Stop Expecting Your Makeup Skills to Come Overnight

Me looking at you sideways for trying to rush your makeup skills…lol. Outfit details here

Folks, we have to talk…lol. I know it can be overwhelming when you’re new to makeup—it’s like there’s ALLLLLL these brands and ALLLLLL these products—then you go on social media and there’s ALLLLLL these gurus and makeup artists who do makeup SO well that you might feel a little defeated before you’ve even really started. Then you watch a gazillion makeup tutorials on Youtube and still feel like you can’t master blending eyeshadows or highlighting and contouring. It’s enough to make a girl want to kick her makeup bag clear across the room.

But don’t!

I get a lot of messages from you guys whether in email or here on the blog or on social media (follow a girl, yo: Instagram, Facebook, Twiiter, Pinterest) and from those many of you feel overwhelmed by makeup or feel like you can never get a technique down. Well I’m here to virtually hold all of your hands and say take a deep breath and let’s think this through. I’m sure it took you some time and tons of practice to learn many of the things you can do well now, right? Makeup is the same way! Most people don’t get it right at first. Practice makes perfect.

And not only that, but the way you do your makeup will change so many times. The way I do my makeup now is different from how I did my makeup just a few months ago. And it’s WAAAAAAAAAAY different than how I did it when I first started wearing makeup for real eleven years ago (I was 22…lol).

So I’m going to list out some things to help those new and new-ish to makeup. Also make sure you check my menu bar on the blog so you can browse by topic to see previous posts I’ve written and also use my search button which is powered by Google to find what you need. I’ve been writing this blog since 2007 and there’s TONS of good information on here you’ll find helpful. Shoot even my friends who have face-to-face access to me who could text or call me whenever come to this blog first when they have makeup questions.

1. Practice, practice, practice.

When I first started wearing makeup, I found the best times to practice applying it was at night before bed and on the weekends. I’d grab pictures of looks I liked and tried to recreate them. Back then beauty blogs didn’t exist but I’d frequent beauty message boards on AOL and communities on Live Journal to read and interact with other beauty girls (my Facebook page is a great community of 13,000+ people who love to talk beauty) to learn about techniques, brands to try, etc. Then I’d go in my bathroom and practice, practice, practice.

Shoot, I still practice today—there’s stuff I see my makeup artist friends do (I was a makeup artist for a few years) and I get all excited and want to try it, too.

2. Start with the basics

Half the battle of great makeup is picking the right colors. Finding the right foundation to match your skin type, undertones, and skin tone and picking the right lip colors, eyeshadow colors, blush colors is SUPER important.

Here’s some posts on the blog to check out to help you:

Your Best Makeup Colors (I had to take the celebrity images out of these posts—long story—but the information is still good)

Foundation 101

50 Shades of Lipstick

MAC Eyeshadow Guide

Ask Danielle: MAC Eye Shadow Highlighters

How to Buy Makeup Online

Ask Danielle: Makeup for Women of a Certain Age + more!

How to Choose Your Best Colors for Wardrobe and Makeup

Makeup for Fair Skin Girls

Foundations for Very Fair Skin

Makeup for Asian Girls

Makeup for Olive Toned Skin

BECCA Foundation Guide: Help Finding Your Match

Ask Danielle: Makeup for Dark Skinned Girls

Foundations for Very Deep Dark Skin

Ask Danielle: Makeup for a MAC NC50 + Make Legs Look Longer

The Color Wheel: How to Combine Colors in your Wardrobe (works great for makeup, too)

Makeup for Olive Toned Skin

Make Your Eyes Pop!

NARS Blush Guide for All Skin Tones

Makeup for Light Skin Girls

Bronzer 101 for Every Skin Tone

Nude Lips for Every Skin Tone from Bobbi Brown

All nude lip posts

3. Start out slow

No need to go full on highlight/contour right away. Start with using concealer to cover any imperfections and a powder to set it. Then move onto a foundation (or BB cream). Then add some blush (don’t be scared of it).

For eyes start with liner, mascara, and filling in your brows. Then add a single wash of eyeshadow color (just make sure that shadow doesn’t go up to your brow bone). Then try adding a crease color along with your shadow. Then add an outer V. Practice blending over and over.

Lips are probably the easiest to try—I’ve got a TON of lipstick and gloss reviews you can check out here. You can see TONS of pictures of me wearing over 100 shades of lipstick here.

4. Study.

There are SO many free resources on makeup on the internet—I mean, uh HELLO this blog is one of them. I’ve had so many wonderful people tell me that when they found this blog they spent HOURS and DAYS going back into my archives and reading old posts. I still read about the latest makeup and skincare to keep myself in the know. Especially since it helps when I get hired to write beauty stories in print magazines :)

5. It’s okay to make mistakes.

This is why I think people get so scared about makeup. Everyone wants to look their best and no one wants to be the next viral meme, but you learn from your mistakes. This is why studying and starting with basics is important. Take a look at how celebrities have their makeup done for red carpet events—look at a variety of them—you’ll notice many of them sport clean, simple yet stunningly beautiful makeup. Or if not celebrities, find some makeup gurus and makeup artists whose style of makeup you like.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Quit beating yourselves up for not being overnight makeup whizzes. I bet even the most beat face now started out not-so beat…lol.

What did you think of this post? What’s your makeup story? Talk to me in the comments!