How to look polished with less makeup

Ever heard the expression "Less is more"? Not sure who coined the phrase but I know beauties such as Coco Chanel believed the adage. Apparently her rule was to dress and accessorize and then remove one accessory before leaving the house. This way she never felt "over-done". Brings to mind images of dear Queen Lizzie with the glasses, tiara and handbag - I always thought she looked like a Christmas tree and should either get contacts or lose the tiara. Anyway, I digress.

My point is; when it comes to makeup, how can we all wear less and still look "polished"? How can we use makeup so skillfully as to appear "un-madeup"?

Well, I would like to share with you a makeup epiphany; I found this quite by accident. If you create the "Perfect Brow" before doing any other eye makeup, you won't need much eye makeup at all. If you are the person who does the shadow etc first you may not realise this and you may not realise that changing the order of makeup application can really make a difference to the end result.

But first thing is first. How do you get the perfect brow?

You can do what I used to and tweeze a few hairs every day to make sure there are no strays but this is a sure-fire way of getting wobbly, out of shape brows. My advice, for what its worth is to have your brows professionally waxed, fill in any small gaps with a few flicks of brow pencil and then tweeze the odd one or two that crop up between waxes. (Kind of like the baked beans that fall off the toast, you have to eat those first.)

Or, if waxing isn't an option then get one brow perfect by following the recommended shaping: See below, then make a stencil of that brow; take a firm piece of clear plastic draw the outline and cut out the centre. (Now you just flip the stencil over the guide you with the opposite brow)

When tweezing at home, apply a warm, damp cloth to the brow to soften the skin and open the follicle (it really does hurt less too) and remove the hairs in the direction of growth. You might need a good magnifying mirror to do this. Finish with application of a cool, damp cloth.

As far as pencilling the brows; take your time. just fill in the necessary gaps and careful not to apply too much to the inner brows (near nose) or they will look like tadpoles - see taddy brows below. Brush with a brow brush and voila! Perfect Brows.

For a light and natural makeup apply in this order:

Base - apply a touch of foundation to areas of the face that need it, you don't need to apply a mask.

Conceal - use a "lip brush" to apply concealer to any discolourations then roll your finger over the concealer to warm and blend (as if you were being finger-printed)

Powder - a tiny dusting and only down the T-Zone.

Brows - make them perfect (as above)

Liner - a fine line just above the top lashes with a little "flick" in the outer corner, mute by pressing soft brown or grey shadow over the top, then use blush brush over the eyes to blend.

Mascara - Only on the top lashes and make sure you get every single lash.

Blush - a light dusting on the apples of the cheeks, smile and you will see those apples!

Gloss - the lips, a nice rosy colour is the most natural.

Let me know how you go!