a healthier life

Learn to Use Cosmetics with Confidence

We’ve all done it: purchased that compact or eye shadow or lipstick that was on sale, only to get it home and discover we’d wasted our money, even on sale! That’s why learning how to choose the best cosmetics for your skin can also be good for your budget.

Sound silly? Not at all. You are a work of art to begin with, a woman of beauty and confidence. Cosmetics are merely a tool that works to enhance the outer look of your inner beauty and intelligence.

Speaking of intelligence, you can improve your cosmetics confidences by taking good care of your skin. It’s the largest organ of our bodies and serves important purposes to keep our internal workings inside us, and to protect us from outside hazards such as bacteria. So it deserves our best attention.

So you skin is clean and glowing, what’s next? Foundation! A good foundation is essential no matter what kind of skin you have, and it’s especially important if your skin is dry or oily. Dry skin should have a creamy foundation for extra moisture, while oily skin should have water-based foundation to avoid adding more oil. Normal or combination skin can choose whatever works best.

Just as an artists often coats a canvas with a base color, your next cosmetic choice should be a good foundation. Don’t cut corners on your foundation; you and your skin may regret it later. To choose the correct foundation shade for your skin, dab a tiny bit inside your wrist. Skin there is likely to be closest to your facial skin tone. Don’t put the sample on the back of your hand; it’s usually much more tanned than your face, so it could trick you into choosing a foundation that’s took dark.

First, most stores use overhead fluorescent lights that wash out skin tones. This can lead you to choose a foundation that’s too light, making you look like Casper the Friendly Ghost. On the other hand (literally), we tend to test foundation shades on the backs of our hands. This is also a bad method because our hands get more tanned than our faces, leading us to choose foundation that’s too dark for our facial skin.

The problem is that circumstances seem to conspire against you when making this cosmetic purchase. The fluorescent lights in most stores make you look too pale. Plus, we tend to try out shades on our hands, which usually get much more tanned than our faces. So here’s the trick: Apply a little sample of foundation to the inside of your wrist, and then go outside and check the shade in sunlight. If you’re happy with what you see, that’s probably a good shade for your face, too.

Remember what we said about learning some biology to choose cosmetics? Here’s a little more advice: Purchase the best cosmetics your budget will allow. Cheap cosmetics often contain chemicals that are better left off your skin. Plus, cheap cosmetics often look like just what they are — cheap! So read the labels, and if you’re even the tiniest bit unsure about the composition, don’t buy it.

Finally, when choosing cosmetics, it’s always a good idea to have a friend along. For one thing, selecting cosmetics or getting a quick makeover at the counter is fun! For another, it’s good to get a “second opinion” on whatever the beauty consultant may offer you, or something that may be enticing. After all, you want your cosmetics to enhance your natural beauty, not turn you into a nightmare.