Brighten Your Eyes, Smooth Your Lips, and more

Dry lips? Many of us have dry lips. They can be caused by medications, allergies to lip products, constant licking , and/or our choice of toothpaste.

If you feel lipstick is the culprit, consider how the lipstick smells and tastes. If the lipstick smells pretty, you should avoid using it for a few days. You can use a vitamin E stick or a lip balm under your lipstick. Using mat or long wearing lipsticks can cause your lips to dry out as can using your lip pencil over the entire lip. Look at the ingredients for drying chemicals.

If you have tried every brand of lipstick available, you might try switching your toothpaste. Products that whiten teeth likely contain soda and/or other drying chemicals. Strong mouthwashes dry lips and gums, too.

If you aren't willing to change toothpaste, you need to keep as little toothpaste on your lips as possible. You could coat your lips with rich lotions, vitamin E or A products or aloe before you brush and afterwards.

USING EYESHADOW AND LINER

This season’s colors are pretty and bold versions of pastels.
Remember your skin tone and eye color determine which colors will work best for you.

If you use liquid foundation or powder, apply it on your eyelids, too. Shadows will go on more smoothly and will stay on longer.

For color intense shadow, run your brush over the shadow, then on your hand before you put it on your eyelid. It’s easier to add shadow than to tone it down. You should shake or tap your brush to remove excess shadow that might get into your eyes or under contacts or settle on your skin where you don’t want it.

Dab the shadow colors you are considering on the back of your hand. If the skin around the color looks clearer and younger, you’re choosing the right shades. If the skin around the dab of color looks bruised, ashy, or jaundiced, the color is wrong for you.

Most of us look best with pink tones or gold tones, but not both. Neutral tones are useful but seldom flatter your skin or eyes. They are safer to use but less fun!

If the lid color you use is darker than your skin, your eyes will look smaller and less vibrant. To open your eyes you should brush a light color over the entire lid. A pale pink or sheer gold tone will often brighten your eyes.

For ideas, look at ads for shampoo, hair color, and skincare. They tend to be subtle and flattering for most women. If you are adventurous, look at the seasonal shadows ads and play with them for a look that works for you. You might use the same colors in the photos, but tone them down with a sheer pink or cream, or gold over them.

SIMPLE AND EASY.

If you already covered your eyes with a light color, brush a color 2-3 shades darker in your crease for dimension. This can be pink, rose, gold, tan or taupe.

You can create the crease your want by putting the darker shade where you’d like that crease. If you have deep-set eyes, you want the crease in a light shade or skip it.

You can use blues and greens or purples, (lavenders are easier to handle than purples or plums.) Test your colors on your hand to see how your skin looks and how color intense that shadow is.

Grays, purples, and some greens often make the skin under your eyes appear darker or bruised, even though you haven’t spilled any shadow. If you brush a color on your eyelid, then check the effect and the area under your eyes, you’ll know if the shadow is causing the circles to appear or look darker.

ADDING STEPS

Brush white or very light shadow on your brow bone and along the area under your crease, close to your lashes. A dab of white in the inside corner of your eyes can make your look more dramatic. a touch of pink in the inner corner can brighten your eye. A light pink or gold in the center of your eyelid, the middle of your eye, can put a sparkle in your eye or make your lid seem more sounded.

Lining your eyelids. You should keep your liner at the base of your lashes on your eyelid, the closer the better. If you are good with eye pencils, you might draw a broken line ----, then use a Q-tip to smudge the line. If you like a stronger look, make the line solid, then smudge it. Your line should go from corner to corner. Making your line a tad thicker at the center and at the outer edge adds drama.

When eyes lose the elasticity, powder liner can be easier to use.

Eye shadow works well as a powder liner and give you wide variety. Use the smallest brush or applicator to keep the line narrow at the base of your lashes. You can set your liner by brushing a dab of shadow over it.

Try dipping a tiny, pointed brush into water, then run it across your shadow to create a soft version of a liquid and smoother look than dry shadow. Test by drawing lines on the back of your hand until you learn how much water and/or shadow your need. You can add layers of color as you need to.
When you use this method, do your liner before you apply water-based mascara.

Black or dark brown liner is often harsh, while taupe, brown, navy and deep green, like khaki or dill, can make your eye color pop.

Green liner can bring out gold or green in brown eyes.

Line your lower lashes from the outside to just past the halfway point to keep eyes open and looking larger. Lining them all the way from corner to corner can make them appear smaller.

Using navy or dark blue liner can make the whites of your eyes seem whiter.

Want more? Later!

Have specific questions? Ask me!