5 super easy beauty hacks we learned on TikTok

For those who love a snatched slicked back hairdo a la Ariana Grande, you know how painful it is to see your hairline recede thanks to tension alopecia. Chriselle Lim shares how she creates the illusion of a fuller hairline. She first marks the desired hairline with an eyebrow pencil in a shade closest to her tresses, applies cream contour, buffs it out and sets it in place with a foundation powder to create a shadowed effect. Chriselle then uses a brown eyeliner to create hairlike strokes before finishing by contouring her forehead.

Contouring the nose is possibly one of the most difficult makeup techniques to master (besides the cat-eye liner) as the nose has a very prominent spot on the face. An OG YouTube beauty guru NikkieTutorials’s trick is to first grab your bronzer and dust it liberally all over the nose from tip to bridge. Pick up your face powder next (she used a foundation compact) and a dry beauty sponge to conceal the parts you don’t want to be contoured i.e. the sides and bridge of the nose. She finishes the step by using a face brush to diffuse any harsh edges and adds highlighter on the tip and bridge to accentuate it.

Speaking of a cat-eye liner, we’ve found a tip that could help you achieve that coveted crisp line. Forget past hacks you’ve heard of like using adhesive tape as a guide, strings doused with liquid eyeliner or spoons, and instead try using a foam eyeshadow applicator. These inexpensive applicators can be found at drugstores and sometimes come with eyeshadow quads. Just cut the sides of the foam tip to create a triangle, dip it into a gel eyeliner pot and apply the product across the eye line for the perfect winged eyeliner.

We’re all familiar with the usual steps when it comes to base makeup: lay down primer, blend in foundation and concealer, dust on powder and finish with setting spray, right? However, Jarida swears that her method results in a flawless, long-lasting (24 hours) and beauty filter-like base that won’t crease. All it requires is a simple reversal of makeup steps. She starts by moisturising the face, before applying a thin layer of translucent powder (she uses Maybelline Fit Me Loose Powder) and setting spray (from NYX). Once the setting spray has dried, she applies a primer and then puts on foundation as you normally would and voilà flawless makeup that stays all day.

We’re all looking for that perfect mascara that can lengthen, volumise and hold a curl to give our eyelashes an extra boost. Perhaps, what we needed to get that false eyelashes effect was just a simple blow dryer. Miranda used the cool setting (not hot or warm as you don’t want to burn your eyes and face) to give her mascara-coated lashes a quick blast. Aiming the air-flow upwards towards the forehead was probably what helped set the mascara and ensure the lashes look curled and longer, consequently making the eyes appear bigger. And honestly, that’s everything we want from a mascara anyway.

This article was first published in Cleo.