How to Clean Up Makeup Messes

Keep messes away and your makeup this fresh all day

With a little know how, it can become second nature to you to learn how to clean up those inevitable makeup messes that happen to us all. Here are a few of the most common makeup messes and how to effectively take care of them.

Things You'll Need

• Non-greasy moisturizer and foundation
• Facial tissues
• Translucent powder
• Oversize fluffy brush
• Your everyday foundation
• Under-eye concealer
• Clean triangular makeup sponge
• Lip pencil that matches the lipstick you wear
• Makeup refresher spray
• Small makeup kit with touch-up essentials
• One-swipe eye makeup remover
• Cotton pads

Instructions

1. Avoid a mess in the first place. Use a moisturizer and foundation that suit your skin type well, leaving your face fresh but not greasy. Facial oils cause makeup to smudge. Blot face lightly with a tissue to remove excess oil after smoothing on moisturizer.

2. Layer on a thick coating of translucent powder underneath each eye before applying eye makeup. This catches any eyeshadow that falls in the process of makeup application. When you are through, simply brush all powder and fallen shadow away with an oversize fluffy brush. If you forget to coat on the powder, and have already applied your eye makeup with some smudging occurring underneath, simply dot on your regular foundation on your under eye area and blend outwards and upwards with a makeup sponge. If you prefer, in place of foundation use an under eye concealer that brightens up your eye region.

3. Hold a tissue in place over the under eye area while applying mascara. Afterwards, blink onto the tissue so that it catches any excess mascara that would otherwise wind up on your skin.

4. Erase lipstick that has bled outside of your natural lip line with a clean triangular makeup sponge and your regular foundation. Dip the edge of the sponge into a tiny amount of foundation, and run it along the lipstick-stained area. Blend excess foundation away. Press translucent powder onto freshly cleaned-up region. With a lip pencil that matches the color of your lipstick, draw over your natural lip line. This should keep lipstick in place much longer.

5. Spray on a fine mist of makeup refresher towards the later part of the day when the appearance of your makeup has changed and looks as though it is sitting on top of your skin instead of enhancing your features. Blend away hard edges with a clean sponge and re-touch as necessary using contents from the small makeup kit that you carry with you for this very purpose.

6. Purchase an effective eye makeup remover which gets most of your makeup off in one swipe at the end of the day. Average quality makeup removers leave traces behind, which is unhealthy for skin and certainly leaves a mess, especially in the morning when you wake up. Simply use a cotton pad soaked in the product to wipe eye makeup off firmly but gently in an outward direction. Doing this instead of wiping inwards makes leftover makeup specks more accessible to clean before they turn into big smudges.

Tips & Warnings

• Carry cotton swabs in your purse if you are a regular makeup wearer. They are especially effective at removing smudges that show up later in the day. Simply moisten tips with clean water and roll over areas that require clean up. If necessary, press on translucent powder on refreshed skin.

• Powder free facial blotters are another helpful tool that can ward away potential messes. Use them to remove shine that develops on your face courtesy of excess oils.

• If you don't feel compelled to check on, and fix your makeup, several times a day, help yourself by using lighter makeup colors and formulations. For instance, it is not so evident when pink lip gloss bleeds outside of your natural lip line as it is when red lipstick does.