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For a face to become exquisite, we must work with those attributes, and with the face's own colors and contrasts. You must find someone wonderful who is willing to show you just how MUCH beauty you are able to get out of what you ALREADY have to offer....
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Nina
Occasionally, I do a wedding. A bridal face is standard soft roses according to her coloring and the color of the dress...coral-rose, rusty-rose, rose-pink. Maybe a LITTLE frosting to gild the lily.
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BEFORE
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AFTER
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Nina has a true olive skin, but is essentially a warm, biscuit color tan. The sleeves of her gown covered the untanned olive upper arms, so we could go with the warm tan. The dress is white-white, so we stayed with her coloring and here's how it was one:
First things first...it was a very hot morning and promised to be in the nineties later. My No/Shine Moisturizer provides a good amount of control over the oil that surfaces during such a day. Starting with this product helps ensure that her face will be shine free for many hours. To re-powder over perspiration and oil is to have a blotchy, cracked look later. This product also provides the best "slip" I've seen for foundation base. Foundation was one of my Deep Sepia matte bases, over which we applied Creamypetal Blusher. At this point, she was handed a packet of StudioStuff* Blotting papers for her purse so she could further maintain the perfect look we were achieving.
There is no mascara on earth that is anything like StudioStuff* Mascara. It looks real -- not like fiber or plastic or gule dots. It is easy to apply. It stays on. It conditions lashes in the bes way. For the bride's starring role day, she chose Maven Black Brown. It's very, very close to black, but just a tad softer. Eyeshadow is wand-applicator Shadow/Brown and wand-applicator Gilt Trip. Liner is Dark Brown Powder/Point. In keeping with the fresh bridal look, no lipliner was used. Lips are Nina 6 Creme Lipstick with a little Gilt Trip applied in the middle and smudged outward.
My own quickie photos don't usually show every detail, especially by the time they're uploaded, then downloaded by individual browsers, but surely you can see that the little things we did added up to a stunning - and fresh! - face for the bride. Innocent, but knowing; know what I mean?
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Nancy
"...I just needed a more professional image ...nothing gaudy or bimboesque! This is exactly for me." -- Makeover Client, Nancy
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A couple of instant photos of a client who didn't want to change dramatically, only to look more pulled-together and professional.
"I didn't want anyone noticing that I'd changed my makeup or in fact be able to know for sure I'd done anything much at all. As a company spokesperson, I just needed a more professional image . . . nothing gaudy or bimboesque! This is exactly for me."
This is the most gradual makeover I've done; here's a woman who would do anything to look more professional, but was afraid of big changes, and rightly so! There aren't many of us who've gone in for makeovers and not come out screaming...on the other hand, many companies send out a loud and clear message to their makeup artists to not change a woman too much. The lady in the picture is and deals with major players in the business world and wanted to remain subtle and professional. Since she was used to very little makeup in the first place, and wanted to take very little time with her morning ritual, I decided it was best to do lessons in small increments.
Here's what we did:
Face and body were two different colors, her face being very ruddy. One of the major things I preach is not to measure the final color of applied makeup by what you see in the jar or tube..."color payoff"...pigmentation...varies, as does texture thickness, so my clients learn not to scream when a jar is being opened and the color seems wrong. I opened a jar of Mousse Foundation in Deep Beige and it looked incredibly dark, but it's a light-textured makeup that covered the red in her face and worked her over to the medium tan that her body is. Loose powder was applied in a way that would set her makeup best (more on this at another time!). Face and body are now one color-matched pair. Now for a little PowderBrow in Taupe...then some StudioStuff* Realistic Mascara (best in the business!) in Darkest Brown, and a little StudioStuff* Blush and Red Brick Cream Lipstick finish off the look. This is when we riffled her hair a little and took the second instant photo.
Since then, we added Medium Neutral 2 Concealer stick and ShadowBrown eyeshadow to her morning makeup routine, then at the next meeting showed herhow to line with AutoEyeliner in Dark Brown and AutoLipliner in Red Brick. As soon as I can get her to hold still for a photograph, you'll see even better results.
I put her on the same skin care program I give to the mature models, and she looks great. She told me that the other day she wore a suit she'd worn many times at the office and people complimented her on how nice that suit is...she said "I knew it wasn't the suit, but that I, myself, look good now.The compliments are really for ME."
