Layer Cake

I love cake. Specifically, chocolate cake with a whipped mocha or ganache filling and chocolate butter cream frosting. But that's the only way I like it. Unfortunately, I see a lot of caked makeup on faces, and that's not good. While many layers can be buffed together to perfection and look flawless in photos, I believe that light, lasting, photogenic makeup that looks good IRL does exist.

There's a simple answer. Instead of layering foundation, contour, highlight, and so on, on the entire face, just put what you need where you need it.

The trick is to apply powder or cream/liquid products where you get shiny or dry, as needed.

For example, I have dry skin, but as the day wears on some areas get see-through.  My solution is to layer a moisturizing primer under a moisturizing foundation everywhere but under my eyes.  Next, I apply a moisturizing concealer under my eyes, then contour/bronze with powder and add a little brightening powder to the center of my forehead and around my nose. (You can also do this with skincare!)

Another tip is that oily skin likes powder and dry likes cream and liquid products, but the one time this doesn't work as well is when the entire face is very oily; in that case, powder can mix with oil and get goopy.  The solution for that is to use as little product as possible and stick to oil-absorbing and liquid-to-powder products.

After you get the "skin" aspect of your makeup down, that's when you can start to accessorize, if you will, with eye, lip, and cheek color.

On a personal note, life is a little hectic right now; but I find that sometimes the best therapy is to sit at a makeup table and create.  So, be on the lookout for the Friday Flash, a quick little makeover that I'll post on, big surprise, Fridays.  Let me know in the comments section, Facebook, or Twitter/Instagram (@electralane) if there's anything you'd like to see.

Luscious Lippies

In the almost decade that I've painted faces, no client has asked me to make his or her lips look smaller; and while I tend to highlight my eyes instead of lips, I know lips are the main facial feature many focus on. Since there are about 72 million or so videos/tutorials on how create a larger lip line, I'm specifically showing how I fake fuller lips that a) look natural and b) work even if you don't have perfect lips.  If you're a visual learner like me, check out this video (yes, I broke down and started a YouTube channel).

1 - Prep Lips

Apply a little lip balm, then blot with a tissue so your lips are hydrated but not slick.  If they're really dry and flaky, mix a couple drops of olive or coconut oil with 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar, then gently exfoliate your lips with this paste.  Wipe it off using a damp wash cloth, then apply the lip balm and blot.

2 - Apply Concealer

Using a small dot of concealer, apply to lips and the skin around them.

3 - Fill In

Using a flesh-toned lip liner, fill in your lips making sure to draw just outside the natural lip line.  If you have uneven lips like I do, this would be the time to even them out.

4 - Lipstick

Apply a matte lipstick with a brush over the entire area where you applied lip liner.

5 - Contour

To start adding dimension, line your lips just on the created lip line with a pencil that's slightly darker than the lip color.  Blend gently with the lip brush.

6 - Highlight

In just the center of the lips, apply a matte lipstick lighter than your original lip color and tap with your finger to blend.

7 - Brighten

Unless you like the matte look, top your highlight with a small amount of gloss in a similar color.

Mass Confusion Part I: Contour vs. Bronzer

Get comfy, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and let me apologize for this long, rambling, multi-part post. Highlighting and contouring has become such a fad, and it is the number one thing I am asked to teach. Countless YouTube videos and products are dedicated to this technique, but I have yet to find one of either that expresses my take on it.  In this two-part blog, I’ll explain my version, starting with contour, in very broad terms.  I’ll break it down further in future posts and videos.

What is contouring?

Contouring is the process of defining or creating receding areas of the face to give it definition. That’s it.  Areas typically contoured are the hollows of the cheeks and eyes, down the sides of the nose, around the perimeter of the face, and down the center of the neck.  I do some form of contouring every day because I like it, but I promise that you can live a very long and happy life without it.

Where things start to get confusing is when we try to figure out the difference between bronzing and contouring. Bronzer is meant to bronze the skin as if you had been lying out all day and were bronzed (slightly reddened) by the sun, which as you probably know, happens on the high points – not the hollows – of the face.  This is why I like to keep my bronzer and contour separate.

So can you use your bronzer to contour?

Absolutely.  But I have a different bronzer for contour and one for bronzing.

What the heck is the difference?!?!

