How to Apply a Natural Make Up?

Do you see people around you and think they're naturally pretty? You might be thinking they're lucky as they don't need make-up. Well, let me tell you a secret. What if I tell you, you can apply make up and get a "no make-up" face! Yes, you read it correct. If you apply a natural make-up, no one can figure out you've applied any.

Make-up is usually applied to look better. Not all of us are lucky to have a pretty face. However, if you apply make-up the right way, people might say you're naturally beautiful!

You must be wondering what cosmetics I use to tell you so easily that I get a natural look after using them. Well, you can continue using your favorite brands. I am here to tell you how to choose the right products and and technique of their application.

What Do You Need for a Natural Make-Up on the Face?

There are so many products for the face:

• Primer
• Foundation
• BB Cream
• CC Cream
• DD Cream
• Compact
• Concealer

Do you think you need all of them? Of course not!

For daily use, you need only 2 of them:

• Compact
• Foundation / BB Cream / CC Cream / DD Cream

If you are dressing up, you need a primer or concealer additionally.

How to Choose Between a BB Cream, CC Cream, DD Cream and Foundation?

Before you get to the answer, you first need to understand what they really are.

BB Cream: BB stands for Beauty Balm or Blemish Balm. The lightest among the 4, it offers the benefit of make-up and skin care combined. The cream is made to suit both oily skin and dry skin. It provides nourishment, hydration, sun protection, fairness and a matte finish. It can cover imperfections, but not as well as a cc cream or foundation. For a young face with light imperfections, BB Cream is the ideal product for a regular use.

CC Cream: CC stands for Color Correcting or Complexion Corrector. It can cover greater imperfections of the skin as compared to bb cream but is lighter than foundation. This too provides skin benefits like sun protection, hydration and matte finish. It is usually oil free and very light on the skin. If your skin type is oily to normal, cc cream is ideal for you. I recommend it to people with a mature and ageing skin with more visible marks and differences on the face.

DD Cream: DD is a short form for Daily Defense or Dynamic Do-all. It is a combination of the above 2, more ideal for anti ageing. Like a bb cream, it will suit all skin types, protect the skin from UV radiation and nourish the skin. Age spots, wrinkles, dark circles and color differences on the skin are all covered by dd creams. If you have a dry and ageing skin, this is an ideal product for you.

Foundation: I don't have to define foundation to you, do I? It is strictly a make-up product, no skin benefits like SPF are involved here. The advantage lies in the variety of options you can choose from in terms of color and form. Foundations are available in compact, cream and liquid form. You can choose the color that exactly matches your skin due to the varieties available. It provides the greatest coverage and is ideal for heavy make-up.

How to Apply Face Make-Up That Can Give a Natural Look?

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How do you understand whether a person has applied make-up or not? Is it just the liner and lipstick visible to you?

If you don't apply make-up the right way, it is more like a patch on your face, clearly visible to all. To look natural, your make-up needs to blend with the skin.

Often people get confused on what to apply first: compact or foundation? Well, dressing up shouldn't have any rules. You can choose either of the two and yet get a perfect look.

Method No. 1: For daily use when you're in a rush.

1. Apply moisturizer on the face & neck if you have a dry skin or an astringent if you have an oily skin.
2. Apply foundation in dots first on the darker areas of the face and blend it with the skin. You can use your fingertips if they are clean, but it is better to use a blender. If you are using a bb cream, cc cream or dd cream, you can avoid the first step.
3. Once you see the imperfections are hidden, you apply the foundation / bb cream / cc cream / dd cream on the rest of the face and neck in the same way and blend it well.
4. Coat the face with a compact. A translucent one is more natural on the face. Dust it in downward direction using a brush or a sponge.
5. Your face is done now!

Method No. 2: For a brighter look when you have time to dress up.

1. Wash your face with a face wash or scrub of your choice.
2. After wiping, apply compact on the face and neck.
3. Go back to the basin, and wash once again with little water. Now I may sound like I'm making you repeat, but this is a secret method of letting your skin absorb the compact you apply better.
4. This time, you only tap dry your face. Your face should be partly wet and partly dry when you go back to the dressing table.
5. Take your compact again and apply it again. This time, your face gets hydrated and radiates from inside as it has absorbed the powder completely.
6. Now, you get hold of your foundation or cc cream.
7. Apply it in dots on the darker areas first and blend it well with your finger tips or blender.
8. Then, you apply the same on the rest if the face and neck. 
9. You can choose to apply a concealer, though I have never required to use one.
10. Call me if you don't see a brighter face on the mirror!

