Not to rain on your parade, but this week’s beauty tip be a bit of a bummer: lining your inner rims with eyeliner may pose more harm than it’s worth. Since the eyeliner is so close to your eye, potential bacteria, infection and other nasties may come about. Still, I know many – and I mean MANY – absolutely love this look, so there are a few ways to keep it as hygienic as possible.
To minimize the risk, save this ultra-glam look for special occasions. Ophthalmologists strongly advise against it, but if you really have to, don’t do it so often. One ‘layer’ of eyeliner is enough, don’t go over your inner rims with more layers – yuck, eye infection for sure!
Also, sharpen your eyeliner pencil each time. This mean clean, new product each time so less risk. Also, clean your pencil sharpener throughly at least once a week.
And that’s it, really. Do you line your inner rims? I used to but it makes my eyes look smaller so I stopped!
After meeting with my extended family (sans makeup) the other day; instead of a polite hello, my cousin greeted me with an earth-shattering: “HOLY EYE CIRCLES! Are you an insomniac?”
After giving him the finger (I kid. Maybe.) I talked with my other female cousin, his sister, about dark eye circles and what we do about them. I’ve been lucky to find some gems (Benefit’s Boi-ing concealer is fantastic), but I know many suffer from extreme dark eye circles. (And judging from my cousin’s reaction, so do I.) Instead of simply applying concealer and hoping for the best, I decided to source out any other tips and tricks to hiding those pesky things.
I found myself at a tip Bobbi Brown wrote about in her book, Bobbi Brown Living Beauty
, where she talks about “serious dark eye circles”. I mentioned sometime back how there are no real ‘cures’ out there, and Bobbi Brown confirms this: “There are no products on the market that actually lighten under-eye darkness. At best, eye cream can hydrate the eye area and give it a fresher look.” Phew. Glad to know that I know what I’m talking about (at least where this blog is concerned!)
I’ve found that the best way to brighten extremely dark under eye circles (circles that have a greenish or purplish tinge to them) is to start with a pink- or peach-toned corrector, then layer on the yellow-toned concealer. The pink or peach shade may work alone sometimes, but mostly you’ll need to layer it.
For problem dark circles keep the focus on the upper part of your eyes. Many women with extreme under-eye darkness also have dark eye-lids, so lighten the area with light (white or bone) shadow. Don’t line the lower lash line or apply mascara to lower lashes. A pop of bright pastel pink or peach blush on the apples of your cheeks will also steer your eye away from the dark circles.
Thanks, Bobbi! I’ve always loved her beauty books and devoured them when I first got into makeup, but I’ll have to re-read some of them as I have the memory of a goldfish. This beauty tip seems logical though, so I’ll be trying it out sometime.
What do you think of Bobbi’s tips? Will you be trying this method out? 
Can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this earlier; because if you’re a true makup junkie, you’d know how nasty your makeup brushes can get – washing them is absolutely vital!
In fact, here’s a little experiment to do on a rainy afternoon… grab your makeup brushes, fill up a plastic cup of water, and mix your brushes in them. Can you see all the gunk that comes out? I tried this recently and the water was dirt BROWN. Yucks! (Reminder to self: Wash brushes at least once a week.)
If you use makeup everyday and your brushes are overused, I’d recommend this as well! Cleaning your brushes means less bacteria, less gunk on your face each time… and less mess. So here’s how I clean mine, hopefully it will work for you as well. First and foremost, what you need: a plastic cup, baby shampoo, water and your dirty makeup brushes.
What to do:
- First, fill up the cup with 4 parts water and 1 part baby shampoo.
- Gently swirl the cup so the shampoo mixes in with the water.
- Grab a handful of your brushes (if you have many, you may need a few more cups to fill them all in) and put them in the cup, swishing them around in the water; where you can see all the awful dirt!
- Once the water is as dirty as possible, pour it away and repeat the whole step again. Keep doing this process… when you can swish your brushes in the cup and the water still stays clean, then you’re done! Once you think the brushes are clean, rinse them gently with water.
- Mold the brush in its correct shape (this is important – I forgot this once and my precious MAC brush dried up in a weird position, with half the brush hairs sticking out 90 degrees!). Not fun. So remember to shape them correctly into their original shape.
- Last but not least, let the brushes lie on a paper towel or cloth overnight.
