Pure and simple, to do what I do, you have to be nearly obsessive/compulsive. I find myself watching Dr. Phil and thinking about mixing eyeliner colors. No kidding, it can really take over. But I, of course, love it. I'm sitting here right now with streaks of different eyeliners on my hand. I'm also listening to teen girls getting tattoos and their parents finding out through myspace. Oh my gosh what is the world coming to.
Anyway...this girl's makeup looks good. Light pink eyeshadow, dark pink/purple contouring, peachy cheeks and lips; perfect for 15. Oh yea, she had a completely rimmed eye in brown, not black, pencil. Now, I completely agree with this. Black is not the be all and end all of liners. Brown, navy, charcoal, and espresso colors are also good choices. Fun choices include purple, pink, white, baby blue, silver....and so many more of course! I was just thinking that lining in an eye with a wing in black and then going over it with a wet hotpink or sparkly purple eyeshadow, either could look amazing. I will probably try that soon, but it's definitely not for everyone. My point is only to step out of your comfort zone once in a while. Do you know I have not done the same makeup on myself two days in a row, and rarely twice even in the same week? I feel that it's a good practice, but sometimes I forget what I create but I do have a few go-to favorites. Purple shadow is fairly easy to go to for anyone...since most people don't have purple eyes, the fact that this color is opposite nearly every human eyecolor, it works well on everyone.
I've seen Julianne Moore (redhead) made up for a magazine wearing dark purple heavily rimmed eyes with baby pink shadow, pink cheeks/lips. I've also seen Kim Kardashian (who is known for over-makeup), who was made up with sparkly light gold/brown shadow, no eyeliner, peachy cheeks and red lips. Her lashes were lush, long, and probably fake...but no eyeliner! The look was very minimal but still glamorous. Kim K. was the perfect example that less is more, and clean matters more, when making up a face. They focused purely on her lush lashes and red lips; how classic. I hope these examples inspire how you think color can work on different skin tones.
Dark skin tones don't need to just stick with browns. Pinks, Peaches, and down right orange can look great on dark skin. Not to mention the reds and plums that they wear so much better than anyone. Don't get me wrong, I've worn red blush, but I make it more golden (as in gold shimmer highlight on top of cheek bone). And just so we are clear, I'm white as white and have dark hair, so red blush takes some skill to work out on me. It's not for the faint of heart when it comes to color. For most people, peaches and pinks and warm tone blushes work well.
Well, I think I've come to the end of my thoughts on color for evening. If anyone has any specific color questions please feel free to send them my way, and I will try to help. My ending thought, is that we shouldn't ever be scared by how many colors we see to choose from, it should instead inspire all the possibilities and combinations our imagination can think up.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Makeup and How We Think of Ourselves.
There is a lot that goes into making a great face. There are also many factors that come into play and help you make decisions (e.g. bridal, photography, skin color and texture, lighting, outfits, type of look you want achieve...). I generally like to think that I am not an obsessive person, but my job really requires it! It requires attention to detail and constant touching up. Makeup is not permanent so it continues to change, and we (artists I mean) have to tame it back into place sometimes!
Don't get me wrong, I was born for this profession, but there are many minute details about it that the average person doesn't know about it. Things like; blend, blend, blend some more 'til it's perfect! And color theory, do you have any idea what goes into color theory? I've touched on it briefly in past blogs with talking about undertones and mixing of foundation and powder, but there is way more. To perfectly tone any foundation for my clients, I ordered highly pigmented foundation tints that come in white, yellow, blue, green, red, and black. I have to know which colors to add to a foundation to get a right match for any skintone and undertone. But I love it!!!! That's why I love working on so many different people, it gives me a chance to practice different techniques and uses or manipulations of color. When I was first taught custom foundation I took it for granted; I almost didn't really want to learn. Now that I am practicing a whole lot more and getting some business, I realize what a great skill I was taught. Especially when it comes to things like Bridal or Photography makeup, the foundation absolutely cannot (I repeat cannot) be wrong!
