Penelope Cruz Inspired Makeup Look

Penelope’s signature on the red carpet was soft and sultry, with a defined, smoky eye. Apply a tinted moisturizer for your foundation, and set it with Ultra-Fine Translucent Powder for a bright soft finish. Put a light coating of foundation.

On your eyes, apply a classic smoky look, by using matte brown (tips: you may change it to other dark colors such as black or blue) and smoked out the lid, blended into the crease, and then created a smoky line under the eye. Rimmed the lash line and in the inner lid with a black pencil eyeliner. (tips:Be sure to soften a freshly sharpened eyeliner pencil on the back of your hand first). Adding the black on the top lashes smudgy gave you a sexy blended eye. Then, apply a black mascara on the lashes on top.

For a soft, romantic look, dust bronzer on your cheeks. Because the eyes are always the focus of Penelope's Cruz's look, you need only a light dusting of a bronzer or peach blush on the apples of your cheeks.

Penelope’s lips were her own nude lip liner with a clear gloss, to keep the focus on the eyes. Light lips are Penelope's signature makeup look, even in the evening. Wear neutral lipsticks that are a few shades deeper than your natural skin tone, or a soft baby pink. Skip the lip gloss to keep the look matte and Penelope-perfect.

Finish the Penelope Cruz look with a light dusting of shimmery powder all over the face.

10 Steps and Tips In Wearing A Red Lipstick

Red lipstick is a universal classic, elegant, versatile and has yet to go out of style. Red lipstick is a must-have! as it can be used to create several different stunning looks and makes any face look instantly elegant. However, make sure your skin is well primed as red lipstick might highlight any red spots or imperfections on your face. Here

1. Test on your lips. Most women try out lipstick on their hands, but that's often a different shade than your face. Test directly the lipstick on your lips, scraping a bit of color off with a Q-tip.
   
2. Match your skin tone. true red lipsticks work best on a pale face, while olive skin calls for brown-reds or mahogany shades of your red lipstick. If your complexion is pink, you'll look better in plum shades of red lipstick, while girls with yellow tones are flattered by warmer red lipsticks that have a brown base, Also, if your teeth are yellow, a red lipstick with blue undertones will make them look whiter. Therefore, finding the right red lipstick just enhances a naturally beautiful feature.
3. Consider the lighting. pick a softer or sheerer shade of your red lipstick in a sunny day or for an outdoor activities. For evening, go bolder, to stand out your features and your looks.
4. Blending is in. Some makeup artists tend to blend a few shades of red lipsticks to create the perfect colors. Experiment with other lipstick shades you have on hand to create the perfect shade of red lipsticks.
5. Prevent "bleeding". Fill in lips with lip liner first as the red lipstick tends to bleed. Be careful when choosing a lip liner. If it doesn't match your lipstick perfectly, you will end up with a two-tone effect. If you like using lip liner, find a lip liner shade that is close to your natural lip color (natural shade of lip liner)and use it to outline your lips. Also, apply a little concealer around the border of your mouth.
6. Apply it correctly. Line and fill in lips with liner. Apply lipstick from the tube or using a lip brush over the liner. Blot once with a tissue, and lightly dust with face powder. Apply one more coat of lipstick.
7. Avoid getting lipstick on your teeth. After applying, put your finger in your mouth, purse your lips around it, then slowly pull it out to remove excess color.
8. Pair red lipstick with the lightest possible eye makeup. Skip eyeliner and go only for mascara (black for brunettes, brown for blondes and redheads), making sure to apply to bottom lashes (it opens up your eyes). Dust face with powder and cheeks with a soft beige blush. Dot a little smudge of the lipstick on the apples of your cheeks, then blend it with your fingers. A smoky eyes and crimson lips look great for a fancy, nighttime occasion, while everyday red lips should be accompanied by a subtle, natural-looking face.
   
9. Choose your shine level. Either glossy or matte lipstick shade? A moisture lip looks more modern, but a matte lipstick formula stays on your lips longer and won't feather. Experiment to find the right one for you.
10. Lastly, play around with looks and characters when wearing red. Red lips will make smoky eyes look intense and very made-up, but will look clean and crisp on a polished nude base. A less groomed bare face can also wear red for somethng laid back yet instantly made-up. Worn with a golden tan, the look changes once more.
    

