The secret to great looking makeup starts with a few basic steps.

With the huge variety of cosmetic products available, its natural to think that looking good with make up should be easy. However, with so much choice its also very easy  to make a mess with our makeup. So here's a few makeup tips to get you started.

Basic tips on applying make-up to create the look you want.

Foundation is the basis for good looking make-up so its a good place to start. Foundation should match exactly your skin tone as you do not want to be able to see where it starts and finishes.

• Hot tip - blending in your foundation with a downward motion will result in an even finish and smoothes down the fine facial hairs.

Concealer should be almost the same color as your foundation, maybe a shade or two lighter. Concealer is great for hiding dark circles under the eyes - but be careful, the skin is very delicate in this area so the make up should be applied sparingly. 

Powder should match the foundation color or for an easier solution choose a translucent so the foundation color is not affected.

• Hot tip - treat yourself to a good quality powder that will absorb into the skin rather than sit on top of it and use a big face makeup powder brush.

Eye makeup covers eye shadow, eyeliner and mascara. As long as eyeliner is applied in a nice straight line it can be any color you want, although a darker shade on the upper lid than the lower gives an attractive look. Mascara is best applied in thin coats to avoid clogging up the eye lashes.

• Hot tip - Eye shadow is best applied as a powder to avoid it creasing as you blink.

Lipstick comes in various forms these days and there are some beautiful new lip makeup colors available. Just make sure the color is right for your skin tone, hair and eye color, and smaller lips can wear brighter colors than fuller lips.

• Hot tip - Never allow the lipstick to go beyond the natural edge of your lips. If you want your lips to look fuller use lip plumping lipsticks