On top of that, I need to know how certain colors will play off any person's skintone. And trust me when I say they ask you! I need to know what colors to mix together in order to get the right eyeshadow, or the perfect lipcolor. No kidding, I get really detailed when I'm working on a client. Even if it's just practice, I do my work to my 100% perfection every time, period. I realize sometimes I'm not even talking with clients, or really engaging in the conversation fully when I am deep in my work. My mouth sort of goes on autopilot and my brain takes over with transformation goal in mind.
I often hear when I'm done, "I've never seen myself look this good!" and my reply is usually, "I knew you could!". Sometimes I'm making up a face and realize what I am doing is looking so much better than I originally thought. Vision comes alive on a person's face. It's actually more rare for me to say, "um, I don't like how this is coming out". I've been making up faces since middle school and I feel I've learned a lot about women's faces and how to enhance them, so much so that now I rarely mess up. I'm not trying to brag here, I'm saying there are universal things about our faces as women that are inherently beautiful and fairly easy to play them up. It's hard to make a mistake on woman's face because we were genetically born to be beautiful. If our DNA has a choice to express an ugly gene or a beautiful gene, because we are women, the more beautiful expression of the gene will always prevail. Science has proved it. (fyi, my sister told me that, so I don't know where she got her info, though I think she got it from bio class. And she is a college graduate with a bachelor's degree, so I tend to believe her)
I know in my head how good someone can look. I know because, first I make up myself everyday and that is no easy task. And secondly, we only see our flaws and think there is nothing we can do about it. Wrong! Look, I got into this in middle school because I had particularily red skin. I would sneak makeup to school just to cover it. Finally my mom let me experiment with foundations and I was off and running full speed. In my head, once you're allowed foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, blush, and lips aren't too far of a jump! Anyway, taking off at that speed, I learned at an early age that our flaws are not permanent. We can take steps and use a little smoke and mirrors to make them appear less obvious. On a larger scale, we can change our bodies and our minds into whatever we want them to be...I mean what a great thing to learn just through makeup! Seriously, if every one of us women out there would look at our flaws as something that can be dealt with instead of just the hand we were dealt...the world would be a different place.
If you think about it, the fashion and beauty industries make money on us thinking badly of ourselves. Some stores cater only to thin and tall women; while others imply you will only be happy if you buy things to look good. Beauty products are vast and wide for the beige to medium (or tanned), but very dark or very white women are left hanging out to dry. While we are over in a corner preoccupied with "women things", men like to run the show. Forget it. It's time we all learned that our flaws don't define us.
I'd like to talk about some tips next, but I also would like to mention my simple eyeshadow tips were in a previous blog.
Anyhow...Got that dark ringed, tired look? Pink or peach toned concealer can do wonders! If you are of darker toned skin, you will choose peach/orange based concealer here. Concealer should be of sheer, buildable coverage and glide on smoothly. If it's cakey, it's all wrong. If your concealer is a little dry, you can mix a tad of foundation with it. Be sure to blend the concealer into the inner and outer corners of the eyes. Add a light translucent powder to set, and be sure to go back and forth across the under eye area (rolling your brush) to get all the tiny crevasses. Voila! Awake!
Next, aging or sagging eyes should never be paired with anything shimmery. Satin at most if you want an irridescent type sheen, but other than, no shine. Shimmer and shin will enhance the crapiness. What you want are matte (no shine) shadows. And yes I know they are hard to find, but it is getting easier now than it was a few years ago. Professional cosmetics sell more matte shadows than anyone due to high demand; you can find professional quality products in Coastal Scents Cosmetics, Fash, Shany, and BH Cosmetics. Drugstores now are also selling some matte shadows, so just spend some time there and you will find a few suitable ones I'm sure.
