First, you can try the jaw line method. Use a brush, sponge or cotton bud and apply near your chin and lower cheeks to see how it blends with your neck.

If you don't think that's enough to judge, you can also try a half-face of two colors to compare. The right color will seem to disappear when applied, and will look like second skin. It will blend in with your neck and overall tones, and you'll look like you're not wearing any makeup at all.

As for lighting, it's wonderful if your foundation matches in EVERY situation, but sometimes-direct sun, a tinted windshield, flourescent lights and the like, can throw off the look. If it matches 95% of the time, and people start telling you how great you look, then you know you've found your color. =)

Am I cool toned or warm toned?

A general rule of thumb is to look at the underside of your arm. If your veins appear bluish, you are cool toned. If they appear greenish, you are warm toned. If they are neither, you are neutral.

I need to tweak my foundation shade. How do I do this?

Sometimes your color changes (due to sunbathing, season, etc) and you need to tweak your foundation. To make the color darker: Try mixing with a darker foundation shade, a bronzer (Warmth all-over face color is perfect) or deeper eyeshadow or blush.

To make the color lighter: Try mixing with a lighter foundation shade, concealer, Mineral Veil, or a lighter eye shadow.

Can I use the foundation wet?

This is a great trick for those who want heavier coverage! Just spray the brush with water or Evian, and then swirl, tap and buff as usual. The foundation will stay on 2 or 3 hours longer than usual. Take note though, that you need to practice doing this several times since you might overdo it the first time. Practice makes perfect.

What do I use to "conceal" red spots and dark circles?

Often a lighter foundation color works well (like 1.2 if you use 2.3). Multi-tasking Minerals such as Summer Bisque or Bisque work well as concealers. Use a concealer brush and your normal foundation color and then go back over the area "tapping in" the foundation with the brush until you get the desired coverage. Well Rested works well with the undereyes. Bisque, Well Rested or even your own foundation can be mixed with your moisturizer or eye cream and apply gently with your finger. You can also put the eye cream on first and then pat in the minerals.

Use any one of the following (depending on the season): 1) same color foundation dabbed on with taklon brush (before anything else or after primer if you use this) and then buff it in along with the foundation application. 2) Summer Bisque, a darker foundation (go up one shade or use another foundation) or Well Rested. 3) A cream concealer on the spots that need covering (only if really red). Next wait 3-5 min, go back and look at your face. Add more if redness still showing through and wait again. Mineral foundation needs to "settle in" and you can build easier than you can take away. Once you figure out what works for you this process won't take as long. You can also "set" your makeup (when the whole face is done) with a spritz of any water of your choice.

Use bare's Anti-Aging under eye cream, dust a little foundation over it, apply Emphasize It with your pinkie finger, then apply Summer Bisque (or Bisque, whatever your color preference is) with a small Taklon Concealer Brush. For any spot where the skin is really dark, lay the head of the brush with a little pressure from the tip of my finger and roll it across the skin from one side to the other, depositing the minerals on the skin.

The only thing that will cover the dark circles is a concealer that is very peachy in color Blend, and then set with a very light dusting of MV (if you desire). Yellow and green concealers cover/neutralize redness so these do very little for dark circles. The peachy color counters the dark/grayness that people have under their eye. This is something that is usually hereditary and gets lighter or darker with the amount of sleep and stress you have in your life. Use a very good under eye concealer, as regular moisturizers are not meant to work under the eye and makes creasing worse in that area throughout the day. Favorite, "industrial strength" concealers that really do cover even very dark circles are Cinema Secrets base in any of the correcting colors (#6 series), Touche Éclat (the peachy shade, #3?) and Origins concealer in "Neutralizer" which has a light feel and doesn't crease as badly throughout the day. Also, you don't want to conceal with the peachy color all the way under the eye, creating a half ring. You only want to apply the color where you are dark, especially if you have dark, recessed under eye circles.

How to clean brushes?

Swipe your brush on a Huggies baby wipe after each use and then weekly swirl in Purity (by Philosophy), or your favorite gentle shampoo or face wash, until clean and rinse in COLD water, drying them on a washcloth with the heads hanging over the side of the vanity.

Sally's has a Face Secrets Brush Cleaner that works very well at cleaning brushes. Bare has a brush cleaner, too, as well as Garden Botanika. Baby wash works well. Just be sure not to get the metal part (ferrule) wet and make sure you lay the brush over the edge of your counter to dry. That way, water doesn't get into the base of the bristles and loosen the glue.

