You’ve been asking for it and now you shall receive … this is the beginning of me 2 week exposé on eye makeup
The Basics:
First of all a bit of eye ares skincare: the skin around your eyes is extremely delicate, and product you put on it are harsh and dehydrating… solution, use an eye gel all over your lids and under the eyes after washing your face!!!! … Since we are still young and restless there is no need to use any sort of anti-aging or overly rich eye cream, but eye gels are great because they are light, reduce the puffiness and circles under your eyes (caused by the synergic effect of school + boys + lack of money), and keeps the moisture in the skin and creates a protective barrier between the skin and the makeup… my recommendation is the Calrin’s eye gel, I’ve been using it for years and love its cooling effect… if you want to opt for a less pricey option try the Alba eye gel (available at Choices and some London Drugs), this eye gel is great and for $18 you get quite the generous mount that should last for at least 5 months… so go out and get some !!!!
Eyebrows: Basically on the scale of “The Most Important Things EVER” having good eyebrows fits right between “being popular” and “having a hotter boyfriend than any of your friend”… Many psychological studies have shown that more symmetrical faces are considered to be more attractive and NOTHING balances out the symmetry of your face better than having perfect eyebrows!!! … I always suggest going to get your eyebrows threaded for a few reasons… First of all, you are a poor judge of your own facial symmetry, so you may think your eyebrows are even when they really aren’t, someone else (who knows how to do good brows) will be a far better judge… Second, lots of girls tend to get a bit tweezers happy and hack off too much, and while think brows can be very sexy, hacked brows just look skanky … Lastly, most professionals know how to choose the best arch shape to complement your eyes and face …
If you insist on doing your own eyebrows, I won’t judge you cuz I do my own too … here are a few good pointer to remember…
1) DON’T go buck wild… have an end result in mind!!! Take white eyeliner and on top of your brown draw the boarders of what you want your brows to look like, use these as a guideline, and only pluck outside those boarders!!!! (Before you start plucking make sure that what you drew out is symmetrical, if you can, try to get a second opinion..)
2) Choose a shape that complements your eyes best… if you have deep set, or small eyes make the arch of your browns more defined and angular (this will make your eyes look more round), a more rounded brown makes eye look more almond shaped, while less angular (straighter) makes eyes look more open and bigger. The best is to try to work with your natural eyebrow shape, and enhance it than completely redo it.
3) Only puck from the bottom (well, mostly)... the goes is to highlight your brow bone and make your upper lids look as big as possible so plucking from the bottom is always best… if the top of your browns is wonky puck out the few tray hairs but DON’T OVER DO IT !!!
4) The biggest and worst eyebrow mistake I see is eyebrows that a spaced too far apart. Doing this just makes your face look rounder and nose look bigger and fatter… (Hopefully this is not the look you are going for) … your brows should line up the middle of your nose width wise… to do this, take your white liner and place it parallel to your nose, now move it to one side until it is half way to the edge of your nose, and then the other way, make little marks with it and use these as guide lines for where your brows should start … where should the eyebrows end ? This is a more open ended question … don’t make them too short, generally 45 degrees from the other corner of your eye…
Also, remember to Trim your brows, this makes them look more pampered, but don’t go overboard!!!
Good luck in all your plucking endeavors…
The Basic Tools:
I own lots and lots of makeup brushes, but I can create pretty much any eye makeup look using only these 3 …(look at photos section for a picture of all 3)… and before I describe the use of each ones, I got something for you to consider when shopping for brushes… real hairs brushes are the best, they will last you the longest and are easiest to blend with. If you take good care of your brushes (i.e. Wash them every 2 weeks) they will last you years, and thus are a good investment … MAC is not the end all be all of makeup brushes and doesn’t really compared to higher end brands like Laura Mercier and Nars because the density of the hair is not the great and a lots of the brushes they make now are not pure hair but a blend of hair and synthetic (if you got your MAC brushes a few years ago then they are most likely all real hair and have good density, but for the past few years MAC has been significantly decreasing in quality (notice how new MAC eye shadows run out much quicker than the old ones????) , so be ware and consider other brands when shopping for brushes…)
The Angel Brush: if you don’t have one, run don’t walk to get it!!! I use this puppy on a daily basis for lining my eyes and defining my oh so perfect eyebrows. This brush allows you to turn pretty much any shadow into eyeliner; and allows you to perfectly smudge your pencil liner for a softer look (more on all this fun stuff later on).