Blush is one of those topics that everyone seems to ask about. What color? Where do I put it? There is not one answer here so I will explain. Peachy toned blushes are usually great on almost everyone. Peach tends to naturally enhance cheeks without looking obvious. I think of it like when watching old Technicolor movies, all their cheeks were peach. The lighter and brighter the peach, the lighter the skin tone it belongs on. What I mean to say is, if you are light choose lighter peach and if you are dark you can go almost orange. If you like pinks, warm or "darker" pinks are the most natural looking. Hot pinks are better left reserved to the professionals as they are highly pigmented. Darker skinned people also look good in plums and reds, so feel free to play with those as well. Now...where do you put it? For most people, right on the cheek bone works well (leaving a space of about a finger and a half from the nose). Apply in a slightly upward/outward motion for best results...not upward like 80's blush upward though! More like right along the natural slant of your cheekbone. For people with more narrow faces or those who want the natural flushed look, smile and apply blush right to apples of the cheeks (blend outward slightly).
As for lipcolor, general rule is to keep it in the same color family as your blush. Peachy cheeks with coral, peach, or flesh nude lips. Pink cheeks with rosey or pink lips or even pink nude lips. Now, I know you are thinking, "well I don't typically wear red blush...so...". With red lips, you match the blush to the tone of the lipcolor. For instance, an orange/red lipcolor needs to be paired with peachy cheeks. And blue/red lipcolor is paired with pink or hotpink cheeks. Now, true red lipcolor (red with red undertones) is a little more versatile...it can be paired with nude/warm cheeks, peachy cheeks, or warm pinks (again hot pink is a skill to match with red lips). If you are a red lips sort of girl....please, please, please consider your eyeshadow in the whole equation (e.g purple eyeshadow usually requires blue/red lips). If you are going nude eyed and just want a lips and cheeks look, red is your best friend. Red lips is also easiest to get right when you have nude eyes.
A few last little tips, black eyeliner is often too harsh in my opinion for daytime; choose brown or grey for some thoughtful softness. You don't even have to totally rim your eye, a thin line on the top only with concealer I mentioned is a very clean and awake look. Mascara for daytime doesn't always need to be black either, browns and off/black work nicely too. Anyhow to tie up here, these few tips will help you look your best. Not everyone needs a full face of makeup all the time. But all of us should start thinking of ourselves a little better today.
Don't get me wrong, I was born for this profession, but there are many minute details about it that the average person doesn't know about it. Things like; blend, blend, blend some more 'til it's perfect! And color theory, do you have any idea what goes into color theory? I've touched on it briefly in past blogs with talking about undertones and mixing of foundation and powder, but there is way more. To perfectly tone any foundation for my clients, I ordered highly pigmented foundation tints that come in white, yellow, blue, green, red, and black. I have to know which colors to add to a foundation to get a right match for any skintone and undertone. But I love it!!!! That's why I love working on so many different people, it gives me a chance to practice different techniques and uses or manipulations of color. When I was first taught custom foundation I took it for granted; I almost didn't really want to learn. Now that I am practicing a whole lot more and getting some business, I realize what a great skill I was taught. Especially when it comes to things like Bridal or Photography makeup, the foundation absolutely cannot (I repeat cannot) be wrong!
On top of that, I need to know how certain colors will play off any person's skintone. And trust me when I say they ask you! I need to know what colors to mix together in order to get the right eyeshadow, or the perfect lipcolor. No kidding, I get really detailed when I'm working on a client. Even if it's just practice, I do my work to my 100% perfection every time, period. I realize sometimes I'm not even talking with clients, or really engaging in the conversation fully when I am deep in my work. My mouth sort of goes on autopilot and my brain takes over with transformation goal in mind.
