Makeup Tips For Beginners | 9 Must-Know Makeup Tips

(Last Updated On: June 3, 2023)

Doing your makeup is fun, can help boost your confidence, and it can even be a creative outlet for some. Makeup is huge right now, and the idea that you can do whatever you want with it is absolutely amazing! But if you’re totally new to it, you’re probably always on the hunt for some easy makeup tips perfect for beginners. The tips that will help you take your makeup skills to the next level!

Makeup can seem overwhelming when you’re new to it, with all the looks, inspiration, and information, sometimes you just don’t even know where to start!

But don’t sweat! Whether you’re a beginner with no makeup experience at all, or you’re a long-time makeup wearer, here are a few must-know tips for flawless makeup application, every single time!

Makeup Tips For Beginners | 9 Must-Know Makeup Tips

This post may contain affiliate links. You can read more about affiliates in my disclaimer.

Take Good Care Of Your Skin

Before we get into the other makeup tips for beginners, we need to start with the basics. And the basics are all about that base.

When it comes to easy, and flawless, makeup application you need to start off with a good base, aka healthy and happy skin! Now you obviously don’t have to have perfect skin to achieve your desired makeup looks, we all have a little something like blemishes, breakouts, or an uneven skin tone, but you do want to take good care of your skin regardless.

Having a good skincare routine is the best way to ensure you’re taking good care of your skin. And no, you don’t have to have a 15 step skincare routine. You can totally keep it minimal.

At the very least, you want to make sure you’re doing a few things for your skin daily. Remove your makeup at the end of each day, cleanse your skin every morning and night, and always apply a moisturizer. When your skin looks and feels good, not only will applying makeup feel that much easier, you’ll feel more confident too!

Oh and p.s. just simply cleansing and moisturizing before applying makeup can help make it stay on much longer!

If you’re totally new to skincare, check out The Skincare Mistakes You Need To Avoid! And if you have oily skin, check out The Best Skincare Products For Oily Skin!

Discover What Works For You

One of the most important makeup tips for beginners, use the products that work for you. Know your skin type, (dry, oily, combo, normal), and find out which products work for it.

If you have super oily skin, you might want to skip out on an extra dewy foundation because it may move around too much. (Instead try this foundation!) If you have dry skin, using matte products might make your skin feel too dry or tight. Or you may be able to get away with using anything! That’s for you to discover and learn.

Bottom line: don’t force yourself to use products that don’t work for you just because they’re trendy, hyped up, or everyone else is using them.

If you have oily skin and you’re on the hunt for a high-quality and affordable foundation, check out The Best Drugstore Foundations For Oily Skin!

Another really important thing to remember, learn techniques that work for you. Everyone has a different face shape, different skin textures, and different makeup preferences. A specific makeup technique that works for one person, might not work for you. Play around with different application methods and discover what you like best!

Invest In Good Tools + High Quality Products

You could have all the makeup skills in the world and still struggle to create looks if the products and tools you use aren’t good.

It doesn’t matter if you use makeup brushes or blending sponges to apply your makeup. What does matter is if those tools are working for you or not. Investing in high quality makeup tools is on of the best makeup tips for beginners because your tools could literally be the make it or break it when it comes to creating stunning makeup looks.

And high-quality doesn’t have to mean expensive. My absolute favorite brushes are these brushes and these brushes from Wet N Wild, a super affordable drugstore brand.

The same goes for your makeup products. You want to use high-quality products. Which, once again, don’t have to be expensive. There are so many affordable makeup brands that produce high-quality products! Two of my favorite affordable brands are e.l.f Cosmetics and Wet N Wild.

Prime

Primer does exactly what it sounds like it does, it primes your skin for the rest of your makeup application. But not only should you prime your face, you should also prime your eyelids and lips before applying makeup.

Let’s break each type of primer down.

A face primer helps foundation go on smoother and can even help it last longer. Some primers can even help smooth fine lines or wrinkles, and hide larger pores! There are also different types of primers that can give your makeup totally different looks. You can use a mattifying primer, like this one, to keep your makeup looking matte and shine-free, (a great option for those with oil skin!). If you want a glowy makeup look, you can use a dewy primer like this one!

Eyelid primer primes your eyelids for makeup. It can also help keep your eye shadow from moving or creasing, and can help it last longer too! My favorite eyelid primer is the Urban Decay Primer Potion. It really helps your eye makeup stay put for hours!

