Hello~ ^^
I got the idea to do this off a video I saw on youtube! :D
Disclaimer: I am FAR from pro at makeup, so not everything I say here is necessarily 100% right! This is just based on what I've learned from my past experiences~
I've been experimenting with makeup for about 4-5 years now, and wearing makeup on a regular basis for 2 years, so I still have a long way to go! >_<
So in no particular order:
1. Not using concealer
Until about 2 years ago, I just put foundation over my entire face until my blemishes were pretty much covered. Yeah... Don't do that ^^;
What works better (at least for me), is to put a fairly thin layer of BB cream (for everyday wear) or foundation (for heavier makeup looks) to even out skin tone, and then use concealer to add extra coverage over areas that need it, like over blemishes or dark circles.
2. Not matching my foundation
Again, until quite recently, I never matched my foundation properly. I just bought colours that looked 'close enough' without really thinking about it. I always ended up getting foundations too dark/orange for my skin, which was especially bad, because I tend to prefer looking a bit lighter >_<
Now, I use mostly BB creams for everyday wear since it's better for your skin, and since most asian BB creams are made to suit oriental skin tones, the colour almost always matches me perfectly. When it comes to foundation, I've gotten WAY better at estimating what colours will match me well, but I always try the testers first if at all possible.
3. Just putting black eyeliner all round my eye.
Some people look amazing with any style of eyeliner, including just a black rim around their entire eye. I am NOT one of those people. When I first started out with eyeliner, I completely disregarded my eye shape, and would just draw around my entire eye with black eyeliner. It ended up just making my small eyes look even smaller >_< (Also, totally emo XD)
I've found that what tends to look better for me is top liner only for a light everyday look, and for heavier looks, I need to vary the line length/placement etc.
I'm not going into detail for this one, because very different eyeliner looks good on different people~
4. Using just my favourite colours
There are very few skin tones where every colour looks good, and it took me a while to realise this. I used to love pinks and purples, so I used those eyeshadow colours, which just ended up making my eyes look a bit swollen ^^;
I find that for my skin tone, I should stick to neutrals, blacks/whites or bright cool colours. This is another one that varies person to person of course~
5. Not doing my eyebrows
My natural eyebrows aren't very sparse or very thick, but are far from perfect, with quite a lot of stray hairs, which I used to just ignore.
Eyebrows make a huge difference to the overall face, so it's important to keep them nice and clean looking! Even if you don't want to change their shape, it's still good to get rid of the messy stray hairs around the main shape to give a neater look. I have a full front fringe these days, so you actually can't see my eyebrows, but I make sure to fix them up every week or 2, just in case~
6. Not matching my eyebrow colour
I put highlight in my hair for the first time when I was 13, and dyed it fully when I was 15, so I haven't had completely black hair for many years now, even though it's still pretty dark. I would fill in my eyebrows with a black eyeshadow or eyebrow pencil, and never noticed how harsh and strange it looked.
Now that my hair is a medium-dark brown, I need to fill in my brows with a medium/light brown if I want to show them without looking strange, since they're naturally black. Thinning out my eyebrows and filling them in with colour is especially important when I cosplay and wear different wigs. For me, I've found that with dark hair, the eyebrows look best a shade or two lighter, and with light hair, the eyebrows look best the same colour, or slightly darker. I've seen waaaaay too many girls walking around with light hair and black eyebrows, don't be one of them! >_< (Unless you're doing it on purpose of course XD)
7. Not using eye primer
I have incredibly oily eyelids (and super dry skin almost everywhere else >_>), and my eyeliners and eyeshadows crease/smudge really easily. When I wore just liner on my top lid, it would smudge on the outer corner within a few hours of putting it on, and even with touchups, by the end of the day, my makeup would look very messy.
I'm quite obsessive with eye primers now, I never wear eye makeup without it! If you have monolids, small eyelid folds, or oily eyelids, a good eye primer will most likely allow your makeup to stay on for longer without smudging or creasing~
8. Not doing any conturing, highlighting or applying blush
I first started doing makeup on a regular basis because of cosplay, and since anime characters' faces are just one colour, I would only ever put one colour of foundation/BB cream (often a little lighter than my natural skin colour) over my face and move on. And then, one day, I looked at my face in the mirror at school under bright lighting, and I looked almost sickly O_o
I have a very wide and flat face, so a little bit of very basic conturing does a lot. Also, applying base makeup tends to cancel out any natural pinkness in the cheeks, making you look a bit washed out and unhealthy. When time allows, I always make sure to apply at least a little bit of blush for a natural glow.
9. Buying only cheap makeup
Although many cheaper makeup brands have some pretty good stuff, I was not good at finding them when I was younger. I would usually buy the least expensive things I could find, since I didn't have much money. Combined with my oily eyelids and no primer, cheap eye makeup just would not stay for very long.
I still don't tend to buy high end makeup, since I'm still a student, but I've gotten better at deciding what cheap products are good to use (Eg. Eyeshadows, brushes), and what products I should invest a bit more in (Foundation, eyeliner etc.)
10. Not checking my makeup under different lighting/in different mirrors
Bright lighting like in my bathroom, and slightly dirty/scratched compact mirrors can make your makeup and skin look better and smoother than it really does. I never used to check my makeup under natural lighting, in a perfectly clean mirror before going out, so my makeup would sometimes be messy/uneven, and I would not even notice it unless someone pointed it out (Which nobody really ever does)
I always make sure to take a proper look at my makeup before going out these days, ESPECIALLY if I'm going to be taking photos, just in case~ ^^
So those are my 10 makeup mistakes I've made in the past! Of course, these are not even half of the mistakes that I've ever made, and I am still making heaps of makeup mistakes even now, so hopefully I will continue to learn from my mistakes! ^^
~ アキ
