7. Lip Pencils: Some are more long-wearing than others, and some, more or less moist. You can either line your lips to define them or fill in the whole lip and use a lip balm over top. This will stay on quite well.
8. Foundation, Formulations and Coverage: These come in several forms:
• Liquid foundation is good for normal to dry skin and will give you maximum coverage. If you prefer a more matte look, apply it with a sponge or a brush.
• Powder foundation is convenient for medium to maximum coverage and is always applied with the proper brush.
• A tinted moisturizer is good for normal to dry skin for a sheer natural look. It delivers a healthy glow with minimum coverage. It can be applied with your fingertips or with a sponge.
• Mineral makeup is a “natural” makeup free of preservatives, talc, oil, fragrance and synthetic colouring. It gives full coverage while allowing the skin to breathe. Mineral makeup comes in many formulations, but powder is the most common. The type of application depends on the formulation chosen.
• Primer is often colourless and primes and readies the skin for foundation (similar to prepping a wall for painting). It is applied with a sponge or fingertips.
Brushing Up Your Beauty
Three factors are essential to efficiency in applying makeup: the makeup itself, the brushes and the application. If one of these factors is inferior, your makeup isn’t going to look as fabulous as it could.
Brushes are the most important aspect of actually applying makeup, yet many women ignore brushes as a tool. It’s surprising how many women I have seen apply eye shadow with the tiny, useless applicators that come with shadow. Please, throw them away! A Q-tip will serve you better.
Your hands and fingers can certainly be used on your face. As a matter of fact, using a finger to tap the concealer used beneath your eye is perfect, as the warmth of your finger will help melt the concealer into your skin.
However, if your skin tends to be oily, then brushes are a much better option. Nor will your fingers do the fine, precise work brushes are designed to do.
If you find it overwhelming to try to figure out which brush to use for what, this is the section for you! I’m going to demystify the whole process of brushes and brushwork.
Here we go.
The different hairs and different shapes of the brushes determine the use of each brush. But, first and foremost, the brush must feel fabulous on your face. If it doesn’t, don’t buy it or use it.
Brushes can be made of natural hair or synthetic hair.
In the past, synthetic hair brushes were used only with crème products and liquids because synthetic hair didn’t grab or pick up powder products. But they’ve come a long way. Now, my favourite and softest brush is synthetic. It feels like mink and applies foundation powder product perfectly.
There are, however, downsides to synthetic. Because synthetic brushes for powder are relatively new, there’s no information on how long they will last. I’ve had some of my natural hair brushes for fifteen years, and I use them professionally. Synthetic hair also stains more than natural. When you wash natural hair brushes, the powder colour comes out, but this isn’t the case with the synthetic hair.
There are many types of natural hair brushes to choose from: goat, pony, sable, squirrel and badger are among the most common. And among these different hair types are subcategories. For example, sable comes from mink, and there are three types of sable—Kolinsky (the best), red sable and sable.
Different hairs are also shaped differently. A brush made of pony and goat hair will not come to a point. These are flat at the tip, and they’re wonderful for applying blush and powder. Sable and squirrel hair brushes, on the other hand, are conical in shape, coming to a point, which makes them fabulous for applying eye shadow.
There are prepackaged sets of brushes that seem to have a few that even I, as a makeup artist, can’t figure out what to do with! Why buy a set of ten or more brushes if you can’t use all of them? Makeup brushes are an investment and can last five years or longer, depending on the type of hair used and the care they receive.
On a daily basis, when you use any brush in a powder, you should brush it across a tissue to get rid of excess powder. Flip the brush back and forth a number of times or gently wipe the brush on a tissue. For brushes used in a crème product, wipe the excess crème on a tissue.
Personal makeup brushes need to be washed, not every day but only if they have an odour or have beads of makeup on them. If, however, you have oily skin, the brushes may get dirtier and may develop a greasiness that will interfere with the makeup application. They might also develop bacteria, so washing is in order.
To wash your brushes, use soap gentle enough for woolens and delicate clothes.
1. Dissolve the soap in warm water.
2. Gently swish the brush around up to the ferrule. Use your fingers in the hairs to stroke the hair from root to tip.
3. Rinse brush thoroughly in running water till the water runs clean.
4. Brush the excess water out of the brush on a soft towel.
5. Stroke the brush to reshape or use a small comb through the hair from root to tip.
6. If the brush does not reshape, use a very small amount of non-alcoholic hairspray. Spray it in your hand, and very gently stroke the brush from root to tip.
7. Lay the brushes down on a towel to dry flat. If the brush heads are over the edge of the counter, the air will dry them more quickly and they won’t flatten out on one side. You can stand them up as long as there is no excess water, as you do not want water to run into the ferrule.
If you use alcohol on your brushes they will wear out faster, as alcohol can strip the natural oil in the hair. (Professional makeup artists use alcohol very often because it dries quickly, and the brush can be used on another person within five to seven minutes.) There are specialized brush cleaners, but I have found them to be too strong, and they can stain the brushes. Once in a while, if you need to clean the brushes right away, 99 percent alcohol can be used, but make sure not to get the ferrule in the alcohol or it will loosen the glue and could release the brush.
In chapter 9, I further explain how to load the brushes and how to use them correctly.
How to Use Your Makeup Brushes
First load your brush with product. Gently sweep the brush across the product in the direction of the bristles. A quality brush will grab the product; it’s not necessary to use a lot of pressure when loading the brush.
For your foundation powder, once the flat-top brush is loaded, take a look at it to make sure that you are using the correct pressure to grab the powder foundation. Wherever you place the brush first is where you will deposit the greatest amount of the product. On the face we very often have more redness throughout our cheek area, so once the brush is loaded with product, place the brush in the cheek area first and move towards the jawline and into the nose area. By then you will need to reload your brush. Hold this brush with your thumb and index finger, resting the brush between these two digits. This will give you the greatest control.
For the brushes with longer handles, hold the brush as you would a pencil. Use short back and forth movements in a windshield wiper fashion. Gently press the brush into the face, “tapping” (stippling) to apply the foundation powder.
By using the brushes this way you will create the cleanest application.
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Chapter 3
Colour
Is Key
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