The perfect make up look isn’t far away with the help of the girls here at Ruby Cosmetics, but without practice and patience, things can go a little wrong. Here are the most common make up and contouring mistakes and how to fix them…

You’re not blending your bronzer
In this example, she’s on the right track with the placement of bronzer along her cheekbones, but what she hasn’t done is blend it properly, leaving her with a harsh bronze stripe right across her face. This can be fixed with a blending tool like a sponge or a large kabuki brush.

Too much blush
A couple of things here. When you’re applying blusher, smile. The proper placement is the apple of your cheek (the bit that juts out when you grin) and up toward your temple, but not too harsh! Keep application soft for a coy glow not an I’ve-just-been-to-my-first-spinning-class flush. Also, keep blush away from your nose, it can make you look like you have the sniffles!

Your bronzer is wayyyy to dark!
Bronzer should be a shade or two darker than your skin tone. Otherwise you could look like LiLo here… Our LA Sheer Contour Palette has 3 different shades of bronzer so that you can choose, build or blend to your heart’s content. But a cool trick is to apply it holding your brush vertically so that only the tips of the bristles touch your skin - and apply it just under your cheekbones to make them stand out perfectly. Oh and shimmer bronzers should only be used in little doses. A matte formula is much more natural.

Your highlighter/bronzer combo is NOT on fleek
Ok, so bronzer and highlighter is a match made in heaven, but we don't want anybody to *know* that we're using it to make our cheekbones look like they were sculpted by the Goddess of Beauty. Honey, you look like a tiger, and not in a good way. You need to blend. We can't stress this enough. Blend, blend, blend.