It only takes one shake of the hand to ruin the last 15 minutes of work you’ve put into your makeup routine. Suddenly, mascara has made its dark mark on your eyelid, or too much light concealer has turned you into a ghost. If you’re rushing in the morning, these, among other things, can happen all too easily. In my many trials (and mess-ups) with different techniques and products, I’ve found some life hacks that can “makeup” for lost time and get you out the door more efficiently. Also, if you’ve run out of products, there are ways to find multiple uses with what you have left.
If you’ve run out of liquid eyeliner…
Have no worries, your mascara can double as an eyeliner! If you have an angled brush, or any sort of tiny tool to apply it with, just coat your brush with the mascara and apply as you normally would.
Side note: if you have just a plain black eye kohl pencil eyeliner, you can run a flame over the tip for a few seconds to soften it, let it cool down for a second and then run it over your eyelids for an easier application and the look of liquid eyeliner.
If you’ve got thin lips and want to make them look bigger…
Don’t go straight for the lip-liner and over-line your lips. While it may in theory get the job done, it won’t always look natural, so make sure not to solely rely on it. Instead, after you’ve applied your lipstick/gloss/balm, take a lighter/shimmery eyeshadow and pop a little bit in the center of your lower lip and on your cupids bow (the top of your upper lip).
You can also use different shades of lipstick to deceive the eye — apply the darker one to your entire lips and then take a lighter color and apply it in the middle of your lips and blend it out!
When you’re done applying your lipstick, take a slightly lighter concealer and go around the edges of your lips. It will make them pop more!
If can't get your eyeliner wings even…
Take a small clean brush and begin to blend out the eyeliner until it looks smoky. If you need a little extra help, take a darker brown eyeshadow and use it to help blend. You will have saved yourself time from starting over and turned your messed up eyeliner into a daytime smoky eye!
If you always have trouble winging it out, take a piece of scotch tape and apply it on the side of your eye and use the tape as a guideline.
If you want to make your eye shadow pop more…
Water is magical. And in this case, it will bump your eye shadow up a level in boldness. Wet your eye-shadow brush before you pack on the eye shadow by running it under water and dampening it off with a towel, or by using a spray bottle and spraying directly onto the brush. After it's damp, pick up some eyeshadow and apply! You’ll be surprised at how much brighter and opaque it looks.
If you want to look more awake in the morning…
Yeah, I know what the "tired zombie" look is like. I see it every morning in the mirror. Here’s how I combat it: take concealer a shade or two lighter than your natural skin color and apply it in an upside down triangular shape underneath your eyes. It will make you look way more awake than you did before and brighten your skin. You can also apply a lighter eye shadow in the corners of your eyes to make your eyes look bigger and less tired. For a stronger effect, add a white eyeliner to your waterline.
If you want your lipstick to last all day…
Apply a lip-liner to start. This will act as a base for whatever product you add on top. Think of it as a primer, something for the other products to stick onto. When you’ve applied a couple coats of your favorite lipstick, take a tissue and unfold it until it is at it’s thinnest. Lay it on top of your lips and take a powder brush with powder and lightly dust over the tissue. This will help set your lipstick without directly matting it and wiping anyway anything.
Happy beautifying!
