Quick Makeup Tips

The upcoming summer months are the most trying on our skin and on our makeup. Makeup can be an art form in itself, but with these tips it can all be a little easier, especially when you're out on the go and don't have time to stop at home and freshen up.

Lipstick will stay longer and not run or spider out if you apply a think coating of baby powder to it after blotting lightly.

If you are out at work or running errands and notice that your face becomes oily in the middle of the day and you cannot stop to wash it, simply tear off a piece of toilet tissue and lightly blot it on the oily patches. This will help to reduce any shine until you can get home and wash your face to remove all of the excess oil.

If you notice that your face is lacking color and you somewhat resemble a ghost (and you aren't gothic or trying to look that way on purpose) then do what the women from older times used to do before blush, pinch your cheeks a few times to produce a blushing effect. A few times per cheek should be enough, but pause and check to see what color your cheeks end up turning after every other pinch. Be careful not to overdo it or you will look like you have a rash on your face.

Are your hands dry and cracking? If so, this treatment can help, but it is not to be used more than twice a week at night or as needed during the day so that you can monitor the progress and let your hands breathe during the treatment. Before you go to bed at night, apply a generous amount of lotion to your hands and then put on a pair of tight (but not too tight) latex gloves. If you get up in the middle of the night you can take off the gloves and feel the difference a few hours has made. A similar treatment can be done to dry or cracking feet but it is preferred to do this process during the day, maybe while watching a movie so that the progress can be monitored. Simply apply a very good amount of lotion to the feet especially the dry areas and wrap with saran wrap. Let stay on for at least an hour. You can loosen the wrappings to apply more lotion if necessary.

If your hair becomes weighed down and perhaps appears a bit oily, you can tease it a bit up top with a comb or your fingers until you are able to wash it to give it some body. Or you can run some warm water onto your hands and run your fingers through your hair, then follow up with a few scrubs from a paper towel. The paper towel will help you achieve the teased look a bit easier if you use fast scrubbing motions.

Smaller or thin lips can appear to have a fuller look by outlining the outside of your lips with a darker shade of lip liner a bit lower than your lip line. It is sometimes easier if you just draw the top and fill it in with color then blot onto your bottom lip slowly to create a bottom line that appears even with the top.