by Rosannie Murillo

Created on: October 08, 2008

"Less is more" A timeless makeup principle known to woman for a long time. But how do we correct our imperfections without looking made up or airbrushing them away like models do? And how do we know how much is less and how much is more? The answer to this question varies in a unique way from woman to woman. Skin tones, skin types and makeup styles all influence what we perceive as our personal 'natural look'. The right type of makeup and techniques also determine the type of natural look we complete.

There are many types and brands of makeup out on the market today, with organic makeup increasing its popularity more and more every day. Not only does this type of makeup give us a more flawless look but it lasts all day long. It also protects our skin as needed with its natural ingredients battling blemishes and acne. But more importantly are the colors we choose to begin our natural look.

Before doing anything we must make sure to have our faces thoroughly clean as this helps achieve a more even look all. The first and most important choice we have to make when achieving our 'natural look' is our foundation. Choosing our foundation can be somewhat tricky because a lot of them look a lot alike but when the time comes to try them on, we realize they really don't match out skin tone. One way to know if we are using the correct foundation is one that disappears once it's applied to the skin. Generally foundation tones vary from light, to medium, to beige, to dark to match the different gradiations of skin color. Matte foundation is not recommended when going for the natural look as it leaves a heavy look contradicting what we want. Applying it with a foundation brush can enhance the natural look we're going for.

After we apply our correct foundation, we move on to applying concealer and blush color. Blush color should be close to the color we already have on our cheeks. Or in substitution to blush we can use a smidge of bronzer to give our face a bit more color.

We proceed to apply our eye makeup after our foundation, concealer and blush is applied. It is important to note that when we desire a 'natural look' we must emphasize either our eyes or our lips. The emphasis of both can result in a clash of colors and over done makeup. So before we apply makeup on either one we should decide which on to emphasize. Eye color should be simple yet natural and using beige, brown, gold or plum eye shadow colors we achieve this natural goal. By using a very thin line of eye liner we create the illusion of making our lashes seem fuller and more natural. But the use of eye liner and mascara is optional if we want to keep our makeup light.

Last but not least, we turn to our lips. There are a couple of roads we can walk down to achieve a natural look. We can go brighter, glossy, and shimmery or in the case where we emphasize our lips, we go darker. It is not recommended to use a darker lip liner, when one is used, and a lighter lip color filler as this makes the lips more noticeable and not in a good manner so this a makeup no-no.

When planning on an evening natural look, it is best to intensify the colors we apply on our face, such as our eyes and our lips. Instead of using brown for our eyes, we can choose a darker color such as charcoal gray or for our lips a shimmery glossy look with colors such as pink or peach.

The amount of makeup we choose to wear is our personal choice, to achieve more important than the amount we use are the colors we choose. The secret to natural makeup and general makeup altogether is to not overdo it. It should be subtle, natural and suit our personality.

Learn more about this author, Rosannie Murillo.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.