If you’re anything like us, you’ll likely have watched hundreds of makeup tutorials on YouTube or listened to numerous friends talk about their makeup routines. Often it’s difficult to know where to start when you open your full to bursting makeup bag. So we decided to do the hard work for you and read up to find out the common skincare consensus on what to reach for and when…

Here goes…

Prep & PRIME

First things first. Before anything else, learn to acknowledge that primer is your very first best friend. This includes primer for your eyes and lips (although concealer can be used for those if you don’t have specific products). This step is absolutely key because it creates a clean, smooth working space for the rest of your makeup and will help product stay put longer – in short, priming is never a bad idea…

Eye it up

Next, it’s time to focus on the eye area. First, concentrate on filling and shaping your brows to perfection (we cannot stress enough how much a good brow can shape and frame a face). For an everyday look, try to avoid anything too harsh looking on your brows and instead opt for a subtle but polished shape.

Next, it’s time for eyeshadow – even if you’re heading to a casual daytime affair rather than a full blown night out, still try to make time to apply a neutral shade to your lids – it will get rid of any redness and last longer than a simple eyeliner smudge. Making sure you focus on your eyes first means that if you mess up it won’t affect the rest of your (soon to be perfect) made up face. Makes sense to us!

Eyeliner, whether subtle or full blown cat eye is much easier to apply on bare lashes, so apply it before rather than after your mascara. Which bring us to one of our makeup bag essentials, MASCARA! Make sure you wait a couple of minutes for your mascara to dry before moving on to the rest of your face – we’ve all been a little too hasty in the past and ended up spending another 10 minutes trying to wipe away mascara blobs from our upper or lower eyes

Face it.

So here’s the order. First, start with foundation (the clue is in the name, you’re quite literally applying a foundation for the rest of your makeup, so spend a decent amount of time getting the right shade and apply with a damp beauty blender for maximum blend. Next, it’s time for our old friend concealer – add a touch to any dark under eyes and any stubborn blemishes for a flawless finish.

Now it’s time to add some depth. Head for bronzer and don’t be frightened, you don’t need to apply it like you’ve spent the last six weeks baking on a yacht in the Med. Choose a subtle bronzer if you’re pale. Your blush should sit atop your bronzer. Otherwise, you risk getting a muddy, splotchy look as opposed to a natural flush. Yes, time for highlighter! This should be the final step to your face makeup. Apply it to your cheekbones and the bridge of your nose — and anywhere else natural light would touch and reflect – glorious.

Lips.

Lipstick, gloss or a simple lip pencil, adding some definition to your lips is the way to finish your look. You know the drill, apply your lips in conjunction with the look you’ve gone for on the rest of your face – sometimes a quick swipe of gloss is equally as effective as an intense red lip.

Hopefully, this goes some way in helping you navigate your makeup bag, but we’d love to know your hints and tips. How and when do you apply different makeup?

SkinBase x

P.S – for the most amazing painting you should always start with the canvas – make sure you’ve booked for your SkinBase microdermabrasion Facials!

image:istock.com/Erstudiostok