Smokey Eyes Look

Here is the basic step by step tutorials for smokey eyes look.

1. Apply the base foundation as you apply for any make-up.
2. Apply mauve or red bronze base eyeshadow on upper and lower lids. Highlight the socket areas with a smokey black hued shadow pigment.
3. Use a slightly thicker eyeliner to highlight the eyes.
4. Curl your eyelashes to give them a smokey look.
5. Apply mascara.
6. Apply mauve or red blush on to complete the look for smokey eye.

Take a look at the great videos i have collected for smokey eyes look.

11 Tips For Bridal Makeup

1. Use heavy-pigmented cream foundation and layer it with powder foundation to make the skin look smoother.
2. Use powder foundation on neck, ears and chest too so that you don't seem to have a painted face.
3. Use a concealer shade similar to the foundation and blend both well.
4. Learn some camouflage makeup tricks and buy its products to use on your big day.
5. If you have combination skin, use water based foundation and a dry sponge.
6. Hide the under eye circles by applying concealer. Blend it towards the nose and use downward strokes.
7. For a perfect eye shape, use a small brush to blend a medium tone color from just below the brow arch downwards in a semi-circle motion.
8. Use light peach eye shadow as eyelid base.
9. Choose lip liner that blends easily with lipstick for that soft glossy look that looks good in photographs too.
10. Place the focus on the face either on eyes or on lip and underplay the other with neutral pink or brown shades.
11. Thin and small lips look more sensuous with light lip colors while fuller lips can use deep shades.

Here a good video that would give you some ideas on your big day!!

Fabulous Cat/Winged Eyeliner

1. Firstly, set up a hands-free magnified mirror. By using a liquid eyeliner with a short eyeliner pen tip, starting with the inner corner of your eye, barely touch the pen to your lashline and slowly drag toward the outer corner of your eye. Make your line as close to the lashes as possible
2. As you round toward the edge, sort of flick your wrist slightly but confidently toward your temple. It is better to make a longer extended liner;we can always q-tip it off later. The key is more about placement of wing, rather than the length initially. All of these steps need to be done with an open eye.
3. Open both eyes and with a normal expression on your face and assess your work. If the wings are uneven, take your pointed q-tips and in upward motions, symmetrizing your wings based on the impressions you want to bring it on.

Tips:

1. The cat/winged eyeliner was a perfect match with a thick mascara and a fake eyelashes.
2. Put a white eye crayon on the corner of the eye to maximise the winged on the upper eye.

Concealing Your Acne

1. Thoroughly cleanse your face to remove excess oil, and apply a light moisturizing lotion. Moisturizing helps diminish the look of dryness or peeling that sometimes occurs with acne treatments.
2. Apply your base makeup. Put on your base makeup using light strokes to avoid irritating breakouts. If you use mineral makeup, apply it at step 5.
3. Apply a green concealer to any red breakouts. Do not rub; rather, pat gently with your finger or clean makeup sponge to blend. The green color should be blended out thoroughly.
4. Apply concealer in your skin tone. Dot concealer over any areas covered by the green concealer. Concealers in pots or tubes give better coverage than stick-type concealer. Pat gently to blend. Choose a concealer that matches your skin tone, or one that is just slightly darker. Darker concealer colors recede, making larger breakouts appear smaller.
5. Lightly dust entire face with powder. Translucent powder, or loose powder sets the concealer and gives the skin a matte appearance without adding extra color to the face. They also help absorb oil throughout the day. Mineral makeup can be used in place of translucent powder, if preferred.

Here's some videos that provides some great tips and tricks about covering your acne and blemishes.

17 Mascara Tips and Tricks

1. Never use a lash-building mascara with your eye contact lens to avoid eye-irritations.
2. Get rid of clumps without them by removing excess mascara from the wand. Wipe wand on tissue to eliminates blobs before you start.
3. For short eyelashes; choose mascara that contains a plastic polymers that gives a lengthening illusions effect.
4. Try a spoolie (a disposable mascara wand). Sweep a clean, fresh mascara wand through lashes when they are wet. You can buy them in any store that carries specialty beauty products or you can also recycle old mascara wands. When you finish a mascara, clean the wand in a capful of eye makeup remover, then keep it clean by washing it with soap and dry.
   