Another way to clean your brushes is to use alcohol, several bowls of it, as it takes a few rinses to get them clean. The alcohol dissolves oils and disinfects, and the brushes dry a *lot* faster than if you use something water-based.

You can add a drop or two of emu & lavender essential oil to the last rinse, heads over the edge over night to dry. If one foils or need to tidy them up on a day-to-day basis, just use water. Johnson & Johnson Head to Toe Baby Wash works well.

Run your brushes under lukewarm water and gently rub them on your hand. Put a pump of soap on your palm and gently swirl the brush on your hand. Run the brush under water until the water runs clear. Hang them over the edge of the sink to dry overnight.

Another popular technique is to simply add a small amount of gentle shampoo or cleanser to the palm of your hand. Add a touch of water to wet brush. Next, gently cleanse brush in a circular motion in your hand until clean. Rinse under running water. Then remove excess water from brush and shape with fingers and always dry brush by lying over a ledge, and never upright.

How do I minimize large pores?

One suggestion is the sandwich method. It is applying MV first, then foundation, then finish with the MV. Another is applying foundation with a flocked sponge. There are products like Clinique Pore Minimizer and foundation primers like Smashbox Photo Finish, Philosophy The Present or Ice Cream. Some women use straight cornstarch which is in MV. Or take a taklon concealer brush and push MV into the pores to cover/fill them. Another trick is to dampen a cotton pad and gently press it on the problem area, or dab a small amount of moisturizer onto the area. Often over application of foundation gives the pores a larger appearance and accentuates the fine lines as the powder settles in. A final smoothing with a very damp flocked sponge evens the look out.

I want to try my minerals on my nails, but I have no idea how to do this?

One way is to mix the minerals with water, applies, let dry, then go over with a top coat of clear polish. Be sure that you are making a thick mixture, but don't leave any granules of minerals. The best part of all of this is that you can try a color, and if you don't like it, or it doesn't really match what you're wearing today, or whatever, you can just wipe it off. You're not committed to it until you've put on that clear top coat. Use to the wet/dry shadow brush to apply the color.

Start with freshly buffed nails, and then apply the minerals to dry nails with an e/s brush. After that take your index finger and kind of rub the minerals all over the nail area, then top with clear polish. It's a great look particularly in the summer if you like just a hint of color with a little glimmer.

How do I make my foundation/look last all day?

You can use a primer, set with water, use rice powder under or to set your look, the Mineral Veil sandwich, or use blotting papers throughout the day. Some women swear by using Milk of Magnesia as a primer. Use an eyeshadow base on dry, not moisturized, eyes. If you are prone to oily skin use an oil free moisturizer. You may also need to exfoliate to keep your skin smooth. Unfortunately, all skin is not created equal so you may just have to touch up during the day!

I have too much product above the sifter. How can I correct this?

Hold the jar and gently, with the cover on, tap the side a lot of it will sift back through. Just remember...GENTLY!

Gently ease the sifter out and then dump the excess back in the jar and replace the sifter. Use your fingers and ease the sifter up going around the jar until it can be lifted out. Too much vigor will result in spillage.

Just hold the container flat, and tap on one side of the jar. Eventually, you'll see the product begin to build up on that side. Now, start tapping on the other side. Keep alternating, and eventually, all the powder will have fallen through the sifter.

For travel: Put in a couple of round cotton pads (the kind you use with toner, nail polish remover, etc.) right on top of the sifter and then screw the tops on really tight. The cotton pads keep the makeup from traveling on top of the sifter. You'll lose a little bit of the minerals where they touch the cotton pads through the holes but it's worth not having to worry about getting too much product on top of the sifter.

Keep the stickers on and then take the pointed end of an orange stick (cuticle pusher) or anything with a sharp point (rat tail comb) and poke out two for mineral veil since it's finer and three for everything else.

Don't use sifters at all and take the dang things out right away!

Help! My brush sheds!

This poster said it best: (paraphrased to save the names of the companies) I have two completely unusable brushes. Many women on this board swear by some brushes. I guess I got lemons. Sometimes that happens.

Some brushes shed more than others. If your brush is shedding a lot, it may be a bad brush. Depending on how old it is, it may be worth trying to get a replacement.

How do I "foil" eyeshadows?

Here's a link to instructions for how to Foil.

