4 School Formal Makeup Ideas
The end of high school is so close you can almost taste it. Congratulations, you’ve almost done it! All that hard work and those late nights were worth it for one thing: your school formal! A night to celebrate with your friends and more importantly, go full glam! Whether you’re looking to make a statement, or going for a ball makeup look that lets your dress do the talking, here at PONi, we’ve got you covered. We’re serving 4 go-to looks, plus a few sneaky formal makeup tips we wish we knew at your age. School Formal Glam Look When it comes to formals, go hard or go home. You’re only young once, for goodness sake! Take the look up a notch by matching your shadow to the colour of your dress - add some glitter on your lids and it’ll be all eyes on you. With a strong eye look, you’re going to want to keep things even with the rest of your look so everything is cohesive. That means a sweep of Unicorn Candy Blush on your cheeks, contour with the Unicorn Chocolate Bronzer and a touch of the Unicorn Champagne Highlighter on the highpoints. Fill in your brows with the Brow Love Soft Brow Pencil and a couple of coats of the White Knight Mascara. All that’s left to do is get the perfect Insta pic! Bronzed Beauty Ball Makeup Look Embrace your inner bronzed goddess with a glow that Zendaya herself would be jealous of. Stick with bronzed, golden shades of shadow, with smudged brown eyeliner. Tie it all in nicely with the Unicorn Chocolate Bronzer as a contour (the trick is to draw a ‘3’ from your temples, under your cheekbones and under your jaw). Keep things glowy with the Unicorn Champagne Highlighter on the top of your cheekbones, your nose, and under your brow bone to really lift the face. Voila! The perfect lit-from-within formal makeup look. Natural School Formal Makeup Look If you’re after something a little more subtle (but still stunning) that lets your natural beauty and that dress do the talking, you’re in the right place. Keep your base mid-weight, just enough to cover any imperfections but still have your skin looking like real skin. A light wash of our cheek products will give you a gorgeous healthy glow. The real heroes of this look are the lashes and brows. One coat of the White Knight Mascara will give you a natural lift. Fill in any sparse areas of your brows with the Brow Magic and then brush your brows up with the Zebra Clear Brow Gel for a cute-as fluffy look! Finish it all off with the Natural Lip Heroes duo. Bold Formal Makeup Look Here’s some life advice from PONi HQ, a bold makeup look (especially a bold lip) is the ultimate confidence booster. Your year 12 formal can be a little overwhelming and if you’re on the shy side, a little scary. Give yourself a pep talk and dial up the glam. Do your favourite base and brows, then use the Pegasus Smudge Proof Liquid Liner to do a cat eye flick (practice makes perfect with this one). As far as your lip colour goes, now’s your chance to go extra. Our sister Lip Heroes have some incredible colours and long-lasting formulas. Our picks? The punchy red and the sweet berry pink. Top Formal Makeup Tips Never Skip Primer If you’re doing your formal right, you’re in for a long night of dancing! That means you’ll need to prime to make sure your makeup doesn’t end up at your knees when the clock strikes 12. Keep your gorgeous eyeshadow locked in with our Brow Pop! which doubles as the perfect eye primer. As a bonus tip, always finish with powder to keep everything locked in! Don’t Be Scared of Blush Spoiler alert: there’s going to be a lot of photos taken throughout the night, so to master your ball makeup look, go ever so slightly heavier on the blush so you look fresh and healthy in your photos (may we recommend the Unicorn Candy Blush). It can be easy to look very two dimensional in images, especially if you have a full-coverage base. But please, don’t wander into clown territory - it’s a fine line! Find the Perfect Mascara Water-proof, lengthening, volumising and smudge-proof all in one mascara. No, you’re not asking too much! Enter: the White Knight Mascara. The tubing formula gives the lift of your dreams, and when you’re ready to take it off at the end of the night (because you wouldn’t leave your makeup on while you sleep, right?), the tubes slide right off - no rubbing or harsh removers necessary! Shop everything you need for a stunning formal makeup look at PONi right here. Now go out there, grab your date (or even better, your friends) and dance into the night!
