Lifestyle Choices

Step 3: Powder

A complete dusting of translucent powder (avoid the eyes) is now necessary to `set’ the foundation so that it will last all day. Never apply powder blusher directly on to a cream foundation because it will not blend in softly; your skin will ‘grab’ it and look blotchy and harsh.

• Choose a translucent powder that is ‘colourless’ or neutral in shade, so that it blends with your skintone.
• Apply powder all over the face with a large, fluffy brush, dusting across the forehead and down over the cheeks, nose and across the mouth, chin and jawline.

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The Products

Makeup products offer you two things: coverage, which to some extent will conceal minor flaws and blemishes in your skin, and most important, color. There are literally hundreds of different makeup products on the market. From the amount of advertising that accompanies the launch of each of them—the new wand-lipstick or foam cheek color or moisture- encapsulated powder—you would assume that to do a good job of making up her face a woman needs all of them. You don’t. In fact you need very few.

Neither do colors change a great deal from season to season, in spite of the fact that each cosmetic house brings out new autumn or spring collections. If you gather together a simple range of shades for eyes, cheeks, and lips that you know look good on you, there is no reason to replace half of them with each new season’s arrivals. Yes, there might be the new shade of fuchsia lipstick which you fancy or a new-formula foundation (foundations seem to get better and better each couple of years), but the quality of a makeup product is not dependent on its price, although the package—including the little compacts, mirrors, and applicators—is usually better the more you pay. (more…)