The first time I started to wear makeup was in sixth grade and my routine consisted of clear mascara and chap stick. As I started to grow older and more like a “classic middle school teenage girl,” I filled my waterline with the blackest eyeliner, and piled on black mascara and lip gloss like there was no tomorrow. Looking back at all my old and extremely embarrassing selfies from my seventh and eighth grade, I truly wish I had some sort of guide to what makeup should and shouldn’t look like.

Now, one of the reasons why I love makeup is that there isn’t necessarily a right and wrong, it’s merely a way to express yourself creatively. And although you can take makeup in your own, unique ways, the application process has a few universal rules that everyone can benefit from knowing. Here are my top ten pieces of advice for makeup beginners and users.  

1. Moisturize! Before you start applying anything, moisturize your face with a facial lotion, and use Vaseline for your lips. It will make the application process a lot smoother (literally and figuratively). Plus, it will help keep your skin healthy and fresh looking.
2. Put on your concealer first, and then foundation. I made the mistake of putting my foundation on first for a very long time, but instead of caking on foundation and then concealer, conceal your problem areas and use foundation to seal everything in. That way, you’re not piling on the foundation to cover pimples and such, since that is not what it’s formulated to do in the first place. When I switched over to doing this, I found out I really didn’t need foundation, so now I just use concealer.
3. If you are using foundation, you need to blend it in! Blending does not necessarily require a brush (although that would be helpful) but you can use sponges or even your fingers. One of my biggest pet peeves, and most common mistake I see when people wear foundation, is that they forget to blend downwards, and do you know what that looks like? Your neck and face are different colors, so my most important piece of advice is blending downwards and on your neck. Blend is your friend.
4. If you are going to wear eyeshadow, prime your eyelids. Priming is sort of like glue, it allows the shadow and eyeliner to stick to your eyelids as long as possible. It also reduces any type of smudging that may occur during the day (and we definitely don’t want any smudging to happen, raccoon eyes are sort of a makeup ‘no, no’).
5. Don’t pump your mascara wand in the tube. When you open your mascara bottle, don’t pull at it, carefully twist it out. The more you pump the mascara wand into the bottle, the more air you let in. That means two things. First, it dries out the mascara quicker, so it won’t last as long. And two, it makes your mascara a lot more susceptible to germs and bacteria that can result in things like pink eye.
6. When putting on eyeliner, don’t pull on your eyelids. I know pulling makes your job SO much easier, but avoid doing this because it leads to wrinkles and is bad for your skin on your eyelid, since it is so sensitive.
7. Always have Q-tips on hand. Makeup is hard, especially when you’re first starting out. And even if you’re a pro, everybody makes mistakes. Q-tips dipped in makeup remover are the perfect ways to clean up any mistakes.
8. Avoid just the apples of the cheeks when applying blush. You don’t want to look like bozo the clown, so make sure you blend it upwards on your cheek bone for a good, even color.
9. Apply lip liner before lip stick. I know it’s sort of a pain, but it smooths and preps your lips out for your lip stick, making it easier to apply. Also, it helps the color last a lot longer.
10. Don’t forget to take off your makeup before you go to sleep. You want to give your skin a breather, otherwise it could lead to really bad breakouts or even infections. It’s also a lot better for your skin in the long run. Breathers for your skin helps to avoid wrinkles and breakouts (both of which we want to avoid).

Always remember, you don’t need makeup to look beautiful, less is always more.