The Crease Brush: it enables you to blend shadow like it was a fruit smoothie… that’s pretty much all I have to say about it for now…
The Flat Brush: I heart this brush BIGTIME because it is what separates the English from the Dutch went it comes to professional looking makeup. This is pretty much a detailing brush that allows you to perfectly highlight your brow bone, inner eye corner, and create sultry smokey eyes.
Just remember in brushes look for REAL HAIR AND DENSITY DENSITY DENSITY !!!
Now that we got all the technical stuff out…
The Very First Step to the sexiest eye makeup EVER:
Every artist needs a clean canvas to work with (unless you are one of THOSE artists that likes to work with the dirty canvases)… but when it comes to makeup, you wanna keep it clean, so after you have applied to eye gel and let it dry its time to create the perfect canvas… Having a good concealer is like being guilty and having a really good layer, pretty much it masks all those drunken, blurry, party nights and makes you look refreshed, awake and brand new …mmm hiding my sins is one of my favorite hobbies!!!
How to chose a good concealer: so basically what you want to look for is a solid, cream concealer, that is light in texture but has good coverage!!! My favorites are NARS (the one that cones in a lipstick tube) and Lancome Photogenic.
How to choose the right color for eye area concelaer ? I generally like to get one that is 1 shade lighter than my skin tone, because this makes my eyes stand out more. Another important aspect is choosing the right tone. Some concealers tend to come in more yellow tones (tanned), medium or neutral tones (Asian or olive skin, but are pretty much good for everyone) and pink/peach tones (if you have paler skin with pink tones in it), on the whole don’t concern yourself with this too much because its mostly made for photography. It is a bit better to go with the correct tone for you (because having a warm toned conealer on cool toned skin will may the eye area look washed out and vise versa) but it is more important to choose the correct shade, but don’t go too light!!!
How to Apply? I think using your fingertips is best, just make sure not to pull the skin around your eyes too much and blend it well. Apply all over the lids (lash line to brow, and around the inner corner of the eyes to make the eyes POP) and along the bottom of the eye as low as the top of your cheekbone (remember you don’t want to have distinctive white circles around your eyes, you just want your eye area to look bright and livery so blend blend blend with the surrounding area).
Practice all this stuff in the meanwhile and go get your eyebrows did .. and in a few days the real fun begins … I’m gonna be talking color wheel and choosing the right colors for you, different techniques to complement different eye shapes, more on eyebrows, make 3 takes on smokey eyes and much much more …
Heart with wings,
Marina
The Basics:
First of all a bit of eye ares skincare: the skin around your eyes is extremely delicate, and product you put on it are harsh and dehydrating… solution, use an eye gel all over your lids and under the eyes after washing your face!!!! … Since we are still young and restless there is no need to use any sort of anti-aging or overly rich eye cream, but eye gels are great because they are light, reduce the puffiness and circles under your eyes (caused by the synergic effect of school + boys + lack of money), and keeps the moisture in the skin and creates a protective barrier between the skin and the makeup… my recommendation is the Calrin’s eye gel, I’ve been using it for years and love its cooling effect… if you want to opt for a less pricey option try the Alba eye gel (available at Choices and some London Drugs), this eye gel is great and for $18 you get quite the generous mount that should last for at least 5 months… so go out and get some !!!!
Eyebrows: Basically on the scale of “The Most Important Things EVER” having good eyebrows fits right between “being popular” and “having a hotter boyfriend than any of your friend”… Many psychological studies have shown that more symmetrical faces are considered to be more attractive and NOTHING balances out the symmetry of your face better than having perfect eyebrows!!! … I always suggest going to get your eyebrows threaded for a few reasons… First of all, you are a poor judge of your own facial symmetry, so you may think your eyebrows are even when they really aren’t, someone else (who knows how to do good brows) will be a far better judge… Second, lots of girls tend to get a bit tweezers happy and hack off too much, and while think brows can be very sexy, hacked brows just look skanky … Lastly, most professionals know how to choose the best arch shape to complement your eyes and face …
If you insist on doing your own eyebrows, I won’t judge you cuz I do my own too … here are a few good pointer to remember…
1) DON’T go buck wild… have an end result in mind!!! Take white eyeliner and on top of your brown draw the boarders of what you want your brows to look like, use these as a guideline, and only pluck outside those boarders!!!! (Before you start plucking make sure that what you drew out is symmetrical, if you can, try to get a second opinion..)
2) Choose a shape that complements your eyes best… if you have deep set, or small eyes make the arch of your browns more defined and angular (this will make your eyes look more round), a more rounded brown makes eye look more almond shaped, while less angular (straighter) makes eyes look more open and bigger. The best is to try to work with your natural eyebrow shape, and enhance it than completely redo it.
