Since I have never been the type to roll out of bed, brush my teeth and hair and be decent enough to walk out of the door, I have taken some photos of my morning process. Oh how I wish my skin tone was even and had a natural glow, but since it doesn't I have the wonderful use of make-up to help me out.
First things first. I showered, because let's face it, my hair only lasts a day before becoming so greasy it is either wash it, or wear a hat! So here I am, clean as a whistle. No comments please...
(after shower)
Next I added a small amount of mousse to my hair before blow drying it and used a gel primer on my face. Gel primers work well for my combination skin type, but there are many choices out there and it is a bit of trial and error to find the one that works best for you. Once my hair was dry I began to apply my foundation. I use a few different colors blended into one, as it is very difficult to find your exact skin tone in one perfect little bottle. Mixing allows you to achieve a closer match, especially if you tend to tan in the summer and your skin tone changes throughout the year. After foundation comes concealer. I have those dreaded blue bags under my eyes so patting on a touch of cream concealer in a peach tone helps to make the darkness disappear. My biggest concern when doing make-up has, and will always be, foundation. If your foundation isn't right, then the rest of your make-up will be off. Foundation will cause your face to become one dimensional, so, to show off natural bone structure you must shade and highlight! For the best way to find out where to place contour shading on your cheeks simply suck in your cheeks like a fish, this will cause your cheekbones to pop out. The place to shade is just below the cheekbone in the natural hollow. I use a matte bronzer for contouring. Now that you have found the spot to shade, you will want to highlight directly above that area using a illuminating cream or powder. The result will give you amazing cheekbones and more dimension to your face. Unfortunately, I have the type of hair that doesn't know if it wants to be curly or should hang straight. So half my hair tends to curl and the rest lays perfectly flat.Very annoying. First world problems. I have found that the fastest and easiest way to do my hair in the morning is to use a large curler and add some soft curls to my entire head. This helps with making my fairly thin and lifeless hair look fuller. It also looks as if I tried harder then I actually did to make it look nice. Perfect! My trick is to do the curls in layers. Taking a section of hair about two inches thick and rolling the hair in the curler horizontally rather then vertically, upwards toward the root. Hold the curler there for about ten seconds and release. This creates a more natural wave then a precise curl. Being in my late twenties I try to avoid hair styles that are too "cute". I am aiming for more sophisticated styles these days. Once I have curled all of my hair, which does not take long because my hair is ridiculously thin, I then take a wide toothed comb and gently brush through the curls. It helps to blend the curls together and come across as full and thick. Again, perfect!
For day make-up I do not like to use too much color on my eyes. The "less is more" rule normally applies to day wear. The Naked Basics palette from Urban Decay is great for giving you a polished day look without being too bold. First I used the color W.O.S. to cover my entire eyelid (please see photo below for reference of colors) from lash line to crease. In the crease for definition I used the color Naked 2. Defining the crease in your eye will make them appear larger and more dramatic without the use of false lashes or dark colors. Perfect for day time. The eyeliner I used was a mixture of a copper and black waterproof cream liner to make a brown. Applied with an eyeliner brush directly into the base of my lashes. I finished off my eyes by applying one of my favorite mascaras... the Maybelline Great Lash waterproof black mascara. See the photo below of my lashes with a coat of mascara and the one without. Huge difference! Mascara always puts the final touch on any make-up look.
(without mascara) (with mascara)
Now, not everyone has the time to completely redo their hair and make-up before heading out for the night. I have two baby boys, so unless my husband can entertain them while mommy locks herself in the bathroom, I am kind of out of luck for time. But I still try to get away with it sometimes anyways. There are simple ways to take your day make-up to night make-up easily. I did my own transition here to show you what you should apply and where to put it, to go from day to night in a short amount of time.
My hair has a tendency to not hold a curl for the entire day, so by the time I am home from work those nice voluminous curls from the morning have turned into a wavy mess. Instead of washing my hair all over again I pull my hair up. One of my favorite, only takes two minutes but looks great hairdo, is the classic bun. You can use a sock bun if you wish, I did not for this particular look but often do. To make the bun a little more spruced up try adding a bit of volume in the front and let your hair look a little messy and not too perfect. This gives a more edgy look rather then the pretty princess look we want to avoid. Having my hair up and out of my face is stress free and works well when the time comes to dance the night away. No sweaty bangs get stuck to my forehead, hurray!
