Makeup tips

Models often have a team of people working on them - specialists for makeup and hair, plus a stylist for their clothes. They quickly learn the make-up tips that suit them best. This becomes very useful on smaller modeling or promotional jobs, where often the model needs to do her makeup.

Listed below are some of the tips that my model friends and I have learned over the years. No one is perfect, and we all have facial characteristics that sometimes need to be hidden or enhanced. The proper use of make-up can bring out your best features while minimizing the ones you're not so proud of!

Using Foundation to Contour Your Features

By using a darker foundation (maybe 2-3 shades darker than your complexion), you can create shadows on your face to hide or enhance your natural features. These tips can be used in conjunction with the tips on blush, below.

This contouring works best at narrowing features that you think are too wide. To make your whole face appear leaner and narrower, apply the darker shade of foundation around your hairline and under your cheeks.

To narrow down a wide nose, apply your usual foundation on the center of your nose, then run the darker foundation down the sides to enhance the shadowing.

Using Blush to Sculpt Your Face

Blush can really give your face that healthy look, but models know that it can also be used to reduce or enhance your facial features. The judicious use of blush can create contours where there are none, or soften angular features, taking an average face and making it more beautiful.

Lets start with the nose. If yours is too long and narrow, try applying a little blush down the center of your nose. Conversely, if it’s too wide, try lining it down each side.

It works the same for your face. If you have a wide forehead and small chin, try blending your blush down from your ear to your chin. If your forehead is smaller and your chin larger, blend it up around your eye and across your forehead.

Using Eye Shadow and Liner on Your Eyes

Your eyes are your most expressive feature, and the most important to get right. Here are some simple tips that models use to make the most of what they have.

To make your eyes look bigger and younger, use a white eye pencil to apply a thin white line to the inner rims of your lashes. This line is very hard for anyone to spot and makes your eyes appear much larger. A small amount of silver eye shadow in the corner of your eyes will open them up and give them a pop.

You can use shadow and eye pencil to correct wide- or narrow-set eyes. For wide-set eyes, use a darker shadow around the inner corners and a lighter shadow at the outer corners. Then use a dark pencil to line just the inner half of your lashes. For narrow-set eyes, just do the opposite!

Tips For Your Lips.

By using lipstick and lip gloss, you can get the lips you've always wanted without resorting to plastic surgery!

To get fuller lips, use a pencil to outline your upper lip in the same shade as your lips. Then apply your lip color as usual, for an added effect use lip gloss, but only on the inner part of your lips.

If you're lucky enough to have full lips but want to make them appear smaller, make sure not to use lip gloss as this will tend to enhance them. By using deep, matte colors you can reduce their impact and allow people to focus on the rest of your face.