Kindly Unspoken

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Beauty· Beauty Tips/Advice

6 Makeup Mistakes I’ve Learned From

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6 makeup mistakes I've learned from

I think it’s safe to say anyone who’s visited my blog by now should know I love makeup and all things beauty. Makeup for me is all about creating fun and beautiful looks that make you feel good about yourself and that enhance your natural beauty. But trust me when I say I’ve come a LONG way from the first few years of wearing makeup.

When I first started out doing makeup at the ripe age of 13, I had no idea what contouring and highlighting was, the beauty blender had not yet been invented, and all of my eyeshadows, lip glosses, and blushes had sparkles and glitter in them.

So since I’ve been playing around with makeup for several years now, I thought it might be helpful to share with you some of the things I’ve learned over the years to do and NOT to do when it comes to makeup.

Beauty Fails I’ve Made

foundation

Wearing Too Much Foundation

There’s no such thing as too much foundation, right? Wrong! One of the things I definitely did as a teenager was wear entirely too much foundation. Not only would I cake on the liquid foundation but then I’d top it off with a ton of powder, and it was all too much.

Tip: To avoid the cake-face look, focus on finding a foundation that provides enough coverage to even out your skin tone, but one that also lets your natural skin shine through. If you have redness or blemishes, you can also use a good concealer for extra coverage in those areas.

Wearing the Wrong Foundation Shade

This is something I definitively struggled with until makeup companies (thankfully) started creating more shades. Because I’m pale I always just assumed I was whatever the lightest shade a makeup company offered, and I would never even test it to make sure. Low and behold when I would begin wearing it, the foundation would either be way too light making me look like a ghost or be too dark creating the dreaded “line”.

Tip: Be sure and always test out a foundation in store to make sure it will match your skin tone. Although many people test out on the back of the hand, the most accurate area to test is on the jawline. Using a mirror, apply a tiny dot and blend to ensure a perfect match. If you can’t test the product in store, several stores offer a return policy if the product ends up not matching.

Not Setting My Concealer

Thanks to my amazing genes and having dark under eye circles, I’ve pretty much always had to wear concealer. But even when I would find the perfect concealer products for coverage, I still would be dismayed when the concealer would always crease or fade by the end of the day. That’s when I realized the importance of setting it.

Tip: After applying liquid foundation and concealer, use a small makeup brush to apply a light dusting of translucent powder or face powder to the under eye area. If your t-zone tends to get oily, it’s also helpful to apply setting powder in those areas as well. This will ensure your makeup successfully stays in place all day.

makeup brushes

Not Using Makeup Brushes

I honestly blame this one on the fact that I grew up in the generation before makeup brushes were really a thing. Without YouTube videos and Pinterest helping me out, how was I to know that the white makeup sponges and eyeshadow sponges were actually not the best tools to be using?

Tip: Find a good set of makeup brushes and ditch those cheap sponges that come with makeup kits. They’re cheap for a reason and make it impossible to blend your makeup. I highly recommend purchasing e.l.f. or real technique brushes and both brands offer very affordable options.

Applying Bronzer All Over

In addition to wearing too much foundation during my teenage years, I also thought it was cool to apply bronzer all over the face to make me appear more “tan”. Well considering the fact that I’m very fair skinned and I can’t tan, I unknowingly ended up making myself look like an oompa loompa.-haha

Tip: Bronzer is great to use for contouring parts of the face, but should only be used on key areas. Using a good makeup brush, apply bronzer to the cheekbones, brow bone, sides of the nose, and any other areas you want to contour. Alternatively, use highlighter for areas you want to “highlight” and emphasize. In doing this, you will create a more natural makeup look in lieu of appearing one-dimensional.

Not Blending My Eyeshadows

I already mentioned the fact that I didn’t use makeup brushes, so it’s safe to say that none of the makeup I applied during my teenage years were ever well-blended. Not blending your blush, bronzer, and eyeshadows can end up making you look more like a doll or clown, which is probably not something you want to do unless it’s Halloween.

Tip: As noted above, invest in some good quality brushes and blend, blend, blend. Makeup is meant to enhance your natural beauty, which is why it is so important to blend. By blending your blush, bronzer, and eyeshadows, you will create beautiful, subtle looks that appear natural.

