When it comes to your makeup style, you should look at your choices like they’re tests at school. Each new season brings us a unique style, but more often than not, these are styles that we’ve seen before. Even if the styles and seasons aren’t identical, they’re almost always using classic techniques and borrowing from successes of the past.
Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to review your past successes with the spring season and your makeup styles so that you can look fabulous, whether you’re out enjoying a beautiful afternoon or turning heads at a glamorous evening event. With that in mind, there are important steps you should always take in determining your makeup choices:
Check your skin and skin care routine. Your skin color might have changed with the cold weather; your exposure to the sun is probably less and your skin tone might be lighter. You need a lighter foundation that will match your skin tone.
If you have dark spots or uneven skin because of sun exposure, there are many products in the market to brighten your skin and make the dark spots less visible or even disappear. It is better to correct skin problems rather than trying to cover them up with too much foundation or concealer.
Switch to a more hydrating or emollient moisturizer, depending if you have dry, normal or oily skin. Artificial climate control and heating dries the skin, mostly around the eyes and the lips. Get a good eye cream and a moisturizer, this way your makeup will look more natural and will last longer. Some moisturizers work great as a primer for foundation.
When choosing a foundation, most of you will want to make sure that it is slightly on the yellow side in order to perfectly match the skin. Most of us have a yellow undertone, not pink.
Non-oily foundations work better on all skin types, even on dry skin because you can always mix it with moisturizers to make the skin look more dewy. You can also mix foundations to achieve the best match if you can’t find the right color for your skin tone. Remember, the better the natural condition of skin the less need there is for foundation.
Foundation should not feel like a mask, if it does, it means you have too much foundation. Apply liquid foundation with your fingers and then distribute with a sponge and blend down towards the neck, making sure it looks even and natural, blotting with a tissue when finished. Blotting takes any excess moisture or oil out of the foundation, leaving it perfectly smooth and matte.
Apply some concealer under the eyes if you have any shadows visible that foundation did not cover. Concealer should be slightly lighter than the foundation. If the shadow is blue, corrector or concealer should be bisque/rose tone; if shadow is brown, corrector or concealer should be more yellow/orange tone.
Set the foundation with powder. Now you have a perfect canvas to add color. Choose your blush and bronzer to match your skin tone. If you have redness choose a blush that has a pink or rose/blue undertone. Enhance your cheekbones with a darker shade under the cheek bones and a lighter pop up color on the apples.
Lipstick color should be based on the natural color of your lips. Choose 3 or 4 colors and compare with your natural lip color. The one that matches the best will look the best. You can then go lighter or darker based on the same tone.
Eyebrows also have to match your hair color. If you are blonde, your eyebrows should be light blond or soft brown; don’t make them look too dark because it won’t look natural. Eyebrows can be bleached if your skin is not sensitive, to match the hair color. Lighter eyebrows will give your eyes a softer look.
Lissette Garcia, Miss Florida USA 2011 modeled for us at the Gibson Center in Miami, Florida. We started with a soft day look. As you can see, in her natural image [before] she has beautiful skin, so we worked more to enhance her natural features.
On her day look I used very little foundation for a natural look and some corrector for the shadows under her eyes. I applied gold, orange and pink eye shadows and very thin liners to complement her striking hazel eyes. A green line was used under her lower lashes to brighten up her eyes. Her lip color is a brown-pink tone that matches her natural lip color and some crystal lip-gloss was added to moisturize her lips.
I combed and shaped her eyebrows and filled them with a brown shadow. I also used a soft brown bronzer all over for a sun-kissed look and a light peach for a pop up color on the apples of her cheeks.
For the evening, we moved into a more dramatic look in her black dress, where I used shimmery dark green and navy shimmery blue colors for a smoky, deeper shadow effect and a hint of gold for the catch light. I also lined her eyes with black eyeliner, going over with deep blue shadow for more intensity.
I intensified the color on the cheeks with a touch of burgundy and blending very well. I kept her natural skin look since she has such beautiful skin.
Finally, I added a fuchsia color to her lips, blending with a light pink color to soften it a little, creating an sophisticated evening, cocktail look. |
