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Transform Your Products: Photo Finish Series- Mattely In Love

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Christie Randall
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Tufts chapter.

If the weather lately has been any indication, spring is finally in the air. As the weather and scenery change from dark and dreary to bright and colorful, why not take some inspiration to switch up your makeup look? In this three part “photo-finish” series, I’m going to teach you multiple ways to incorporate different finishes of makeup into your look.
As the most basic finish, it only seems fitting to start with matte. Matte means a flat color without any shine or reflection. This does not mean that matte is boring! In fact, it’s the opposite. Matte finishes can easily be one of the most dramatic. I’ve already raved about the beauty of using natural mattes for an everyday look, but colorful mattes are extremely fun to work with!? 
 


?For Your Eyes:
  • First off, when working with mattes, make sure to use a matte primer underneath to make sure no shine is added to the look. (Maybelline Color Tattoo 24 Hour Shadow in Tough As Taupe or Urban Decay PrimerPotion in Eden, both available at Ulta)
  • For a fun unexpected pop of color, put a nude matte color over your lid. Finish with a sweep of color in your crease. You can either stay along the curve or your eye or if you want to take an edgier approach, put the shadow in a straight line from the edge of your crease. (The former can be seen on Sophie Ellis-Bextor)
  • Cat-eyes are always a cute simple look but you don’t always have to use black eyeliner! Using either a liquid eyeliner, pencil liner or a dampened brush and shadow, create a colorful cat eye over a nude base. If your eyeliner of choice isn’t matte, no problem! Dust a bit of translucent powder over it to mattify.

 


 
?For Your Lips:
  • Try a bold, bright matte lip to edge into spring. If you don’t have a matte lip color, don’t worry about it! Thesame trick applies as with the eyeliner. Dust a bit of translucent powder over it.
  • If you’re not ready to dive into the drama of lipstick, try a matte-tinted lip balm. You’ll get the same effect. (Lush Lip Tint in “Snow Fairy” or “A Million Kisses” from Lush stores or Lushusa.com)

For Your Skin:

     
  • To incorporate the shine-free finish on your face, use a mattifying primer (then foundation if youwear it) followed by a dusting of translucent powder. This will not only perfect your skin but also give a clean canvas to complement other matte products. (Sephora Collection Perfecting Ultra-Smoothing Primer fromSephora)

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    • Take a chunk of hair and run chalk or pastel over it. The color will then transfer to your hair. Set with a blow dryer to avoid transfer throughout the day. Unlike dye, this color will come out with shampoo!

    • I’ve talked about matte nails in the past, but there are a lot of fun designs that you can do with them. By purchasing a matte top coat (Essie’s Matte About You from Ulta) you can transform any polish in yourstash into a matte one. Since the top coat is matte, you can make cool designs and patterns. Try mattifying half of your nail on the diagonal, a twist on a French manicure by either leaving the tip glossy or mattifying the tip, stripes, or if you have the patience you can even do a cool chevron pattern!

     ?Sources: ?Glamour.com (Girls In The Beauty Department)

    Her Campus Placeholder Avatar
    Christie is a rising sophomore at Tufts. She absolutely adores coffee in any form,  believes that any dessert can be made better with nutella and any meal better with hot sauce.  In her spare time, she dabbles in graphic design, playing guitar, and photography. She also adores makeup and beauty and believes it's more of an art form than people give it credit for. Music is definitely a huge part of her life: she always has her iPod on and frequently goes to concerts.