Voila! Clean makeup brushes. If you use makeup and brushes daily, I’d recommend to wash your brushes once a week. If you’re not too regular with makeup, then 2 weeks is fine. And that’s the maximum!
I hope my tips have been helpful. If you’ve been doing something different, let us all know! Also, how often do you wash your makeup brushes?
Unless you’re auditioning for the part of Bozo the Clown; bright, overdone blush is always a no-no. However, I know the feeling of enjoying the fluffy brush on your skin… it feels so soft and nice, and then before you know it – bam! – blush is everywhere and your face looks ridiculous.
While reaching for the makeup remover might be the logical thing to do, try not to. Removing your blush with makeup remover will cause a streaky mess; not to mention it will also remove your foundation, so you’ll have to pretty much redo all your makeup again. Lazy girls, rejoice! You can easily soften your blush in two quick, easy steps. All you have to do is grab a cotton ball and some loose powder. I say cottonball as opposed to tissue, because tissue is a bit harsh and doesn’t look as natural in the end.
Once you’ve gotten what you need, gently sweep the cottonball across your blush in a circular motion, and it will carefully pick up some of your blush. When your blush is at it’s desired ‘effect’, grab a fluffy brush and apply one quick layer of loose powder on top of your cheeks. Voila – clown blush is gone!
What do you think of this tip? It’s personally helped me TONS, because in the beginning I was much too blush-happy. How do you remover overdone blush, or better yet: how do you prevent wearing too much blush? (P.S. So glad to be back blogging!)
Unless you’ve found a foundation made from heaven, getting a perfectly smooth application straight from the pot is not the easiest. And if you’re not into brushes or using your finger tips to apply your foundation, you might want to take cue from makeup artists all around the world and use a tiny wedge cosmetic sponge. I’ve been told this is one of the easiest – and best – ways to apply foundation. (Anyone want to confirm this? I normally just like to use my fingers!) An even better way to get a truly smooth application, though, is this little secret: dampen the sponge.
Dampen your cosmetic sponge slightly and blend the foundation into your skin. This allows a smooth application and will brush over fine lines like a breeze. Allure Magazine also has a tip concerning a damp sponge, but is a slightly different method. Instead of applying the foundation directly with your damp sponge, apply your foundation before, then take the damp sponge and go over your face to smooth it out. “This removes any foundation that has settled into lines, and creates a soft finish.”
Either method works due to the sponge being slightly damp. Try it out and let me know what you think. But for those who have already tried this trick out, what do you think? Does it really make your foundation look smoother? I tried it out to “confirm” this beauty tip and it seems good to me! Let me know your thoughts.
One of the best thing’s you can do while shopping for new colors; be it foundation, blush or eyeshadow, is to remove yourself from the harsh lights of the store, and go out and inspect the color in the natural sunlight. (Striking a dramatic pose like the model above is optional.)
I learnt this tip the hard way. One day before class I stopped over at Bobbi Brown counter (the joys of having your uni next to a shopping mall!) to look for a neutral, taupe eyeshadow. I asked to try one on and immediately bought it, ’cause it looked so good. However, while in the bathroom mid-class, I noticed the true color: it looked like someone flicked mud across my eyelids, and then punched me for that extra purple hue. All the while my friends didn’t say one word in class, probably enjoying my mishap like some kind of sick joke!
Luckily I was able to go back and change the horrendous color, but still – moral of the story? Go in the daylight and check out your color first. (Oh, and a hand held mirror in your bag at all times is probably a good idea, too!) Colors look great in the store (I guess that’s the point), but in real life? Not always.
Do you do this while shopping for new makeup colors? If not, I highly recommend it, you wouldn’t believe how different colors can look in the sunlight.
For those of us who has chores to do – or worse, clean a whole house! – try to get into the habit of wearing gloves.
Why? Cleaning agents are extremely harsh for our hands and our nails. Nails actually swell slightly when they are wet, and then shrink back to size once dry. Couple this with harsh detergents, this can cause brittle and broken nails. Also – I don’t think I need to mention how dry and scaly our hands feel after washing the dishes!
Even better, when wearing rubber gloves while cleaning, moisturize your hands fully with hand lotion and then slip on the gloves – you can give yourself a moisturizing hand mask while you’re at it!
What do you think of this tip? Will you be trying it out?
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