I often hear when I'm done, "I've never seen myself look this good!" and my reply is usually, "I knew you could!". Sometimes I'm making up a face and realize what I am doing is looking so much better than I originally thought. Vision comes alive on a person's face. It's actually more rare for me to say, "um, I don't like how this is coming out". I've been making up faces since middle school and I feel I've learned a lot about women's faces and how to enhance them, so much so that now I rarely mess up. I'm not trying to brag here, I'm saying there are universal things about our faces as women that are inherently beautiful and fairly easy to play them up. It's hard to make a mistake on woman's face because we were genetically born to be beautiful. If our DNA has a choice to express an ugly gene or a beautiful gene, because we are women, the more beautiful expression of the gene will always prevail. Science has proved it. (fyi, my sister told me that, so I don't know where she got her info, though I think she got it from bio class. And she is a college graduate with a bachelor's degree, so I tend to believe her)
I know in my head how good someone can look. I know because, first I make up myself everyday and that is no easy task. And secondly, we only see our flaws and think there is nothing we can do about it. Wrong! Look, I got into this in middle school because I had particularily red skin. I would sneak makeup to school just to cover it. Finally my mom let me experiment with foundations and I was off and running full speed. In my head, once you're allowed foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, blush, and lips aren't too far of a jump! Anyway, taking off at that speed, I learned at an early age that our flaws are not permanent. We can take steps and use a little smoke and mirrors to make them appear less obvious. On a larger scale, we can change our bodies and our minds into whatever we want them to be...I mean what a great thing to learn just through makeup! Seriously, if every one of us women out there would look at our flaws as something that can be dealt with instead of just the hand we were dealt...the world would be a different place.
If you think about it, the fashion and beauty industries make money on us thinking badly of ourselves. Some stores cater only to thin and tall women; while others imply you will only be happy if you buy things to look good. Beauty products are vast and wide for the beige to medium (or tanned), but very dark or very white women are left hanging out to dry. While we are over in a corner preoccupied with "women things", men like to run the show. Forget it. It's time we all learned that our flaws don't define us.
I'd like to talk about some tips next, but I also would like to mention my simple eyeshadow tips were in a previous blog.
Anyhow...Got that dark ringed, tired look? Pink or peach toned concealer can do wonders! If you are of darker toned skin, you will choose peach/orange based concealer here. Concealer should be of sheer, buildable coverage and glide on smoothly. If it's cakey, it's all wrong. If your concealer is a little dry, you can mix a tad of foundation with it. Be sure to blend the concealer into the inner and outer corners of the eyes. Add a light translucent powder to set, and be sure to go back and forth across the under eye area (rolling your brush) to get all the tiny crevasses. Voila! Awake!
Next, aging or sagging eyes should never be paired with anything shimmery. Satin at most if you want an irridescent type sheen, but other than, no shine. Shimmer and shin will enhance the crapiness. What you want are matte (no shine) shadows. And yes I know they are hard to find, but it is getting easier now than it was a few years ago. Professional cosmetics sell more matte shadows than anyone due to high demand; you can find professional quality products in Coastal Scents Cosmetics, Fash, Shany, and BH Cosmetics. Drugstores now are also selling some matte shadows, so just spend some time there and you will find a few suitable ones I'm sure.
Blush is one of those topics that everyone seems to ask about. What color? Where do I put it? There is not one answer here so I will explain. Peachy toned blushes are usually great on almost everyone. Peach tends to naturally enhance cheeks without looking obvious. I think of it like when watching old Technicolor movies, all their cheeks were peach. The lighter and brighter the peach, the lighter the skin tone it belongs on. What I mean to say is, if you are light choose lighter peach and if you are dark you can go almost orange. If you like pinks, warm or "darker" pinks are the most natural looking. Hot pinks are better left reserved to the professionals as they are highly pigmented. Darker skinned people also look good in plums and reds, so feel free to play with those as well. Now...where do you put it? For most people, right on the cheek bone works well (leaving a space of about a finger and a half from the nose). Apply in a slightly upward/outward motion for best results...not upward like 80's blush upward though! More like right along the natural slant of your cheekbone. For people with more narrow faces or those who want the natural flushed look, smile and apply blush right to apples of the cheeks (blend outward slightly).
