Women's Beauty Secrets

Chapter 17: Facial Cosmetics and Equipment

Basic Equipment

Some basic standbys will be invaluable for helping you achieve a professional, finished look to your make-up.

·         Tissues will be needed for cleansing routines, for correcting mistakes, for blotting lipstick, and for keeping your hands and working surfaces clean.

Cotton-tipped sticks are handy for removing smudges, blending shadows and softening pencil lines. They also make good application for powder eye shadow.

Dry cotton wool is perfect for applying toner and for dusting off excess face powder or powder eye shadow. Cotton balls are convenient, but a roll will work out cheaper.

Sponges can be either natural or synthetic; it's good to have a stock of several for applying foundation. Clean and rinse them regularly.

Powder puffs will be needed for loose and compressed face powder; soft swans-down puffs are particularly useful for loose powder.

Eyebrow tweezers, scissors, eyelash curlers, and a cosmetic pencil sharpener will all come in handy too.

Brushes

Brushes for make-up come in all shapes and sizes. They are necessary for precision work around the lips and eyes, and also for applying light dustings of shades and powder eye shadows.

·         Contour brushes are big, fat, soft brushes used for applying powder blushers, shades and highlighters.

For eye make-up you will need several brushes, each for a separate range of colors. Choose from round or pointed brushes, or chisel-ended ones which make sharper lines.

Sponge-tipped applicators are useful for loose eye-shadow powders, or for applying color beneath the eye.

Eyeliner brushes are small and fine with pointed tips; they are used for drawing fine lines or for applying small dots of color.

A lip brush is a chisel-ended brush, usually with a lid or a retractable head to stop it collecting dirt. Clean it by wiping off excess lipstick with a tissue and then rubbing in cleansing cream; wipe it clean with a tissue.

An eyebrow brush is for training the brows into shape and for removing excess powder.

Foundation and Powder

Good make-up begins with an even, well-applied base, and this is produced by careful use of foundation and powder. The foundation provides the background tone and color, and the powder used to set the foundation so that it doesn't streak or smear.

The coloring of your foundation and powder is very important, and should match your own natural skin tones. If your skin is very white, or pink and white, you can use pale foundations with a tan, honey, or pink tint. If your skin tones are more sallow, or suntanned, go for tan, beige, olive, or occasional peach shades – pink tints will look unnatural on your skin. If your skin is black or very dark, you can get away with dark tones of browns and reds.

Always test the color of foundation or powder on your face rather than on your hand, as the tones are very different. If cosmetics are too light they will make your face look masklike; if they are too dark they will give it an unhealthy all-over flush. Remember that this is only a base to even out skin tones; color and shading can be applied later.

Foundation

Foundations come in several forms. Liquid foundation, in bottles, gives a light coverage and is suitable for fine or young skins in good condition. Most foundations are slightly thicker and come in tubes or pots – these are easier to apply, and give a more substantial coverage. Solid foundations, which come in cake form, are really only needed for badly blemished skin, for instance a face scarred by acne.

Your face should be very clean and grease-free before you apply foundation; if there are any traces of oiliness, apply an astringent lotion first. To avoid clogging the pores with foundation, apply a moisturizer first; allow 5 to 10 minutes for this to be fully absorbed before you apply your foundation. Put a blob of foundation in the palm of one hand, or on the back of the hand, and use clean fingers or a dampened sponge to apply the foundation in even strokes to one part of the face at a time.