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.
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