The Tips and Tricks Every Beauty Lover Should Know

By Ali Sims

I have always believed sharing is caring, unless we’re talking about a vintage Chanel (a tip from me to you – that should never leave your sight!) The world would be a more beautiful place if everyone shared the whereabouts of their favourite hairdresser (Lee Preston), the best tanning salon (there would certainly be less oompa loompas running around) and, dare I say, the best online boutiques (*gasp*).

I have never really been that great at keeping secrets, so I’d like to share with you some of the best makeup tips and hair tricks I have discovered and practiced religiously over the years (more gifts from me to you!) Enjoy!

1. Learn how to highlight your facial assets with your bronzer

Khloe, I love you, but Kim's subtle bronzer is the winner

Bronzer should not be used as a blush below your cheekbones – it should be a subtle brush stroke to add definition to them. To slim your face, slightly brush your bronzer down both sides of your nose and on your forehead from the top most point of your eyebrow up to your hairline. Also apply your bronzer with light strokes down the middle of your neck. Less is more, so always tap your bronzer brush before application to remove excess powder (*Ed’s tip: don’t blow on your brush, as you could spread bacteria).

2. Use an eyebrow powder instead of an eyebrow pencil

How to Achieve the Flawless Makeup Look

On Saturday morning at 9.30am, four ladies headed into Bella Hart Beauty Emporium in Subiaco with little or no makeup on to learn how to apply their makeup to look like supermodels – naturally flawless with glowing, spectacular skin.

When I was doing modelling, the very first thing I learnt was that this look – the look where it seems you’re wearing nothing at all – was the hardest of all looks to achieve.

Get this look!

Makeup artist, Rachel, took the four girls through the looks and showed them how to get the fabulous skin they’d dreamed of; the kind you only get from eating raw foods, drinking litres of water and staying out of the sun.  Except we faked the look with great products.

Here, I regurgitate the steps so you at home can copy the look:

How To: Stand Out at the Races!

Spring Carnival time, whee! It’s all about standing out and looking your best.  Follow this list of handy hints to win on race day:

Kate Waterhouse gets it right with hair up!

• Less is more. Remember you’ll most likely be drinking and don’t want to spend all your time touching up your makeup.  Keep it simple and carry with you some blotting paper so you don’t look shiny in photos.
• Bright, bright, bright! Ditch the evening smokey eye and make a bright lip your focal point instead.  Hot pinks and corals are in fashion at the moment.  Try Schiap by Nars for a hot pink bam!

Simon Says, Do What This Post Says

Okay guys, I know you all wander over to the blog for tips and tricks, how to’s, product reviews, comps and more, and sometimes it can seem a bit daunting to you.  I mean, you’re being inundated with all this information about what to put on your skin/hair/eyes that it can be overwhelming (you should see my storage cupboards!).  So for this post I’m going to make it a bit easier for you.  This is a product review and tips post.  It’s also a must read!  If you choose to only read one post on CC (although that would be seriously detrimental to your beauty wellbeing), this is The One.

I’d like to talk about morning rituals.  What do you do when you wake up in the morning?  I stretch, check my emails and Twitter ( I can hear you groaning, J) and then hop in the shower.  Here’s where the skin ritual begins and it goes a little something like this:

Exfoliate with a mit.

Cleanse face.

- hops out of shower and towel dries –

Golden Rule of the Week!

This week’s golden rule comes to you courtesy of the young girl exiting the shadows of the train station into the harsh Australian sunlight in front of me today, whose golden, quite flawless foundation was marred with lines in natural light.  Her face was at least two shades darker than her neck and shoulders, although props to her for trying to do the right thing and blend her foundation right through to her neck.  Unfortunately, the colour was so wrong that this didn’t work so well.

So, the golden rule is:  When buying foundation, always test it in natural light.

Women often buy new foundation from department store cosmetic counters because there is a huge range available right at their neatly-lacquered finger tips.  The downside to this is the harsh, clinical white lights department stores use in no way mirror natural sunlight.  So ladies, when buying a new foundation, swipe some on the jaw line and then go for a wander outside with a hand mirror.  You shouldn’t be able to see any sign of the foundation (just a patch of flawlessness!).  If you can notice the foundation at all, it’s the wrong shade/brand for you.

Invest in a good foundation, because the odds are you’ll be wearing it everyday.  I like to keep a liquid foundation for the days I head out on the town with the girls, and a powdered mineral foundation (currently Laura Mercier) for everyday so my skin can breathe and recuperate.

Enjoy the hunt!

T x