I love the look Charlotte Tilbury designed for the Donna Karan show. The warm glossy eye lids, matte pink lip, and luminous skin was so perfect. Here are a few tips for how to create the look:

1. Start by prepping the skin with a moisturizer that adds a sheen to the skin. MAC strobe cream was used on the models.

2. Even out skin tone with a dewy finish foundation. Don’t use anything too matte in order to keep the skin looking glowy.

3. On the cheeks hush cream colour base adds subtle dimension.

4. Mid tone sepia cream colour base was wrapped  around the eyes and gloss was put on top for a high shine finish.

5. Finish the look with a pale pink lipstick that has a cool undertone.

1.Giorgio Armani Designer Shaping Cream Foundation SPF 20  2. MAC strobe cream  3.MAC gloss texture 4.Smashbox Photo Finish Lipstick in baby doll pink  5.MAC Cream Colour Base in hush  6.MAC Cream Colour Base in mid tone sepia

It’s time to update your makeup bag for the new season. The glossy bright lips, and pop coloured eye shadows can take the next few months off. This fall it’s all about the red lip, lined eyes, and spidery lashes. You’ll also want to invest in eye shadows in caramel and toffee shades, and of course a few sooty greys and blacks for the smokey eye. Finish your look with perfectly groomed brows, and flawless skin and you are set for A/W 11.

1. Nars Duo Eyeshadow in surabaya 2. Nars Duo Eyeshadow in paris 3. YSL Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils 4. MAC Cremestick Liner in red enriched  5. Giorgio Armani Maestro Liquid Eyeliner  6. MAC Mineralized Blush in pressed amber 7. Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in la rouge  8. Chloe cosmetics pouch 9. Shu Uemura Hard Formula BrowPencil

Get silky smooth skin that never looks dry by adding a few drops of oil into your body lotion. I love the Ultra Glow Body Moisturizing Oil. It’s very inexpensive, and gives your lotion the extra boost to not only hydrate but leaves skin with a sexy sheen.

It’s summer and a face full of makeup is neither practical or necessary. Here are a few quick tips to get a fresh face fast:

1. Skin is the most important. In lieu of foundation, concealer and powder go for a tinted moisturizer to even out your skin tone. Applied with your fingers it will take literally seconds. Dab a bit of touche under the eyes and your done.

2. I like to use bronzing powder instead of blush to add colour and dimension to the face. Sweep under the cheekbones and on the high planes of the face with a brush.

3. Skip eyeshadow and define the eyes with kohl. Apply along the upper and lower lash line, and then smudge to soften the line. Then apply a few coats of black mascara.

4. Multi-purpose products are the best for quick makeup looks. A cream shadow can be dabbed onto the lips as a lipstick, and on the apples of the cheeks if you like to wear a blush.

1. Topshop Kohl 2. MAC Cream Colour Base 3. NARS Bronzing Powder 4. Cover FX Skin Tint 5. YSL Touche Eclat 6. Rimmel Glam Eyes Mascara

There’s nothing like a flawless golden complexion. Bronzer in all it’s forms whether powder, liquid, or gel can deepen, and warm up any skin tone. Here are 6 Tips to get sun-kissed skin:

1. Use a medium size dome shape brush to apply bronzing powder to the face.
2. A soft brush will pick up and deposit less colour than a more dense brush. Decide how dark you want to be before choosing your brush.
3. A duo fibre buffing brush works well with a liquid or gel bronzer.
4. Apply bronzer to forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin for all over colour.
5. Drop a bit of liquid bronzer into your foundation to give skin more colour, and glow.
6. Try shading under cheekbones with a matte bronzing powder.

I love the look of shiny eyelids. It’s such a simple, yet highly effective way to makeup your eyes. Depending on how reflective you want your lids to look, use a salve like Eight Hour Cream, or for a high shine I use lip gloss.

Neither product requires a large amount to get the look. Using your ring finger tap a small amount of product onto bare eyelids. Remember it’s gloss–don’t expect it to stay put and not crease, but it’s all part of the look.

Every once in a while I come across women who hardly ever change their makeup or hairstyle. They often claim they want to try something new with their makeup  and say to me–”You’re the professional, what do you recommend?” After a little investigating I give my “expert” opinion, and  9 times out 10 they go right back to what they usually wear. We all have our makeup habits (I’ve had a bit of an obsession with lower eyeliner for more years than I care to admit)

So we want to know do our Smudge readers tend to switch it up, or are you creatures of habit?

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Here are a few tips for the pink eyeshadow trend that we showed earlier this week.

