None of these are your fault. Every one of them is something the industry taught people to do, or never bothered to explain. They are also all fixable in under a minute.
1. Matching foundation on the back of your hand
Your hand is a different color and a different undertone from your face. Swatch three shades along the jawline instead and look at them in daylight. The one you cannot see is the right one.
2. Judging a shade in the first thirty seconds
Most foundations oxidize as they set, and many pull darker or more orange within a couple of minutes. Apply, wait two minutes, then decide. This one habit prevents most unfinished bottles.
3. Using concealer as a second foundation
Concealer is denser and usually lighter, and it is built to sit in small areas. Spread over the whole face it creases, oxidizes differently from your foundation and makes everything look flat. Use it where you need it and nowhere else.
4. Powdering everything
Powder where you actually get shiny, which for most people is the center panel of the face, and leave the rest alone. Skin that catches a bit of light reads as skin. Skin powdered edge to edge reads as a surface.
5. Skipping lip liner because it sounds fussy
Liner is not about drawing an outline anyone can see. Fill in the whole lip with it before color and the shade lasts hours longer, stops bleeding at the edges, and survives a coffee. It is the highest return thirty seconds in makeup.
The one that is not on the list
Wearing the wrong thing for the occasion is not a mistake. A full face on a Tuesday is not a mistake. Makeup is one of the few things you get to be completely frivolous about, and anybody selling you rules about age or appropriateness is selling you something else.
Face, lips, or our Start Here picks.
