Secrets Learned at Makeup Artist School ---Tools & Altering Your Face Shape

Want the tricks professional makeup artists use without going to makeup school yourself?  See our cheat sheet now

You could say that most of us have a love/hate relationship with makeup. Some days you enjoy playing with all the different colors and get excited when your try at a smoky eye turns out perfectly

But then there are those days when the eye-liner refuses to go on straight, the bronzer makes you look like an Asian Snookie, or your lashes refuse to curl. That’s when you often feel like tossing your makeup bag out the bathroom window

Skip ahead to the secrets taught at makeup school

Each school has different types of classes, from special effects courses that teach you how to make realistic-looking zombies and vampires, to high fashion-focused programs that show you daring techniques seen on the runway and in magazine spreads. But for most of us, makeup 101 is just fine

Lesson No. 1: Spend some bucks on your tools

Spend some bucks on your tools --- tools and products are equally as important as the makeup skills that you have. If, for example, you are using mediocre brushes, mediocre products, and have just average skill ---- just by improving the quality of your brushes and using richer pigmented products, the application would immediately be better, even without improving your technique. So if you really want to apply your makeup like a pro, do what the professionals do --------use the proper brushes for application

Here are the eight basic brushes you need: 

1. Foundation brush
2. Concealer brush 
3. Fluffy powder brush
4. Blush brush 
5. Small blending brush 
6. Flat eyeshadow brush 
7. Precision angle brush 
8. Lip brush 

Once you have your tools, you need to know how to hold them
Where you hold a brush on the handle affects your control. The closer your fingers are to the barrel (the silver section beneath the brush head), the more pressure you put on the brush head and vice versa. In general, if you want to apply color evenly, place your fingers on the center of the brush handle. Another tip: You can easily turn a fluffy brush into a flat, angled brush by wrapping your hand around the bristles and flattening them

Lesson No. 2: Fix your face shape
Fix your face shape ---- it’s all about learning how to contour properly so you can alter your face shape and features. Contouring is the art of highlighting and shading. Anything that is lighter than the skin tone will make an area more prominent, anything darker will make that area recede

Here's how you can easily alter your face: 

If you have a round face and want to make it look more oval: Apply a bronzer a shade or two darker than your skin tone in a "3" shape alongside your face: on your temples, the hollow of your cheeks and your chin

If you have a prominent forehead: Shade around the outer edge of your forehead along your hairline to minimize the area with bronzer

If you have a flat or wide nose: Shade alongside your bridge starting from your inner brows. Then highlight right on the center of your nose

If gravity is taking a toll and your cheeks are sagging: Apply a highlighter just above your cheekbone all the way to your temple. Use a blush directly on the cheekbone, then use a bronzer in the hollow of
the cheek underneath your bone

And if you really want to make your contouring stand out, use a sparkly highlighter, which will reflect the most light. Then for your bronzer, go for a matte finish, which will absorb light and create a stark contrast And

And coming soon …
Lesson No. 3: Make your eyes pop by changing their shape
Lesson No. 4: Get Angelina Jolie's lips without injections
Lesson No. 5  : Make fake brow hairs look real
Lesson No. 6: Know how to conceal those under-eye circles