Hi, I’ve been M.I.A …I know…I know, finals are here and you know how that goes. So, my niece, (Hi Anita) sent me the cutest message…”You look amazing, really amazing (meaning my Instagram selfies), what do you use? Could you do a tutorial, or that would be too much work?”

Confession…I have wanted to do make up tutorials for the longest time, but I kept holding back firstly, because I am not a professional make-up artist and secondly, I still haven’t figured out a proper way to set up my camera to do make-up tutorials. I’m working on the camera thing though, actually I got a camcorder this week, so yep…very soon.

I have decided to get more frequent with makeup posts mainly because I get plenty of compliments and one I hear quite often is that my skills are appreciated, cos my look still appears natural. That’s usually what I’m going for. Lots of people want that look too, although they don’t know how. So since that’s what I’m good at, that’s what my posts are going to be focused on…Simple, Easy to do make up!

I recently did a shoot with my friend Mariam for her graduation shots and she asked me to do her make up too. Once we were done, she smiled in the mirror and told me the magic words, “It looks nice and natural.” I live for the word natural every time I touch a brush and foundation. I don’t mind over done, but I wouldn’t opt for it. See why and my top 10 make-up tips below.

Fix your skin

This is the first and a very important tip. I can’t say this enough!!! Good make up starts with good skin. If your skin is not well taken care of and you have acne, or lots of black heads, your make up will not look flawless or even worse, the makeup could irritate your skin further. Stick to natural products that have no sulfates, parabens or phthalates. Origins and Juice beauty are some of the leading brands with natural products that don’t have harsh chemicals. Check out my posts on How I Clean My Face and The Importance of Clean Skin for details.

Make up takes time

Putting on make-up is an art. No really, you are literally coloring your face. So it’s important to be patient and also know that you can’t get really good at it overnight. I got serious about wearing make-up four years ago and yet, I still feel like I’m learning something new every once in a while. The more you put make up on, the easier it seems and the faster you can get it done. I can tell you that in January, it would take me a whole 5 minutes to get my eyebrows filled. It’s now December and not only have I learned how to tweeze my own brows, I can fill them in under a minute. So be patient, you get better and faster with time.

Finding the right shade takes time

Finding the right shade of foundation or powder is not easy at all. I feel like every human is inclined to M.A.C because of their variety that caters to so many skin tones, until you take off that blind fold, only to question how you ever gave them a chance. I first got off the M.A.C bandwagon when I started investing in natural chemical products for my face. Truth is M.A.C foundations are not what you might think they are, but that’s a story for another post. A lot of sales girls in stores, are just trying to sell you stuff, so you can’t trust them either. My best advice would be to go to Sephora. Ask for that machine that calculates your skin tone, then recommends the best foundation options. That will help you figure out what tone of foundation you need, whether its red, yellow or pink based and then you can either take what it recommends or try similar tones from other brands to find your perfect match. It took me months to find the perfect match however when I finally did, it was love at first sight and I have never turned back…NARSissist For Life!!! If your not close to a Sephora ask a makeup junkie who’s skin tone is similar to yours what they use and then try different brands around that shade to find your perfect match. My Favorite foundation Brands are NARS and Bare Minerals. Stay posted on the site for the story of my foundation journey.

Concealer

Instant under eye brightener. Whether you had 20 shots last night, or your dark eye circles just won’t go away, concealer is a life saver. It instantly makes you look brighter and more awake. Some people go all out on concealer and are literally white under their eyes. For the most natural concealer look, use one that is one shade lighter than your foundation. You may not even notice that there’s a difference, but when you look back at your pictures, you will notice that your look is well blended and flawless.

Lip liner

Lip liner makes all the difference when it comes to lipstick blending into your skin tone. One of my make up besties, Samantha (check out the tutorial I filmed her doing here) once told me that you could wear any lipstick if you had the proper lip liner and I did not believe her. I later found out she was right. Lip liners give your lips more shape, help keep your lipstick from bleeding and make your lips appear fuller.

Blush

Blush is the one product that will turn your look from great to fabulous! It gives your make up life, and your face shape. Just look at the “before and after” blush look below. I’m yet to find my ideal blush, but for now, I’m dealing with M.A.C Fever.

Eye brows

If you’re like me, and your eyebrow hairs are very thin, you would rather be late for a test than show up without filled eyebrows (just kidding, but you get it). Visible eyebrows are very important to your face in general as they shape your eyes and face. I’m obsessed with the dipbrow pomade from Anastasia.

Don’t cake

Caked make up is so yesterday. Make up comes in different formulations, of sheer, medium and full coverage. If you wear powder on top of your foundation, I would highly recommend using sheer products so that when you put them on together, it would give you a look that is medium to full coverage. If you like full coverage foundations, a little goes a long way. A lot of times people that do the caking are going for a look that is very different from their real selves or are trying to hide bad skin. Again, fix your skin.

Eye shadow primer

There’s primer for everything these days. I’m not too big on primer for an everyday look. I save it for long eventful days. The one primer I would definitely recommend for daily use would be eye shadow primer. Too Faced Shadow Insurance works wonders. I put it under my eye lids before applying my eye shadow. Not only does the shadow go on smoothly, it sticks nicely and lasts all damn day, without creasing.

Keep it simple

The best make up tip I could give is to keep it simple and classy. Simple doesn’t have to be plain, Simple can be a red lip or winged liner. You just have to balance and moderate how much you apply in order to keep it classy. Remember, If your “before and after” are unrecognizable, you’re probably doing too much. Make up should accentuate, not change your features. This the beginning of a very exciting journey with me. Hold tight…

Xoxo…Buba.