Makeup Tips/How To

Are you ready to have your brow-loving mind blown?

Because it’s about to happen. I am about to blow your mind right now.

OK, are you ready?

Here we go… I want you to give this a try: when you get a chance, try applying a brow gel to your brows BEFORE you use your brow pencil or brow powder, instead of doing it after.

I know it sounds cray, but hear me out. Yes, it’s unconventional, but I’ve been doing it this way this month, and I swear it works better for me than doing it the other way around, where you start with your brow pencil and follow that up with your brow gel.

And here’s why: when I apply the brow gel before using a brow pencil, the gel thickens my little brow hairs and makes them slightly stickier, so that when I then use my brow pencil (or whichever other filler I choose), the product has something more substantial than bare skin and hair to adhere to. The pencil product clings to the hairs and skin better and even lasts longer.

Plus, when I do go the conventional route and start by filling in my brows with a pencil before setting them with a gel, I inevitably end up with bare patches that I end up having to re-fill with pencil again, as the gel inevitably disturbs what I previously did with the pencil, gah!

I don’t know if this is just because of me and the way I do it, but the re-filling doesn’t happen when I start with the gel, so it also ends up saving time and product.

The key is to wait for your brow gel to be almost completely dry (about 80%) before you use the pencil, because if you go in with your pencil while your gel is sopping wet, it’ll just look messy.

I’ll usually apply the gel, then brush my brow hairs into place and wait until the gel is about 80% dry before using the pencil to fill in the sparse spots. Then when I’m done with that, I’ll do a light brush through once more to mellow out any overly dark areas.

By the way, my go-to holy grail brow combo has been Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Gel and Urban Decay Brow Beater (I wear the shade called Neutral Brown) for the past six months, and I think it’s a great combo to use with this method.

Give it a try sometime! I hope you like how it works. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Here’s a quick cosmetics contractor tip to help with your look construction: try filling in your brows before you start applying your eye makeup, instead of filling them in after you’ve finished with your eyeshadow, liner, mascara, etc.

The reason? Well, you may have heard the phrase, “Brows frame the face,” which they do by creating a strong reference point around which to build the rest of your look. When my brows are filled in, it’s easier to tell how far out I need to take my eyeshadow, or how far up I can bring my transition colors, or how long I can make the wing for my winged liner.

Since my face and my brows aren’t perfectly symmetrical (seriously, most aren’t), filling in my brows first and getting them to look symmetrical sets me up for a more polished, symmetrical finished makeup look.

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This is what I like to call “the tissue trick,” even though I’m doing it here with a paper towel.

To avoid getting glittery fallout all over the freakin’ place, I like to shield my under-eye area by tucking a tissue under my lower lash line and using it as a protective glitter-catching barrier.

Ah, the joys of glittery fallout!

It comes with the territory when you’re working with glitter eyeshadow. The stuff gets everywhere! — under my eyes, on my cheeks, on my nose, on my chin, in my brows, in my hair, on my cat, the counters, my clothes — and it isn’t always easy to remove, especially on my face when I’ve already done my concealer and face makeup.

But the tissue trick works great, and not just with glitter fallout. You can also use it with dark eyeshadows or bold blues, greens, etc., and loose eye pigments, too. It’s like Captain America’s fallout-fighting makeup shield.

Try it sometime. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

1. Lip Brushes Are More Precise Than Lipstick Bullets

Lip brushes, with their little, compact brush heads, are usually a lot more precise than your average lipstick bullet, so you can place your lipstick exactly where you want it, every time. Plus, they don’t smooth and dull like a lipstick bullet after you’ve used it a few times and the tip gets all smushed and the edges melt away… Not a problem when you’re working with a lip brush.

2. Lip Brushes Waste Less Product

To get the most moolah out of your lipsticks, apply ’em with a lip brush, because when you apply a lipstick directly from the tube, little bits tend to pool and glob in and around your lip lines and other textured areas. Also, once you wear a tube of lipstick down to the nub, don’t throw it away yet! You can reach down into the bullet to get the hard-to-reach stuff with a lip brush.

3. It’s Easier to Apply Your Lipstick Evenly With a Lip Brush

Ever have trubs evenly applying your lipstick? If you do, instead of going back and forth over the same patchy places (and wasting even more product!), even everything out by brushing over your entire lip with a lip brush.
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