Please help - I've no idea how to look groomed and I feel a bit crap about it.

[JaneS]

Hi everyone.

You will be pleased with me as I've been good and bought a Babyliss Big Hair after reading the very long thread about it. But, please tell me how to look swishy-haired and groomed in general?

I am feeling a bit useless. I love clothes and think I wear quite nice stuff, but the grooming lets me down. I didn't wear makeup until I was in my 20s (I'm 26), and even now unless it is mascara/ a bit of eyeshadow it is usually for the purposes of covering up (not always successfully). My skin's not bad but it's not great; I've never know what to do with it as it reacts to most things and scars if I use a product that is really bad.

I read the Babyliss thread so I know this is what you wise people think we should all have. But in my experience a hairdryer is what I point at my head to make me not catch cold when I go outside. I use John Frieda curl spray and finishing creme, but you mention products you use before drying your hair - how, and what? And what is this 'separating sections' you speak of?

You see how ignorant I am.

What would you recommend for a novice who wants to look groomed and smart? I'd love to look nicely made-up with good hair and nails. My hair is usually falling in strands out of my ponytail. I've never learned how to put it up in a good do and one hairdresser told me it's too fine and there's too much of it, so pins won't hold it. I'm not too clear on what makeup I need or how to apply it (trial and error won the day there), and I certainly don't know what other things take you from scatty to groomed.

Any and all tips, gratefully received!

Bronzer apply with a smaller brush and blend with a bigger one. In fact the key to natural make up is often blending.

Hi - check out Pixiwoo on youtube, there are lots of tutorials for lots of looks, including natural makeup.

Snap - wow, I'm interested but confused. Replying to some of your points:

Honestly - how do people learn these things?

So the 'cuticle' means drying from root to tip? If I do that, my hair lies very flat and looks limp. I've got the babyliss big hair thing, is that a round brush?

How do you cover under-eye shadows without looking like a reverse-panda? Have I got the wrong shade?

I've been trying to find a nice small bag and failing so far (I have a nice big bag in dark brown suede from Karen Millen a few years back, but small bags all seem trashy-looking or impractical). I try to wear nice shoes but obviously they get expensive.

I've learned makeup from lots of trial and error and some reading magazines, but I've never found makeup counters will show you how to do it - should they? I've been in Selfridges in London and they didn't show me - maybe they saw how ham-fisted I was!

I am so grateful for the tips - I'll get there!

Thanks best and snap.

I think I get it!

biscuit - I'll have a look ...

Yes pixiwoo on YouTube is fab. You just need to watch a few for some ideas.

Get your brows threaded. They won't thin them, they just shape them. Also getting your lashes tinted and permed can be marvellous, ditto shellac nails which is like a gel varnish that lasts 2 weeks.

Eyebrows DO grow back, no fear!

Um well I learnt them from experimenting for hours and asking questions. And observing what made people look ungroomed!

Root to tip - to get the lift you put your brush under the section you're drying and stretch it up and out away from your head, then aim the direction of the air flow towards the tip. Otherwise it blows all the rough bits (the beginnings of split ends) up the hair instead of pushing them flat and it ends up looking rough instead of shiny. Bighajr is a type of round brush but not one you'd use to blow dry. I have a round brush about the size of my clenched fist in metal with short, soft bristles. blow dry guide

Yes you have the wrong shade if you get reverse panda. Or you're using an illuminator with not enough coverage! Touche éclat is illuminating, not concealing. It's designed to basically reflect light so if you have no shadows it really brightens up your under eye area but if you need to cover up the dark circles you need a cream concealer to even out your skintone first. Or a good foundation which will do it for you.

Ask the make up people to explain what they're doing, why they're choosing a specific product or shade etc. They're usually more than happy to give a running commentary and you pick up all sorts of bonus tips as well about other uses for the product or brush.

only thing with threading is it can make the hairs grow in funny directions. I think its best to thread the top and tweezers the bottom. I had a thing called HD brows done to my eyebrows then maintained them my self. Think its only about 16quid.

Book an appointment with your nearest Bobbi Brown counter for a make up lesson. It might be free or they might make a small charge but usually and charge would be refunded if you bought any products.

As someone already mentioned they are great at natural makeup and def cater for all skin tones so you are bound to get the right colours there. Explain you want a VERY natural daytime look and they will sort you out with a good foundation, concealor, blush etc. Even if you cant afford to buy it all now you can ask them to write down any recommendations and buy them bit by bit.

Maybe ask them to do one side of your face and you try the other? I did this at a Clinique make up lesson 15 years ago and found it v helpful.

Well, the liquid black soap from www.akamuti.co.uk is very good.
Made my skin really lovely and it is meant to be suitable for sensitive skin.

I don't wear much make up but i do wear the cheapy false eyelashes from bodycare, they're £2.09 and very natural looking and easy to use.

Plus a light coating of lipstick and some nice earrings and i feel suitably 'groomed'.

If you have a nice fringe you don't need to worry about shaping your eyebrows.

Make an appointment at the Mac counter (or Bobbi Brown etc) at Fenwicks, or one of the bigger department stores. They will show you how to do your make-up properly. You can specify light daytime look, or smokey eyes etc

Hi ladies - I ran away, partly to try things out and partly because I had to work (I'm trying to look grown up and not really feeling it!).

I did get the makeup lady to show me how to put stuff on, and frankly I thought she made me look shite, but then she was wearing trowel-loads of the stuff so probably I need to pick someone else. Nice eyeliner though. I didn't see your post narcolepsy and there's a Mac counter nearby so may go there tomorrow, thanks!

spanky - why is it black?! Willing to try though.

I'm still not getting the blowdrying. Do I need to buy some of those clippy things hairdressers use to section hair, do you reckon? It looks nice and shiny but I can't get any volume and I think sleek is aways off!

I had the girl at the Benefit counter do makeup on me recently - she did one eye and then I copied on the other eye so I knew how to do it myself.

- for YouTube you just have to fastforward to the end to see if you like the end result :)

She uses a LOT of products for a 'quick daytime look', but you can see the effect of each and decide which you want to try out.

Hi Trillian.

The woman I had the other day let me do that but I'm not sure it was the look I was going for anyway, so not the best.

Why do so many people selling makeup look really awful? They do, don't they? This lady was probably in her 30s and looked really old from a distance because she was so caked in it all.

More fool me for letting her do it, I guess!

Thanks, I've had a look at the video. To me, she looks too 'done' by the end and her cheeks look, I'm sorry, clown-like. But I liked what she did with the concealer after eyeshadow - I didn't know to do it that way round, oops!

It is really helpful.