The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Perfect Brows
Perfect brows can change your entire look and it’s worth going that extra beauty mile to get them right! Behold, our ultimate cheat sheet on how to get perfect brows. Work with your face shape Brows aren’t a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. The perfect brows have to work with your own face shape and we’ve got a few quick pointers on how to get it right! Round face - Create a high arch following a straight line to the peak of the brow as this will help open up your face. Avoid a rounded / curved eyebrow shape. Square face - Square faces can pull off a curved or more angled brow but steer clear of thin brows and elongate the line to avoid a ‘short’ brow. Heart shaped face - A lower arch works with heart shapes. Don’t go too high with the arch or you’ll really lengthen the face. For perfect brows keep the curves of the arch soft. Oval face - If you have this balanced face shape, lucky you! You can pull off the classic full, softly angled brow beautifully. Follow the 3 universal brow rules No matter the shape of your face, there are 3 golden rules to follow when defining your perfect eyebrows. Rule 1 - The arch of your brow - whether it be angular or more curved and soft - should be around two thirds of the way along your brow line, never in the centre. Rule 2 - Find the right place to start your brow. Lay an eyebrow pencil vertical along your nose - the point where it reaches the bridge of your nose is where the brow should begin. Rule 3 - Get the tail right. Place an eyebrow pencil in a line that runs from the outer side of your nostril to the corner of your eye. This is the ideal ending point for your brow. Brush your brows upwards Using a clean, dry spoolie your brows upward as it makes them look fuller and gives them more texture. You create a ‘feathered’ appearance - natural looking, fine hair strokes that you can’t achieve if you brush sideways. Eyebrows are also easier to fill in afterwards when they’re brushed upwards. Choose your eyebrow makeup Powder, creme or pencil? Or a mix ‘n’ match combination? The eyebrow makeup you choose is crucial for nailing a flawless arch. Eyebrow pencils are great for beginners and perfect for natural looking brows with softly defined arches that aren’t overly done or sharp-looking. Eyebrow pencil also makes a great base for brow powder to be applied over the top. Eyebrow powder does a brilliant job at filling in those sparse areas. If your brows are in pretty great shape naturally aside from a few thin spots, you might just need a little eyebrow powder to fill those areas in. Using powder also adds volume to your natural hair and works over the top of eyebrow pencil to add texture. Eyebrow creme is a quick way to fill in sparse brows for a natural look. If you’re already rocking a set of thick brows, creme will create a bolder, glam look. Use a brow brush for a precise creme application. Use a natural looking shade If you've chosen a brow creme or powder, go for a color that is the same shade as your brows or a little darker. If a brow pencil is your tool of choice, opt for one shade lighter than your hair for a softer look; unless you’re really fair. In that case, go a little deeper with the shade as slightly darker brows will frame your face enhance your eyes more than a really light brow. Still stressed about finding the shade for your perfect brows? Our Brow Magic is a universal brow pencil solves all your colour uncertainties - one colour suits all. Bingo. Start in the centre Perfect eyebrows aren’t one monotone block of colour, so when it comes to hue, aim for a gradient effect. Begin applying your brow product at the arch, and build the colour there. Move along to the front and then finish up at the end, where the colour should taper off. Our Brow Duo Powder will help you nail that natural looking gradient. Add a little highlighter If you love a clean, shapely brow use a little highlighter under the brow bone. A soft tone with a subtle shimmer will help define the brow line without looking over the top. Our PONi Unicorn Champagne Highlighter works beautifully when you apply with the angled end of our Pro Brow Brush. Set with a clear brow gel Finally, lock those perfect brows in place with a clear brow gel. Gently brush the brow gel spoolie over the hairs to set your arches and keep them looking perfection all day long! Stand back After you get up close and personal with the mirror to create your brow, take a big step back (at least a few feet) and survey your brow handiwork. This will give you some perspective on how your brows fit in with your entire face and the rest of your makeup look. Finally...thicken your brows naturally If you weren’t exactly blessed by the brow gods we’ve got good news. Our Lash And Brow Growth Serum boosts brow thickness and darkness naturally to fill in those sparse patches and barely there hairs that drive you crazy.
