At the workplace, beauty gals face a tough challenge: expressing their individuality (and love of makeup!) while looking professional and sophisticated. Just like the outfit you wear to the office, the choices you make with your beauty routine can dramatically affect your colleagues' perspective of you.
In fact, it's the sad truth that your appearance could make you appear less competent. It was recently confirmed in a study that women who don't wear makeup make less money than those who do, and we predict that shoddy cosmetic application can also result in the same wage gap. So rather than let a fun hobby affect our salary, we consulted a pro for advice. Jerry Johnson, global makeup artist for Laura Mercier, schooled us on the biggest office beauty mistakes to ensure our makeup always looks polished and professional in the workplace.
"Fluorescent lighting can be terrible for makeup application," confirmed Johnson, who advised you head to the ladies' room for touch-ups instead of sticking at your desk. "Many office bathrooms have windows with natural light, or even just better lighting than the office." This will prevent you from overapplying foundation, blush, or bronzer to counteract the washed-out effects of the fluorescent bulbs.
If your bathroom's lighting is just as bleak, seek out a window elsewhere. Sun on a cloudy day is still an improvement over crummy indoor lighting!
The finished result of a filled brow is also supersubtle, so those who don't want to wear a full face of makeup or work in environments that frown on cosmetics should definitely try it out. Lightly sketch in the sparse parts of your brows and improve their shape using a pencil like Laura Mercier Eyebrow Pencil ($24). Be wary of making them look too heavy; you don't want your new office nickname to be "Groucho Marx." Learn how to pick the right shade for your arches here, then master how to fill them in.