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Jina
It's amazing how incorrect makeup application can change the way we look to the world....This is the perfect example of it, since as I was transforming the look of this woman's face, I made as much of a transformation as SHE did. After our session, her face has the blended warmth that suits her to a T. Her eyes match her personality, just as they should...her mouth is now as friendly as can be, her cheeks soft and pretty.
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AFTER
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Jina and I had spoken on the phone; she came across as warm and personable, amenable to doing whatever was needed. I felt great about her right away. On the morning of our meeting, we pulled up to the place at the same time. There was no one else in the parking lot, so I assumed it was she, but she looked nothing like the way she came across during our phone conversation. We took a "before" picture and started with her re-do while the picture was developing. As our conversation was also developing, I felt pushed away by her and wondered why...nothing had changed between us and she was as warm as she HAD been.It finally occured to me that...believe it or not...while it wasn't pinpointable at first, the pushing away was all done with her makeup itself!!!! In my many years of practice, this was the first time I had seen such an example...with practically every facial feature acting like a hand that was pushing people away from her!
Consider the "Before" photo: Jina's eyes became small and beady with black, unblended liner drawn completely around her eyes. With little upper lid showing, it was even more of a disaster. Her lips were not filled in all the way, giving her a small, ungenerous mouth. She looked tight-lipped and stern. Her cheeks, instead of being warm and friendly, came across as having war paint on them. And to think she started out with very, very nice features and a loving and generous personality!!!
Our mission: to make this quality person look on the outside the way she is on the inside.
Jina's a smoker, so we sent her home with StudioStuff* Hydrate to the Max. We'll see results in a few days.
The only thing to change, feature-wise, on her are her brows. They looked sad, since there was no arch to them, and when I mentioned this, Jina herself told me that people had actually mentioned to her that she had a sad look, even when she was happy! so we slightly arched them to give her a little uplift.
We then started with her makeup application. I evened her skintone with Foundation in Honey Bronze. Jina had been using powder blush over creamy base, and of course that had made it hard to then BLEND her blush, thus the stripes. This time, we used StudioStuff* Creamypetal, which blended right away...THEN we used loose powder. Brows were lifted and tinted with Eyekit BrowStuff, which is an industry secret...what it can do for brows that are already shaped well is like a magic touch for a face, and not filled...we'll take a closer look at them next visit and fill where necessary. Two shadows were used: ________ and _________ . Jina selected Maven's Raven Black Mascara which I applied to her upper and lower lashes. For many reasons, I consider this the best mascara ever made. I then lined with Cool Kohl Powder/Point pencil liner, which goes on powdery, and doesn't allow her to easily go back to her old ways.Lips? We filled them out lusciously with Bari creme lipstick, THEN lined with StudioStuff* Dacquiri. Liner does provide a barrier, and especially with a smoker...this is true....but we accomplished a much better look by not drawing attention to lipliner, and we're hoping to see vast lip improvements with the Hydrate to the Max creme.Jina is a very, very tiny woman. I thought her hair was too full for such a small frame, so we pushed it back to give her a tidier business look.
NOW look at her! Her face has the blended warmth that suits her to a T. Her eyes match her personality, just as they should...her mouth is now as friendly as can be, her cheeks soft and pretty. The more she saw of herself and learned how it was done, the more she DID smile and vow to look this way every day! Her husband loves the way she looks. This couple are in business together, so it's a plus for her to look great while at work. Everybody's happy. This is why I never get work burnout. It's the smiles.
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Heather
Before me sat a young woman who had no hesitation or requirements about anything to do with a makeover.
A makeup artist's dream.
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AFTER
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Like many women, Heather matched her face makeup to her face without consideration of the way it would look with the rest of her body. The first thing we did was to warm her just a little so there would be a uniform effect. Cremebeige Foundation did the trick, but first a little Blemish Fix to conceal and help heal a couple of problems in her chin and lip area.Light, warm concealer took care of blue-ish undereye shades and Heather now matched up pretty well. Photo Finish Powder set it in place. Brows were colored with PowderBrows and reshaped completely. We got them to a color more in line with her hair color, and worked with them. I lined her eyes with Dark Brown Autoeyeliner, smudged the line to make it good and blurry, then blended Brush-on Brow, using it as shadow, up from the linerto just over the crease. I don't even REMEMBER what shadow I used to continue the look up to the brow. Next, my fabulous StudioStuff* Realistic Mascara in Deepest Brown. The eyes made a big difference. Petaluma Rose is the cheekcolor used here, and lips are Monica's Coral Rose.
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