How to Apply Makeup in Middle School

At some point almost every girl decides that she wants to wear makeup. Many of us begin to wear it during middle school. The question is, how do you use the many types of makeup out there and how much is appropriate?

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Eyeshadow in neutral colors
• Brown-black or black mascara
• Eyelash curler (optional)
• Brown, gray, or black eyeliner
• Eyebrow pencil the color of or a few shades darker than your hair

1. Ask your parents. If they say sure, go for it. If they say no, that's pretty much the end of it. Don't try to sneak out of the house with blue eyeshadow and bright red lipstick. And please don't sneak your makeup to school. You will be caught, and besides, it's tacky to put it on at school.

2. Figure out a place to do your makeup and gather your supplies. I do mine in the bathroom, but you can also do it in your bedroom if you have a mirror in there. It's good to do it in the same place every day (if you choose to do it every day) to help work it into your routine.

3. Wash your face. Always start with a clean "canvas."

4. Decide what you want to use. I usually use eyshadow, mascara, and eyeliner, but some girls like lip gloss and blush too, and some like less than I do.

5. Start with your face: blush, foundation, powder. I personally do not believe in using foundation and powder in middle school, but blush can be fun. Choose what is right for your skin tone. If you have a pink undertone, use a light pink. If you have a yellow undertone, use a rosy red or brown. Look in your mirror and smile really big. Sweep some blush onto the apples of your cheeks with circular motions. Sit back and look in the mirror. If the blush stands out, you have too much on.

6. Now come your eyes. Start by applying a thin layer of liquid eyeshadow all over your eyelid, up to your eyebrow. This is to make your eyeshadow stay in place without running into your creases, so skip this step if you won't be using eyeshadow.

7. Now is the eyebrow pencil. Fill in your eyebrows lightly with the pencil using small, feathery motions so that it looks natural. This is mainly to fill in the areas that don't have a lot of eyebrow hairs. Don't use the pencil on the areas in your eyebrows that are not above your eye.

8. It's time for eyeliner. Eyeliner comes in many forms, but I prefer to use pencil instead of liquid because it blends easily and creates a softer effect. Here is how to choose your eyeliner color. If you have:
   
   Dark-colored eyes (dark brown, grey, or black): you can use any color eyeliner including black and still look natural.
   
   Medium-colored or fair eyes: start off by using brown eyeliner. You can use different colors such as blue or green once you've gotten good at application.
   
   Start above your lashes. Put the tip of your eyeliner pencil at the inner corner of your eye. Now draw a thin line to the outside corner, as close to the eyelashes as possible.

9. Now put it on below your eye. Put it on the same way you did in step 8, but start at the outside corner this time. If you have smaller eyes, don't go all the way to the inside corner. If you have larger eyes, go ahead. You can also blend it down a little bit to give a sort of smokey eye effect.

10. Next we have eyeshadow. This, too, depends on the color of your eyes. Different colors will emphasize and brighten the color of your eyes and others will not. If you have:
    
    Blue eyes: Use brown, gray, deep blue or light-purple.
    Gray eyes: Use gray, brown, andn purple.
    Green and hazel eyes: Use gold, light green, taupe, peach and soft violets.
    Brown eyes: Anything goes.
    
    Use your finger to dab some powder onto your eyelid. Be sparing with unnatural colors like purple and peach, because too much will make you look like you got punched in the eye. Blend well, and don't go all the way up to your eyebrow.

11. Now we have mascara. If you have dark eyes, use black mascara and if you have lighter colored eyes use brown or brown-black. Hold the brush in front of your eye horizontally and blink onto it repeatedly so that your top lashes brush it. If they clump comb them with--what else--a hair comb. You can choose to apply it to your bottom lashes or not.

12. If you want to use lip gloss, now is the time to do it. Apply chapstick first so that it doesn't chap your lips. Keep the color and shine soft if your eyes are very dramatic. If both your lips and eyes stand out they'll compete for attention. And if your lips, eyes, AND blush stand out, you'll look like a clown.

Tips & Warnings

• Try one thing at a time if you are new to using makeup. You might not need all of the things described above, especially if your eyelashes are naturally thick or your cheeks are naturally rosy.
• Practice for a few days with just eyeshadow and two with mascara. You might need a whole week to get your eyeliner right.
• Don't use makeup because it will get you "popular" or because it will score you a boyfriend. Popularity is shallow and if boys don't like you for who you really are they don't deserve you anyway.
• Don't use a lot of makeup during sports practice or anywhere else you might sweat.
• TOO MUCH IS WORSE THAN NONE. If you look in the mirror and you can't even see your real face, take it all off right away!!!!
• If your makeup is causing you breakouts, try replacing it. It that doesn't work, start using products designed specially for sensitive skin.
• Wearing any one thing every single day will cause your skin to age faster than normal. I wore eyeliner for six months in a row and one day I realized that my eyes didn't look right without it. This can be fixed by going for a week or two without it.