BEAUTY JUNKIE: Tips and Tricks!

Makeup can be a blessing and a curse at the same time, in terms of one's techniques and ways to apply it. Being a very very tolerant person toward the expression of art through makeup, I'm always keen towards looking for trendy and edge ways to use makeup, apart from the normal everyday usage. Either be it drag makeup or some over done makeup that displeases others, as long as the person wearing the makeup is satisfied, who are we to judge and critique them over something that is a pure form of art and self expression!?

But if we're talking specifically about my every day makeup trips and tricks, following are my tested and 100% positive result worthy tricks that I think every girl should know (only if they want to or would relate to me).

• Cakey-Skin-No-More!

Normally, people get creeped out by the idea of applying makeup solely on their ability to cake their face up, even when they wear very little foundation. The chalking up of the skin and looking very undone is solely because of the dead skin layer gunking over each other. So naturally in order to avoid cakey, and undone foundation application over the skin and for attaining an airbrushed and smooth foundation application, EXFOLIATE THE SHIT OUT OF YOUR FACE! Exfoliation and deep cleansiong every once in a while or before putting on makeup can be a huge life saver! Exfoliation not only removes the dirt from the skin and pores, but also removes the dead skin layer which contributes to the cakey factor TO THE MAX! taking care of your skin will not only help you look fresh 24/7, but also help in smooooth makeup application.

• Pores-Be-Gone!

Girls who have oily skin like me in summers and Sahara-Desert-AF-Dry-Skin in winters must also have enlarged pores that just won't go away. And not to mention a higher susceptibility to have breakouts while looking like a porous sponge with makeup on. The haunting tale ends when a good af primer is used before foundation/makeup application. Primers have a tendency of smoothing out pores and fine lines, all while prepping the skin for perfect foundation/makeup application. Applying matte-fying primers with a beauty blender by dabbing it in is a blessing for skin that omits oil all day long and helps not only in oil controlling, but helping the makeup to set all day without extra efforts.

• Blending In The Deep

If you're very keen on the idea of using a foundation brush for smooth application, then go right ahead gurrrlll and do your thaang. I'm not here to critique anyone. But if you do use foundation brush and your skin ends up cakey after the blending session, Do try to use the brush not in a circular motion to blend, but in gentle dragging strokes to smooth out fine lines. Circular motion brush strokes tends to micro-exfoliate the skin, cause the clumping of foundation and the leftover dead skin further breaking out, making the skin look cakey and undone. Plus, if you're a beauty blender girl, like me, Do try to use the sponge WET and dabbing it on the skin for total coverage and NOT dragging the sponge across the face. Dragging the sponge with only cause dry patches and will cause micro-exfoliation and undone application that will either not matter to you at all (GURLL YOU'RE BRAVE!!), or will just let you down majorly. Blending is important so take your time and blend that shit out!

•  Correcting And Concealing Your Sins 

People have a lot of mixed emotions about corrector and concealers. Corrector are the ones used BEFORE foundation application ONLY if you have very dark under eyes and discoloration on your skin. If you have blue-ish black dark under eyes, an orange/red corrector is used in a very minimal quantity to cancel out the undertone. Similarly green corrector is used to cancel out redness and so on. Some people even use red lipstick as corrector. CONCEALERS however are used after the foundation in most cases (read more here) and are normally 1 to 2 shades lighter than your foundation/skin color. Concealers give a full coverage and lightness to the area under the eyes for a fresher and complete makeup look. And remember to blend and dab the concealer till it sets perfectly. And again, to avoid cake-iness, try using the minimal amount of products as possible, because the more the product is used, the more layers of cakiness it adds up over your skin.

concealing after correcting and applying foundation! 

color correction using a red lipstick

• Powdering With The Fluff

Because there's already a lot of product on your face right now and to avoid it from cracking further, use the fluffiest brush in the bunch the fluff on matte-fying or setting powder. Because all the powders are dry, they will try to crack your makeup and only you can save it from the eternal damnation. Fluff on the powder as per needed, dabb the blush with a fluffy brush in a similar manner on the apples of your cheeks.

• Contour Or Not To Contour?

I know cream contours look very appealing, but do give powder contours a try too. Use gentle strokes of brush with bronzer/dark contour shade to get that sharp cheekbone, jaws and a nose that can put Pinocchio to shame!

• Brows On FLEEK?

Even though I have a brow palette, I figured out after a very long time that I ACTUALLY DO NOT NEED A BROW PALETTE AT ALL! My Asian Af Eyebrows are already wayyy too much to handle. Are they fuller? Yes they are. Are they on Fleek? Probablyyy not. And to be very honest, brows are not in my  everyday makeup routine at ALL. Although, If you want fuller brows, you can use a brow pencil either 1 shade lighter to your natural brow hair or just try using the normal eyeshadow (same colour as your brow hair) and a precision brush to make strokes to fill in your brows. You can also use a concealer or wet wipes to carefully clean the excess product from the areas around the brows.  

source: PINTEREST

• Highlighting Your Achievements

If you know me, you must also know I am a SUCKERRR for HIGHLIGHTERS! Either be it high-end or Pakistani/indie brands, I'm all about highlighting that cheek to BLINDDD everyone I come in contact with. With that, even I know that Highlighting over the pores only MAXIMIZES the pores and makes them, more visible than before! And that being said, i only use the highlighter on the high lines on my cheek but NOT all the way to the apples of the cheeks because honey, that's where all my pores are! And since a little product goes a long way, I try to use a quick motion with the brush to get the highlighter on my nose because the more you try to 'blend', the more dry skin will start getting resurrected and teaming up to form clumps and gunks of dry patches over the nose. And so, highlighting and accentuating the cheekbone, the browbone, the cupid's bow (above the lips) and the bridge of the nose can blind anyone who objectifies your will to put on any amount of makeup you please! or you can go all in with the highlighter, nobody can stop you from shininggggggg!

I love this girl! 

Makeup is truly an escape for me, and I absolutely LOVE doing makeup on others and myself. Personally I don't like critiquing people over their makeup because I'm not a big makeup artist myself and generally, I'm not a mean person. If makeup makes you happy, then go right ahead. Makeup is not gender specific either. Some Boys can do muchhhh better makeup than us mortal beings. As long as they're happy, and we're happy, it's all good!

I mean, I'm no expert but I hope my little tips and tricks helped at least one person in this world. Do tweet me at @DigitalZarda if it did! Till i find more ways to perfect my makeup skills, this is me, signing off.

Digitally Dazzled,

Wurduh Jaffri