3) Only puck from the bottom (well, mostly)... the goes is to highlight your brow bone and make your upper lids look as big as possible so plucking from the bottom is always best… if the top of your browns is wonky puck out the few tray hairs but DON’T OVER DO IT !!!
4) The biggest and worst eyebrow mistake I see is eyebrows that a spaced too far apart. Doing this just makes your face look rounder and nose look bigger and fatter… (Hopefully this is not the look you are going for) … your brows should line up the middle of your nose width wise… to do this, take your white liner and place it parallel to your nose, now move it to one side until it is half way to the edge of your nose, and then the other way, make little marks with it and use these as guide lines for where your brows should start … where should the eyebrows end ? This is a more open ended question … don’t make them too short, generally 45 degrees from the other corner of your eye…
Also, remember to Trim your brows, this makes them look more pampered, but don’t go overboard!!!
Good luck in all your plucking endeavors…
The Basic Tools:
I own lots and lots of makeup brushes, but I can create pretty much any eye makeup look using only these 3 …(look at photos section for a picture of all 3)… and before I describe the use of each ones, I got something for you to consider when shopping for brushes… real hairs brushes are the best, they will last you the longest and are easiest to blend with. If you take good care of your brushes (i.e. Wash them every 2 weeks) they will last you years, and thus are a good investment … MAC is not the end all be all of makeup brushes and doesn’t really compared to higher end brands like Laura Mercier and Nars because the density of the hair is not the great and a lots of the brushes they make now are not pure hair but a blend of hair and synthetic (if you got your MAC brushes a few years ago then they are most likely all real hair and have good density, but for the past few years MAC has been significantly decreasing in quality (notice how new MAC eye shadows run out much quicker than the old ones????) , so be ware and consider other brands when shopping for brushes…)
The Angel Brush: if you don’t have one, run don’t walk to get it!!! I use this puppy on a daily basis for lining my eyes and defining my oh so perfect eyebrows. This brush allows you to turn pretty much any shadow into eyeliner; and allows you to perfectly smudge your pencil liner for a softer look (more on all this fun stuff later on).
The Crease Brush: it enables you to blend shadow like it was a fruit smoothie… that’s pretty much all I have to say about it for now…
The Flat Brush: I heart this brush BIGTIME because it is what separates the English from the Dutch went it comes to professional looking makeup. This is pretty much a detailing brush that allows you to perfectly highlight your brow bone, inner eye corner, and create sultry smokey eyes.
Just remember in brushes look for REAL HAIR AND DENSITY DENSITY DENSITY !!!
Now that we got all the technical stuff out…
The Very First Step to the sexiest eye makeup EVER:
Every artist needs a clean canvas to work with (unless you are one of THOSE artists that likes to work with the dirty canvases)… but when it comes to makeup, you wanna keep it clean, so after you have applied to eye gel and let it dry its time to create the perfect canvas… Having a good concealer is like being guilty and having a really good layer, pretty much it masks all those drunken, blurry, party nights and makes you look refreshed, awake and brand new …mmm hiding my sins is one of my favorite hobbies!!!
How to chose a good concealer: so basically what you want to look for is a solid, cream concealer, that is light in texture but has good coverage!!! My favorites are NARS (the one that cones in a lipstick tube) and Lancome Photogenic.
How to choose the right color for eye area concelaer ? I generally like to get one that is 1 shade lighter than my skin tone, because this makes my eyes stand out more. Another important aspect is choosing the right tone. Some concealers tend to come in more yellow tones (tanned), medium or neutral tones (Asian or olive skin, but are pretty much good for everyone) and pink/peach tones (if you have paler skin with pink tones in it), on the whole don’t concern yourself with this too much because its mostly made for photography. It is a bit better to go with the correct tone for you (because having a warm toned conealer on cool toned skin will may the eye area look washed out and vise versa) but it is more important to choose the correct shade, but don’t go too light!!!
How to Apply? I think using your fingertips is best, just make sure not to pull the skin around your eyes too much and blend it well. Apply all over the lids (lash line to brow, and around the inner corner of the eyes to make the eyes POP) and along the bottom of the eye as low as the top of your cheekbone (remember you don’t want to have distinctive white circles around your eyes, you just want your eye area to look bright and livery so blend blend blend with the surrounding area).
Practice all this stuff in the meanwhile and go get your eyebrows did .. and in a few days the real fun begins … I’m gonna be talking color wheel and choosing the right colors for you, different techniques to complement different eye shapes, more on eyebrows, make 3 takes on smokey eyes and much much more …
Heart with wings,
Marina
No comments:
Post a Comment