Tips for Natural Looking Makeup for School or Work

Natural Makeup: What is it?

One of the very best things about makeup is that it can be an outlet for expressing your creative side, as well as for improving your appearance. However, there's a time and a place for more outrageous makeup looks- bright purple, glittery smokey eyes with thick winged eyeliner and hot pink lipstick may be fun to put on, but you probably shouldn't wear them to church at 9 in the morning. A natural makeup look is one that emphasizes the color of your hair, eyes, and skin to highlight your very best features in a way that's appealing and appropriate for settings like school or the workplace. Below is an example of me wearing natural makeup, and you'll notice I didn't skimp on color. It's still fairly obvious that I'm wearing makeup, but the colors are all soft, rosey hues that complement my natural coloring.

Okay, so this has an Instagram filter on it, but you get the picture

Tips on Achieving a Natural Makeup Look

• Choose Foundation/Concealer/Powder Within One Shade of Your Skin Tone: This may seem like a no-brainer, but one of the biggest mistakes that women make is to buy face makeup that is far too dark because they believe it will make them look more "healthy". Choosing foundation, powder, or concealer that is too dark for your face doesn't make you look healthy- it just makes you look unnaturally orange! You'll look much healthier and avoid the illusion of jaundice if you stick to shades that are as close to your natural skin as possible. It's best to try and match around your jaw line or the inside of your wrist if you're unsure of what color to buy.
• Go For a Light Dusting of Blush Instead of Thick Stripes: While many high fashion makeup looks use extremely pigmented or odd-colored blush to contour cheekbones, it's best to stick to a more diffused application for an everyday look. Start off with a light hand and a fluffy brush, and remember to always err on the side of blending more. You can always add more blush, but once you've applied it to your face it's much harder to remove. For a natural makeup look stick to pinks, roses, mauves, corals, and peaches, and avoid bright reds, purples, bright oranges, and magentas unless you have very dark skin. A good tip for choosing blush is to try and find a shade that matches closely to the color your face naturally turns when it flushes.
• Aim For Bright, Open Eyes: Your goal for eye makeup when wearing a natural makeup look should be eyes that are big, bright, and open. One way you achieve this by using eyeliner in a gray or brown shade instead of black that is gently smudged into the upper lashline to give a softer look than liquid or thick pencil liner. Another way to open up the eye is to apply pale, shimmery eyeshadow to the inner corner of the eye and to blend it into a medium matte or shimmery shade on the rest of the lid. Finish the look off with a slightly darker shade softly blended into the crease and the outer corner of the eyes with a clean fluffy brush, and follow with a coat of lenghening and volumizing brown or black mascara. When choosing eyeshadow colors, it's best to stay with neutral tones, like gold, pale pink, bronze, taupe, cream, brown, etc.
• Find your "My Lips But Better" Shade: Lately the makeup world has been obsessed with the My Lips But Better (MLBB) concept. The idea behind MLBB is that you find a lip product, such as a lipstick, lipgloss, or tinted lip balm, that is a slightly more pigmented version of the natural shade of your lips. It's meant to play up the natural coloring of your lips and take them to the next level. Sometimes with just clear lip balm lips can look washed out in comparison to a full face of makeup, but with an MLBB shade you can find a shade that suits your lip coloring perfectly and allows them to match your overall makeup look. It's alright to go a little darker when choosing an MLBB, but avoid selecting shades that are lighter than your natural lips, or else you may end up hiding what you meant to show off.

I love dramatic makeup, it can be tons of fun, but sometimes I like to play up the features that God gave me and focus less on hiding my skin, eyes, or lips with color and more on making them shine.  He made me this way for a reason, and I'm going to appreciate it more often! Cute modest clothing is one way to feel good about yourself, but putting your best face forward is another great way.