A Girls Guide To Life

★ Makeup Do's ★

DO use a foundation that matches your skin tone exactly. Your best bet is to try on a foundation in the department store before you buy it. Drugstore options are often brilliant, but you can't try them on, and trying to make do with the wrong color will lead to nothing but problems. Apply the foundation from your cheek down past your jaw. You're not going to wear foundation on your neck, but you want to make sure it looks natural from your face to your neck.

DO apply foundation on your eyelids up to the brow. Applying foundation on your eyelids will help eyeshadows go on smoothly and cover any redness, giving your entire face an even and smooth appearance.

DO use complementary makeup colors. Think of your blush and lipstick as an outfit you're going to wear on your face. For example, if you are wearing a pink lip color, make sure your blush is in a similar color family. You wouldn't wear a pink skirt and an orange top, would you? DON'T wear that on your face either.

DO apply eyeliner as close to the lash line as possible. A soft black, grey, or charcoal brown shade can beautifully enhance your lashes and frame your eye. Be sure to get the liner between the lashes; it's helpful to use a magnifying mirror to be sure you place it exactly. If the outer corners of your eyelids have begun to droop, make sure the eyeliner turns up ever-so-slightly, so you DON'T emphasize the drooping.

For the lower lash line, for daytime, it's best to use a softer color than you do for the upper lash line. Lining all the way around your eye in black is an extreme look that's best saved for nighttime, if ever.

Helpful hint: Powder eyeshadow can also be worn as eyeliner. Apply it wet or dry with a fine-tip brush.

DO shade and define your eyes. Eyeshadow is all about enhancing your eye area, not coloring it. It's best not to use eyeshadow colors that match your eye-blue eyeshadow does not make blue eyes look better, it just looks out of date and overdone, which is why you rarely see examples of this in fashion magazines. Shades of brown (there are dozens and dozens) all the way to black allow for an amazing range of sophisticated, glamorous, elegant, and classic looks.

Helpful hint: Learn more eyeshadow tips.

DO consider the intensity of your blush with your skin tone. If you have fair to light skin, then pale pink, rose, or peach blush shades are more flattering than deep berry or plum shades, which can make your cheek area look bruised. In contrast, women with medium to tan skin tones can look gorgeous with berry or plum-hued blush, and also can opt for russet, or even mahogany shades.

DO use professional makeup brushes. You'll be surprised at how beautiful your makeup looks when you apply it with full-size, high-quality brushes rather than with the tiny, cheap applicators that often come packaged with makeup. Investing in a set of good brushes is one of the wisest beauty moves you can make!

DO check your makeup in a magnifying mirror. What you can't see, you can't fix; for example, makeup settling into the fine lines around your eye or perhaps into the folds around your mouth. Applying a little powder directly over the line, and then blending upwards and out can keep everything in place, but you have to see it up close to do it right. Any mirror of 4X magnification or greater (depending on your eyesight, of course) will do the trick, and these mirrors are widely available, at most drugstores, Bed Bath & Beyond, and beauty supply stores.