Ten Common Make-up Don’ts’ with Talisha Bradford

1. Beginning with an unclean canvas:
Always remember to wash your face. This washes away any impurities in your skin and gives you a fresh, clean face to work with.

2. Not using a primer:
Primer only benefits you, your skin, and your make-up. Most primers even include sunscreen, which protects your skin from harmful UV rays. Primer can be worn alone or underneath make-up to serve as a barrier to help prevent clogged pores and breakouts.

3. Using the wrong foundation:
When looking for the right foundation, many factors come into play. You have to not only think of your shade, but also your skin type. Powders are typically used for oily skin, while creams are more so used for dry skin.

4. Not touching your eyebrows:
Your brows should always be neat and well groomed. If you prefer not to add brow powder, or pomade, having your brows arched or plucked will cause your entire look to fall into place after make-up is applied.

5. Too much blush or bronzer:
This is how your make-up can go really soft and pretty to “too much” in an instant. Too much blush can make your cheeks appear to be burnt and look extremely harsh. Too much bronzer can darken your skin tone by at least 2 shades. Remember with blush and bronzer, a little goes a long way!

6. Incorrectly choosing concealer:
Just like choosing your foundation, it takes time when choosing your concealer as well. Keep in mind the tips from step #3, and choose your concealer in that exact fashion.

7. When to wear a certain colored lip:

This can get tricky…a simple lip color can change up your entire look. Try to avoid dramatic lip shades if the eyes are done up dramatically. Keep it simple. To reverse that look and play up the lip, do a very nude color on the eyelids and go bold with the lips. Another tip is to use a color on the cheeks similar to the lip color to even things out on the face (I.e. pink lip/subtle pink cheeks, etc.)

8. Not completely blending:
This step is very self explanatory…in the words of RuPaul “Blend for your liiiiife”!

9. Not taking care of your skin:
Many of us get too tired to do anything prior to bedtime. But no one should be too tired to cleanse and moisturize their face. Doing this nightly will not only cause for your skin to appear clearer and fresher but the moisturizing aspect helps reduce wrinkles and fine lines. Force yourself into the habit of cleansing and moisturizing nightly.

10. Set:
Set your overall look with items such as Mac Cosmetics Fix plus or Urban Decay’s DeSlick setting spray. This step keeps your make-up in place for continuous wear hours after its application.