Six Makeup Mistakes to Avoid

I am not a beauty guru. Shocking, right? I've been wearing makeup for a long time, but just like any normal human being, I make mistakes from time to time. Or rather, more often than not. However, I'd like to think that over the course of the past seven or so years that I've been wearing makeup, I've learned a thing or two in regards of what to avoid when applying my makeup. I've also enlisted the help of my friend and makeup sage, Hannah (and also a Sephora employee, for a nice little bonus), for her two cents on the subject matter.

Applying makeup is a much more complicated process that most people would imagine and there are plenty of things you learn from trial and error. Whether you're a newbie to makeup or just want to make sure you're on the right track, these tips can help you in your daily morning routine and fine tune your skills.

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Not cleaning your makeup brushes regularly 

You should clean your brushes regularly for multiple reasons. First thing, for sanitary purposes. A lot of dirt and bacteria can get stuck in the bristles of your brushes or on the surface of your sponges. It's best for your skin (and for your brushes) if you wash them regularly. The best thing about this is that you don't need any fancy cleaner. You can just use baby shampoo and some water and call it a day! And other than just purely sanitary reasons, your products are going to apply so much better with clean bristles over bristles that are caked with product. You're saving your skin and the quality of your makeup look. Total double whammy and worth the effort!

Tugging your eyelid for smooth eyeliner

I am absolutely guilty as charged when it comes to this tip. Sometimes all you want to do to get a precise and straight line on your eyelid with eyeliner is to tug a little bit on the outer corner of your eye. It's great for the overall look of your eye makeup, but bad when it comes to aging down the line. You can cause wrinkles and fine lines from all of that tugging over time. You just have to get used to applying eyeliner without tugging. It takes a bit more time and it's incredibly tempting to tug the whole time, but it's possible! It's difficult, but it can certainly happen and will overall be better for your general eye area down the line.

Not blending your foundation down your neck and on your ears

Please, please, please do not forget that when you're wearing foundation or tinted moisturizer to apply that product on your jaw and down your neck. It doesn't matter how well the foundation matches your skin tone. If the product oxidizes or doesn't match in natural lighting, you're going to have a silly and distinct line where your jaw connects to your neck. With the excess product left on your sponge or brush (or even fingers, but I really recommend using a sponge or a brush to apply your foundation), apply it on your jawline and down your neck, close to your collarbone. It will help create a cohesive look and not cause any weird harsh line with makeup on your face. Along the same lines, it might seem weird, but it's also important to get some product on your ears! They might seem like a forgotten extension of your body, but similar to the neck, you don't want a distinct line between the sides of your face and ears. Blending it out will just help create a seamless foundation look. 

Not blending your eyeshadow

If you're trying out a multi-color eye look, especially with a distinct crease, you have to blend the colors out. I mean, I suppose you don't have to do anything, but I can assure you that your eyeshadow will look so much better if you (1) prime your eyelids either with a proper eyeshadow primer (I like the primers from Urban Decay and Lorac and MAC's Paintpot in Painterly) or your regular concealer (2) blend the edges of your shadow out. Even if you're just going to do a lighter shade on your entire lid and use a slightly darker color to add definition to your crease, take a clean blending brush and buff it over the edges of that darker color so it blends seamlessly into the lid color as well as feathers out gradually at the edges to make your eyeshadow look less harsh. 

Forgetting to set your undereye concealer

Have you ever applied undereye concealer and then have wondered why it's disappeared and creased only a few hours later? Even if you have dry skin and are using a matte foundation, you should really set your foundation and concealers. It'll keep everything in place infinitely longer. If you happen to have oily skin, it will stop the oil from breaking through the liquid foundation and products and will prolong the anti-shine. However, in the midst of setting your face, it's easy to forget about the tiny concentrated area under your eye, especially since most powder brushes don't reach it very well. My personal favorite way to set undereye concealer is with the tip of my beauty sponge dipped into loose setting powder. You could also easily use a smaller brush and tap it onto the concealer under your eye to lock it in place and stop it from creasing and fading away.

Caking on product, especially cream and liquid products

Look, I understand the urge to cake on a product. You want it to be super opaque so you just apply a lot of a thing that you really only need a little of. I'm sure you've seen beauty videos of people applying several layers and swipes of Tarte's Shapetape concealer in huge triangles underneath their eyes. The truth is, you do not need that much product. At all. I don't care how dark your undereye circles are. You need two, maybe three swipes of that product underneath your eyes to cover dark circles. You don't need half of the tube.

The same can absolutely go for regular spot concealers or foundations. It's best to apply product gradually. Use a pump or two of foundation to cover your face (and blend down your neck and on your ears!) and then if needed, go in with another pump or half pump to add coverage to the areas that still have redness or imperfections showing through. This can also absolutely be achieved with concealer too, but the same goes for regular concealer. Dab it on a few spots, blend it out, and assess the situation. You can always add more, but you can't necessarily take it off without ruining that section of your face.

What's one makeup mistake you always avoid? Are you guilty of any of these minor mishaps?