EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Make-up tips from Lucie Strong

Lucie Strong has been a make-up artist for Britain's Next top Model, the Armani models and even Agness Deyn, so getting beauty tips from her is VERY exciting


LOVE & WARdrobe: What are your best tips?
Always keep your make-up brushes and tools clean by washing them in anti-bacterial liquid soap and water, so that the colours you use come out as they should and you get a clean result, and also in order to minimize the risk of getting skin or eye infections.
2) To get a natural looking foundation, when in the shop browsing foundations try applying a bit of some foundations which look like they are close in colour to your skin to your jawline when you don't have any make-up on, and buy the foundation which looks invisible on your skin due to being the same colour as the skin on your jawline.

3) To lessen the appearance of dark circles that can make you look tired, apply concealer one shade lighter than your skin on your face over the dark circles, starting from the inner corners of the eyes and extending to over the under eye area.  You need to apply the concealer quite heavily to really reduce a tired appearance.  Once you have applied the under eye concealer, blend it by patting it gently with a finger to get it even, and blend it out of any creases or wrinkles around the eyes.  Then apply loose powder over the top using a fan brush or a large eyeshadow brush (as these brushes can get into the small areas around the eyes that powder puffs cannot cover so well).  Then brush away the excess powder using a powder brush.  The powder will fix the concealer in place and will prevent the concealer collecting in any creases or wrinkles around the eyes and emphasizing them.
4) If your skin feels too dry or hot after applying foundation, concealer and powder, you can spritz your face with mineral water from a vaporizer, which will leave a fine mist over your face and will feel nice and refreshing.  Hold the vaporizer at arm's length when spraying it though, because if you spray it when it's too close to your face it will make your face look wet which would ruin the look.
5) Apply loose face powder quite heavily below the eyes before doing the eyeshadow, in order to prevent falling flecks of eyeshadow marking the skin below the eyes.  Any bits of eyeshadow which fall from the eyelids will accumulate on top of the loose face powder.  Once you have completed the eyeshadow you can simply brush the loose face powder away from under the eyes with a powder brush, and it will take the fallen eyeshadow flecks that have accumulated on top of it with it, without them leaving any marks below the eyes.
6) To make eyes appear larger or more innocent apply white kohl pencil to the inner rims of your lower eyelids.  Conversely, to make eyes appear smaller or more mysterious apply black kohl pencil to the inner rims of your lower eyelids.

7) Cleanse and moisturise your face before doing your make-up.  The moisturiser will help the foundation blend over the face better.
8) To make eyes appear greener use eye make-up in lilacs, purples, pinks and blacks.  To make eyes appear bluer use eye make-up in golds, browns, yellows and blacks.  To make eyes appear browner or for black eyes you can use most colours, as they will all go with your eyes (except if you're very dark skinned stear clear of pastel colours which will appear ashy on your skin, and stick to vibrant or deep colours which will look beautiful).
9) To make lips appear more symmetrical outline the side of your lips that you like best to the desired shape with a lipliner pencil.  Then outline your lips on the other side to mirror image the first side that you outlined.  This can be done either before or after applying lipstick and/or lip gloss.
10) To create natural looking eyebrows if your eyebrows seem too sparse/fair/absent, select an eyebrow pencil which is close in colour to the colour of your eyebrows, (except if you have fair eyebrows and you wish them to look darker, in which case use a taupe coloured eyebrow pencil).  Then draw the eyebrows on or fill them in using lots of light feathery strokes rather than just one solid line, to give the illusion of eyebrow hairs.