So now that I’ve been honest about all my beauty fails, and since we’re all non-judgmental friends here, what’s some makeup mistakes you’ve made and/or learned from? No judging, I promise! 🙂

Have a Great Monday!- Cara

Linking up on Inspiration Monday, Busy Monday, Merry Monday, Amaze Me Monday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Create, Link, Inspire, You’re Gonna Love It Tuesday, Tutorials & Tips, Pin Worthy Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday, Best of the Blogosphere, Wonderful Wednesday

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Comments

  5. What a great idea for a post! I can truly relate to every single one of these! Especially bronzer all over, ha ha yeah that orange glow was not favorable, LOL hope you have a happy Monday

    Reply

  7. I wear very little makeup, so thankfully I haven’t made many of these mistakes, but I really should work on setting my concealer. With baby #3 on the way, I’m sure the circles will only get darker 🙂

    Reply

  8. I feel you on the concealer struggle! I have pale skin too and it’s so hard to find a shade that matches. And it seems like just when I find “the one” the next time I go to purchase it the company has rebranded that line and everything has a different name or number and I have to start back at square one!

    Reply

    • There’s a huge debate on this- but after years of applying concealer first then foundation, I’ve found it works better for my skin to reverse it when applying concealer last and then setting it. It’s all about works best for your skin type, though, so play around and try it both ways and see what lasts/looks better for you. 🙂

      Reply

  10. ? on the brushes! I grew up on sponges and fingertips. How could I have known? I’m hooked on brushes now though. In fact, I just bought a new kabuki brush last weekend.

    Reply

  11. OH SNAP – I didnt know you were supposed to set your concealer. I actually just bought some under eye powder – I guess that’s what that’s for 🙂 haha

    Reply

  15. I’m just looking into makeup brushes. Thanks for the recommendations. Sephora does a great job in identifying your true foundation color with their color IQ so I do recommend going into a store and getting that done. It’s free! 🙂

    Reply

  16. I have failed at every last one of these in my younger years as well. I would like to add wearing too many sparkly/glittery things to the mix as well hahaha.

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  17. This was so fun! And I did all of these too… also as a teenager I’d put white eyeliner on my upper lid, then a sparkly colored shadow over it… so I’d end up with green, purple, blue eyeliner… why?? It was such a weird look when I think back on it!!

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  20. When I was younger, I not only used cakey foundation, but it was also a shade too dark. Imagine how ridiculous I looked with my makeup caked on and a horrible line along my jawline. So glad I’ve since learned better! I’m totally guilty of putting bronzer all over. But only when I don’t have a tan, haha.

    Reply

    • Yep that was me too when I was a teenager! I feel a little bit better though because most of the girls I went to school with did the same thing, so it was the “cool” thing at the time-haha I’m sure we looked wonderful 😉

      Reply

    • You’re welcome! I’d recommend investing in the Real Technique’s version of the Beauty Blender to use, and it makes applying foundation so easy and makes your makeup appear more natural. 🙂

      Reply

  26. I really enjoyed this blog post! One of the makeup mistakes I use to make was applying too many thick layers of product. I use to apply a load of foundation then lots of concealer, and then apply a whole load of powder! Everything was just too much, and I have since learnt to apply thin layers. Less is more!

    Reply

  31. Such good tips… some of the mistakes I have certainly made is the wrong shade foundation and not using a bronzer. Also – I must invest and use makeup brushes – thanks for this!

    Reply

  39. Yes! Blending your eyeshadow is so important! I see a lot of makeup presenters for a certain company out there and they never blend their eyeshadow and it makes me cringe!

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  43. I’ve definitely made all of these mistakes! I think my biggest mistake I’ve made was not using my brushes. I legit didn’t use a brush for my foundation until this year! so bad.

    Reply

  46. Cara- I love beauty posts.
    I am also addicted to you tube beauty vlogger videos!
    I am searching for the solution to the hooded eye. 🙂
    I have never set my concealer and it never lasts. I have heard that Laura Mercier has a wonderful setting powder for under the eye.

    Enjoyed visiting,
    Laura
    I hope you’ll share this at Thoughts of Home on Thursday tomorrow.
    Just stop by my blog to join in.

    Reply

  47. I just need to send you my address so you can come show me all these tips! I am so basic with my makeup. I definitely need to venture out a little. Thanks for sharing these tips!

    Reply

  49. This is so funny and so true. I’m guilty of almost all of these… especially caking on the foundation and basically using it as concealer, as well as, just NOT setting concealer (or foundation ) at all and wondering why I was applying more and more… and buying a new foundation every month 😀

    Reply

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