How to choose the perfect blush shade
Does anyone else have trouble finding flattering blush colors for their skin tones? Yoshimoto Bua's advice is genius: "I like choosing a color that might be a little lighter than you think you might want for blush — because it actually shows up and it's much easier to blend and use," she says. "Then, you can go in later with a deeper tone if you want to punch it up."
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You can soften your contour with some blush
Yoshimoto Bua says that she sometimes contours the brow and nose bridge area using the tiniest amount of neutral blush if she's going for a more understated look.
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How to create the most flattering eye shape
From the deep-set eyes to monolids, there's so much variety with eye shape. To create the perfect shadow shape customized to your own eyes, Yoshimoto Bua recommends using your own face structure (and eyeball, even) as a guide. For shadow above the lid, she says you should "kind of go with the contour of the eye," feeling for where your eyeball ends.
As for creating wings, she recommends drawing an imaginary line from the "tip of your nose to the end of your eyebrow" to find out how far to wing out your eye makeup (as she explains, any farther than that and you're drawing on bone, which can mess with the shape). She also notes that it's often most flattering to "go straight out and lift it a little" with your shadow or liner, so your eyes don't get "dragged down."
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Tips for creating a flawless bold eye look
One of the toughest aspects of creating a bold eye look? Symmetry. As Yoshimoto Bua puts it, "Sometimes we nail it, sometimes we don't." Luckily, she has some great tips for avoiding and fixing mistakes. First, she stabilizes her drawing hand by placing a finger on the face ("like when you're playing pool," she says). As for erasing errors, she likes to go in with a "concealer brush with a tiny bit of product" to gently "feather the ends," adjusting shapes and blurring harsh edges.
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