Brows, Cheeks, Lips, and Lashes!

Now that we’ve got our foundation and highlighting/contouring down, it’s time to tackle the rest of the face! In this tutorial I’ll show you how to shape and color your brows, give your cheeks the perfect rosy blush, apply mascara and false eyelashes, and line and color your lips.

Step 1: Brows

We’ve all seen incorrectly applied eyebrows before—they can make the wearer look angry or tired or appear to have that “drawn-on” look. Eyebrows are the frames to the face and, when shaped and colored correctly, can add dimension, structure, and youthfulness.

You can choose to have your brows professionally groomed at a salon by waxing, when the hair is removed by a hot wax applied to the face; threading, where the hairs are removed row by row with a knotted string; tweezing, where the hairs are removed individually with tweezers; or even permanently by lasers or electrolysis. You can also wax, thread, tweeze, or use brow razors to shape your own brows at home if you take care to thoroughly research your chosen method, purchase quality products, and take time to remove hairs one row at a time so you don’t end up with overly sparse brows.

Step 2: Brow Color Selection & Application

There are a few different products you can use to color and shape your eyebrows. If you have coarse or curly eyebrows, a colored brow wax is a good choice to help control your brow hair. Pencils are convenient, inexpensive, and easy to apply, but they can soften and disappear throughout the day if not set with powder. Colored powder come in an endless array of colors, and can be applied wet or dry with many different types of brushes for any look from natural to dramatic but require a bit more finesse to apply. For a long-lasting look with depth and dimension, use pencil first and then set with powder.
When choosing a color, the most common mistake is to choose far too dark of a shade. The perfect color is usually one shade lighter than the current shade of the brows, but also consider your current hair color as well as your own personal style. If using a pencil first to fill in gaps, choose a color closer to the natural color of your brows and then set with a lighter powder. For light blondes, use a shade of banana; shades of gold for overly dark brows; copper or wine colors for redheads; and silvers or grays if you have gray hair.

Step 3: Creating the Perfect Brow Shape

The ideal brow shape is a naturally balanced arch, thickest at the base and slightly narrowing towards the arch, with the top of the arch a smooth rounded angle. To find where your natural arch should fall, look straight ahead and lay a thin brush handle against your face directly in front of your iris. The spot where the brush hits on your brow bone is where you should have the highest point of your eyebrow, with both sides tapering down slightly from there. To find where your brow should start, again take your thin brush handle and lay it straight up against the side of your nose. If your eyes are close together, you can start your brow further towards the outer edges of your face. Move your brush handle to the outer corner of your eye—where it lays on the brow bone is where your brow should end.

Step 4: Beginning Your Brows

Before you begin coloring your brows, brush them straight and smooth with a clean spoolie or using the eyebrow brush that sometimes comes on the bottom of eyebrow pencils. (If your brows are especially unruly, you can brush on a clear or colored brow wax after they’ve been filled in with color to help keep them in place.) Start coloring your brows by filling in gaps. Use your pencil (or a thin, stiff angled eyebrow brush with either wet or dry powder) with sketching motions, as if you’re drawing individual hairs.

Step 5: Shaping and Finishing Your Brows

Now you can begin shaping your brow. Holding your angled eyebrow brush sideways, press a thin line onto the bottom of your arch, then another one just before the beginning of your arch, and a final one at the bottom tip of your eyebrow. (If using a pencil, draw a short straight line sideways with the same sketching motion as before.) Do not connect the lines—the goal is to add shape and definition while still looking as natural as possible. This is your opportunity to subtly shape your eyebrow by adding a higher arch, moving it slightly inward or outward, and rounding or straightening the top of your brow. Which shapes you choose depend entirely on your personal preference as long as they are balanced and defined.
Use a fuller, larger, softer angled eyebrow brush to apply powder lightly over the entire brow to set and color. Be sure to blend upward from the bottom of the brow. Now you have a perfect frame for the rest of your makeup!

Step 6: Blush

Blush can lift and brighten the face as well as pull together an entire makeup look. Used incorrectly, it can make the face appear to sag or look fuller or flatter.
Formulations
There are three different formulations of blush: cream, liquid, and powder. Cream provides a youthful, dewy finish and is a great choice for dry or mature skin. Liquids have sheer, natural coverage with a staining effect and are best for those who wear a powder or cream-to-powder foundation. Powder is easiest to apply and long-lasting.

Step 7: Color Selection

For fair skin, choose cool (blue-toned) pinks, corals, and beiges.
For olive and Asian skin, use warm-based colors such as sandy peach, peachy pinks, and terra cotta.
Redheads should use soft and warm colors like peach, coral, and yellow-based pink.
Those with dark skin should use bright, rich colors—plums, fuchsias, bronzes, and warm apricot shades.
Mature women should take care to use subtle colors without sparkles that will appear more natural than corals or reds.
You can use two different colors of blush to add or intensify your highlight/contour illusion. Use a blush color one to two shades darker around the bottom of the apple of your cheeks to sculpt your cheek, and the brighter shade below the eyes and on the tops of your apples to lift and brighten.

