There is something invigorating about putting together a full makeup look, but this also makes it harder to identify specific reasons why the look worked or didn’t work. In fact, this is where a beginner can get very confused. Your eyeliner might feel symmetrical one day and droop the next. Your foundation might look natural in one mirror and heavy in the next. Rather than seeking to create a full face every time, you’re better off considering your makeup as a combination of smaller skillsets. Practicing your individual skills will help you make much more noticeable progress than practicing random makeup combinations will. Practice a flawless complexion on its own, then practice sculpting your eyebrows, then practice blending, etc. Each skill should become second nature before being combined with others.
Begin your journey by dedicating a certain time frame to one facial feature. Say, for example, you’re having trouble blending your eyeshadow, you want to commit 15 minutes to blending practice only. Use a very minimal amount of product, limit yourself to one brush for applying the product, one brush for softening the edges, and don’t do your eyeliner and lashes until you’re done blending. Examine your shadow placement. Is one color starting further in the fold than the other? Does both shadows extend to the same point in the outer corner? Is one blend smoother than the other? If you have trouble blending your foundation and concealer, only apply these base products to one half of your face, then assess the product placement and texture. It might not be glamorous, but if your aim is to perfect your makeup skills, focusing on your application of certain products will help you see tangible results much faster than if you practice a random look on a given day.
Don’t go heavy-handed with your makeup. This is very common in beginning makeup artists and can easily be corrected if you know to use less of a product initially when practicing. When you first start out using an eyeshadow, blush, and contour, you want to apply more of that color when you notice the issue lies in its placement, not its saturation. When a heavy layer of eyeshadow or contour is applied to the face, it is very difficult to soften that product and the more product you use to blend it, the wider you end up applying it. A good fix for this mistake is to apply less than you think you need and build up color from there. Be sure to tap off any excess product from your brush, place the color in the precise placement that will be the darkest and blend the edges around this focal point. If it appears muddy, stop adding color and take a clean brush to blend the edges only, while avoiding the center. When you feel like you have too much makeup on, step away from the mirror for a few moments and then reexamine your work with a fresh eye.
Practicing in intervals will benefit you much more than practicing an ambitious routine every once in a while. It takes only 15 minutes to perfect a skillset, and can easily be incorporated into your day. Start out by reviewing a single example from one image, or one look you’ve already done and think about what single result you’d like to achieve. During this practice session, dedicate a large chunk of time to focused repetition of that skill. Draw the same lips three times in a row, perfect the symmetry on both brows, experiment with the most uplifting placement of blush, etc. In the remaining 2-3 minutes of your time, take the product off one half of your face and redo it. Doing this will give you a clear idea of what your previous practice session looked like and help you judge your progress. Not only does it give you a comparison to see your skills and how they improve over time, but it will also force you to learn your facial features and your own makeup habits by taking mental notes.
Get helpful feedback. When you’re practicing makeup, don’t just rely on other people’s opinions, which is not as helpful as you may think. “It looks great!” will not help you when you’re trying to figure out why one eye looks much more lifted than the other. It’s better for a professional makeup artist to say “Is your crease placement lower than your eyelid?” or “Did you blend your shadow too far down onto your upper eyelid?” or “Did you apply your blush evenly on both cheeks? Try again with more pressure on the apple of your cheeks.” Don’t rely on your friends and family to judge your work. Take a picture of your makeup at the end of each practice session and examine what you think needs changing. Don’t be perfectionistic when reviewing your look, just look for patterns. Notice if your blush seems to be in the same spot for every practice session and think about how high on your face that should be. If your eyeliner is always thinner on the inside corner, take a look at how you’re holding your eyeliner brush. You need these small details that are easy to overlook to have a more structured routine and to help make your next practice session better.
A makeup artist’s journey will not be one long road of rapid improvement. Improvement in makeup will look like a few things: improved blending, better color placement, a more steady hand, and a look that feels balanced. When you feel stuck, don’t push forward and practice a full look; narrow the task and work on something specific. Focus on one feature at a time, one brush at a time, and try to learn something new from your mistakes. When you look at your work in the future, the pieces that made up your full makeup look at that session will begin to fall into place and you won’t feel like you’re applying makeup at random because you know what you’re doing.