How to Grow Thick Eyebrows
Lusting after glossy, thick eyebrows but feeling defeated by your own thin, straggly arches? If you’ve gone OTT with plucking, are the victim of a bad wax or your natural brows are just pretty damn disappointing, try our tips on how to grow your eyebrows to reach their ‘full’ potential! Use an eyebrow growth serum Including an eyebrow growth serum in your routine is our numero uno tip to grow your eyebrows as quickly as possible and transform those sparse, straggly hairs into thicker arches. How does eyebrow serum work? Eyebrow growth serums contain good-for-brows ingredients like peptides which boost the activity of the hair follicle to stimulate thicker and longer eyebrow hairs, vitamins to strengthen hair, and amino acids and plant oils to help prevent existing brow hair from falling out. Containing no harmful ingredients, PONi’s Lash & Brow Growth Serum is a brow boosting formula of oils, peptides, and vitamins to improve the length and thickness of sparse eyebrows. Castor oil for eyebrow growth Google ‘how to make eyebrows grow’ and half the internet swears by using castor oil as a natural way to boost eyebrow growth. The other half isn’t so sure. There isn’t actually any published scientific evidence linking castor oil and hair growth but if your eyebrow situation is less than lush, it’s worth a shot. How can castor oil help grow thick eyebrows? Castor oil is a vegetable oil packed with omega -9 essential fatty acids that are uber nourishing for the skin, anti-inflammatory and can improve circulation, which may help with hair growth. Here’s what to do - Put a few drops of castor oil onto a clean spoolie or cotton tip. Stroke the castor oil into the clean, dry brow area and follow with a brow massage. You’ll want to do this at night because castor oil is thick and painting your eyebrows with it is not a look you want to rock during the day. Massage your eyebrows to boost circulation When you’re applying an eyebrow growth serum or trying the castor oil trick, boost your thick eyebrow potential by massaging the serum or oil into your brow area. Massage stimulates blood flow which can encourage hair growth. Try this massage for a few minutes - press at a spot in the middle of an eyebrow and, without releasing your finger, begin making circular movements, gradually widening the radius. Repeat with the other brow. Avoid plucking and waxing If you want to grow out your eyebrows, you’ll have to go easy on plucking and waxing for at least 6 weeks. When new hair is left alone and not tweezed it will begin to grow closer to the brow line. Here’s a little fun brow fact: eyebrows go through a three-stage process of growth. Anagen is the active phase of hair growth and for brow hair takes 30 - 45 days. Don't pluck hair that begins to appear, even if it’s underneath the brow. Have patience and make random stragglers growing underneath seem less apparent by using a little concealer to cover them up. The second stage - the Catagen phase - is when the hair stops growing and detaches itself from the blood supply; it’s then called ‘club hair’. The final stage is the Telogen phase which lasts over three months - when strands are released and fall out. Eat your way to thicker brows Wondering how to get thicker eyebrows? Pay attention to what you’re putting on your fork! Make sure you’re loading your plate up with plenty of healthy fats from plant-based oils, nuts and seeds as well as chowing down whole grains, veggies and fruit packed with fibre. The results of a balanced diet show up in your face - including healthier-looking brows! The best vitamins and nutrients for nourishing your hair include - Omega 3 fatty acids - salmon, chia seeds, walnuts, and flaxseeds. Protein - eggs, almonds, and chicken breast. Iron - green vegetables, for example, spinach, legumes, and red meat. Zinc - red meat, cashews and surprisingly, dark chocolate contains reasonable amounts of zinc. Vitamins A, C, D, and E - leafy green vegetables, carrots, and fatty fish such as salmon and sardines. Take a high-quality hair growth supplement Hair growth supplements don’t only help nourish thicker, glossier hair on your head - they can speed up hair growth in general, which means your eyebrows will benefit too! There are plenty of options for hair, skin and nails supplements that contain biotin. Biotin is a water-soluble vitamin that's part of the vitamin B family and plays a major role in the health of your hair, skin, and nails. It goes without saying to always check with your doctor first before taking any supplements. A final tip for your mission to thick eyebrows Be patient! Your brows won’t magically transform overnight but commit to a routine of brow TLC and reaching your full brow potential will definitely be worth the wait.
Makeup: Expectations vs Reality
