Makeup tips

I am always looking for good tips about using beauty products. Collette Kavanagh, who owns a beauty salon in a small Irish town of Ferbane came up with these great make up tips:

1. Always choose a foundation that matches's your skin tone and type. A good way to check is to put some foundation on the back of your hand and view it in a well lit area. Using a damp sponge blend the foundation evenly all over your face, down to the start of your neckline.

2. Cover blemishes with a concealer that matches your foundation. Apply with the damp sponge.

3. Apply a translucent powder all over your face, pressing in with a powder puff, or cotton wool. Finally dust off the excess with a powder brush. This will set the foundation in place and prevent shine.

4. Starting on the cheekbone and working towards the outer edge of the nose, sweep on the blusher. A good tip when applying blusher is to smile in to the mirror, that way you can find the correct outline of the cheekbone. Use Blusher sparingly, you can always top-up if necessary.

5. Choose eye-shadow colours that will match both your eye colour and will also compliment what you will be wearing. In general most companies provide a trio of eye shadow compacts. The lightest colour should be dusted all over the eye, the next colour applied to the eyelid ,and the darkest shade just at the outer edge of the upper eye-lid and swept along the eye socket. If you use this technique you cant go far wrong.

6. Apply eyeliner; the general rule of thumb here is brown for the daytime and black for the night, regardless of eye colour. Apply the liner to both the upper and lower lash line. Start at the outer edge of the lash line on the lid and line ¼ of the way in. The same applies to the lower lash line. Don't go all the way in as it will look too unnatural.

7. Next the mascara. Here the same colour rule applies. Brown for day and black for night. Apply the mascara working down the lashes moving the wand in circular movements. This ensures better coverage. You can now use an eyelash brush to comb the eyelash; this will remove any excess mascara.

8. Eyebrows. This is a very common problem; people put on their eye shadow and totally forget about their eyebrows. The eyebrows frame the face and a well-shaped eyebrow will always result in a better overall make-up. So start by brushing down the hair on the eyebrow, then draw in a feathered line on the eyebrow line. Finally, brush the eyebrow hair in to place.

9. Lips: outline your lips with a neutral lip liner or one that matches's the colour of your lipstick. If you lips are too small you can draw just outside of the natural lip line. The same applies if your lips are too large - you can draw just inside the natural lip line. Now you are ready to fill in your lip colour - this can be done by applying the lipstick with a lip brush. Blot the lips with a tissue and then apply a last coat.

So simple and effecient! Have a Beauty-full day!