As for lipcolor, general rule is to keep it in the same color family as your blush. Peachy cheeks with coral, peach, or flesh nude lips. Pink cheeks with rosey or pink lips or even pink nude lips. Now, I know you are thinking, "well I don't typically wear red blush...so...". With red lips, you match the blush to the tone of the lipcolor. For instance, an orange/red lipcolor needs to be paired with peachy cheeks. And blue/red lipcolor is paired with pink or hotpink cheeks. Now, true red lipcolor (red with red undertones) is a little more versatile...it can be paired with nude/warm cheeks, peachy cheeks, or warm pinks (again hot pink is a skill to match with red lips). If you are a red lips sort of girl....please, please, please consider your eyeshadow in the whole equation (e.g purple eyeshadow usually requires blue/red lips). If you are going nude eyed and just want a lips and cheeks look, red is your best friend. Red lips is also easiest to get right when you have nude eyes.
A few last little tips, black eyeliner is often too harsh in my opinion for daytime; choose brown or grey for some thoughtful softness. You don't even have to totally rim your eye, a thin line on the top only with concealer I mentioned is a very clean and awake look. Mascara for daytime doesn't always need to be black either, browns and off/black work nicely too. Anyhow to tie up here, these few tips will help you look your best. Not everyone needs a full face of makeup all the time. But all of us should start thinking of ourselves a little better today.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Classic Beauty Never Fades
One of the most common questions a Makeup Artist or beauty consultant is asked, what colors are season right now? Now, do not get me wrong here, it's important to keep learning and see what's being done mainstream in makeup, BUT there are some beauty techniques that will always work and look fabulous.
First, remember that we live in era when anything goes with fashion! All of last century was defined by typical decade trends; you can look at a photo from the 60's and except to see certain garbe...and this is true with the 80's, 70's, 50's, and every decade! Now you can barely tell a difference in fashion from 2000 til 2010. This is true because we have pulled from good fashion inspiration of past decades, and bring them alive in a new way...which translates to acceptance of any type of clothing choice. The same is true in makeup. A 60's winged eyeliner is acceptable today because of it's classic beauty inspiration, Marilyn Monroe. A monochromatic (nude, flesh toned from eyes to lips) makeup look is acceptable today because of the 70's makeup, which was little or none and mostly unkempt. 80's and 90's brought out our love for vibrant color and heavily rimmed eyes. Do you see where I'm going with this? Possibilites and range of makeup acceptance are ENDLESS!
Now, I might be a bit biased because I've grown up with classics all around me. My mom started me off garage saleing and thrift store shopping; and it didn't stop there. We have my great-grandparents furniture from the 1920's. I own the vanity, my sister the buffet, and my mom the china hutch and bedroom furniture. My mom has also owned a set of china from the early 1900's that she bought from a neighbors garage sale.
Being around these things has given me an appreciation for anything classic. If you look closely at photos from my wedding, you can tell my own personal look that day was classic and somewhat victorian. Even my wedding rings are antique in style inspiration. I believe makeup can have the same classic elements that are timeless. I mean, when was the last time red lipstick was out of style? Or when was eyeliner in any fashion just out? Exactly, never.
As artist, I try to find new ways of using old techniques. For instance, a nicely winged eyeliner (which everyone knows I LOVE), can be paired with a nude lip instead of typical red lips. Or I can do a nude or flesh tone inspired eyes and cheeks but pair with a vibrant lip. 80's vibrant shadows can be worked into todays' three and five piece eyes instead of the pasts' barbie doll type(baby blue, pink, and peach) application. Even today's smokey eye is inspired by 1920's wash of dark color all over the lid with heavily smudged dark color beneath the eye; we just tend toward a nude lip with a smokey eye now. Although I will say a smokey eye with deep color lips can still be done today as well.We are also allowed to just sweep any color over the top lid with peachy-pink blush like was done with pastels in the 1930's; only now we have the option of a light glossy lip instead of full color lips. Even brows today can be thick, thin, medium, kempt and unkempt!