Timesaver tips

Use a couple of those see thru plastic divided daily vitamin/pill holders with the flip top caps like one with 7 large sections that you can favorite face/blush colors in, and another with smaller compartments for your shadows, etc. You may even have left some for mixing colors. You just have to take out 2 things, pop the tops, dip and go! There is now less chance of spillage, too. Also comes in handy when you get samples that are not in jars.

Use a contact lens case.

Some keep the most often used colors in tiny little shakers.

Keep baby wipes handy to remove color from brushes each day between real cleanings after the daily usage is over.

Others have posted small compartment containers from various stores.

Small Sterlite drawers can be used for daily use. One drawer can be used for larger brushes that won't fit in a can and other instruments (eyelash curlers, etc). One for face and the other drawer for eyes!

How do you tone down your look if you have applied too much?

You can go over the area with a flocked sponge, buff like crazy or try buffing with some mineral veil.

What is the difference between an eyeshadow, glimmer and glimpse?

• Eye shadows ~ typically matte
• Glimmers ~ very shimmery
• Glimpses ~ in between an eye shadow and a glimmer. They give more of a satin finish.

There are many ways to travel with minerals from a Ziploc bag filled with jars all the way to a mini-Kahuna. You just have to find what works best for you.

How do I smudge my eyeliner?

Use a small eyeshadow brush to smudge. You can also use a Q-tip. You might need to reapply if the color is not intense enough.

Get a smudge brush, NARS makes a winner as does Studio Basics.

Face or eyes first?

Face first, and then the eyes are the general consensus.

Here is a tip if you have "falling minerals:"

• Apply foundation as usual
• Before you do your eye color/liner, dust a generous quantity of mineral veil just below your eyes where the excess shadow would usually fall.
• Do your eye shadows and liners
• When your eye makeup is done, take your brush and brush away the excess mineral veil, which should take the excess eye shadow off your face.

Put a misting spray top on your makeup remover. Put enough of the product on the cotton square to remove the mascara, but don't get so much on the cotton square that it gets in the eyes.

Use baby shampoo! It works beautifully, and it's no "tears"! It doesn't cause problems with the tear ducts or with oils being near the eyes, but it doesn't sting. And it's very effective as well as inexpensive. Wash your hands thoroughly first, wet your face and eyes, place a drop of baby shampoo on the end of your ring finger, gently moving it over my eyelid. Splash with water to rinse off and you're done!

Apply make-up remover straight instead of mixing it with water. It breaks down the stuff better than if diluted.

Overall tips for makeup applicatio

1. Thoroughly cleanse face and moisturize (oil free for oily skin and preferably one with an SPF).
   
2. Make sure your hands stay clean. It is easy to do part of your face, do a few things and come back and then touch your face again.
   
3. Conceal dark circles and redness.
   
4. Start lightly with foundation and then build to even out your skin tone. Too much will give you a caked-on look.
   
5. Apply eye shadow. Do not overuse eye shadow but use it to enhance your eyes. Use natural looking colors for a polished daytime look. If you use eyeliner make sure the line is soft in appearance, not hard and straight.
   
6. Blush should be applied last. Smile and place it on the apples of your cheek and then blend upward toward the ears. Start sparingly and then add color. To make the look natural place some blush on the bridge of your nose, your forehead and on your jaw line.
   
7. Lipstick (gloss, etc) should match/blend with your overall look. You should own a few different shades.
   
8. Finally, remember you control the look. It's up to you how much you wear so if you want to skip part of the routine (like foundation), it's fine. Remember there are no hard and fast rules except for feeling good about yourself and what you are projecting.

Blush Application
The blush area on your face is closer to the center of your face and if you smile you will see what I like to call your "cheek balls" or apples of your cheeks. That area I personally like to use a more pinker/redder/mauvier tone depending on the look you are going for and/or the skin tone of the person to create that "blushed" look. There are different techniques for applying to the apples of your cheeks; you can apply directly over the fullest part of your cheeks or just slightly to the outside of the fullest part of the apples.

Face Contouring

The contour area on your face starts at your hairline, close to the middle of your ear and ends just before the apple of your cheeks. That's where you would apply a contour color like a darker foundation shade. The contour helps sculpt, lift the cheekbones and of course take pounds of your face. The contour colors you can use are any of the dark foundations, chisel it which is specifically a sculpting/shadowing product or darker warm toned blushes like Warmth, Thistle, Chestnut, Blush, etc. Colors that work great for the blush/apples area are Glee, Hint, Secret, Sorbet, Giddy Pink, etc. So, you can use two different colors for contouring and for blush or use the same shade for both areas.