And last but not least, priming your lips! The best way to prime your lips is to first exfoliate, then moisturize. You can use an exfoliating lip scrub like the Henne Organics Lip Exfoliator or the e.l.f Lip Exfoliator . Then moisturize with your favorite lip balm, (this one and this one are two of my favorites!), and your lips will be super smooth and ready for flawless lipstick application!

Do Your Eye Makeup Before Your Face Makeup

It seems as though the beauty world is divided by those who do their face makeup before their eye makeup, and those who do their eye makeup before their face makeup. I prefer the latter, and here’s why.

If you’re doing an eye makeup look that’s a little outside of your comfort zone, exploring new techniques, or still a little shaky when doing winged liner, you’re more than likely going to mess up. (And that’s totally okay, you’re learning!) But if you mess up your eye look before you apply your foundation, it’s much easier to fix your mistakes. You won’t have to take everything off and instead, you’ll just have to fix the eye area.

If you do your foundation, concealer, and other face products first, you might ruin your makeup if you mess up on your eyes. You might even have to start all over again from the beginning, which doesn’t sound like fun.

Pro Tip:when it’s time to apply your foundation, just use a small brush and take your time around your eyes and eyebrows. This way, you won’t mess up your eye makeup when trying to put on the rest of your products!

Always Use A Base + Transition Shade

Whenever you’re doing an eye look, no matter how neutral or dramatic the look is going to be, you want to use a both a base shade and a transition shade.

A base shade is a neutral eye shadow color that’s usually a shade that’s close to, or is, the color of your eyelids. The base shade is applied all over your eye space, (from right under your brow bone to your entire eyelid). A base shade helps set your eyelid primer. But it can also be used as a primer on it’s own, or a neutralizer that cancels out any veins or discoloration. The base shade pretty much sets up a blank canvas for you to create any eye look flawlessly.

A transition shade is another neutral color, usually a little darker than your natural lid color. Transition shades are applied to the eyelid crease right after you apply your base shade. A transition shade does exactly what it sounds like it does, it allows different eye shadow shades to transition seamlessly with one another. It’s used to make that lighter lid color, darker crease color, and lighter brow bone color all transition more naturally.

Perfecting Winged Liner

Winged liner is a whole look. It’s also totally hard to do, don’t let anyone fool you. Mastering winged liner takes lots of practice and sometimes a few little hacks.

Since it can be a little challenging to draw a straight enough line with eyeliner, a great beginner’s tip is to use something to guide you. You can carefully use a card or piece of paper to help you draw the perfect wing, or you can invest in some skin-safe tape to use like this one!

Another really helpful eyeliner tip is to always start with the actual wing. I know that sounds even more difficult, but it actually makes doing winged liner so much easier! If you start with the wing and work your way into the lid, you’ll be able to get the harder part out of the way. All you have to do is fill the rest in and you’re good to go!

Personally, my winged liner game went to the next level when I started using the Clinique Pretty Easy Eyelining Pen. It has such an easy to work with tip that makes doing the perfect wing super easy!

Pro Tip: if winged liner is near impossible for you to do, you can also use an eyeliner stamp like the Vamp Stamp!

Always Use A Light Hand

This is probably one of the most important makeup tips for beginners!

Whenever you’re applying any type of makeup, always apply it with a light hand. You can always add more of a product if it isn’t enough. But if you apply too much product all at once, you’ll have to remove it or try to blend it out, which is always easier said than done. Remember, it’s easier to build up than it is to tone down.

Applying your makeup with a light hand and slowly building it up is also an easy way for you to discover how much product you prefer using. After a little practice, you’ll know the exact amount of a product you prefer, which will totally make doing your makeup that much easier! Applying your makeup with a light hand can also keep your makeup from looking too harsh, and help you achieve a more natural look.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

No one, in the history of the entire world, has ever woken up naturally good at doing something. (Okay maybe some people have, but it’s extremely rare!)

The only way you’re going to get good at something is if you practice it. Keep working hard, take those failures with pride, and practice. You’ll be where you want to be in no time.

P.S. makeup is art, and art is subjective. If you like the way you do things, even if they aren’t perfect or what everyone else is doing, and you think you look beautiful, well then you’ve already mastered achieving flawless makeup.

Stay pretty bby!

Read More:

Mascara Tips For Beginners

Contouring Tips For Beginners

Foundation Tips For Beginners