1. Not all shimmery shadows have strong colour pay off. It’s best to apply a cream shadow underneath for maximum colour.

2. Apply a rose shade on the lids and blend towards the crease, wrap the colour around the eye.

3. Black eyeliner along the upper lash line, and lots of black mascara will ground the look.

4. Keep the brows soft and groom with a brow gel.

5. Finish with a light shade of pink on the lips in a cream texture.

1. Choose a texture. Cream blush is great for dry skin or anyone who likes glowy look. Powder blush works on all skin types especially oily skin.

2. Choose the best brush. Cream blush can be applied with short haired flat top brush like the Philosophy one. This shape is perfect for buffing the cream onto the skin. Powder blush is best applied with a medium size dome shape brush. Large powder brushes are not precise enough for the cheeks.

3. It’s easier to blend powder blush after applying powder to the face to avoid it looking blotchy. Cream blush should be applied before powder.

4. Not to be confused with contouring, blush adds colour to the face so apply on the apples of the cheeks and blend back towards the ear.

5. For fair skin choose colours like pale pink and peach. Medium skin tones look good in darker or brighter pinks, and peaches. Dark skin suits reds and oranges.

As the world prepares for what everyone is saying will be the wedding of the year, we thought we’d offer our tips and inspiration for all the brides out there.

1. Make sure your makeup will last throughout the day. Use primer under foundation and a silcone base underneath eyeshadow.

2. Skin is the focus it has to look flawless. Brighten and conceal under the eyes. Highlight high planes of the face with luminescent powders that make skin glow.

3. Pick your focus feature either a strong lip with neutral eyes or strong eyes and neutral lip.

4. Maximize your eyes and wear lash extensions or false lashes. If you wear false ones take the adhesive with you for emergency touch ups.

5. Prep lips with a scrub at least the day before to keep them free of flaky dry skin. Use a lip balm to lock in moisture and keep lips soft so lipstick looks smooth and even for the day.

6. Brow threading, tweezing or waxing should be done a couple of days before to avoid skin looking red or irritated.

1. Dior nude summer glow healthy glow powder 2. Ardell #113 lashes 3. MAC Lipstick in Mlle 4. Chanel ombre contraste duo in gris 5. MAC beauty powder 6. Make Up Forever rouge artist intense lipstick in satin raspberry red 7. Ardell lashes #138 8. Bobbi Brown powerful face palette 9. Laura Mercier secret brightening powder

Cream shadow is often shied away from, but really it’s a brilliant multi-purpose product that every girl should have. Here’s why:

1. Quick and easy to apply with fingers, brush or a sponge.

2. Can be used on the eyes, cheeks, or lips

3. Make powder eye shadow more intense by applying cream shadow first.

4. Can be mixed with other products like gloss or loose pigment to create new colours or textures.

5. Adds dimension to the skin for shading and highlighting because of it’s natural sheen.

This Spring is all bright pops of colour. Here are our top tips for getting the trend right when it comes to the eyes:

1. Apply your shadow on top of a cream shadow or coloured pencil to increase the intensity.

2. Use a flat stiff brush to pack the colour on the eyelids, and blend the edges out towards the crease with a soft brush.

3. Combine textures of shadow for more dimension–use a frost on the eyelids and a matte in the crease of the same shade.

4. To create more drama at night, pair your coloured eyeshadow with a black eyeliner in the waterline.

5. For a more subtle version of the trend just rim your eye with a blue, purple or green eye pencil.

6. Contour cheeks with bronzer or use a peach blush on the cheeks to keep the look modern.

7. Unless you’re on the cover of Italian Vogue keep your lip colour neutral.

Images from models.com

Eyeliner is the one product I generally don’t leave the house without. I’m not big into eyeshadow on a day to day basis. The quickest way for my eyes to look done is to line them. These 5 are some of the best for creating a variety of looks.

1. MAC eye kohl is super rich in colour, and creamy in texture. Smolder, which is the black is a very dark black. The only other black that I’ve found that is better would be Feline. Also a MAC kohl, but annoyingly it’s only available as a limited edition. Kohl is the best for smudging around the eyes to get a fast smoky look. I also love this for lining the water line.

2. If you need something that does not move, smudge, or fade then I like Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes eyeliner, it’s a great water proof pencil.

3. Nars Soft Touch shadow pencils are a nice alternative to an eyeshadow. Larger than a pencil you can quickly cover your eyelid, and the texture is smooth so you can blend it out with a brush. Shadow pencil is less creamy than a kohl so it will wear longer.

4. The only liquid eyeliner I even bother with on myself, or in my kit is the felt tip applicator type. Liquid liner pens are far more convenient. I particularly like Armani Maestro liner. The felt tip applicator is firm enough that you get excellent control, and the end is pointy enough for the details of your liner. The liner flows through the tip quite well, and if it feels like it’s drying out as you work just give it a shake, and the liquid starts to flow again.

5. Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel liner is really easy to use, and the best alternative to liquid eyeliner. Gel is always more forgiving in that you can correct any little mistakes before it dries, without ruining the entire line. You also have your choice of tool. Anything from a super skinny liner brush, to a flat edge brush or an angle. Use whichever works best for you. Gel eyeliner can start to dry out over time so keep the lid on tight after use. While using flip the jar upside down.

The centre part is having a moment this Spring. Seen at quite a few shows across the fashion capitals, this is a super easy trend to update your look with. This early 70′s look of course works when your hair is down, but try it when your hair is pulled back too, like at Calvin Klein and Nina Ricci.

Image from Svend Lindbaek Photography

Sometimes brush cleaner is not enough to get emollient products like lipstick, or silicone products, like gel eyeliner out of your brushes. The best thing to break down the left over product is to use a small amount of soap. Squirt either dish soap or hand soap in the palm of your hand, and run the brush through it. The soap will bust through the emollients, making it easy to rinse away with water. Then follow up with brush cleaner to disinfect the brush.

Over the past season we’ve been seeing a strong trend towards the long oval shaped nail. The oval shape on Rihanna is slightly sharper than the Dior version. What’s nice about either oval, is it accentuates the length of the nail bed, and looks feminine.

1. First straighten the sides of your nail with a file.
2. File each side of the nail towards the top using a curved motion.
3. File the free edge keeping it smooth and balanced.

Images from style.com

Choosing the right foundation for your skin is one of the most important aspects of your makeup. I automatically think of the woman who’s foundation never matched her neck, and left a hideous line along the jaw! Nowadays there are so many more choices in colour, texture, and formulation. Despite this fact it can still be a daunting task to find one that works for you. The most popular formulations are liquid, cream, and powder. Liquids and creams can be silicone, water, emollient or gel based. Because of major advancements in technology and the multitudes of brands, both prestige and drugstore, there is bound to be more that one foundation that will suit your needs.

Here are a few tips to help narrow the process down:

1. When deciding on colour first look at the undertone of your skin is it warm, with pink or orange undertones? Cool, with gold or olive undertones or neutral, equal amounts of both cool and warm.

2. Look at the depth of colour. Are you light, medium, or dark?

3. Type of coverage. Sheer–minimal coverage skin shows through. Medium–flaws and imperfections are covered but skin looks natural. Full coverage–All flaws are completely covered natural skin does not show through.

4. What type of skin do you have? Normal, oily, dry or combination. This makes a difference as to what formulation you’ll choose. Dry skin would generally go for a hydrating foundation in liquid or cream. Whereas oily skin would probably avoid anything with a lot of moisturizing properties. A semi matte liquid or gel based formula would be more appropriate.

5. Always try colours on your face before committing. Or take samples home and test them out.

6. Try on the jawline to get a good colour match with your neck.

7. Most importantly decide how you want your skin to look. Besides flawless do you want a matte finish, glowy or somewhere in between.

Choosing the right red lipstick can be a daunting task for some. Here our tips on picking the best red for you, and how to apply it:

1. Fair skin with a pink undertone usually suit blue based reds. Try MAC lipstick lady bug

2. Olive skin should wear orange based reds like Nars jungle red.

3. Choose a deeper warm or burgundy red for if you are dark skinned. Try Ellis Faas Creamy  Lips L101.

4. Avoid shimmery shades to keep the look modern

5. If you want a sheer look wear you red as a stain

6. For the perfect application start with a lip primer to erase lines, and prevent bleeding

7. Use a lip liner to define the edges of your mouth and create a balanced look

27 year old Cheryl Cole is the on the cover of February’s Elle UK. Looking beautifully sculpted and wearing smoky cat eyes. Here are our tips for getting this look:

Even out your complexion with a natural matte foundation. Shade and highlight your cheekbones, and highlight under your eyes to create ultimate dimension. Then wrap the blackest pencil you have around the entire eye but don’t connect the inner corner. Smudge the line out with black eyeshadow, and blend out towards the temples and up towards the crease. Load on tons of mascara to top and bottom lashes. Finish by dabbing a creamy texture, beige lipstick on. Skip the lip liner.

1. Bobbi Brown creamy eye pencil jet 2. Face Atelier ultra foundation 3. Armani eyes to kill mascara excess 4. Make Up Forever sculpting kit 5. Dior smoky mania eyeshadow 6. Givenchy rouge interdit only beige

Depending on your face shape and how your eyebrows are positioned on your face, you can use these classic guidelines to achieve balanced and defined eyebrows. You can line a makeup brush lengthwise along your nose and move it into the positions 1, 2, and 3, shown above before you start to fill in.

1. Line 1 gives you the starting point for filling in your brow. Starting at the edge of your nose or the inner corner of your eye.

2. Line 2 is at the edge of your iris. This is approximately where your brow should start to arch.

3. The 3rd line marks the outer corner of your eye, and is where the eyebrow should end.

For more brow tips click here