(Precisely why this is a post entitled “Mass Confusion”). It comes down to the undertones in the product. A product with more grey for contouring will create shadows, while a product with more red for bronzing will mimic what the sun does to your skin after a day at the beach.

So can I use the same product as contour and bronzer??

Yes and no (insert hair-pulling): yes you can, but not at the same time. I mean, you can do whatever you want – it’s makeup – but have you ever seen people with what looks like giant brown rectangles on the sides of their faces? That’s what happens when contour and bronzer collide.  I’ll contour with my red-ish bronzer and forgo the contouring product depending on the look I want to achieve and how tan I am.  I’ll rarely use a contouring product to bronze, though, because that’s where it’s really easy to get into muddy- or dirty-looking territory.

Another option is to contour with one product and bronze with another, using the bronzer in place of blush (remember we still have to highlight, and there’s only so much room on the cheek, so while you can contour, highlight, bronze, and use blush, but that can be a bit much).

A third option, especially if you want to use blush, is something I do commonly for special occasions: contour for definition, add blush and highlight, then set the highlight with highlighting powder (more on that in the next post), and lightly set the perimeter of the face with bronzer instead of powder.  Here’s a video of this process.

TO RECAP:

• Contouring defines features and just about any product can be used
• Bronzing is meant to make you look like you’ve been in the sun; use a bronzer for this
• You can contour with bronzer but cannot bronze with contour (this is my “rule” and is probably disputed by far greater minds than mine!)
• You can just contour, just bronze, or do both (or neither)
• Replace an overall setting powder by setting with highlighting powder on the inside of the face and a bronzer around the perimeter

That’s enough for now. Take a deep breath, re-group, and I’ll meet you for Part II.  May the force be with you.

Finger Painting

The other day I was running out the door when I realized that, after their monthly bath, none of my brushes were dry. So I used the original makeup brushes, my fingers.  Disclaimer: like many of my posts, this was unplanned, which means I was literally in a rush to get out the door (hence the curlers) and I was literally applying my makeup in my bedroom while trying to snap photos with my iPhone (hence the really poor quality).  We're all about keepin' in real real here at Electra Lane. While this isn’t enough color for me for The Work Appropriate, it would work for those who want a clean, low-maintenance everyday routine (it’s my perfect Minimalist).  I started by smoothing on tinted moisturizer (Glow), then I added a little cream blush (Anguilla) and blended upward

I took a liquid concealer darker than my skin (Amande) and dotted it on the sides of my nose and under my cheekbones, then blended back and up into the blush

Next, I took that same concealer, but in a shade lighter than my skin (Vanilla), and patted it under my eyes, around my nose and mouth, and in the center of my forehead and down the center of my nose.

This is where we are so far:

For my eyes, I added a thick line of warm brown eyeliner (Costa Riche) to the top lash line and just the outer corners of the bottom lash line and smudged gently with my ring finger

I filled in (Taupe) and set (Clear) my eye brows

Then added a brightener just to the inner corners of my eyes

Next, I curled my lashes and applied mascara (Blackest Black)

And added a little gloss (Bellini)

Finally, to set everything, I used a few spritzes of setting spray

Refinery29 wrote an article about no-brush makeup, and a new line, called Nudestix, has capitalized on the technique, so that might be a great option for those who want an ever quicker and easier routine. HRH Wayne Goss does a lovely demo and review of that line here.

Five Looks - Go-To Glam

So far we've mastered The Minimalist, The Work Appropriate, The Bright Eye/Bold Lip, and The Smokey Eye/Nude Lip. Our final look is The Go-To Glam.  When it’s time to get dressed up, I want my makeup to look special.  That doesn’t mean, however, that I need to do more work than any of the other looks!  If you notice red carpet makeup, it’s usually not over-the-top so the focus remains on the clothes.  What sets this look apart is that it’s ready for photos, meaning the makeup needs to be a little brighter and slightly more opaque so it shows up, and the best way to test this is to take a bunch of selfies in different lights.  My favorite GTG look is sculpted, with emphasis on the eyes.  Since this look is very individualized, I’m not going to bore you with all the steps here.  What I hope you take away – listen up, brides! – is how intense this makeup comes off in-person as compared to in a photograph.

Every makeup look I do falls under one of these five.  Once you get the hang of which looks you prefer (or all of them...), you will begin to see how swapping in a different eye shadow color or using bronzer instead of blush will give you an endless combination of different looks.  Have fun!