Ten Of The Biggest Makeup Mistakes To Avoid

• Oooops - choosing the wrong foundation and concealer. Girls can often pick a foundation colour that is far too light as they remember the old rule "does it match the skin tone along the jaw line". Unfortunately, using this method can often result in a very light shade of foundation when applied over the face leaving the complexion looking washed out and uneven particularly if the skin has darker patches of skin tone or freckles. Choosing a foundation which gives your skin tone a slight golden glow looks youthful and revitalised - think of the natural glow shown off by Jennifer Aniston.
• Avoid Harsh eyeliner. We love the smoky eye look, but that is a softer, dark and sultry look which is blended along the lashes and into the eyeshadow. Don't be tempted to use eyeliner, especially liquid black eyeliner, to greatly exaggerate the shape of the eyes unless you are creating an OTT party look for a night out. This look for day wear is harsh and false. If you use a liquid liner for your day to day makeup create a thinner line close to the lashes to define the eyes.
• Don't over emphasise all of your features. The old rule here is true - don't try and make both eyes and lips the main features of your face - it's just too much. Either create dramatic eyes and neutral lips or emphasize your mouth and keep your eye makeup natural.
• Just too shiny! Remember not to apply too many shimmering products together - unless you are going to a '70s party! Shimmering lipstick does not look good with frosted high-lighters and eyeshadow. Use matte products and finish with one shimmering product, such as a frosted lipstick, or use matte lipstick on the lips and make a feature of your eyes with glittering eyeshadow.
• Don't apply too much mascara to the lower lashes. Keep it to one natural looking coat of mascara on the lower lashes and be careful until they are dry that they don't smudge onto your skin.
• Don't use a white high-lighter on your brown bone. This can look very odd - just use a lighter shade of the eye-shadow you have applied over your eyelids, applying it lightly upwards towards the brow bone, but not right up to your eyebrows.
• Don't make your eyes look smaller. Be careful when applying eyeliner to the inner eyelid, i.e. inside your eyelashes, as this can make your eyes seem much smaller and again looks pretty unnatural. If you have a darker complexion and eyes, then black eyeliner applied in this way can look stunning, but otherwise we don't like this method of application.
• Don't be a clown. Applying a darker lip liner to the outer contours of your lips and filling in with a lighter shade of lipstick is not a good idea - it's rather like clown lips. It might work for models in a studio for a photo shoot, but in real life it looks pretty fake and your lipstick will generally wear off leaving an unnatural dark line around your lips.
• Do you look like Aunt Sally? Yes, Aunt Sally was a character in a children's program who had bright rosy cheeks applied in big circles. One of our tips is to apply blusher to the apples of your cheeks, but this should look like a natural blush and be blended - be careful of creating unnatural looking small red circles. Blend from the apples of the cheeks towards the cheekbones.
• Don't apply lipstick on its own. Applying a swipe of lipstick may seem like a quick fix to brighten up your face, but without any other colour on your face it will look unnatural, harsh and ageing.
• Do you have makeup lines around your jawline? Always check your jawline after applying your foundation, give it a moment to "settle in" then check your jaw on both sides for any unnatural looking "tidemarks" which just look grubby. Remember to blend foundation into and over your jawline for a natural finish.

Have you made any terrible mistakes when applying your makeup or have you learnt any great makeup techniques - we are interested to hear about them, so let us know, we love new tips!