Random make-up tips from a make-up novice

Thanks for the comments on my last post! I wanted to respond to some of them so I'll just post them here.

For Marcy: I have bald patches in my eyebrows too! My brows are naturally thicker on the outside and kind of sparse on the inside (I have scary high school pics to prove it.) I also have some uneven patches from times I went a little overboard on the grooming. So now I always fill in my brows with eyeshadow - it's subtle but I think it really improves the overall look. I take a small angled eyeliner brush (ex. MAC 208 brush) with a light brown eyeshadow (ex. MAC cork e/s) and fill in my brows use short, light strokes starting on the inside where it is the most sparse and working my way out. Now I have jet black hair and used to use a darker eyeshadow, like a darker brown, but then a MAC make-up artist recommended using the lighter color and I like it so much better! Otherwise you can look kind of scary if your dark brows are screaming at you.

Now for the look I just posted, I actually did try to make the brows a little darker and more defined than normal since I had darker lips and thicker eyeliner. For this I also used a brown eyebrow pencil (ex. MAC Spiked brow pencil) to sort of outline the brows and fill in the baldy areas. Sometimes I go a little overboard so then I use an eyebrow brush to lightly brush out the brows and soften the look.

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For Jackie: First of all, thanks for stopping by and I hope you return! For me, I needed a lot of practice with the gel eyeliners. I love them because they don't budge and are a little darker compared to pencils but aren't too sharp and defined like liquid liners. I think the trick for me is the brush, the amount of product you put on your brush, and how you apply it.

I've experimented with a lot of brushes and I personally like angled eye liner brushes the best. Currently, I use the MAC 266 brush. I try to be careful with how much I get on the brush - I usually try to get enough so that I can do one eye without re-applying product from the pot. Now for the application... I always point the angled tip of the brush out. For example, I start with the outside of the lid first, with the point of the brush at the outer corner and line the lid to the halfway point, staying as close to the lash line as possible. Then I flip the brush so that point is now facing the inner corner. I continue lining the lid from the halfway point toward the inner corner although I usually only line to the midpoint (i.e. I don't usually line the inner 1/4 of the lid). For the second half of the lid, you shouldn't have as much product on your brush so you should be able to sort of thin out the line from the halfway point. And yes, sometimes the line isn't so clean, so I'll just take the brush (with most of the product gone) along the line to try to clean it up.

Anyway, hope this helps! Usually I just play around with different techniques to see what works best for me. If you want an even thinner line, you might want to try one of the more pointed brushs like the MAC 209 or 210.


Update:

By the way, there's a 25% off discount for all Bobbi Brown cosmetics, only good for online purchases using code "Instant". Free shipping for $60 or more. Ends on March 19th.