I’m not a super huge fan of the look, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s this girl. Without those gorgeous Persian/Armenian eyes I’ll have to do my best to create a little gringa version of the Kim Kardashian makeup look on myself. I apologize for the lighting variations.

1. Prep the entire lid and under-eye with concealer or eye shadow base.

2. Fill in the brow to create a defined shape. This is necessary to frame the look so as to avoid the raccoon eye.

3. Apply false eyelashes. I’d do this first so that if you have trouble you don’t screw up the makeup. Here’s a link to a past blog on applying false eyelashes.

4. Use a cream shadow or moveable liner to sketch in a shape. Use your brow bone as a guide for how high to go. To the bone is usually a good amount of drama. Also line the inner tear line. It’s important that it’s a maliable substance because you want to be able to blend with it. I used a Benefit liner that no longer exists and definitely isn’t sanitary that I still have.

5. Go over the cream with a black powder shadow, allowing the shadow to smooth out the edges. This is the time to exaggerate the darkness up toward the top of the brow bone if your eye can handle it. Mine cannot.

6. Brush a slate, brown, purple…. you choose…. medium shadow in a downward motion over the edges of the black shadow. Ooo, look how ’smokey’.

7. Use an angled brush to apply the medium tone over the black lined under eye, blending out  and over from the lash line. For me I’m tapering the line in toward the center eye, however Kim’s can take the same thickness all the way to the center.

7. Again with a downward stroke apply a highlight shadow from the brow over the edges of the medium tone.  Also hit up the outer, lower corner of the eye and inner corner

8. Use a liquid liner to go over any areas around the eye that may need to be filled in such as along the top ridges of the false lashes.

Done. 8 steps to a Kim Kardashian makeup look.

I only did one eye because I’m pretty sure that if I stepped out in my neighborhood with this makeup I’d be offered a lot of…. business. Penis business. Here’s a daylight and inside light comparison. Play with your shape a little to make it work best for you! There are no rules. Just layers.

Applying guyliner is not the same as applying regular eyeliner because it’s well, more masculine. From rocker rough to fancy fag, if the guyliner is put on smooth and contoured like a lady’s it looks dumb.

This is how to achieve the perfect guyliner look:

1. Rim the eye right up close to the eyeball on top and bottom. Get plenty on there by dragging the pencil back and forth, distributing evenly all the way from the inner corner to the outer edge.

2. Use a finger or Q-tip to smudge the liner. Start at the lash line and spread the color downward about 1/8 of an inch.

I used that exact technique for these shots, taken a few weeks ago here in Miami with photographer Frank Rubio. You can check out some more images on The Pop Couture Blog.

Fast forward 10 years and the same girls get in touch with their prepubescent selves by waxing every trace of hair from their private parts. Somehow this triggers a hormonal imbalance in the brain. They (separately) look at their freshly unveiled vaginas and think, “You know what this vagina needs? Sparkle!”

Not that I’m knocking it.  I want to be sparkly and pretty too. But personally I’m going to put off the experiment because I think it would be horribly inappropriate to push out a tiny human being covered in goo through a vajazzled vagina. What if some of the sparkles slid off and stuck to the baby? My child would be vajazzled.

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Completely Bare Spa made this trend popular with Swarovski crystals, but if you’re not in New York (or ready to drop $115 on the wax and shine combo) you can vajazzle yourself any time. It’s basically stick-on adornments that last for about 5 days placed on the upper vagina (sometimes referred to as the FUP) area. You can buy the crystals separately here, or go for another brand of stick-on bling. I would get the wax part done professionally just because of the difficulty in working with such an intricate, multi-faceted area.

On Pubic Pampering (that’s actually the name of the site) there’s a bunch of Indian themed self-adhesives that are way cooler than the Swarovski in my opinion.  Perhaps not as suited to, say, a bridal suite though…. You know what would be an awesome vajazzle? Teeth!

