Makeup Tips - What to Know Before You Start Wearing Makeup

Dear all, I hope you are having a good, relaxing weekend & staying indoors as much as possible. My prayers are with all those people affected by this global pandemic. I do not intend to mention anything regarding the topic because there is so much coverage on the news and it may cause negative emotions so yeah. I just wanted to make sure everyone is doing ok and that if somebody affected is reading this, sending love to you. People out there are showing their true colours. There is not only racism going on - there are extreme discrimination and mere judgement upon others. You see immediately the people with wisdom and knowledge and are able to differentiate with those who are not. Anyhow, this weekend I spent the longest time indoors in a long time. I am usually super productive or try to be hehe and always moving around here and there but this weekend was slightly different - it was quieter and more relaxing. To my surprise, I did not know that I had not had a super relaxing weekend in a long time and I actually enjoy it. This makes me want to have much more weekends like this in the future even when this pandemic is over insyaAllah.

So, back to the topic above, I really enjoy wearing makeup and find it super fun to choose and buy and then even more fun to test it out on myself. Here are some points I learned by trial and error and wish I knew before I started wearing makeup.

• Healthy skin is the most important factor to ensure your makeup looks smooth and good.

• It is not 1 size fits all when it comes to makeup - the most challenging thing is that nobody has exactly the same feature as you, hence finding out what best suits you does not happen overnight by watching a youtube channel or reading books (like how I started off with).

• Knowing what best suits you comes with trial and error of choosing different shades, different texture and different makeup products.

• Shortcut to knowing what best suits you - find a youtuber or celebrity who has the same skin tone - checkout there makeup combo. Find someone with the same eyeshape as you - checkout their eye makeup and see what looks good on them. Find someone who has the same face shape as you - checkout how they contour and highlight (I don't do much of these though or not yet). If you have a look in mind which I did, try and look around at who has that look. Either ask them ( if they are a celeb hope they reply you or maybe not) or just guess. Guessing part is fun - ok that look looks like this shade of lipstick. 

• Good makeup is really custom-made, different people look good in different things and finding what suits you takes time. 

• Practice practice practice. I take the opportunity by practising my makeup before going to work. I have got to make it quick but I have learned over time that you get better with practice - it might take longer at the beginning but you get better and faster over time.

• Focus on one thing at a time. I started with lips, then skin (foundation) then eyebrow, then eyeliner then blush then I was happy with these only and kept practising. Then mid last year, I added mascara to my list and finally the end of 2019, I added eyeshadow/ eye glitter and now I am still practising on the eye part. When I say focus, it means work on that before you move on to something else and some harder ones will take months to master. I love it so it is fun for me! It is like art on your face and I love art! I also like the looks I can make :) Still learning but it is fun.

• Have a positive outlook on makeup - some people think it is a coverup and not original, well in some way it is but in a good way. It covers up anything that you want to be covered up and you choose what you want. Of course, it is not original, original would be bare-faced. The natural look is no longer meaning no makeup - it means wearing makeup but look like you are not. Pretty funny concept but it is fun to learn and apply. The main aim is just to subtlely enhance your natural features and remember, less is more so this is fun to try out. It's not easy though, you can go easily overboard and excited to add more than you need. To me, makeup adds confidence and professionalism in my day at work - you put on your makeup and work mode persona and you are ready to rock. 

• When deciding between expensive branded products and cheaper drugstore products, spend more on things like foundation which covers the largest portion of your skin and also blush / bronzer. Things that may affect skin health and that need to last long are the ones you would spend more on. I spend less on eyeliner and eyebrow makeup - drugstore ones do the job. I can write on tips on selecting makeup products in another post.

Good night and have a good rest everyone xxx take care and stay safe.