“I don’t understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little – if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that’s the day she has a date with destiny. And it’s best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.”
--Coco Chanel
I love to explore makeup fashion. Having makeup that enhances your outfit is very important for a pulled together look. By no means do I call myself a makeup expert. Rather, I find it fun to study what women wear and how they transition their look through the day. I read make-up books, watch make-up tutorials, and read make-up blogs for a hobby. This post is a little about my two cents worth on lips and eyes. Switch it up a little! Let your look be for 2012, not 1983. Once you've found a NON-ORANGE base, powder, and SOFT blush that match your skin perfectly, stick to those as staples for awhile. Have summer and winter base shades, even. Let the lips and eyes be the play zones for new things. Choose a bright eye and a soft lip or vice versa.
If in the past you've chosen a bright red lipstick with a bright pink shirt, oh goodness. This is a mere example of how careful you must be with your tones. You don't need to look like Kathy Kinney in The Drew Carey Show. The shades on your face MUST coordinate with the shades of your skin, hair, eye color, and clothing. Don't let this overwhelm you. Experiment. Don't wear the same look everyday. Most of us have multiple eyeshadows and lipsticks/glosses so, we NEED to mix things up. There's no point in letting all that beauty product go to waste. One thing I like to do is buy a eyeshadow palette such as this one from Stila. I bought it on sale at ULTA. Usually, they have some type of combination pack like this for a very reasonable price and they last. This one has thirteen colors all in natural tones which, I love. You really can't go wrong with a palette of soft tones, because you can blend them very easily with brushes or Q-tips.
- Application Tips for Eyes:
- Putting a little bit of base on your eyelids will help your shadow and liner stay on longer.
- Always use a neutral highlighter shade to go all the way to the top of the brow. This can even be your quick fix-up with some eyeliner and mascara.
- Put a small amount of the same highlight shade on the inside corner of your eye (Carmindy's trick)
- Dust a small amount of matching eyeshadow or brow powder on your eyebrows to smooth out the hair.
- Always blend over the top of your finished eye with a brush for a smooth look.
- Black mascara looks best on everyone. Look sharply down or sharply up into a mirror (your preference) to put it on and roll the wand as you go.
These days, you can pull of just about any eye shade regardless of your eye color. Start out by picking one on the more neutral side of the spectrum and go from there. Here are some of my favorites:
- As a brunette, I love deep purple and plum tones with soft gold highlight. They look great for day and night.
- For blondes, soft greens are lovely and transition well through the seasons.
- My mom has salt and pepper hair. She looks great in darker blue tones.
- Redheads look great in brown, gold, and light copper tones.
For lips, I love C.O. Bigelow My Favorite Lip Balm in 100% natural shea butter (Bath and Body Works). I haven't found a lipstick or stain that this doesn't look good with yet. It is clear, tastes great, and adds just enough gloss to a statement lip. It is also my nightly moisturizer. Again, lips are all about tones, as you already guessed. I have some neutral and red favorites listed below. As for more statement colors, like pink, fuchsia, and plum, I recommend getting advice from a makeup artist. These make much more of a bold projection than even eyes do, so be careful of your choice.
- Application Tips for Lips:
- Apply base to lips for long lasting colors.
- Use a cheap lip liner as a stain and add gloss on top (literally a $2 lip).
- Blot your lips using a piece of paper in between your lips instead of straight onto them. This will keep lipstick off of your teeth and prevent dull lip color.
- Chapstick at night, ALWAYS.
- NEVER be without these and a compact mirror, they are necessities for the entire day.
Neutral/Red Favorites:
- Neutral:
- I've mentioned my love for Sephora Cream Lip Stain ($12) several times.
- My tone is 02 (Classic Beige).
- I recently gave two of my blonde friends 05 (Infinite Rose) and it looked great on them. One has darker blonde hair and the other one has light blonde hair.
- Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm
- Bobbi Brown Uber Beige
- MAC Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Blossom Culture
- Red:
- Anyone can wear red lips, it just depends on the blue/red contrast in the shade.
- Darker hair colors can pull off more blue/red tones. Mine is Always Red by Clinique
- Lighter hair colors need less blue.
- Redheads need true red, right in the middle of the color spectrum.
- MAC Pro Longwear Lipcreme in ProLong
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