5. Mix mascaras. A trick to make lashes pop is by applying one coat of lengthening mascara, followed by one coat of thickening mascara. Remove excess product with a clean spoolie wand.
6. Wear a waterproof mascara before doing your outdoor activities
7. Basic colored mascara tips: Black mascara works for everyone but can be harsh on light skinned blondes. Blondes should opt for brown/black mascara by day and reserve black mascara for night. Blue mascara brightens blue eyes while purple mascara makes brown eyes pop.
8. Use an eyelash curler. Curling lashes gives eyes the appearance of being wider and brighter. Shoot warm air from your blow dryer on the mascara curler for 3-5 seconds to warm it up before curling lashes. Touch it first to make sure it is not too hot. It is a myth that you have to curl lashes before you apply mascara. You can curl lashes after mascara application, just make sure the mascara is dry first.
9. Avoid sharing your mascara to avoid eye irritation. Furthermore, you have to throw away your mascara after exceeding 3 months.
10. Zig-zag the mascara wand. Zig-zagging the mascara wand back and forth during application helps cut down clumps.
11. For a dramatic look, apply mascara only to the upper lashes. To make eyes seem wider, apply to the bottom, too. But make sure you give lashes a light touch. Put a tissue under the bottom lashes before application to avoid smudges.
12. Use a mascara primer. Primers coat lashes and separate them before you apply mascara.
13. Never pump mascara wand in and out of the tube. This only introduces air into the tube, which will cause your mascara to dry out sooner than it should.
    
14. Bend the mascara wand at right angle to avoid smudges.
15. Wait five seconds before blinking to avoid smudges on your lids.
16. Give a few mascara coats to the edges by blinking. Blink onto the brush to give ends an extra coat.
17. Powder under the eye before applying mascara. Sometimes mascara smudges because it is attracted to oily concealer or eye creams.

Wearing A Smooth Mascara

1. Let the first layer of your mascara drying up for 15 seconds before putting the final coat (top coat).
   
2. Wiggle the wand left to right at the base of lashes. It is the mascara placed near the roots not the tips which gives the illusion of lengthening effect.
3. Pull the mascara wand up and through lashes, wiggling as you go. The wiggling is a crucial part to separates lashes.
4. Use the tip of the mascara wand to touch the hardest part of your eyelashes to avoid smudges.
   
5. Finally, close the eye and place the mascara wand on top of lashes at the base and pull through to remove any clumps.

Tips for Applying Lipstick

Confuse about what kind of lipstick color that looks perfect for you? You wrongly brought lipstick color that was too dark or too bright? Never throw it away!! Create your own favorites color by blending and combining any color of your lipstick and you might create a fabulous lip today! Furthermore, the way you apply the lipstick on your lip also affect the result color on your lip. Try using a brush to soften the color on your lip compare to the hard look when you directly apply it on your lip.

Natural Makeup Tips

Make up does not have to be overdone. This system of applying makeup for a natural look is fast and easy when you get the hang of it. Many women a more natural look that shows off their natural beauty. Surprisingly, applying natural-looking makeup is more than merely limiting how much makeup you apply. A natural look has to do with how makeup is applied and what products are used. With the knowledge and the proper products, achieving a natural makeup look can easily be done.
Understand that a 'natural' look is one that uses colors that are right for your skin tone. How much you use, and where, depends on your personal style. Make sure your concealer is yellow in tone since it mutes imperfections without adding color, giving your skin a natural look. Apply foundation that matches your skin tone. The right foundation will seem to disappear on your face. If you are African-American, it's a good idea to have light, medium and dark shades of your foundation to allow for different gradations of color on different parts of your face. Apply eye makeup in earthy tones'beige, brown, gold or plum for shadows and brown and charcoal gray for liner and mascara. Skip liner or shadow entirely if you want to keep makeup light. Choose a blush color that is close to the color of your cheeks after you've exercised.