The Beauty Counter: Answers to your beauty questions

How do I keep my foundation looking fresh all day long?

To get the most out of your foundation, it is absolutely crucial for you to prepare your face. By that I mean you need to clean, moisturize and prime your skin. Use a deep-clean facial cleanser to get the days' worth of dirt off your skin. Next, moisturize your skin. As much as you want to get the dirt and oil off your skin, you still need to retain essential oils that your body produces so that your skin will remain healthy and vibrant (Neutrogena Healthy Defense with SPF is great, especially during the hot summer months). Right before you start your makeup routine, you need to apply a primer. Wearing a primer will allow the foundation to glide onto your skin, giving the foundation an overall smoother finish. Primers can help minimize pores and reduce fine lines, and some will help cancel out redness in your skin so the application will look more airbrushed (my personal favorite is the HD Microperfecting Primer). Prepping your skin, in my opinion, is more important than the foundation itself, because if you take good care of your skin, the less foundation you'll actually need.

I have dark circles! How do I get rid of them?

To cancel out that bluish-gray dark color under your eyes, use a contrasting color corrector to help hide those dark colors. If you're light-colored, use a salmon or light peach color. If you're medium to dark, look for a peach or orangey color corrector. Pat that gently over the dark circle, and then take a concealer color, generally one to two shades lighter than your skin tone, and apply that on top of the color corrector in a light tapping motion until it's well blended. Then you can move forward with applying your foundation, or just set it with powder and say bye-bye, dark circles!

My eyes are small. How do I make them look bigger?

To make your eyes looks bigger, apply a white, neutral or flesh-colored liner to your bottom water line of your eye (my favorite is MAC Chromagraphic Pencil in NC15/NW20), which is the line of skin directly between your bottom lashes and your eyeball itself. Instant widening effect and brightening, too! For those who go into panic overload when someone brings something foreign close to your eye, consider applying a lengthening mascara (Cover Girl Lash Blast and YSL Baby Doll) to give your eye a more "doe-eyed" effect. Focus on the middle section of your lashes -- this will draw the eye upward for an even more opening effect. If the thought of eyelash curlers, or "metal pinchers," as my son so affectionately refers to them, don't make you run for the hills, something as simple as taking 10 seconds to curl your lashes can certainly widen your eye.

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Anne Hudson

About Anne

Anne Hudson, a self-taught makeup artist in Cape Girardeau, has had a passion for makeup since she was old enough to know what powder was. She could write a book about a tube of red lipstick, but for now, she's offering her best tips in Flourish magazine. Got a question for Anne? Send it to rgautschy@semissourian.com, and you might find the answer in a future issue of Flourish.