Eye Make-Up

Did you know your eyes are the most highlighting feature you've got? There are so many girls out there who won't use any face make-up but will at least apply a kajal in their eyes if they step out of the house.

Eyes are highlighted using 5 main cosmetic products:

• Kajal
• Eye Liner
• Eye Shadow
• Mascara
• Eye Brow Pencil

For regular use, you only need a kajal or eye liner for highlighting your eyes. Mostly in India, a lot of girls apply a thin stroke of kajal on their waterline before they step out of the house. Abroad, you will find people using eye liner. A single thin stroke on the upper lash line is enough. If you wear lenses, I recommend you to use only liners.

While kajal is available in powder, pencil and stick form, eye liner is available in pencil, stick, gel and liquid form. You can choose whatever you're comfortable with. Though with my personal experience, I can say that a matte finish liquid liner lasts longer than any other form of eye highlighter.

If you are dressing up, but still wish to keep your eyes as subtle as possible, use nude colors of eye shadows that blend well with the skin, also highlighting your eyes.

If you follow these steps, you will get a perfectly highlighted eye:

1. For a perfect eye make-up, you need a few good brushes first. You need one flat brush and a few small & thin brushes.
2. You also need to make sure your eyebrows have been shaped properly. If you have thin eyebrows, you can enhance them using an eyebrow pencil.
3. Apply primer on your eye lids up to the eye brow bone. That's where you're going to apply the eye shadow.
4. Pick 3 shades of the same color of eye shadows: light, medium and dark. You can choose a white base for the light shade too.
5. First, apply the light shade using a small brush as the base on your eye lid. 
6. Apply the medium shade on the crease and the dark shade on the lash line with two separate brushes.
7. Take your flat brush and blend the 3 well.
8. Next, take your liner and apply a single thin stroke along the upper lash line.
9. You can choose to apply kajal on the waterline. If it doesn't suit you, a wet liner on the lower lash line also looks very good.
10. Apply a coat or 2 of the mascara to complete the highlight.

Lipstick

At last, we come to the last step, making your lips ready to pout at the selfie you take before leaving! You wouldn't believe me but there was a time I used to hate lipsticks and now I have been collecting shades that suit me.

Let me share a fact with you. Back when lipsticks came out in the market as a new product, they would make lips really dry. I never liked the feeling of a lipstick when I was young because I had super dry lips. However, now you have a wide variety of lipsticks to choose from that not make your lips dry.

Let's first take a look at what kind of a lipstick can suit you before moving towards the application process:

Moisturizing Lipsticks: Now that is the kind I like for. A lipstick that gives both color and moisture. Since my lips tend to dry soon, I look for a lipstick that stays long and feels more like a lip balm. Among them you have:

• Satin & sheer lipsticks: They give a shiny and glossy effect.
• Cream lipsticks: They can be less or not so shiny.
• Gloss lipsticks: They give the effect of a lip gloss but stay longer than one.

Matte Lipsticks: They have taken over the market. If you don't have any problems with your lips and hate shine, this is the right choice for you. Even if you have dry lips, you will get matte lipsticks which moisturize too.

Pearl & Frosted Lipsticks: They are the oldest kind of lipsticks. They make your lips look shiny and feel dry. If you have dry lips, don't go for these as they will end up cracking them. If you have an oily skin, you can use them after applying a lip balm.

Lipstick Pencils: As the name suggests, you literally use a pencil to color your lips if you use this product! They usually have a matte finish and are fun to use.

Liquid Lipsticks: They are the first ones I ever bought only for myself! Trust me, they are the most durable cosmetics I've ever had. They are available in plenty of shades, give a matte finish, moisturize lips and last till you wish to remove them.

By now you might have figured out what kind of a lipstick will suit you the most. When you want to look subtle, the lipstick you apply has to be very close to your actual lip color. A light pink or a nude looks the best when you want to a natural make-up look. Even a light peach can go very well.

To keep your lips moisturized and bright for the whole day, you can follow these simple steps:

1. Take very little water and apply it on your lips.
2. On wet lips, apply Boroline or any other lip balm.
3. The above two will hydrate and moisturize your lips, making you ready to choose your shade.
4. Take a lip liner and outline the area within which you will apply the lipstick.
5. Apply the lipstick on the lower lip first and blend it with the upper one.
6. Only if you feel the color is too light, you can apply on the upper lip and blend again.

So you first enhance your face, then highlight the eyes and give a finishing touch on the lips. If you don't highlight the eyes and the lips, you can achieve a complete "no make-up" look even after applying some. The highlighters will give a subtle look on your face, still making it look natural if you choose the right colors.

So are you ready to step out now?