What You’ll Need For Makeup
- foundation, concealer, loose powder (if you need them)
- blush
- eyeliner or grey eyeshadow
- mascara
- eyelash curler
- lipstick or subtle gloss with colour
Foundation and Concealer
Start with foundation and concealer to give yourself smooth, clean, perfect skin. Foundation comes in many different formulations now – cream, liquid, loose powder, wet/dry, mineral powder, airbrush, pressed powder – and what you use depends on what kind of skin you have – oily, dry, sensitive, combination, aging – and how much coverage you require. How much you apply depends on how much you need, but you want to look as natural as possible.
Eye Makeup
To play up your eyes in a soft, professional manner, all you need is a dark eyeliner or dark eyeshadow (which you’ll use as an eyeliner) or alternatively (and very chic for Fall/Winter) a soft grey eyeshadow.
Line your upper eye as close to the lashline as possible with the eyeliner or an angle brush and dark powder eyeshadow. Smudge it into the lashline to soften the look.
Tip: You don’t have to stick with black or brown for your eyes, you can choose a purple, green or even blue, as long as the colours are dark enough to look almost black from a distance. A subtle hue will enhance the colour of your eyes and is much softer than a black for daytime.
For the grey eyeshadow, simply smudge the colour softly across your eyelid, blending it up into the crease. This is a slightly less natural/more professional look; just remember to go lightly and keep it soft and translucent.
Curl your eyelashes and apply a coat of black mascara.
Lips
For your professional look, lipstick is ideal as it looks far more natural than a gloss, but a subtle gloss, like a tinted lip balm-style gloss, has a similar effect.
Choose a medium-toned natural pink colour. You don’t want something that will look out-of-place on your soft, natural looking face, so avoid anything too pale or too dark or too bold a colour.
