The true purpose of wearing make up is to make us look as porcelain, smooth and natural as possible, without making ourselves look made up. Everyone wants to look like the models in the magazines, but we know that in real life we cant airbrush away all our imperfections or have a team of people readily available to work on us! So what is a girl to do?

We clean and exfoliate our skin with the idea of removing the imperfections and creating a smooth palate for our make up. Then we apply make up to smooth the appearance of uneven, blotchy skin, plump our lips, tint our cheeks, lengthen our lashes and try to create wide dramatic eyes whew!!! Sounds like a lot of work!

So with all of this unnaturalness, how does one go about applying makeup to look natural? First of all choosing the correct color of foundation is probably the most important and the most difficult part of looking natural. Try to choose colors that are the most similar to your actual skin color and undertones. Do not try to change your coloring with foundation because you will look fake. You are better off matching the colors in-between your neck and face than going too light or too dark. No matter how many layers of foundation you put on your skin it will look wrong and unnatural if it is the wrong color!

If you are unhappy with your skin color try enhancing the color by changing the accent colors you are using. Eye color can play a huge part in the coloring of your skin. Avoid bright unnatural colors like Electric Blue -- leave it in the 80s where it belongs! Another product to avoid when trying to look natural is liquid face bronzers. These are great if you live in Hollywood, but not for everyday life. Bronzers tend to give you that fake Orange tan look. This may be appropriate in some settings, but doesnt look especially natural. If you are going to use a bronzer be sure it is not too shiny or darker than your skin would naturally tan in the summer.

Lip color should be as close to your natural tone as possible. Avoid using a darker lip-liner and a light filler color. No matter who you are this is a DONT! It just does not look natural and it does not make your lips fuller. It just makes them more noticeable and not in a good way. Find a color that matches your actual lip color or a shade darker. You can line your lips with the same color, but dont go too dark! Peach and Pink colors seem to work well on all fair and neutral skin tones while berry colors for darker skin tones will tend to look the most natural.

When applying eye shadow colors try to stick to neutral colors like, taupes, browns and barely there pinks. These all work great for eye shadow options. If you feel you need to line your eyes try any color in the brown family. Keep the blacks, blues and greens for nighttime. Use brown for mascara whenever the option exists. Natural make up is nice for daytime wear and situations that call for down playing ones appearance.

Enjoy your fresh, clean, natural look, without feeling made up!