This is the most extensive vajazzle example I’ve seen:

Here’s a more typical vajazzle:

My weddings have been (thankfully) plentiful this year so I’ve had quite a few to sample from, and while natural is still a high demand look, I actually have more brides go for a slightly dramatic smoky eye instead. This includes brides who say they hardly ever wear makeup. Since no one (and I mean not a single one of my 2010 weddings) has daytime weddings, this evening makeup look is perfectly appropriate.

For brides I prefer to use a color other than black or grey for a less harsh look, and burgundy has been my most popular smoky bridal eye for Spring/Summer 2010.  The reason why is quite simple – burgundy or purple-ish flowers or bridesmaids dresses. And remember, the wedding is in the evening, but usually the pictures are taken while it’s still light out. So black or grey eye makeup can look more like raccoon eyes than sexy romantic eyes out in the harsh light of day.

Here’s the how-to with delightful photos courtesy of Life & Love Studios. Of course, hiring a makeup artist is really worth the splurge for a wedding, but in the event of a remote location or tight budget, follow these steps. Try it out ahead of time and please email me with any blunders you may encounter along the way.

1. Chill out! Put on some tunes, have a snack, pour a drink, and take a few deep breaths. Moisturize your skin to have a smooth canvas and start with the eyes so that in case you have shadow fall-out you don’t ruin your face makeup. Cover the lids with an eye base or cream foundation.

2. Line the eyes top and bottom with a deep brown pencil like Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes in Pearly Brown. Optionally go for the inner-eye tear duct on bottom.

3. Cover the entire lid with a light pink or tawny shadow. Try Bobby Brown’s Baby Pink.

4. Have two shades of burgundy shadow you plan to use, a deeper and a slightly lighter. I used MAC shadows here in Folie and Handwritten. Start with the deeper and hold your brush exactly as I am in the picture so that you can start at the lash line with the bulk of the shadow and sweep up. I have powder under the eyes to catch fall-out because I already did foundation here.

5. Sweep your lighter shadow into the crease area, blending between the original pink and darker burgundy. Optionally take a highlighter, and this time starting from the brow line, sweep down and over the top of the lighter tone to make sure the color gradation is smooth.

6. Take an angle brush and smooth over the bottom eyeliner with the shadows, starting with the darker one on the outer corner and switching to the lighter one in the middle.

7. Add lashes! See my previous post, Making Face: False Eyelashes-Yes You Can! for the step-by-step.

9. Clean up any fall-out mess and fill in the eyebrows. I love Laura Mercier’s eyebrow pencils because they never go warm.

10. Finish up your face makeup. This bride wanted bronzed cheeks and a nude lip.

11. How ridiculously gorgeous does she look?

He definitely thinks so!

]]> http://www.makefacebeauty.com/all-the-rage-romantic-burgundy-eyes-for-brides/feed/ 4 http://www.makefacebeauty.com/all-the-rage-matching-lips-and-nails/ http://www.makefacebeauty.com/all-the-rage-matching-lips-and-nails/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 02:38:06 +0000 Sally http://www.makefacebeauty.com/?p=497 A late post for a manic Monday complete with food spills, traffic, and a long shoot day. Now in bed with my Mac Book on my lap, feet on a pillow, and Hoarders on TV, I’m finally ready to write on my day in makeup.

While blue wouldn’t necessarily be the right choice for you (or most), matching your lip color with your nail color is a super cute way to punch up an ensemble. The colors in the clothing and accessories on the job today were all sorts of bright, so we decided to go really strong on the makeup in the same direction using that matching concept.

Choose a bright color like pink, tangerine, or purple for summer and keep the rest of the face simple. Like the iphone pic above of model Alex showing off her matching lips and nails, you can use the color to play with a vivid outfit. Or, the matching lips and nails can be your accessory to basics like black, white, or grey. A solid cocktail dress with bright pink lips and bright pink nails would be a-mazing.