Step 8: Blush Placement

To determine where to place your blush, smile big! The round pillows of your cheeks that become prominent when you smile, known as the apples, are where you want to concentrate your application. Placing your blush too low or too wide on your cheek can make your face look longer, wider, or flatter. You can even use the placement of your blush to subtly change the appearance of your face shape. For a full or round face, sweep the blush up and back towards the temples. For a wide or flat face, concentrate the blush closer to the nose in the center of the face. For a long face, keep the blush just below the eyes and on the apples.

Step 9: Application

Translucent powder should always be lightly dusted over the face before blush application to keep color even. Colors should always be applied in several thin layers to avoid oversaturation. Remember, you can always add more, but it is difficult to take away! Liquid and stain blushes are applied best with fingers then blended with a clean cosmetic sponge. Use the flat side (not the end) of a rounded cheek brush for either cream or powder blush—in a circular motion for cream and smooth stroking motions for powder. You can add a light kiss of blush on the temples and chin to brighten the face and bring the look together.

Step 10: Lips

It’s a common misconception that you have to choose a lip color based on a small range limited by your skin tone. You can wear any lip color you want, as long as you balance your color choice with your blush and eye colors. For this reason, I like to apply a lip color after my base and before I apply blush. Keep in mind that darker colors will make your lips look smaller and lighter ones make them appear bigger.
Before even applying lip color, you need to keep your lips exfoliated and moisturized. To exfoliate, you can use an old toothbrush or a clean spoolie to gently scrub away dead and dry skin, and to moisturize there is a wide array of products from lip balms to oils and jellies.

Step 11: Formulations & Priming Your Lips

Formulations
There’s a vast selection of different lip color formulations on the market today. There are stains, glosses, creams, and all the different types of lipsticks as well (from driest to most emollient): matte, crème, and sheer.
Priming Your Lips
You may have heard of eye primer, but did you know that lip primers exist as well? They reduce bleeding and fading of lip color. Foundation and concealer can also be used for this purpose.

Step 12: Lipliner

For a longer-lasting, more defined pout, you can start with a base of lip liner. Choose either a nude/neutral color or one matching your lipstick, or you can choose a slightly different shade if you want to blend and create a different color entirely. Line your lips with short sketching motions from the outside in. You can line slightly outside your lips to make them appear larger if you’d like, or within your lip line for a natural look. A cupid’s bow can be added in with liner to any lip shape. To achieve more intense color and a longer-lasting finish, fill in your lips entirely with the same sketching motion and then blend with a clean lip brush held flat.

Step 13: Finishing Your Lips With a Flourish!

Use the same lip brush to then apply your chosen lipstick in smooth gliding motions, making sure you’re blending the liner and the color seamlessly. Lightly dusting your lips with translucent powder is a trick to help your color wear longer; however, this will give your lips a matte finish. If this is not the desired result, you can always add a gloss or another coat of lipstick carefully on top of the powder. To finish off the look, a dot of clear or lightly shaded gloss applied in the center of the pout makes the lips appear larger and fuller.

Step 14: Lashes

Defining your eyelashes can give you a more feminine, finished look. This can be achieved by just applying a quick coat or two of mascara or with the addition of false eyelashes.
Black mascara works for nearly any makeup look; however, you can use shades of brown for a natural look, or even brightly colored shades for an edgy look.
Before any mascara application, comb through your lashes with a clean spoolie to remove any excess powder. There are many different lash primers available on the market that, when applied before the mascara, will thicken and even extend your eyelashes.
Hold your spoolie parallel to your lashes and coat the underside of your top lashes with smooth, swift strokes. Now look slightly downward and lightly brush the tops of your eyelashes from root to tip. You can skip applying mascara to the bottom lashes, if you’d like, for a more subtle finish to your eye makeup.
To open up your eyes and give you that flirty, fluttery look, you can add false eyelashes. They come in both strip form and in individual bundles. If using a strip lash, first measure the strip against your eye and trim to fit. Then pinch the lashes in a horseshoe shape for 30 seconds to shape it in a curve that will match the shape of your eyelid. Apply lash glue to the underside of the strip with an orange stick or spatula in a thin line. Wait for the glue to become tacky (around thirty seconds). Holding your lashes with a set of tweezers, gently and carefully apply your lashes as close to your lash line as possible. You can use the blunt end of the tweezers (or an orange stick or brush handle) to gently adjust the placement of your lashes just after they’ve been applied.

Step 15: Individual False Lashes

Individual lashes can be applied just at the corners for a subtle, upturned look; used to subtly fill gaps in the lash line; or used all the way across the eye for enhanced looks ranging from natural to full and dramatic. Individual lashes are added much like strip lashes are—apply glue, wait for it to become tacky, and, using tweezers, place as close to the lash line as possible. Space your lashes evenly and use the same number of lashes on each eye to maintain symmetry.

Step 16: You're Done!

And you look fabulous!

To make your eyes really pop, check out my classic eye and smoky eye tutorials.