Make up Cheats

Today I thought I’d write down a few make up tips and cheats which will hopefully make applying makeup even with weak/shaky hands quick and easy to do. All these tips are for subtle everyday looks so I thought I’d start with makeup bag essentials which will allow you to do LOADS of subtle looks and use all the cheats in this week’s post =)

Makeup Bag Essentials

Mousse foundation

Translucent powder

Shadow for brows

Vaseline/lip balm

Bronzer

Mascara

Nude eye shadow pallet

Pale lipstick

Eyelash curlers

Wipes/cotton buds

Powder brush

Brow brush

SKIN

Just use Translucent Powder and bronzer instead of a full face of foundation for light daytime looks. This is brilliant because it uses only one brush and it’s so easy to touch up throughout the day. Mineral foundations can be used this way too but doesn’t work very well if your skin is really oily.

If you’re like me, you’ll find it difficult to open lots of small pots. A great idea is to use a pale lipstick as blush as well as lippy and that’s only one lid to deal with and one less thing to pay for! Mulberry Lip Paint by BarryM works really well for this. (Click to see)

LIPS

I sometimes find Lipstick difficult to use because my MS can affect the strength of my grip so here’s a great cheat alternative to lippy. Use your fingers to apply Vaseline or Lip balm to your lips, then brush your bronzer/blusher over your lips when you apply them to your cheeks and you have a brilliant long lasting subtle lip colour! Bronzer with a slight shimmer works really well for this.

Don’t worry about getting into the corners of lips with lipstick. If you put most of the colour on the middle of your lips its gives a great pouty look. You can also get this effect without any lipstick or gloss but putting a small amount of highlighter on the bow of the lips, this can be applied with fingers too so it’s even easier to do.

EYES

The secret to always looking like your makeup is ‘finished’ is to define your eyebrows.  Just lightly go over your brows with an eye shadow that’s one or 2 shade darker, it will fill in any gaps and make you look awake and really well groomed. Eye shadow looks a lot more natural than pencil and is easier to control if you have shaky hands so give it a go it really makes so much difference. (Click to see)

Tinting eyelashes and eyebrows is a great time saving tip because it means you don’t need to wear mascara or do your eyebrows!  It’s quite cheap only £8 each and it lasts for 2/3 weeks. It’s great if you either don’t wear makeup, aren’t confident with it or you have shaky arms and hands and find you keep poking your eyes out with the mascara wand (I do this every day haha!)

If you are with me in the ‘I Poke Myself in the Eye with Mascara’ club here’s a tips that might help you. Rest your elbow on your dressing table/windowsill/partner/ whatever you get ready on so it’s nice and steady, then blink onto the mascara wand and you’re a lot less likely to poke yourself in the peeper.

Another brilliant cheat is to curl your lashes, instant longer thicker lashes for 5 seconds work.

Winged eyeliner is a winning look but you have to be an expert to get the liquid eyeliner perfect and it’s almost impossible to do if your hands and arms are weak. This pen from BarryM (Click to see) is amazing but if you find when you do this look you make a mistake or get a bit of a wobbly line then as easy way to correct it is to use a damp cotton bud. Simple but it works.

AND THE REST…

If you drop eye shadow or lipstick on your clothes, roll a piece of white bread into a ball and use it to blot up the stain. This doesn’t really work on old stains but is really effective on fresh ones.

If you find it’s really difficult to open lids because you can’t get a good grip on them then wrap a few elastic bands around the lid. This gives you a lot more grip and make removing lids so much easier!

Well that’s it for this week I hope this tips help. Let me know if they have done. I’ll be posting as usual next week but I’m planning to do a cheats list for evening looks so if you have any then please let me know on twitter @clairedellow, on here or by email indieclaire@hotmail.co.uk.

Take care guys! x