Is Your Makeup Stuck in a Rut?

One of the very best aspects of my role at Look Fabulous Forever is the customer feedback we receive. As this is a daily occurrence and is usually of the five star variety, I tend to have a lovely life at LFF! The biggest satisfaction for me is when women mention feeling more confident in themselves and remark that others have commented that they look better. So this week I thought I'd give you some top tips about ensuring that your makeup looks fresh and up to date and also to suggest ways to experiment with different effects so that you don't get stuck in a makeup rut.

Why Apply Makeup?

I feel quite strongly that older faces need makeup more than young faces do. However they don't need to wear more makeup, just the right sort of makeup, applied in the right way. A good example of this is Celia (70, above) who features in a makeover video below. If you fall into the category of the woman who invariably slaps on the 'same old, same old', then I would urge you to watch two or three of our videos and learn all the tricks and techniques that we demonstrate in them. This is also true for anyone who has never applied makeup before and needs a makeup lesson. Of course, if you are a makeup junkie like me, then your reasons to apply makeup are very likely to be a combination of vanity (I prefer to think of it as pride in my appearance) and an absolute love of the daily ritual of transformation effected by all our gorgeous LFF products.

How to Improve the Look of Your Makeup - My Top Tips

• Start with the underpinnings of all makeup - your skin. I am assuming that it is clean, exfoliated and well moisturised because no base (foundation) can work well on skin which is in poor condition. If you have just come back from a sunny holiday, your skin is likely to need some extra nourishment to improve the texture. Buy yourself a refining moisture mask (Clarins, Elizabeth Arden or Dermologica) and wear it while you bathe. The steam will open your pores and allow the moisture to penetrate more deeply
• Now ensure that the base looks its best once applied. Apply a small amount to your jawline and blend downwards to ensure its the right shade for you. If you have a fading tan as I have at the moment, keep adjusting the colour very slightly. I have used our Continuous Cover Foundation in 03 since June, so now I am mixing in some 02. Within a month I will only be using 02.
• Always use a brush (Foundation Brush 03) to apply your foundation, preferably mixed with a small amount of Smooth Like Silk Face Prime. Work it in really well by swirling the brush over your face. Another tip is to take a clean fat brush like our Powder/Bronzer Brush 01 and use circular movements over the whole face to continue the smoothing and blending process, This 'polishes' the skin and creates a lovely professional finish.
• Next ask yourself 'how can I bring out my features in the best way?' You have lots of opportunities to do this - your eyebrows, your eyes, your eyelashes, your cheeks and lips are all features that lose definition with age. Makeup is brilliant at restoring this definition to a bland, colourless face! Look at our gallery to see now the makeup brings all the faces to glowing life.
• Use the Bring Back Brow Shape to get your brows back to the neat semi-symmetrical arches they should be. Keep the treatment light and natural looking by softening the effect with the Eyebrow Brush 6. Ruthlessly teaze out all stray hairs on the brow bone and any overlong, misshapen or extra wiry brow hair before you start.
• Experiment with eye shadows. I like to try something different to my eye makeup every week or so. This video shows you how I create a good basic eye makeup using Sheer Brilliance Lid Colour in Silver Mist on the lid and No Shimmer Eye Shade in Taupe in the socket. Sometimes I use Aubergine on my lash line (top and bottom), sometimes Taupe and today I used Charcoal applied with Wedge Shadow Brush 8. Each creates a subtly different effect. I might use Cappuccino or Soft Grey Shade on my lids and then Taupe in the socket line with Aubergine at the lashes. Or I might use Taupe on the lid and take it above the socket line to create a smokier effect. There is no right or wrong - it’s whatever I feel like doing. Remember always to blend the Shades really well using Shadow Blending Brush 7.
• Make sure your Blush is doing what it should. Apply enough to prettify and add warmth and a healthy glow. A cream to powder formulation works best because you can position it precisely and build up the colour required with your fingers and then blend it with a Blusher Brush 2. I consider that our two delightful shades of Real Radiance Blush, Peach Cream, and Rosy Glow Blush are the most instantly rejuvenating of all our products!

• Finally don't always wear the same colour lipstick. I met someone a while ago who loved a lipstick so much she bought a stock of them which had lasted 20 years! And (even more tragically) I didn't think it suited her at all! Try wearing a stronger shade of Lustrous Colour Lipstick than your usual choice. It will feel odd initially but  - try it! A more vibrant colour like that worn by Alison Steadman (above) can bring the whole face to life and draw attention to the colour of your eyes. Just remember to wear the right shade to complement your skin tone. Cool tones need pure pinks, plums and cherry reds. Warm tones need caramel, coral, or brownish orange. By the way, if you love that cool-toned colour on Alison, it's identical to our shade Cherry Red.

It's important to stop thinking 'right' and 'wrong' and more in terms of 'works well for me' or 'doesn't work for me'.

I love the saying by Eleanor Roosevelt "Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are a work of art." So - see your face as a 'work of art in progress'. Hopefully, with experimentation and practice you'll look more like Botticelli's Venus than Picasso's Weeping Woman!

Do leave any questions or comments about your makeup challenges for me - I'll try and answer them for you. And if you want to know the outcome of the Archers trial click here (I have updated last week's blogpost.)

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