9 Makeup Tips That Nobody Told You About PART 8

With a few tips and tricks, you don’t have to be a professional to have fabulous looking makeup. It’s taken me years to learn my face shape, what colors flatter me, how much to apply, and how to apply it so that it looks beautiful and natural.

  1. Turn a pencil eyeliner into a gel formula with the help of a match or lighter.

 

Hold your black, green, burgundy, etc., kohl eye pencil (which typically creates a thin, harder-to-apply line), under the flame for one second, let it cool for 15 seconds, and then watch the consistency change right before your eyes. Finally, glide on your newly made gel liner for an instantly smudgier formula.

2. Cover your eyelid with white liner to make any eyeshadow shade pop. 

To make a sheer or less pigmented eyeshadow appear more colorful on your eyelid, take a white eyeliner pencil, like Make Up For Ever Kohl Eye Pencil in White, and run it over your entire eyelid. The opaque consistency of the liner will intensify any eyeshadow shade and make it pop instantly against your skin. (Tip via makeup artist Lauren Cosenza founder of Divalicious Blog.)

3. Draw your cat-eye first, and then fill in the open space for a perfect winged liner application every single time. 

It's much easier this way. Use this tutorial as your guide.

4. Use a spoon to create the perfect winged liner.

 

Holding the stem of a spoon against the outer corner of your eye, draw the straight line as the first step for your cat-eye. Then, flip the spoon so it's hugging your eyelid, and use the rounded outer edge to create a perfectly curved winged effect.  

5. Draw a slanted hashtag at the outer corner of your eye, and then blend it for an instantly smokey effect.

 

Left: Before; Right: After

To create a super-easy smokey eye, draw a hashtag symbol right before the outer corner of your eye and then blend it out with the smudger at the other end of your eye liner.

6. Use that same spoon to avoid mascara marks on your upper eye lid.

Hold the spoon so it's hugging your eyelid, and then apply your mascara like you normally would. As you sweep the mascara wand against your lashes and back of the spoon, watch as the residue coats the back of the utensil rather than your skin.

7. Add saline solution to a flaky mascara formula to re-wet it.  

 

You're only supposed to keep mascara for three months, because beyond that point, it can collect bacteria and lead to eye infections. However, if your mascara dries up within those three months, revive it with a couple drops of saline solution.

8. Hit your eyelash curler with a hair dryer to heat it up, so your lashes curl easier. 

 

Blowing hot air on your eyelash curler will help your lashes curl easier and stay curled longer; it works the same way heat changes the pattern of your hair and holds a curl with a curling iron. To do it, hit the lash curler with your blow dryer until it heats up, wait until it cools slightly but is still warm (you want to be sure not to burn your eyelid), and then clamp down on your lashes to curl them.

9. Dust on translucent powder in between coating on mascara to plump up your lashes.

 

The translucent powder helps grip the mascara in between coats, leaving you with fuller lashes. Try out this tip by following this tutorial.