10 COMMON MAKEUP MISTAKES & THEIR FIXES

I've been meaning to do a post like this for so long! I wanted to create a little guide to commonly made makeup mistakes and, at the same time, offer alternative methods to those mistakes. A lot of you guys will probably already know this stuff, but some of us have a bit less experience with makeup. I know, for example, that it's a newer venture for a lot of my bum chums back home. So this is for you lovely people. Hopefully you find something in here that's helpful.

1. Wiping concealer over blemishes, rather than patting it on

Using wiping motions to conceal blemishes has a counter-productive effect. What ends up happening is that the brush pulls product off the highest point of the skin (i.e. the blemish) instead of depositing it there. Using patting motions, particularly with a small detailer brush, will build the product up exactly where you need it.

2. Using under eye concealer in the wrong place

You don't have to do a super Kim Kardashian dramatic concealer triangle, but if you make sure to pull your concealer down past your under eye circles, it'll create a more seamless transition in that area.

3. Slanting the front of your eyebrows down

A common thing I see people doing is filling in the front of their eyebrows so that they slant down. That makes your face look more severe and angry. If you instead leave that area alone, or even fill in lightly above if need be, you face will look happier and more open.

4. Trying to match your brow product colour to your hair instead of your brows

Trying to fill in your brows with a powder or pencil that matches your hair, rather than your brow colour is dannngeerrr zonnne. It makes the filled in areas look very obvious. If you need to change the colour of your brows to match your hair better, try a tinted brow gel! They work a treat.

5. Filling in every gap in your brows

This seems to be an eternal debate. I firmly believe, however, that leaving gaps in your brows and using hairlike strokes with your brow product always looks better. They can still take a defined shape, but they won't look as blocky.

6. Not pushing liner fully into the lash line

If you're not careful about the way you apply your liner you can end up with a small gap between your eyelid and your lashline. Try pulling up your eyelid, angling the liner down and wiggling it between your lashes.

7. Not joining up your flick when doing winged liner

Trying to do your liner in one fell swoop won't give you the best results. It will mean that your flick will look strangley disjointed from the rest of your liner. Joining your flick to your eyelid with a triangle shape is an essential part of getting winged liner to look just right. Apologies for this photo. It doesn't demonstrate what I'm saying well.

8. Blending contour down instead of up

Contour should be blended up not down. It's good to soften the bottom line of your contour too, but blending it up will lift the cheekbones more. Blending it down can look obvious and leave you looking a tad gaunt.

9. Using bronzer all over your face

To get the most natural look with bronzer, use it only on the high points of your face – forehead, cheekbones, bridge of the nose and chin. That's where the sun hits so that's where it will look best. If you use it all over your face, you might find that you look one dimensional and a bit guido-like.

10. Overdrawing lips with a glossy product

It's nice to be able to cheat the size of our lips a bit, but make sure that if you're doing it with a bold colour (it doesn't tend to be as noticeable with a nude), you're using a matte shade. If you overdraw with a glossy shade the light will catch the top of your natural lip and there will be a distinct line between where your actual lip ends and where your lipsticks ends.