As college girls we often think we’re all beauty gurus – we’ve had years of makeup experiments under our belts, and we’ve picked up a lot of great tricks here and there that are worthy of passing on. But sometimes it can be difficult to take a cold, hard look in the mirror – literally – and make sure we’re really doing ourselves a service in our current makeup routines. A simple mistake, such as the following five sins of beauty, can mask your natural beauty and emphasize all of the wrong things.

You don’t match your foundation to your true color. This sin is especially easy to fall prey to if you buy drugstore foundations, because you can’t try them on in the store. However, succumbing to this sin will literally make you look like you are wearing a mask. The trick is to really be honest with yourself. Sometimes as you browse the colors you think to yourself, “There’s no way I’m THAT light.” Well, most of the time you are. Think of the nail polish effect – because of the volume of product in the bottle, it often appears darker in the bottle than it will when you put one layer on your skin. But this doesn’t mean you should aim for a darker foundation. The secret here is to pick a shade that blends into the color of your neck, not your face.

You contour with a warm bronzer. We’ve all heard the hype around the beauty community lately – highlighting and countouring is what separates us from the red carpet celebrities so many girls wish to emulate. But countouring particularly does not come without its own pitfalls. Bronzer strategically sweeps across the hollows of the face – at the base of your cheekbones, on the sides of your nose, and the hollows of your temple – can give you that great oval Megan Fox shape we all crave. However, choosing a bronzer with warm tones will make you look orange. Though muddy or ashy bronzers seem less appealing, they are best for contouring because your goal is to make a shadow, not add a faux tan.

You put product on dry skin. This is particularly easy to do in the winter, when skin goes from normal to dry in what seems like minutes. Before you put on foundation or any facial product always make sure to moisturize, or else the product will flake off and further strip moisture from your skin. Allow your moisturizer to soak in and set for five minutes before you go on with your routine – and don’t forget your neck too!

You go overboard with glitz. I’ll admit that I’ve done it – those shimmery, metallic eyeshadows look so beautiful and innocent in the store, so you go ahead and take the plunge. The dark truth behind these beautiful pigments is that shimmer can accentuate fine lines and make your skin look duller, drier, and more wrinkled than it actually is. Read: older. The trick is to balance these shadows out with a matte base, or only use shimmer when highlighting.

You pile on a shade of lipstick with uncomplimentary undertones. We all have pink or yellow undertones in our skin that give us our own signature glow – which can be easily masked or poorly framed by choosing the wrong shade of lipstick. First of all, make sure to either choose a moisture-rich formula or exfoliate and apply a thin layer of salve to your lips before applying to keep them from drying out and cracking – don’t pile on the color! When it comes down to it, try to pick a soft and natural color to automatically compliment your look. If you have cool undertones, pick lipsticks with cool undertones. If you have warm undertones opts for plums, corals, reds, or wine colors.

What do you think?

What do you think of these beauty sins? Have you sinned lately? What sins would you add to this list? Leave a comment in the section below.

Beauty

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