I love makeup. I really do.

I don’t care if some people claim that makeup is "cheating" or that it hides your true beauty. Honestly, if your makeup is hiding your face, you're doing it wrong. Yes, you can be beautiful without makeup. Makeup shouldn't be used because you're not good enough without it. When used correctly, makeup can simply be a fun thing to do.  As long you don’t rely on makeup as a clutch to hide any deep-rooted insecurities, playing around with different looks can be an exciting way to pass the time. And, if you get really good at it, you might start to realize how celebrities walk around looking perfect all of the time. Because, while you can be beautiful without product, the faces you see online and in magazines is not going to be the same face that you see when you look in the mirror unless you master the craft of makeup. And I’ve watched enough videos from the very people who have mastered the art to know a few basic rules so that you can experiment with your own look, too.

1.      Do what’s right for you.

 When you watch someone else do their makeup, their technique may not be applicable to your own face if you try it. Highlighting and countouring, for example, is very good for adding depth to your face and allowing light to hit the highlighted areas and make you appear more awake. But many of you won’t necessarily need to make your nose appear thinner, maybe it’s not your concern. Or maybe dark lipsticks just don’t work for your skin tone as well as it does for others. Have fun experimenting, but don’t feel like you should be doing something just because someone else does.

2.       Accentuate your best feature.

Makeup can be used to cover up blemishes and uneven skin tone, for sure. But makeup is even more fun to use when you use the tools to make parts of your face you want to stand out even more noticeable. Love your eyelashes? Make them appear even larger with a coat of mascara on an otherwise bare face. Your cheekbones? Drag a highlighting pen across the start of the bone so that it’ll pop even more. Contrary to popular belief, makeup is a tool that can make you realize amazing things about your face that you really like, and show them off!

3.       High prices are highly unnecessary.

Let me introduce you to a thing called beauty dupes. A beauty dupe is when you find a cheap product, like from a drugstore or a lesser known makeup company, which works in the exact same way as a more expensive, mainstream brand. In other words, you don’t always have to spend the highest buck to get the best bang. Name brand concealers, lipsticks, bronzers, you name it, can be found at much cheaper prices if you look hard enough. Thankfully, many YouTube tutorialists have made numerous videos about beauty dupes for popular products like Mac concealers and lipsticks. Because why spend so much money on something that’s supposed to be fun?  


4.       The right color is so important.

I learned this the hard way. Okay, so there is warm toned skin, cool toned skin, and neutrals. I’m a warm tone, meaning I have yellow-ish undertones, as I have discovered recently, but I’ve been wearing foundations and concealers for the past few years that are cooler, giving me a reddish pink glow that is not natural for my skin to have. Once I realized my mistake, I immediately sought out makeup companies that specifically sold makeup based on your undertones.  It took me a while, but I finally found a color that actually looks like my skin, and I have no idea how I managed the past few years without it. Your makeup should look like your natural self, maybe a little bit different, but definitely not a completely different person. You’ve got to find products that work for you and tailor your selection to your needs!