Birthday Makeup - Part II

Now that our eyes are done, we move on to skin. So that the primer has time to soak in, I applied it before doing the eye makeup.  Also, for the sake of the video, I apply all of these products very quickly.  In real life, it takes me about 45 minutes to complete this look from start to finish – this leaves plenty of time to blend and let all of the products settle into the skin.  Otherwise, as you see in the video, the makeup gets streaky. Since we went out at night, I wanted soft, glowing skin that did not have too much color so as not to compete with the eyes. Check out the video here, and I’ll meet you next week for the final look.

Products Used:

Prep: Embryolisse Hydra-Mat

Foundation: Armani Luminous Silk in 6.5

Concealer: Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer in Light Golden

Contour: Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Skin Perfecting Micro-Powder in Dark

Bronzer: Make Up For Ever Mat Bronze in 40

Setting Powder: Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Radiant Light

Birthday Makeup - Part I

So earlier, I said I was planning a smoky eye with brown shadows for my birthday look…but I went with plums…because if you can’t change your mind on your birthday, when can you? This is one of my Go-To Glam looks, and it would be perfect for parties that pop up throughout the holiday season. When doing a really smoky eye, I do eyes first so when I clean up fallout, I don't take any foundation with it. In this three-part post, I’ll give you the full look from naked face to setting mist starting with eye makeup: click here for the video.

Products Used:

Eye Shadows: Dazzlelight, Tempting and Folie from MAC; Metallic Merlot from Stila

Eye Liner: MAC’s Smolder

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills brow powder in Brunette; MAC Brow Set in Clear

Lashes: Ardell Wispies; Duo dark glue

Clean Up: Almay Makeup Eraser Sticks

Mass Confusion Part II: Conceal/Highlight/Illuminate

Welcome back, and thanks for sticking with me. Last time, we talked about contouring and bronzing.  Now, we’re moving on to concealing, highlighting, and illuminating.  Here we go…

What does a concealer do?

It conceals. Under eye darkness, redness around the nose, blemishes, redness in the skin…my favorites are liquid and cream products, and it’s best to have two separate concealers in different colors – one a little lighter than the skin to conceal dark under eye circles, and one that matches the skin to cover redness and blemishes.  It goes on after foundation (in most cases...we'll get into that later).  Depending on your skin and the concealer’s formula, you could just use the under eye concealer as a highlighter.  If you don’t need concealer, don’t use it!  It’s one of those products that’s tricky and can look cakey, dry, exaggerate fine lines, and can actually make the area look darker.

What does highlighter do?

Highlighter tricks the eye into thinking there is light on the face even when there isn’t.  Another way to think of it: all the special lighting they use in photography and film?  This is a cheat for that when you don’t have special lighting.  Typically, areas to highlight are in the center of the forehead, down the center of the nose, under the eyes, around the nose and mouth, and the center of the chin.  If you don’t have dark circles, you can just use highlighter to brighten that area without any extra concealer.  Highlighter also goes under the name of brightener, and comes in liquid, cream, and powder forms.

What about illuminator?

Illuminator, also known as luminizer, and sometimes referred to as highlighter, has light-reflecting particles that brighten up an area when the light hits it. I usually only place this product just on the tops of the cheek bones; even if using a powder version (though I typically use liquid or cream), it could make other areas look oily.

I made this video to demonstrate. Remember, this is just the general idea – contouring, highlighting, and everything else, is incredibly individualized and, like basically everything concerning makeup, should be customized for occasion, longevity, and so on.  We’ll get more into the details in time but for now, have fun experimenting.  If you want another take, check out this how-to from Byrdie.

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.

Empties

Makeup can be (is…) expensive, so I’ve adopted some solutions to use up that last bit of product.

BOTTLES

The first one is pretty obvious, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thrown away nearly-empty bottles for no good reason.

Simply use a spatula – or a long cotton swab – to remove the product all the way at the bottom.  It’s ideal to keep fingers out of jars/bottles to keep from spreading bacteria.

GLOSS

There is a little plastic ridge at the top of your lip gloss that scrapes the excess product off the wand – which is wonderful until it keeps you from using all of the gloss.  Enter: a safety pin.

By sliding the safety pin into the plastic and popping it out, the wand will not only be able to pull the gloss off of the bottom of the tube, but also the sides.

LIPSTICK

When your beloved lipstick (pictured: Hue by M.A.C.) has reached the point of no return, do not lose heart.  You have about half of the original amount left:

Use a spatula, toothpick, or something similar to slide out the lipstick inside the plastic base and place in an empty jar.  You can do this with a few different lipsticks to make a new color or add some lip balm to make a gloss.