes your eyes pop and glow. So keep wearing your shadows because I am sure they look great on you.

As far as other makeup mistakes, I took a poll among some makeup artists and we came up with our top 5. Just the other day I was putting on mascara and I managed to jab the mascara wand horizontally into my eye. Big mistake! Not only was my eye ringed with mascara like a raccoon, but there was even black mascara on my eyeball. Ouch! Obviously, this was a ridiculous makeup mistake, made because one of my children was probably pulling on my pant leg at the time. Correcting common errors is easy though. You have to think of your face as a blank canvas. Would DaVinci have painted the Mona Lisa with her tongue sticking out? I don’t think that famous piece would be hanging in the Louvre right now if he had. So, allow me to help you turn your makeup mistakes into makeup masterpieces!

WRONG COLOR FOUNDATION - this is a very big one. If your foundation doesn’t match your skin tone it is the wrong color for you. A lot of women try to go a little darker than their skin tone to give them more color. You can match your foundation to your skin tone and give yourself some color if you wish with a little smartly dusted-on bronzer and blush on the apples of your cheeks.
 
DARK LIPLINER - usually paired with a lighter lipstick is just a bizarre look. I had a friend who loved to pair a dark chocolate brown liner with a very pale beige lip color. I tried and tried to talk her into trying a different lip look, but she was hooked on this beauty blunder.  Try a lip liner in a neutral shade almost the color of your natural lip. Colors like spice, hazel or nude usually do the trick. You never want your liner to look obviously different from your lipstick. Ever.
 


BLUSH CONTOURING - unless you are a trained makeup artist, this look is very hard and unnecessary to do on your own. For everyday wear, a natural blush color is best swirled lightly on the apples of your cheek, blending up towards your cheekbones. No streaks or darker blush colors to contour under your cheekbones. It doesn’t look good or natural in real life. The goal with blush is to look like you have a healthy glow, not like you’re auditioning for a 1980’s soap opera.
 
BLACK EYELINER – Now, don’t get me wrong, I love black eyeliner in the right context. At night, usually paired with a smoky eye, and smudged. But lately, I see a lot of people wearing black eyeliner during the day as their main eyeliner color. A lot of teenagers love this look. It’s as if they haven’t learned that companies make other eyeliner colors. It’s far too harsh for day wear. Try a soft plum, khaki, brown, or even a charcoal gray shade is much more appropriate and pretty during the day.
 
DIRTY MAKEUP BRUSHES - Makeup is not going to go on smoothly with dirty brushes. Clean them once a week with a mild face soap. I don’t recommend using baby shampoo because there is no makeup solvent in it. Let them dry laying flat so that the water doesn’t run down into the brush handle and ruin your brushes. Brushes are an investment, and in order to paint your perfect face they are a must have, so take good care of them!

These are just some of the more common makeup mistakes. So, if you are stuck in a rut, take a look in a mirror and make some changes. Then put on your best Mona Lisa smile, and know that at least you didn’t poke yourself in the eye with your mascara!


Kelly Reising is the Beauty Editor of Mode, a lifestyle magazine geared towards women in the direct sales industry. Her monthly column for HotMomsClub.com is called “The Beauty Bite” and you can seek out even more of her advice at Lifetips.com where she is an Expert Guru Author in Makeup. Her first book, Lifetips 101 Makeup Tips will be available on Amazon.com and at Barnes&Noble.com This former makeup artist and mother of two girls knows that while her day may not be perfect, at least her lip gloss will be.

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"Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways." -- Samuel McChord Crothers