Makeup is an art form. Whether you’re creating a bold or natural look, it takes practice to nail it. No matter how many YouTube tutorials or Pinterest boards you’ve stalked, sometimes the new look you try won’t exactly hit the mark. Here’s a few common makeup fails when it comes to expectations versus reality….. and their fixes! The bold lip Expectation: Bold, beautiful lips Reality: Bobo the clown TIPS TO GET IT RIGHT Always prep your lips first. Buff away any dry flaky skin with a tissue and apply lip balm. Leave enough time for the balm to absorb and blot excess away. Never apply lipstick straight on top of balm. Don’t apply lip liner first. Apply lipstick with a brush, really working the colour in, then tidy the outer edges with liner. Do blot your lips with a tissue then reapply the lip colour for a bold lip that lasts. Don’t underestimate the power of blotting! Do use an angle brush to blend concealer around your lip line to ‘clean’ up any edges and colour bleeding. Choosing the right lip colour Knowing your skin’s undertone is key to choosing the right colours to meet your bold lip expectations. Orange based reds work well for warm coloured skin tones. For cool skin tones, opt for reds with a blue base for a truly flattering effect. Winged eyeliner Expectation: The purrfect cat eye with a polished flick Reality: Uneven, sloppy wings TIPS TO GET IT RIGHT Avoid applying eyeliner to a bare, unprepped eye. The liner will mix with the natural oils of your skin and smudge into your upper lid. Use an eyeshadow primer first followed by a translucent powder to set the area. Shaky hands? The ‘tape’ technique is a foolproof way to create a wobble-free wing. Use a small piece of scotch tape as a stencil and place it on the skin around the eye the eye where you’d like the wing to go. Then draw along the tape. Even if it’s a little wobbly, it will end up as a straight line once the tape is removed. Note to self: Avoid sticking the tape down hard, your eye area is delicate! Don’t raise your eyebrow while applying winged eyeliner. You’ll only end up lining an area that will be hidden or creased once the eyebrow is relaxed. Result? An unflattering, droopy wing shape. Choosing the right eyeliner We LOVE eyeliner but choosing the right one isn’t always easy! For beginners, liquid eyeliners are a great option because the product is dispersed evenly across the eyes, easy to hold and they come in felt, sponge or brush tip. Brows Expectation: Beautifully defined, natural looking Reality: Harsh, fake looking TIPS TO GET IT RIGHT Don’t draw on your brows in a hard straight line. This look is super harsh. It’s better to feather the brows, make smaller, shorter strokes in the natural shape of your brow. Avoid ‘squaring’ off your brows when filling them in. It doesn’t look natural. Instead, follow the shape of your brow. Don’t brush your eyebrows downward, this drags the eye down. Brush them upwards to lift up the eye and the brow. Try not to smother your brows in too much makeup. Allow your natural hairs to pop up, creating a more natural look. Using a tinted brow gel or a soft brow powder are great options to enhance your natural shape without flooding the brow with makeup. Choosing the right brow colour The colour of your brow makeup is so important. It can mean the difference between nailing a Cara Delevingne’esque look or a brows gone bad Pinterest board. For natural looking but defined brows, if you have dark brown or black hair, select a colour one or two shades lighter. On the flip side, if you have blonde or light brown hair, opt for a colour one or two shades darker. Or, try our universal Brow Magic; one colour suits all! When it’s hot outside Expectation: A beautiful bronzed glow. Reality: A face that’s more slick than shimmer. TIPS TO GET IT RIGHT Do choose a non-greasy sunscreen to apply under makeup because….sunscreen ALWAYS matters. Don’t skip the primer. When you’re a little sweaty, things can get creasy real quick! Primer takes just a moment to apply and will keep your look in place all day. Opt for a brow powder, rather than pencil, for maximum staying power in the heat. Don’t cover every inch of your face with bronzer. You’ll end up faked baked, not bronzed goddess. Instead, apply bronzer to the areas the sun hits naturally: cheekbones, forehead, chin, and nose. Choosing heat proof makeup shades The right makeup product matters in the heat. Switch to more sheer versions of your favourite lip and eye colours. A lighter look suits warmer weather more than those rich, dark colours. Contouring Expectation: Highlight your natural bone structure. Reality: You’ve drawn an actual skull line on your face. TIPS TO GET IT RIGHT The golden rule of contouring? Blending is your best friend. We’ll say it again, blend, blend, blend. Be selective. Choose just one area to contour; jaws, nose, cheekbones etc, rather than trying to do it all. Save it for a special event. Unless you’re part of the Kardashian clan, contouring isn’t necessarily a look you’d rock for on a grocery trip to the supermarket. Choosing the right contour shade Your choice of contour makeup product will make or break your look. Your contour shade is most believable when it’s a shade or two darker than your actual foundation.
