You're making me blush

Last night, I went to my friend, Candace's house for a Mary Kay party. We had so much fun eating yummy peanut butter dip, peach cupcakes, and playing with make-up. While applying the make-up, I came to learn that the girls never wore blush. And not only that they didn't wear it, that when applying it, they thought it should be in a straight line from the cheek to the temple. Therefore, I decided it was time to blog about the wonder of blush and contouring.

First off, you should know that I have a round face, therefore I know how to apply make-up to a round face. Each face shape is a little different, so what I'm doing won't work perfectly for everyone. You should also know, that I am not a make-up expert. I just happen to read a lot of girly magazines, and I lived in a dorm with community bathroom where we all swapped our secrets - both in the world of make-up and boys - the boy secrets obviously didn't stick.

So, in reality I really have no clue what I'm doing, but here's my face make-up routine. You should also know that I hate blogging about hair and makeup because it means that there will be a lot of weird photos, so please disregard any odd facial expressions. Finally, I tried to use my "real" camera instead of my cell phone, and self-portraits aren't the easiest, so disregard the wonky cropping.

Okay, here we go. This is what I look like when I wake up in the morning....once my hair has been tamed. No make up, no lotion, no nothing.

I start by applying eye cream, moisturizer and primer - in that order. If you aren't using primer, go get some. It evens out your pores, & gives you a dewy look. If I were rich, I would only use Arbonne's primer. I've gotten multiple people hooked on it. If I can't justify $30, or if I don't have time to order, I use Maybelline Age Rewind. My eye cream is MAC; I love it. 

The moisturizer is from the Arbonne RE-9 line.

Once my face is prepped, I contour and even out my skin with concealer and foundation. I use a Maybelline concealer that is waaaaaaay darker than my skin, and I use some tri-colored concealer that I found at Costco one day. Yes. I buy make-up at Costco. Don't judge me, Internet. I also use a liquid foundation. I don't necessarily use all of these daily. Sometimes I don't do any thing, and just put on some mascara. 

So here's how the conturing works. I put a little bit of the dark concealer in the hollow of my cheeks. (You can find the hollow by making kissy faces at yourself in the mirror.) Then I blend it all in with a sponge or my fingers. You can still see the line a bit, but my foundation will take care of that.

See how my concealer forms a "triangle" under my eye?

The last step before foundation is to cover up the dark circles under my eyes. I use a lighter concealer for this. The key to covering dark circles is to use the "triangle" method. I learned this on YouTube. Start at the inside corner of your eye and go down to the end of your nose. Then go to the outside corner of your eye, and fill that whole triangle in with concealer. Not just right under your eye because that just brings attention to the eye socket.

I don't blend it all in. I just kind of leave it, and let my foundation blend it in. Speaking of foundation, I use about a dime sized amount and a pink sponge that I found at TJ Maxx a few months ago. It's the type you get wet. I then use a "stipple" method to apply it. (Stippling is an art term that is kind of like blotting - apparently you're supposed to avoid rubbing your face, so you blot instead.)

Now it's time for blush. Blush is amazing. It gives skin a beautiful glow.

I use a compact with 2 colors. I think it's from Lancome. One is peach toned, and the other is pink toned. I rub my brush in both colors at the same time, that's why the compact is so messy. I figure if one color is good, two must be better. 

Then I smile at myself in the mirror, and I find the apples of my cheeks. Starting at the apple of my cheek, I rub a little blush, and make a small "C" under the eye. Going from the apple around to the lip. Kind of merging my blush to my dark concealer from the first step. Sometimes I use my fingers to blend a little bit. Sometimes I don't. It all depends on my mood and what I'm getting ready to go do.

Here's my post-blush look. So serious.

The very last thing I do after eye-make up is to apply a setting powder from Arbonne. This stuff is a miracle powder. It covers every make-up mistake I make. I love it. It's just the right amount of translucent and dewy.

And then I'm done! It sounds like a lot of work, but I can do it in 5 minutes flat with eye make up. It just takes practice. Notice the definition in my cheek bones? That's the darker concealer. 

Moral of the story: Don't be afraid of blush or conturing.

A quick side-by-side comparison. Notice the better light in the after photo. Photographer's trick. :)