I had painted my nails blue too, so adorable photo assistant Beatrice took this pic of all that blue on blue madness. I know I’m such a tease, but I’ve been forbidden from posting pics of the actual shoot before the images are published…

Now, I’ve seen this referred to as ‘smoky’. That’s ok if you want to add a few adjectives like ‘rough’, ‘rock’, or ‘edge’ to that. However, this is not really the same as a Pussy Cat Doll’s smoky or Claudia Schiffer’s smoky. It can get confusing.

Anyway this look is all about style, so don’t worry about precision. Joan Jett did her own makeup on the road, and during filming the makeup artist Robin Matthews would ask Kristen Stewart to sleep in her makeup to look extra fab for the next day’s shoot. I’d like to break it down to two levels: Sassy and Serious.

For Sassy, go all-out with hard black liner and shadow. Use the ultra-big pencil like BAD gal and smudge it up. Add black shadow over and out as far as you’re feeling it. A tip: place your brush with the shadow at the base of the lid and blend upward/outward. Then go back over the shadow with the black liner a bit.

For Serious, pretty much do the same thing except use a brown shadow instead of black. More subtle, contemplative. This was early Joan Jett. And of course for both looks finish off with lots of black mascara.

Below, Serious is standing with the guitar and Sassy is pictured in the pink circle.

Here’s a few ideas for just a touch of an 80’s makeup reference without going all Jem and the Holograms on yourself. These looks are great for students for everyday, but, depending on the job, working gals may want to reserve them for nights out, weekend shopping extravaganzas, or Coachella.

-One bright upper lid line or lid shadow cover. Level of expertise for this look is ridiculously low, plus it’s a simple and cute way to spring forward.

Brght Top Eyeliner

-Glitter lid. Start with a clear eye gloss so the glitter has something to stick to. Then use a small paddle brush and dab in the glitter. Festive, but not over doing it.

-Heavy bottom liner. My personal fav. Let it get thicker as you work your way out along the inner lid. Stop wherever you feel comfortable, taking out the end only as far as you like. I like to add extra mascara for a little bit of tarantula lashes.

The makeup remover has really overstayed it’s welcome on my left eye today, so I’m going to leave it at that. Have fun!

I love target bathing suits. I even picked up a full-piece number there (to be more modest) for my Micvah through which I was reborn a Jew. Not exactly what the designers had in mind, I’m sure, but I thought I was pretty fab.

The makeup tips and tricks for this underwater shoot really aren’t that different from anything I’ve posted in Beach and Water Sports or Radiant in the Rain, although we did avoid sunblock because of the possibility of clouding the water. Lead artist Riku Campo is, like me, a huge lover of Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes for waterproof makeup needs. One thick colorful line on the top lid was the most makeup the cute girlies sported today.

By the way, Riku has a book coming out this August, The Best In Beauty, so check that out for lots of tips and interviews with top hairstylists and manicurists, etc.

Here’s one such cute lady, Katie, taking a quick sitting-up nap.

Poolside primping and prepping…

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.

-Start with some mixed shades. A blue-green or grey-green is a great way to ease into the blues.

-Choose a shadow with a little shimmer. Matte tones (which I love) have more impact and less blend ability. Matte blue is better for the fashion-forward character, or a little crease enhancement.

-Keep the blue shadow on the lid. A slightly deeper tone in the crease could be a nice touch, but stay away from the brow bone with that blue!

-Or, stick to the crease. This is cute for olive tones where the color may be overwhelming on the lid, but bright and enhancing blended from the crease line.

-Blue liner is a super cute way to trend it up without a huge commitment to the look. Try adding the color to only the bottom or only the top for a fun look.

-If you have a lot of blue tones in your skin, maybe under your eyes or in visible veins, be sure to cover the blue in the skin. Also choose a blue eyeshadow color that isn’t similar to the tones in your skin. Enhancing faults definitely isn’t the aim of makeup.

As always, have fun!