A lot of us are spending hours in front of our computer screens trying to learn all these complex makeup tricks and techniques that are supposed to make us look on fleek. Not to mention that it seems like everyone has been adopting a new look: a chiseled, countered face, beautifully glowing skin, sharp winged eyeliner, and overdrawn lips.
Feeling comfortable in your own skin is something many young women struggle with, including myself. While I want to look as airbrushed as the girls on the cover of Vogue magazine, I also want to have my own personalized look. As all these new makeup trends come out, it’s not important to try and utilize every single one. We’re all different, one thing may work while the other thing just won’t, and that’s okay. It’s not meant to be a solution that everyone works with, in order to look the same.
[bctt tweet=”Feeling comfortable in your own skin is something many young women struggle with, including myself.” username=”wearethetempest”]
Makeup is a tool to enhance your natural features, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s not a mask nor a facade, simply a way for us to feel like the empowered and beautiful people that we are. And hey, if makeup makes us feel more confident and put together, what’s the harm?
[bctt tweet=”Makeup is a tool to enhance your natural features, and that’s the beauty of it.” username=”wearethetempest”]
Here are the latest makeup techniques that have broken out in the beauty world, and my personal experience with each one. If you’re looking to up your makeup game or just experiment with something new, try one of these techniques. You can still personalize your look by incorporating the techniques in different ways. Remember, your own look is always the best look. Achieving these looks aren’t impossible, it just takes a little bit of practice.
1. Clown Contouring
https://instagram.com/p/4UmALhIJBm/
Clown contouring takes the typical highlighting and contouring routine to a whole new level. With this technique, you can color correct, highlight, contour, and apply blush all at the same time. While you don’t need to go all out with the clown technique, using some parts of it is extremely helpful. You may want to start out with highlighting and contouring first, and then adding in bits of color corrector wherever you need it. Remember, it’s all about using these trends to personalize your own look. When using this technique, I focus the product only on areas where I really need it. I don’t usually highlight my forehead/nose or contour my nose and jawline that much, so I just skip that part of the clown technique while still using only what I want.
[bctt tweet=”Clown contouring takes the typical highlighting and contouring routine to a whole new level.” username=”wearethetempest”]
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2. Strobing
https://instagram.com/p/7OM691y6TF/
Strobing – aka highlighting without contouring, is a new favorite amongst beauty gurus all over YouTube and Instagram. It defines your face without the harsh contour, leaving you with a luminous angel-like glow. Strobing is perfect for everyday when you want a subtle glow, but you don’t need all the heavy contour. My favorite products to use for strobing are either Becca’s ‘Champagne Pop’ Shimmering Skin Perfector, or Colour Pop Cosmetic’s ‘Wisp’ Super Shock Cheek. Instead of layering powders over cream, I like to mix in a cream highlighter in with my foundation and finish off with a powder highlight. It gives a subtle glow but still emphasizes my cheekbones.
[bctt tweet=”Strobing – aka highlighting without contouring.” username=”wearethetempest”]
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3. Color correcting
https://instagram.com/p/7maM1sP5GQ/
If you have excessive hyper pigmentation, this trick is for you. By taking color correctors, or even red lipstick, you can immediately cancel out darkness around your lips and under your eyes. I have insane dark circles every morning, and I use a light orange concealer to under my foundation and concealer to help hide them. It works wonders by lightening the area and providing a better base for your concealer. If you have a darker complexion, using a bright orange concealer will work best. But for lighter skin tones, you should stick to a light peach toned corrector.
[bctt tweet=”If you have excessive hyper pigmentation, this trick is for you.” username=”wearethetempest”]
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4. Baking
https://instagram.com/p/7lWcbev5PA/
Baking your face?! Yep. This new technique is designed to set your makeup flawlessly and increase staying power to all day. Baking locks in your concealer and foundation and actually traps your oils throughout the day. Not to mention it blurs out fine lines and makes you look picture perfect. It may actually be one of the smartest things we can do to our faces. However, baking can often look way too cakey or not set well on the skin. If you’re having this problem, use your powder with a sponge and generously pack on the powder until it’s visible, but not overdone. Then, use a TON of any type of makeup setting spray, such as Mac’s Fix + to spray over. This will take the cakeyness away for good!
[bctt tweet=”Baking your face?! Yep.” username=”wearethetempest”]
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5. Perfect winged eyeliner
https://instagram.com/p/5U8Q8khybd/
Cat eyes have made their come back. Winged eyeliner may be tricky to achieve at first, but finding the right formula of eyeliner will make this technique much easier. Personally, I love using a cream/gel eyeliner with an angled brush to achieve my bold wings (which is how I achieved the look above in my Instagram picture). My absolute favorite is Inglot’s ‘AMC Eyeliner Gel’ eyeliner. But for more natural and clean cut wings, I would recommend using liquid eyeliner. Felt tip pen liners are the easiest for beginners and you can find them right at the drugstore. Eyeliner can easily alter the shape of your eyes and you can even add colored or glitter eyeliners to enhance your eyes.
[bctt tweet=”Cat eyes have made their come back.” username=”wearethetempest”]
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6. Matte lips
https://instagram.com/p/8J7281I0Vg/
Liquid lipsticks have been EVERYWHERE lately. You NEED liquid lipsticks, trust me. They’re super long lasting, opaque, velvety smooth, and matte to perfection. Almost every brand has been coming out with some variation of liquid lipsticks, and they’re worth every penny. Matte lips are huge this Fall season and this formula makes it easy to wear without the fuss of using the old school loose powder trick to mattify your lips.
[bctt tweet=”Liquid lipsticks have been EVERYWHERE lately.” username=”wearethetempest”]
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7. Eyebrows ON FLEEK
https://instagram.com/p/53a2oghybM/
Brows on fleek? I think yes. Eyebrows are everything right now. And I mean everything. Everyone is dying to have the perfect sculpted and defined brow shape. To fill in your brows, try the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz pencil or the DipBrow Pomade, which will give you amazing, natural looking eyebrows.
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Makeup is perfected through trial and error. But by experimenting, you can create your own look that will make you feel like a badass every time you step outside your house. And you know what, confidence kills. So if you need some foundation and eyeliner to be more confident, there’s no harm.
[bctt tweet=”And you know what, confidence kills.” username=”wearethetempest”]
I’ve always experimented with eyeliner ever since I started wearing makeup in my freshman year of high school. Since then, my skills have improved and I swear everyone just knows me by my eyeliner. I’ve even gotten called “eyeliner girl” once. So play around with these tips and see what works best for you, you may discover that incorporating parts of these techniques into your daily routine can make a huge difference.
