hen I began my career as a makeup artist, my mentor taught me that makeup should emphasize and enhance your most favorite features instead of hiding your least favorite. His saying became my makeup mantra and adopting this belief as your cosmetic catchwords is a foolproof way to loving how you look in makeup.

Accentuating Eyes

Choose your favorites first. If you think your eyes are your best feature, start there.

• My two favorite options for playing up beautiful eyes are smoky and sultry or light and shimmery. I love a good smoky eye. Contrary to popular belief, creating a smoky eye does not mean you have to use dark eye shadow. The term refers to a soft, smudgy texture that is sure to attract attention. Keep the color darker on the outer edge and lighten it as you move towards the inner corner of your eye.

  	Attract attention by using a bold lip color.

• If you prefer a less dramatic look, but still want to accentuate the eyes, a light shimmery eye shadow will do the job. Stick with neutral hues—beige, peach, or gold—and simply sweep the color over your eyelid. The light reflecting texture will really make your eyes pop.
• Apply black or brown eyeliner to line the inside of your eye and add a few individual false lashes for flair.

Accentuating Bone Structure

Play up great bone structure with contouring.

• Apply a bronzer to the highest points of your face. Aim for the places where the sun hits the strongest: the forehead, nose, cheeks and chin.
• Choose a blush color that imitates the color of your skin when you’re naturally flushed and blend it into the apples of your cheeks (two fingers out from your nose).
• Swirl a shimmery highlighting powder in a “c” shape from your temples to the top of your cheekbone for a little extra.

Enhancing Your Lips

If you love your lips, have fun with them.

• Take care of those luscious lips: gently exfoliate them with a toothbrush or washcloth and make sure to use moisturizer.
• Create fuller lips with plumping products whose active ingredients, such as cinnamon and pepper, bring blood rushing to your lips making them temporarily fuller and rosy.
• Attract attention by using a bold lip color, but keep the rest of your makeup simple and neutral. Before applying a strong color to the lips, I fill in the entire area with a matching lip liner. This makes the application less intimidating and also helps lipstick and gloss stay on longer.
• Make full lips appear thinner by softly extending the lip liner to just inside the lip line.
• Add a finishing touch by applying lighter lip gloss with a bit of shimmer to the middle of the lips.

There is no right or wrong feature to play up—the choice is up to you. Drawing attention to what you love the most will make you feel and look gorgeous!