Beauty Tips

Foundation
No matter what type of foundation you choose, it should match your skin tone as closely as possible. Test the color on your cheek and your neck. You want the makeup to blend down onto your neck without a visible line. Hopefully you will only need a hint of foundation on your chest when you're wearing a low cut dress. If you are using a water base pancake makeup, it will probably go on easier with a small natural sponge rather than a synthetic one. A natural sponge is only slightly more money and will give a smoother result. Be sure to apply the color with as little water as possible, just use a damp sponge. If you get streaks, let the foundation dry before you try to smooth it out. You will probably find the streaks will disappear as the makeup dries. Pancake makeup doesn't need to be powdered. If you are using a cream stick makeup, apply it with a piece of synthetic sponge. I use a piece of fake foam rubber (flexible urethane foam), the kind you find in the upholstery section of your fabric store. It's easier to thrown them away than to try to wash them. After applying the foundation lightly and evenly all over your face, you may want to add a bit more to cover your five o'clock shadow. If you are covering a heavily textured skin surface (like acne) you may want to blend cheek contour color into the cream base before powdering. (Powder contour may emphasize the texture.) Now you're ready to powder to set the cream stick. Apply a little extra powder to the moustache area and forehead, because the perspiration is heavier here. Allow the powder to sit on the foundation for a few minutes before brushing off the excess. This is especially true with Dermacolour powder. The instructions suggest waiting ten minutes, before removing excess to achieve the maximum waterproof quality. I find about three minutes is sufficient. A big, soft blush brush is ideal for dusting off excess powder.

Rouge
Select a rouge that is a soft pinkish shade similar to your foundation color. You can safely dust it on your forehead, chin and cheeks for a healthy glow. If you use a strong raspberry or red shade you may have trouble being subtle. You can soften the effect of rouge by first dipping your brush in translucent powder and then into the rouge. Rouge belongs on the apple of the cheek,(where you turn pink after you've been jogging). Be careful to keep rouge away from any part of your face you are trying to minimize. For example, if you have a wide face; don't brush the rouge all the way out to your hairline. Keep it more central, so you won't call attention to the width.

Eyes
The eyes are the most fun to paint, but also possibly the most difficult to do well. First, avoid brightly colored and frosted eyeshadows. I know they're fun, but they can age your eye. Learn to contour your eye with neutrals like taupe, charcoal, brown and off white. The upper eyelash line should be defined with a brush and brown liner or an eyebrow pencil, and lightly smudged with a Q-tip. Even if you are older and don't plan to wear much makeup, you should softly define the eye. To NOT makeup the eye is aging. The lower eyelash line can be dotted with brown and smudged, or defined more strongly with a blurred line. To contour the eye, keep in mind the natural lights and shadows of the eye. There is a highlight under the brow bone under the arch of the brow. The crease above the eyelid is shadowed, and the lid picks up some light and seems lighter. This means the lid can be foundation color, the crease can be darkened slightly, and a bit of highlight added on the brow bone. If you MUST use color, use color the same value as your foundation, on your eyelid. This is the one spot you might get away with a frosted color. Use a deeper color in the crease,(definitely not frosted,) but use off white on the brow bone. This combination will seem more natural. For major glamour you can use smokier color on your eyelid. If your eye is aging, and the upper eye is sagging, you have to be careful where you put color; but you can very easily make the eye look gorgeous! Be careful that your browbone highlight doesn't blend down so far that it highlights the sagging fold of skin. Avoid shadowing toward the nose in the deepest part of the eye. That will sink and age the eye even more. The important thing to remember, is to shadow the sagging fold of flesh and keep any frosted colors away from the eye. Frosted color will spotlight the problem. Your safest bet is a dark taupe or charcoal to minimize the fold of flesh. This will give you a normal, pretty eye. If you wish you can vary the look in keeping with current makeup trends; for example, 50's style eyeliner. If you're going to wear false eyelashes, be careful to keep them medium in length. If your false lashes droop at the outer ends, you must glue them ABOVE your natural lash line.

Lips
Keep your lipstick a soft red. Bright fire engine reds can point up problems. If you have a problem with lipstick blurring, try outlining the lip with a lip liner pencil, then filling in with color. Powdering the first coat of lipstick then applying a second coat, will help it to last longer. Most men have thin lips and need to make them appear fuller. Don't hesitate to paint your lips slightly outside your upper and lower lip line. Women have the same problem. But be careful to not overdo it. If your new mouth seems a bit extreme, try increasing the size slowly, a bit at a time over a period of a few weeks, so you can get used to it. Using a softer red will help to keep your lips from looking too showgirl. The type of red you use can be coordinated with your skin tone and your clothing, (more peach or more raspberry); have fun playing with lipstick. It's fun to mix your own color by using several different lipsticks on top of each other. Try putting a neutral light pink shade on top of a deeper red.


Taping
You may want to tape to get rid of your naso-labial fold, overhanging eyelid or double chin. However it is not ideal for all day wear. Taping is wonderful on some people. It depends on how elastic your skin is and whether you can place the tape so it will get rid of the fold and not show under the wig. It's important that the tape be hidden by the wig, because it's very difficult to cover tape with makeup so it doesn't show. However, sometimes just a wisp of hair from the wig will cover the tape so you don't have to pull the wig to far onto your face. The easiest way to tape, is to securely pin a stocking cap to cover your hair. I like to be sure there are several pin curls at the front of your hairline. This gives you something to anchor the wig to so it doesn't slip back and allows you to tape onto your head without pulling hair. Johnson & Johnson surgical tape works wonderfully. The more complicated way is to use strips of silk gauze and spirit gum them to your skin, and anchor the other end to the wig cap. Experiment to see which you prefer. They are both susceptible to perspiration, so are better suited to occasional use not all day wear.You should pluck hairs between the brows and any stragglers.Never remove the hairs from above your eyebrows.