Since this is beauty’s first month away from fashion, I thought it’d be great to start at the beauty beginning, and offer a refresher course for beauty and skincare tips.  As a thank you to our readers, there is a giveaway posted at the bottom of this article, so keep reading!

Skin Care

A previous Fashion and Beauty article covered skin care in depth, including product recommendation, so I’m just going to touch on the basic concepts.

Choose good products! You don’t have to purchase really expensive products in order to take care of your face, but using bar soap and body lotion won’t cut it. If you want a clear, beautiful face, you’re going to need a product that is made just for your face. You may need to experiment with several products before you find one you love, so refrain from purchasing more than one bottle at a time until you know you’ve found your match. If money is an issue, keep an eye open in the Sunday paper for coupons and local sales. Once you have a product you love, stock up when there are good sales (buy one, get one free is a great sale). Note the characteristics and ingredients of products that are not good for your skin, and stay away from them. Fragrances in facial lotions may be harsh on sensitive skin (go frangrance-free), and benzyl peroxide can often cause breakouts and rashes on sensitive faces.

Use your products! Your skin care products will do nothing for your skin if they sit, barely used, on a shelf. Place the cleanser in the shower, and keep the toner and moisturizer with the rest of your after- shower products so they will be convenient to use.

Make-up

Have a good foundation. It’s okay to use cheaper eye shadows and blush, but make sure to have a decent foundation to avoid breakouts. I’m not saying to go to the make-up counter at department stores (we’re talking big bucks here), but the dollar store isn’t the place to shop, either. Purchase something that’s fairly inexpensive, but good enough to not damage your skin. I personally love Cover Girl, but you can experiment and find something that works for you.

Don’t shell out a ton of money for trendy looks. If you want to try silver eyeliner or blue eye shadow, go for it, but this is where you’ll want to purchase cheaper products. There’s no sense in spending a lot of money on something you may only use a few times!

Choose flattering colors. Purchasing foundation that is darker than your natural skin color will not make you look tanner – it will only make it look like you want to look tan, and it will not blend in with the rest of your skin, giving you a clown-face look. If you’re fair skinned, avoid harsh black for eyeliner and mascara; instead go for a softer brown look. If you have a darker complexion, avoid pastels. They will look washed out on your face. Generally, if you look pretty in a certain color top, you will look nice wearing that same color as your eyeshadow (be careful not to go overboard though). For example, if you receive compliments when you wear a certain shade of purple, try out that color in an eye shadow. You may be pleasantly surprised with the result!

Less is more. When my mom taught me how to apply make-up, she told me that make-up is to enhance our natural beauty, not to change our looks. That is so true! Some people wear a ton of make-up all the time, but they’re missing the entire point! God made all of us beautiful in our own unique ways, and we don’t want make-up to hide that (Psalm 139:13–14). We need to let our natural beauty shine through.

Apply it

Start with a fresh, clean face and clean hands. Apply your foundation first, smoothly over your entire face (but not your neck). If you have a liquid foundation, you can use your fingertips. Otherwise, use a make-up sponge. To go really low-maintenance, use a tinted moisturizer, and skip the foundation and concealer.

Once the foundation is in place, use a concealer, if you need one. I love all-in-one concealers – I can fix under my eyes and any blemishes in one quick step. Be careful not to go too light with a concealer under your eyes, or you will have the reverse raccoon effect. A good rule of thumb is to go a shade darker than your normal skin tone.

Now comes the really fun stuff! If you’re going to use eyeliner, use that next. Pull your eye slightly out to the side with one finger, and apply the eyeliner in short sweeps around the outside edges of your eye with the other hand. Repeat on the other side.

After the eyeliner is applied, put on your choice of eye shadow. Doing this after eyeliner softens the harshness of the liner, giving a fresher, more natural look. The lighter color goes on the lid, and the darker shade goes in the crease. Applying white eye shadow directly under the arch of your eyebrow and in the inner corners of your eyes instantly brightens the entire eye area. Make sure to blend all of the shades or they will look too harsh and unflattering.

Next it’s time for the blush! This is an easy step to mess up. Apply blush only on your cheeks–on the apples, or cheekbones– where the sun naturally touches. You’ll probably have to experiment with this a little before getting it just right. I’ve found that crème blushes are easier to use because I can apply them with my finger to get just the right amount. Some common mistakes are using the wrong color, applying too much, or covering too large an area. Experiment to get the right shades and placement on your face.

Add a light powder over your face to set your make-up in place, and to keep down any possible shine. Put on a little mascara, your favorite lip gloss (save lipstick for special occasions), and you’re ready for a refreshing night out, or in, with your favorite people!

Beauty Product Giveaway

As some of you know, the Pierce My Heart editors have decided to begin hosting monthly giveaways. This month, we’re giving away a bag of fun beauty products!

To enter the contest, simply leave a comment below (comments are moderated so they may take a day or so to appear) by Thursday, January 29, 2009, telling us your idea for a new name for our beauty column. Make sure to include a valid e-mail address in your information (this will not appear in the post). We will choose the winning title, and the winner will be e-mailed on Jan 31 so they can claim their prize.

Ready, set, begin!

Davonne Parks