This past week I worked on the music video for ‘I Wanna” by Bob Sinclar and Sahara featuring Shaggy. It’s a very catchy and danceable track……the first 800 times anyway.

While Shaggy and Bob (who unless I’m delusional introduced himself to me as Chris?) wanted natural looks, Sahara wanted nothing natural.  When she first sat in my chair she said, “I want it dark. I like it really dark.” I immediately figured she wanted the smokey look, since 9 times out of 10 that’s the case. However as I began to feather up the black shadow she says to me, “No, no, I want it like…. You know what? I’ll do it.”

While of course my pride was hurt, and I prefer not to stand around watching while someone else does my job, I have to say that that girl can do her makeup! What she wanted was straight Pamela Anderson makeup. Totally bypassing the Pussy Cat Dolls and going straight for the full frontal. Honestly I don’t think I could have done it as well as she did herself. She says, “In my country, in Romania, everyone does their makeup like this.” Interesting.

So here’s the method Sahara (Andrea) used. She used mainly Dior products, while I’m using a hodgepodge:

-Use a soft pencil liner to sketch in the beginning shape

-Fill the lid with shadow using a paddle brush.

-Use a blender brush to drag the shadow softly outward and upward to exaggerate the shape.

-Add any flares of color you desire softly over the lid and crease. I’m going for purple.

-Fill in eyebrows to add definition.

-Curl and mascara eyelashes.

-Apply the largest lashes you feel your eyes can handle.

-Use a soft, moist foundation like a liquid type. Applying with a sponge you can use to tidy up and messy bits is preferred.

-Use bronzer as a contouring blush. Follow the bottom of the cheekbone and focus on the outer edges.

-Take some highlighter on a paddle brush to define the bottom line of the shadow and just under the brow bone.

11. Line the lips over the natural lip line with a neutral color and fill in with a gloss or moisture rich lipstick.

Here’s my finished. I could totally use stronger lashes…. and a blow-out. The lack of a hair-did is kind of killing it.

Daylight

I really don’t pull it off with the same kind of pizazz as Sahara and fellow artist Autumn though. It’s cool, I know it.

This past weekend I happened to be in LA for a family rendezvous extravaganza the same time as the The Makeup Show passed through town. I’ve been to the Miami show, but LA’s was way better. More people, better demos and workshops, and more stuff! Or at least it seemed like it to me.

After a demo from Temptu I *finally* bought the silicone- based airbrush starter kit of foundations. I’ve been using alcohol/water based airbrush makeup for a couple years now and, while I really wanted to include silicone into my repertoire, I’ve been too CHEAP! The basic difference without going into it is that alcohol/water is dryer and more matte than silicone.

Second I bought an industry cult favorite moisturizer called Lait-Crème Concentrate by Embryolisse. Amazing moisturizer that gives great texture to the skin on it’s own, as a base for makeup, or with a primer over top.

I passed by my friend Liz at Yaby Cosmetics to grab a freestyle palette with magnets. These palettes are an awesome way to customize a kit for both professionals and non-professionals who like to consolidate and streamline their cosmetics. It’s basically an empty palette, not too big, that you can stick any makeup into with adhesive magnets.

After snagging a 40% off lipstick at Stila I cut myself off.

A note to any single straight men who may be reading this blog: TONS of hot young things at this event.

Some silly shots from the event:

And grey eyes too.

Oh those steely grays, the most mysterious and sultry of eye colors.  Deciding what eye shadow colors are best for gray eyes can seem confusing because of the clear simplicity of the color. With no gold sunbursts or green hues to specifically target, the choices can seem vast.

Well this is what to look for: cool colors and dark brown.  Here is a chart showing the difference between cool and dark colors, stolen from Cardigan Empire. So you see- pink, purple, blue, green and what not. You totally live in a Barbie world.

What not to do:

Creepy!

Now, my personal fav (contradictory to the color chart rule-but trust me) is dark brown. It brings out that mysterious vibe and makes the grey stand out like crazy. Get a nice dark brown liner all around the eyes and top it with a purpley-mauvey shadow like below=whoa!

“Hello, I ran across your blog and you really give good advice. I wanted to know do you know any colors that look good against dark skin. I tried some makeup of my own. I really just started using makeup not that long ago. Thank you for your advice.”

-Jaynae

First, thanks for writing in Jaynae! You have a beautiful dark skin tone that can be enhanced by contrasting or blending with colors to look amazing. (She included a pic, but understandably doesn’t want it online). Try bright, light pinks and oranges, they’ll show up subtle and pretty on your tone. Because you’re not looking for a high pigmentation here, you can choose cheaper brands for this look.  A bright turquoise shadow on the top lid with a pale gloss would be cute, since it seems like you enjoy fun, young colors. I suggest trying a few at Sephora or the department store to find a brand and shade you like. For something sultry, try lining the eyes with black and using bronze shadow in the crease to create that smoky look. A great book to check out is Beauty of Color by the model Iman (otherwise known as David Bowie’s wife).

Here’s a beautiful example using light pink shadow on the cheeks and eyelids:

Alec Wek sporting some bright blue, although definitely with more dramatic flair than I’m suggesting. But, you can see the great color contrast:

I couldn’t find an example on a darker tone, but here’s an eyeball showing the black and bronze sultry look. It looks like there some mauve shadow used to diffuse the bronze as well. The bronze will be more subtle on you, but you can enhance the ‘bedroom’ effect by bringing the black higher if you so please.

Hope these tips help! Lemme know how the experimenting goes….

Two words: Love It. Collection 2000 is a U.K. brand I hadn’t previously had the opportunity to try. This lower price range product very pleasantly surprises me, though.

The consistency of the Collagen Curl mascara is dry-ish and fluffy, making it very easy to accentuate the lashes without getting involved with safety pins, tiny combs, or heated devices. It does last well however, because of the dryness, if you’re prone to rubbing your eye you may experience flakage. Also, not a big fan of the curved brush. A tip, turn it around and use the middle back of the curve for the perfect amount of application at a time.

Collagen Curl is great for a naturally pretty look, nothing dramatic or Kim Kardashian face, but cute for every day and super user-friendly.

Here’s my eye with a very light single application of the mascara. Mind you, I have NO LASHES naturally. Next time I’ll be sure to do a before shot too…