Makeup trends that stay timeless are these: Red lips, Black or Brown eyeliner applied in any fashion, long luscious lashes, medium brown or taupe colors on eyes, and a healthy rosey or peach glow. Any one of these I mentioned can be done alone or in combination with each other. The whole point of mentioning classic looks is because they will always keep you beautiful and look good on almost everyone.
I tried to discuss classics as much as possible, but also remember we can improve on the past. We can look at photos of old beauty and transform them into modern by tweaking things here and there. The greater goal is to be inspired by classics rather clinging to them. I hope everyone out there can be inspired by both new and old photos of makeup I will post below.
First, remember that we live in era when anything goes with fashion! All of last century was defined by typical decade trends; you can look at a photo from the 60's and except to see certain garbe...and this is true with the 80's, 70's, 50's, and every decade! Now you can barely tell a difference in fashion from 2000 til 2010. This is true because we have pulled from good fashion inspiration of past decades, and bring them alive in a new way...which translates to acceptance of any type of clothing choice. The same is true in makeup. A 60's winged eyeliner is acceptable today because of it's classic beauty inspiration, Marilyn Monroe. A monochromatic (nude, flesh toned from eyes to lips) makeup look is acceptable today because of the 70's makeup, which was little or none and mostly unkempt. 80's and 90's brought out our love for vibrant color and heavily rimmed eyes. Do you see where I'm going with this? Possibilites and range of makeup acceptance are ENDLESS!
Now, I might be a bit biased because I've grown up with classics all around me. My mom started me off garage saleing and thrift store shopping; and it didn't stop there. We have my great-grandparents furniture from the 1920's. I own the vanity, my sister the buffet, and my mom the china hutch and bedroom furniture. My mom has also owned a set of china from the early 1900's that she bought from a neighbors garage sale.
Being around these things has given me an appreciation for anything classic. If you look closely at photos from my wedding, you can tell my own personal look that day was classic and somewhat victorian. Even my wedding rings are antique in style inspiration. I believe makeup can have the same classic elements that are timeless. I mean, when was the last time red lipstick was out of style? Or when was eyeliner in any fashion just out? Exactly, never.
As artist, I try to find new ways of using old techniques. For instance, a nicely winged eyeliner (which everyone knows I LOVE), can be paired with a nude lip instead of typical red lips. Or I can do a nude or flesh tone inspired eyes and cheeks but pair with a vibrant lip. 80's vibrant shadows can be worked into todays' three and five piece eyes instead of the pasts' barbie doll type(baby blue, pink, and peach) application. Even today's smokey eye is inspired by 1920's wash of dark color all over the lid with heavily smudged dark color beneath the eye; we just tend toward a nude lip with a smokey eye now. Although I will say a smokey eye with deep color lips can still be done today as well.We are also allowed to just sweep any color over the top lid with peachy-pink blush like was done with pastels in the 1930's; only now we have the option of a light glossy lip instead of full color lips. Even brows today can be thick, thin, medium, kempt and unkempt!
Makeup trends that stay timeless are these: Red lips, Black or Brown eyeliner applied in any fashion, long luscious lashes, medium brown or taupe colors on eyes, and a healthy rosey or peach glow. Any one of these I mentioned can be done alone or in combination with each other. The whole point of mentioning classic looks is because they will always keep you beautiful and look good on almost everyone.
I tried to discuss classics as much as possible, but also remember we can improve on the past. We can look at photos of old beauty and transform them into modern by tweaking things here and there. The greater goal is to be inspired by classics rather clinging to them. I hope everyone out there can be inspired by both new and old photos of makeup I will post below.
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