Your Best-Kept Beauty Secret

[Anonymous]

If you've been playing with makeup for awhile, you've probably picked up or developed tricks of your own that most people wouldn't think of. Do you have an unusual foolproof technique for applying your foundation? Do you use a particular product in an unexpected way? Have you found an unconventional hack for clearing up a blemish overnight? Here's the place to trade your little-known ideas!

[Gwenhwyfar]

Such a good idea, @Adriadne! I am in the process of making my own face oil as well. I love meadowfoam but I don't often see meadowfoam oil! Where do you get yours from?

[Adriadne]

I'm using some from Mystic Moments on Amazon. It took forever to arrive though, as it's shipping from England if I recall correctly.

I'm buying the next batch from Bulk Apothecary though. I've been happy with the quality of their oils and their shipping speed.

[Gwenhwyfar]

All useful info - thanks! 🙂

[Mochapj]

I've been looking into doing this with face balms.

I've tried a ton now and I know what I like and don't like, so I'm looking forward to putting that into practice to make something I like better than what I've tried.

[k617]

This is great! I see a few oils listed which are in the rotation of oils I use (jojoba, blue tansy, sea buckthorn, carrot seed, rosehip, rose absolute). If I had a good supplier of these oils I'd give it a try too!

[TKLJ]

I save my little pots from samples made in-store and squeeze foil samples into them. You could also use them to store liquids for a weekend trip instead of hauling along bulky packaging.

A similar tip I read years ago on Into the Gloss was Emmy Rossum's MUA (random, I know) put some foundation in a contact case so Emmy could do touch-ups at an event without having to bring a bigger purse to accommodate a foundation bottle.

And speaking of in-store samples, I also save the little baggies they come in. I keep one full of Q-tips in my purse, and I use the rest to cover my lesser used brushes. I store all my brushes out on my vanity, but the ones that don't get used much collect dust. The bags easily cover them, though I'll admit it's not the prettiest sight. Form follows function!

[malday]

I always use foil samples for travel! Some of my skincare is almost impossible to travel with otherwise.

[Anonymous]

This is so true!  @TKLJ  Those Sephora baggies are the perfect size for a Q-Tips and Shiseido cotton pads. 

I found this out on my last weekend trip.  

I am sure they are also great for some jewelry, bobby pins, hair ties, a few perfume sample vials, etc.   

I like to pack as light as possible! 

[Beadshopgirl]

I mentioned it already last year, but Bite Agave Lip Mask is amazing on dry patches and eczema. I had really stubborn patches on my eyelids, and this healed them.  I also always use it around my nostrils when I have a cold.

[NarNarNars]

@Beadshopgirl, @txcatx, @Amysangel and everyone else who is interested in trying (or swears by) agave mask for dry patches and/or eczema-- since this product has a lanolin base, it just might do the same trick if you try pure lanolin on your problematic areas. Those pure lanolin tubes (Lansinoh brand can be found pretty much every target or walmart) are most often recommended to breastfeeding moms for cracked nipples, and they are much, MUCH cheaper than the lip mask. 🙂

[MariekeBT]

I did not know this! I haven't had dry patches for a while, but I can get the ones around my nostrils if I blow my nose too much when I get sick. Will have to keep this tip handy. 🙂 

[txcatx]

I tried this trick from @Beadshopgirl and was amazed! It cleared my eyelid eczema in a week or so!

[Amysangel]

This is exactly where I have my eczema!! I am so going to do this tonight!

[xxsour]

I use the TONYMOLY I'm Real mask every week (love the avocado), and I noticed theres a lot of product still left in the bag. I keep the extra and rub it on my face the next few days. I get more use out of the mask that way. It helps with my dry dry dry skin.

[purly]

A lot of mine are just techniques I learned from other people.

Wings: instead of drawing a line outward when doing a wing, I hold a small rubber guide line going from the end of my eye to the end of my eyebrow and trace out the distance I want my wing to go. I use the beauty blender liner designer as my guideline because it is not too rigid so it fits in the curve of my eye socket. The angle creates a slight uplifting effect.

Makeup removal: I use coconut oil as a general purpose makeup remover. For anything it can't get off, Vaseline works. Just apply and then wash your face using your normal face wash to take off both the oil/Vaseline and the dissolved makeup.

Rough elbows: my elbows are naturally rough if I don't treat them. I applied Vaseline to one and not the other for a month once, every night before bed. At the end of the month the left one (the one I had treated) was soft and the right one was still rough. These days I am trying to cut back on the use of petroleum based products, so I use a cuticle cream instead.

Bright blush: because I'm paler than most, many blushes are too bright or dark on me. I apply those using a loose bristled brush and then go over them with my setting powder to lighten the color.

Eyeshadow: For certain glittery shadows, applying a very dark (like black) base below will make the glitter really shine. To increase the pigmentation of any shadow and create a foil effect for shadows with shimmer, wet a synthetic eye brush with Mac fix+ and then apply. Using a shadow primer is sufficient if you don't want high pigmentation or a foil effect.

[purly]

Blush placement: I imagine a line downward from the pupil of my eye when staring directly ahead and another line from the tip of my nose toward my cheekbone. I place my blush at the point where those two lines intersect and brush along my cheekbone. 

Brush cleaning: A lot of people know the trick of mixing two parts dish soap and one part olive oil, but I have found that in particular the Kirkwood dish soap from Costco mixes really well with safflower oil. When I mix them, they turn into a thickened soft white soap that seems to be useful for far more than just cleaning my brushes. I stick to the same ratio.

Lipstick colors: take pictures of various body parts like the inside of your mouth with your phone and use the dropper tool of an art app to pull out different shades. Save the shade palette and look for lipsticks that are those colors. They will look more natural on you.

Growing your hair out: despite what you may read, sometimes you have to just get your hair cut less often. I switched to getting my hair trimmed twice a year. In the mean time, I did frequent hair masks, avoided any heat treatments, stopped dying my hair, and started using non-tearing hair bands (current favorite is the invisibobble)

Mascara application: if you are clumsy and nick your eye with the wand, try squinting the eye before applying. It takes a little practice to adapt the way you apply, but it seems worth it for your vision.

Hazel eye enhancement: It seems like magic to everyone else when I do my makeup and suddenly have green eyes. They are used to seeing brown and don't notice that my eyes are actually hazel. There are a few pigments that enhance/pull out the green color in my eyes really well. The Clinique Black Honey liner works best, but I have also had some luck with aubergine shades. If you have hazel eyes, experiment and see what works for you.

Contour shades: if most contour shades are pulling orange on you, look for an ashen brown/grey brown contour shade instead.

[alexasteph]

Pretty boring... but I use clear mascara/brow gel to tame flyaways. I try not to use a ton of product on my hair since I only wash it a couple of times a week, so smoothing serum is too much. The wand allows for precise application, and I can take it all the way down the strands to keep things in shape. 

[purly]

Check the ingredients of your clear brow gel, but usually it's just glycerin. You can get a giant container of glycerin for like $10 on Amazon and it really has a lot of different uses. Great for minimizing frizz as you have discovered, but tons of other uses as well.

[TKLJ]

I save plastic knives from takeout meals and use them as spatulas to scoop out products packaged in jars. I only dip each knife once, so the product stays hygienic. I set the dirty knives aside and wash them with my brushes every week.

[Anonymous]

And here I was thinking about buying a set of spatulas.... so much smarter!

[fairlywell]

I feel like everyone does this, but on a no-makeup day a swipe of bronzer or contour powder as eyeshadow adds a little something. (But make sure your bronzer or contour agrees with your eyes!)