(updo)
Once my hair has been pulled up and out of my face, I am ready to begin the transition to night make-up. My favorite! I love dramatic eyes and a colorful lip. Evening make-up allows me to try new looks and if for some reason it doesn't turn out the way I wanted it to, it is dark, so it becomes less noticeable. I do not normally apply any extra foundation, but I do powder my entire face and go over it with some bronzer as well. If any make-up from the day has faded I like to touch it up, such as the contouring in my cheeks. I also love to apply blush, hence the blog name, and I add a touch of color to the tops of my cheeks, taking care to not go too high toward my eyes or too close to the sides of my nose. Applying blush too close to these areas will make any contouring you have created disappear. For my eyes I took the same eyeshadow palette from Urban Decay, Naked Basics, and moved to the darker side of the shadows and chose the more dramatic tones. This palette is perfect for a sexy smokey eye. Using the darkest color Crave, I went over my pre existing eyeliner to create a thicker line, as well as added some darkness to the outer corner of my eye. In a sideways V-shape to best explain it. Once the darkest color has been applied you will want to blend it with the smokey color Faint, to avoid having any harsh lines. Blending is your best friend when it comes to a great smokey eye. Watch out for "falling", which is when the eyeshadow falls onto the area just below your eye. When you are using a dark color such as black it is very noticeable and will need to be brushed away gently to avoid making streaks of color on your skin. Tapping your brush prior to applying the shadow will stop it from making a big mess on your face. Do not blow on your brush, blowing sends saliva onto your brush which then gets put on your face...so don't spit on your face. Wise words to follow. Finish the eye off with a light color on the inner corners of your eye and a quick coat of liquid liner along your lash line to define. For more dramatic eyes, apply some black shadow on the bottom of your eye and run your mascara wand through your upper and lower lashes to spruce them up a bit. Now, onto the lips. One of my favorite parts of make-up has to be lipstick. It isn't always the most practical or easiest product to use, but it is definitely worth it in the end. Start off by making sure your lips aren't dry. If they are, apply some chapstick. Lips will look crusty and flakey if lipstick is applied over top of any dry spots, we don't want that. After your lips are smooth and prepped, grab a lip lining pencil that matches your lipstick color. Line your natural lip line, being careful not to get outside the lines. Just like back in kindergarten. Once lined, fill in your lips completely with the pencil. This trick will keep your lipstick from bleeding onto your skin and will help it last a lot longer throughout the night. Always apply your lipstick with a brush, it will help for keeping the lines straight and gives you a more polished look. If you want this lipstick to last even longer, apply a small amount of loose powder directly on top of it to set it and go over your lips once again with the same lipstick. Layers help with staying power and for great intensity (if that is the look you want), which works great for reds and deep colored lipsticks. I chose a fuchsia color today, one of my favorites. It is Covergirl Lipperfection in the color Embrace. It also has a stain built in, which makes my lips look great all night long! Less touch ups after drinking, eating or even kissing... I'm not judging. Here is my final photo, the complete night time make-up look. I would wear this to a nice dinner, a party or even a bar/club. If you find a classic look that works well for you, you have it in the bag. You can pair any outfit style or color with this types of make-up so all you need to do afterwards is narrow down what to wear. Which can sometimes take a lot longer then any make-up you do.
(complete night make-up)
(Urban Decay, Naked Basics Eyeshadow Palette)
Now go have fun with your own make-up. Try out a transition from day to night to make your life a whole lot easier and spend less time "getting ready" and more time having fun! Even though getting ready is pretty fun to me. Below you will find a photo of all the make-up products I used for my make-up above. Product list as follows: (from top left to right, then bottom left to right of photo)
- Make-Up Forever HD Foundation ($50, found at Sephora)
- Smashbox 15 Hour Wear Foundation ($45, found at Shoppers Beauty Bar or Sephora)
- Bodyography Gel Primer ($35, found at online stores only)
- MAC Lustre Drops, in Pink Rebel ($15, found at MAC Stores)
- MAC Cream Concealer ($22, found at MAC Stores)
- NARS Cream Stick ($45, found at Sephora and Holt Renfrew)
- Top Model Eyeliner, in Brown ($8)
- Annabelle Lipliner, in red ($5, found at drug stores)
- Maybelline Lash Stiletto liquid eyeliner, in blackest black ($10, found at drug stores)
- Mayebelline Great Lash Waterprood mascara, in very black ($5, found at drug stores)
- Covergirl Lipperfection Lipstick, in Embrace ($8, found at drug stores)
- MAC Liquid Glass Lipgloss, clear ($15, found at MAC stores)
- MAC Matte Bronzer ($40, found at MAC stores)
- MAC Mineralize Pressed Powder, in medium ($45, found at MAC stores)
- MAC Waterproof Cream Liner, in Copper and Black ($16, found at MAC stores)
- NARS Blush, in Deep Throat ($27, found at Sephora)
- Urban Decay, Naked Basics eyeshadow palette ($50, found at Sephora)
(the goods)
Thanks for reading my blog and viewing the photos in it. I apologize for the selfies, but they were somewhat necessary for this.
Every face is different and everyone has their own style so don't feel as if you need your make-up to look like mine. This blog post is to simply show you steps to help transition from day to night make-up in a time crunch. The more you do it, the easier it gets!
Cheers,
Caitlin J Make-Up Artistry
No comments:
Post a Comment