For some people, makeup is something they know they’ll never play with a day in their life. For others, makeup is something they watched their parents apply when they were little and something they couldn’t wait to be old enough to play with. Yet, there may be those of you who’ve waited a long time to step into the right skin, and applying makeup is a concept that you never thought would be part of your life, and now you want to learn. Whatever your relationship to makeup, it usually takes a little time to get your own style down pat and understand how to use all the different products there are to best achieve that perfect look. Your face makeup may be corrective, it might be to accent and highlight certain features or camouflage others or it may just be an expression of your creativity. Whatever it is, building confidence in how you apply it is all part and parcel of the exciting experience of learning. Let’s take a look at our top tips for building your confidence with makeup.
1. Invest in your tools
When you start learning, the idea is usually to spend as little as possible on your kit and leave the costly items for when your skills have come into their own. But some people disagree with this. If you invest in your tools from the word go, it’s a confidence boost that says “I believe in myself and I know I can do this.” You don’t need to get professional quality tools unless you’re studying makeup, but getting high-quality equipment means you’ll have a high-quality application and you’ll be confident knowing that you’ve done the best job possible.
2. Practice
It’s the one commonality between all forms of learning: practice. You can never improve without trying your hand at your craft time and time again. When you start out, you’ve never done this before so you can’t hold yourself to a high standard and expect perfect results. Applying makeup a few times gives you a frame of reference: you can see where you’ve come from and get a little closer to where you want to be. The more you try it, the better you’ll get.
3. Learn about your flaws
One of the primary uses of makeup is to use it to help camouflage your facial flaws and highlight the good qualities that already exist. During this process remember that everyone has flaws. Flaws aren’t necessarily “bad” things that make you unattractive, they’re just things that you feel you want to change or improve upon to create a full picture. A good example might be having dark circles under your eyes. This is a flaw that is easily fixable if you learn a little about it. If the circles are a blue color, you can use an orange corrective concealer (since blue and orange are opposite on the color wheel). The more you learn, the more you know!
4. Learn some shortcuts
Makeup applications can take a long time, especially if you’re just starting out. Once you have all the basics down pat and you’re confident that you can complete these processes in their entirety, create some shortcuts for yourself for when you don’t have time for the whole process. A good example of this is to mix primer in with your foundation instead of applying it to your face before your foundation. This step may only save you minutes but if you’re running late, a few minutes can seem like a lot!
5. Be ready to fail
Failure is part of learning anything new, and honestly we don’t think it’s a bad thing! So you tried cat eye liquid liner for the first time and wore it out when it didn’t look great-so what! You got it wrong and you had a moment- now it’s time to learn from that experience. What could you have done better? Why didn’t your first attempt go as planned? Take what you can from the experience and grow.
6. Do you
It’s good to take inspiration from your makeup idols! It’s great to scroll through your Instagram and look for exciting new looks to try, it’s nice to check out what the pros are doing and see if you can learn those skills too. Do you know what’s the best? Doing YOU. If you learn some basic skills and can pull off those things with confidence, you’re ready to start creating a look that’s all your own. You’ll probably have to try out a few things before you get to a look you feel confident in applying and that feels like you, but that’s the best part.
Wrap Up
Building confidence in your makeup skills can be a long journey but it’s so worth the effort in the end.
Fraquoh and Franchomme
P.S. We want to hear from you! Do you wear makeup? Why (not)? Do you have a favorite makeup brand? Share your feedback, questions or thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on style, fashion tips and cultural insights, you can subscribe to Attire Club via email or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!