Makeup 034

1. Wash your face with lukewarm water to get rid of any grime or dirt. You should always do this before applying makeup. If you have any makeup on your face already, use some kind of makeup remover to take it off - we want a clear canvas for the makeup. I find that remover wipes work best, and you can get them pretty cheap these days. Check out taylortrends.org/zine for tips. Once you've washed well, take a soft, clean towel and dry your face by patting it softly with the towel. This is better than scrubbing at your face to dry it because it'll limit any redness or itchiness. If you have very sensitive skin, your face will react badly to rough drying anyway, so you'll want to avoid any rashes. You can apply a toner during this stage, but I don't actually reccomend it. Whilst you should mosturise daily, at this point you don't want to apply anything to your face that could disturb the appliance of makeup.

2. Now you'll need to set the base for your makeup. Use a foundation that's the same colour as your skin or half a shade lighter, no more. Apply it LIGHTLY with soft circular motions, using two fingers. Don't harshly rub it into your face as a lot of people seem to these days. I'll say this now; using a foundation that's a colour darker than your own skintone will not make you look tanned, it'll just make you orange. Also, please, please don't apply bucketloads of foundation. It's terrible for your skin and it just looks fake, unless your an absolutely fantastic makeup artist who can pull it off. I've never been a big fan of applying foundation and it's payed off, because I've never had an outbreak of spots. In fact, I've probably had about one zit in my lifetime, and it was gone in a few days. I'm absolutely sure that the reason I've been lucky skin- wise is because I don't wear much foundation, if at all. Of course, the effect is different for certain people, and I know a lot of my friends feel like they need to wear it to look good. However, if you don't feel like you need to cover any bad skin, try applying a base-mosturiser instead. I use Garnier Soft Day Mosturiser, which makes a great base for makeup and makes your skin instantly softer. It's pretty cheap, too. Look out for it in your local drug store.

3. Highlight your cheekbones with a soft pink/peach blush. Just suck in your cheecks and run a large, soft brush down them to easily enunciate the cheekbones. You might want to brush a little of the pink/peach colour onto the apples of your cheeks as well for Taylor's rosy look. To do this, do your biggest, cheesiest smile. Two round-ish, fleshy areas will rise on either side of your nose. Keep smiling and lightly apply the blush to these areas.

4. Select a black eyeliner. It needs to be something easy to apply, and you'll need a steady hand to achieve the flawless framing of the eye that Taylor has in this photograph. If you know you aren't that great, at applying eyeliner, see if a relative or friend can do it for you. I reccomend a kohl pencil with a soft, rounded tip, but liquid eyeliner could work too. If you'd like to use liquid eyeliner, make sure it isn't the kind with a bristled brush - you need one with a soft tip. Frame your eyes in the same shape as Taylors, sticking close to the edge of the eye. The reason I recommend kohl pencil is because liquid eyeliner can run into the eye. Don't create a cat-eye flick on the edges of your eyelids, as we'll mimic Taylor's dramatic style in the next step.

5. Take a pale bronze/brown/gold eyeshadow colour and lightly apply it to your eyelid filling in the entire space with a makeup brush. Then take a darker bronze/brown shade of eyeshadow, and apply a light coat of the powder to the outside edges of your eyelids. This isn't a hard step to follow as long as you have one colour that is darker than the other. Apply more of the light and dark shades wherever you feel nessecairy to mimic Taylor's style.

6. Apply a light coat of transparent mascara to your eyelashes. The reason I suggest using a clear mascara is so that it doesn't look like you're wearing tons of makeup, but feel free to use a coloured mascara if you like. If you have pale eyelashes, like Taylor, then use a black mascara, or your eyelashes will stand out against the colours of makeup on your eye.

7. A nice peachy-pink lipstick and a coat of lipgloss should give you Taylor's super cute pout. You may want to apply lipbalm before the lipstick/gloss so that it sticks better.