Wet Lining your Eyes

The biggest factor that will make wet lining easier is the kind of brush you use. For many people that either a push brush (a square, synthetic brush with a flat top, varying widths depending on the brand) or a small pointed brush that is like a very miniature version of a lip brush. The second thing that will help you apply a straight line with a brush is how you hold the brush. If you have a shaky hand try anchoring either your wrist (the underneath part where you take your pulse) on your chin/cheek or rest your elbow on the counter. You want to anchor some part of your hand or arm so that it's not just floating in air and can cause more unsteadiness. If you're using a push brush you just want to wiggle it along your lash line, working end to end like you're connecting dots. If you're using a pointed liner brush you want to hold the brush parallel to your eye and sweep it across your lash line rather than holding the point of the brush directly to the lash line.

You will get a more distinct line when you apply a wet liner. To make it look more natural and not like a harsh line, wait for the liner to completely dry on your lid and then take either your same liner brush (make sure it's dry too) or a small, firm eye shadow brush to smudge out the line. This will give it a less wet look as well as a softer, smokier line.

As far as when to line, you want to do it after all of your eye shadow has been applied. Then I usually follow by applying my mascara. So, shadows, liner and then mascara. But, here's another tip for you, if you apply your liner and it's a little darker than you like, take a light shadow color and sweep it across your eye liner to soften it.

You only want to smudge on top of the liner area only. Of course if you want to do a more dramatic eye by smudging out the line a little thicker then you will be blending on top of the eye shadow too. It still shouldn't interfere with your shadow though. Well, that is unless you go really crazy and smudge up all the way to the crease or even further up. Of course, then you won't see much of the shadow, just the smudged up liner.

All the different gel and putty types of liners look so nice and also last so long. I think they are easier to use than pencils once you get the hang of it.

MAC paints make a great eyeliner.

Drop Shadow

A drop shadow is just a softer eye lining technique than the traditional, harsh eyeliner on the lower lid. Use a shadow instead of a pencil or a pencil can be used if it's one of those really soft, smudgy, powdery kinds. Anyways, I use a darker color shadow, and you softly blend the color on your lower lid. The drop shadow is soft unlike the distinct, harsh line of a liner. It's also another way to create a smoky eye but just on the lower lid.

(Said another way) Just use an eye shadow (dark or light, doesn't matter) and you apply it to your lower lid line but rather than create a harsh, thin line like you can with a traditional eye pencil, you use the powder shadow to make a softer shadow effect. It's basically a smoky eye applied to the lower lid.

Stippling

When you're using the darker colors or if you're applying a whole bunch of different colors and you want each color to show up distinctly without all blending together to make one new muddy color, try stippling your colors on rather than buffing or brushing them on. You want to tap the color onto your lid so that you concentrate the color onto your lid one little area at a time. Then take a blending or a larger fluffy crease brush to gently blend away any harsh lines. Stippling will give you exact placement of color, prevent making a big muddy mess when using several colors and you'll get less product falling all over your cheeks and lashes. Also, don't forget to use an eye base so that your shadows have something to hold onto.

The type of brush I like to use to apply darker colors with the stippling technique, is a smaller sized brush that is flat and firm so that it doesn't "flick" any colors all over the place. If you have any of the current catalogs they now show all of the brushes with descriptions on how to best use them. I like to use the Tapered Shadow Brush, which you purchase it alone or in the double-ended brush with the pointed end. I also use this brush from MAC. Use the flat sides of the brush to stipple/lay down the color and then take a larger fluffy brush to blend.

Miscellaneous Tips

Hi-light underneath your eyes right along your lashes and also in the inner corners with a glowy white-silver shade like Nude Beach, Celestine or 2000 Glimmers. It adds a very subtle ethereal glow to your eyes without looking like you're trying too hard.

Add a bit of clear radiance on top of your finished eye shadow look right to the center of your eye lid. It will add more dimension to your eyes and also again, that subtle angelic glow.

Mix Clear Radiance with your bronzer to make it more interesting rather than the every day matte look. You can also add bronzer all over your face and also to contour . Then, take a second pinkier blush and apply that just to the apple of the cheeks. It really helps shape your face and add more dimension.