How To Apply Eyeshadow for Beginners
Tired of eyeshadow fails? End the struggle with our foolproof guide on how to apply eyeshadow perfectly. We’re breaking it down easily so you can learn how to do eyeshadow like a pro - flawless eyes await! Guide on choosing the right eyeshadow shade Knowing the flattering shades that make your eyes pop is just as important as knowing how to apply eyeshadow. Here’s a quick ‘eyeshadow for beginners’ guide to shades best suited to different eye colours. Know the best shade for your eye colour: Brown eyes - Super flattering shades for brown eyes are bronze, copper, green, pink, or champagne. Green eyes - Cooler shades like green, blue, plum, look great with green eyes. You can also try more earthy tones such as khaki and taupe too. Blue eyes - Gray and slate-coloured eye shadow can make blue eyes look AH-mazing. Green, blue, purple and rose tones also work beautifully. Hazel eyes - For hazel-eyed gals, the right shades will depend on the prominent colour in your eyes. If you have green-hazel eyes, you’ll win with cooler eyeshadow shades, while warmer eye shadows are usually a better match for brown-hazel eyes. Now you’ve got your most flattering palette sorted, let's dive into the steps to apply eye makeup perfectly and what you need to avoid! Priming your lids for eyeshadow Want your look to last and not crease? Then priming your eyes first is a must, even if you’re just going for a simple eyeshadow look. Using a primer first will help the makeup glide on smoothly too and maximises the pigment. You can use a specific eyeshadow primer, regular concealer, or BB cream - just choose a product close to your own skin tone. Set the primer with a translucent powder so the area is smooth, not sticky, when applying eyeshadow. Find the right eyeshadow brushes for the job The right brushes are EVERYTHING if you want to apply eyeshadow perfectly. A tapered fluffy brush gives a soft, airbrushed look and is ideal for blending. The rounded, dense brushes pick up more powder / cream and should be used in the areas you want more definition and a concentrated colour pay off. Do: Use a fluffy brush when you want a soft, airbrushed result. Don’t: Use a dense brush when applying the base colour all over the lid - use a fluffy brush Start with a neutral shade Pick the most neutral shade (not the lightest) in your palette and take your tapered fluffy brush and lightly glide the tip of it in a back and forth across your whole upper eye area. This creates the base colour from which you’ll build the rest of your look. Do: Take the brush to the eyebrow line only when there is less product on the brush - to avoid harsh lines. Don’t: Hold your brush too close to the bristle end when applying the base coat. Grip it further back to allow for a less controlled application (yep, this is a good thing!) to achieve the effortless, airbrushed look. Focus on the crease with a darker colour Choose the darker colour in your palette to apply to the crease area. If your palette has 3 colours, opt for the darkest. If you’re using a 4 colour palette, go for the 3rd darkest. You might even like to use our view our PONi's Pro Brow Brush for extra eye makeup. Swap your fluffy brush for a harder brush and, starting from the inside of the eye, blend the darker colour into the crease. This step gives definition to your look and the key is to blend, blend, blend! Do: Start with a thinner line of eyeshadow closer to your eye and then make it thicker as you move toward the outer crease. Don’t: Forget to tap excess product off the brush before applying. Tip for hooded eyes - If you have hooded eyes, when they’re open, your upper lid covers most of your mobile lid. You’ll need to create the crease shadow in a slightly higher area than the actual crease (let’s call it faux crease!) so the definition can be seen. Highlight above the crease You’ve nailed the base coat and the crease, now it’s time to focus on highlighting. Choose the lightest shade in your colour palette, or a multi-tasking highlighter or PONi's Brow Pop and swap back to the fluffier makeup brush. Dip the brush in, tap off the excess and apply to the area above the crease in small, circular motions. Do: Choose a more shimmery highlighter for night time. Don’t: Take the highlighter all the way to the brow line - this will create a harsh line. Add a ‘wide awake’ touch to your inner eye A slighter lighter colour in the inner corners of your eye is a flattering look for everyone; brightening and opening the eye. You can skip the brush for this and just press your pinkie finger into the lightest colour of your palette. Then, gently dab the colour on the inner corner of your eye area and once again, blend, blend, blend. Are you getting that blending is key when it comes to how to do eyeshadow right?! Do: Go easy with the colour! You want this brightening effect to look as natural as possible. Don’t: Use darker shadow in the inner corner of your eye, you’ll make your eyes appear smaller. Finish your look with a lick - or lashings - of mascara to make your eyes pop and polish your look. Try our White Knight Tubular Mascara. Check out our before and after guide on applying this product here. Tips on how to apply eyeshadow Build your hue, don’t go straight in with a thick coat of colour: The idea for every step is to blend and build the shade up, over multiple applications. Don’t just dig into your eyeshadow palette and apply 1 thick shade of colour. You can create different tones and depth by building up thin layer by thin layer. Going for a dramatic look? Apply your eye makeup before the rest of your makeup: Planning to get a smoky, dramatic eye look going on? Apply your eye makeup before the rest of your look. If you’ve applied your entire base, concealer, foundation, powder and bronzer then you screw up your eye makeup, it’s going to be harder to do over. It's easier to take a makeup wipe and start over again just on the eye area. This is a great tip for eyeshadow beginners too! Experiment with bronzer and blush as eyeshadow: Don’t be afraid to mix it up a little and experiment by using your bronzer or blush as an eyeshadow. Using bronzer on the eyes is a super quick way to add warmth and works for a more natural, pared-back look. We hope you’ve picked up some helpful pointers from our quick tutorial on how to apply eyeshadow. Now go forth and apply! Get to know more Essential Makeup Hacks for Beginners A Guide to No-Makeup Makeup Eyebrow Trends: Brushed up Brows Best Mascrara for Length and Volume
