1. Thickly lining your bottom lash line. Placing too much emphasis on your lower lash line drags your eye down, making your eyes look smaller and making you look older. Outlining your entire eye in black liner should be reserved for smoky eye looks at night.
2. Wearing your blush too low. Wearing blush below your nose visually drags your cheeks down, making you look older and your cheeks saggier. Imagine a line below the end of your nose that connects to the end of your ears and try to keep blush above it.
3. Overlining your lips to make them appear larger. This never looks natural. If you want the appearance of fuller lips, use light-reflecting glosses, nude shades, and Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker XL Extreme Plump Collagen Lip Shine if you like lip plumpers.
4. Using old school wedge sponges to apply your foundation. These soak up your foundation and hold bacteria. If you must sponge, a beautyblender is the way to go.
5. Lining only the outside of your lips with lip liner and doing so after lipstick. A fresher look: Outline your lip shape and fill the lips in entirely before applying lipstick. This way, when your lipstick wears away, you still have color underneath and not a ring around the mouth. Filling in also gives the lipstick something to which it can anchor.
6. Using bronzer all over the face to appear more tan. Malibu Barbie, there's a better way! If you must use a bronzer, use a fluffy brush to lightly dust on the high points of your face. Otherwise, I use a matte bronzer to add shadow to contour areas only-under the cheekbones, at temples and hairline.
7. Smoking. This does nothing for you in the beauty department. Many employers help cover the cost of smoking cessation programs. Find support and kick this habit. Your face will thank you.
8. Tanning. You can still be a bronzed beauty without the harsh effects of natural sunlight.
9. Using one eye shadow brush for everything. No single brush can do it all. If you find your shadow never looks as blended and professional as you'd like, I bet you are relying on one brush to do it all. At the very least, you need a fluffy crease brush and a flat shader brush.
10. Using a nude lip color. There are nude lip colors and then there are what I call "mouth-erasers." Your skin tone plays a big role here but nearly every one would benefit from a little pink or peach in their nude lip color. Colors like MAC's Creme de Nude are extremely difficult to wear. One of my favorites is NARS Lip Lacquer in Chelsea Girls.
