Over in our last makeup thread, a few posters suggest I start an “ask the” thread in regard to my makeup knowledge (I use “knowledge” pretty loosely here, 'cuz this ain’t Shakespeare or physics). So, here I am!
A little background: makeup is a hobby for me. I’ve never been to beauty school or taken any classes, but I’ve read books from the greats (Kevyn Aucoin, the Mac “Bible”, etc.), practiced a lot and learned a lot. So, while I regularly do other people’s makeup, I’m not a professional makeup artist by any means. I do have a Mac Pro card, though, which affords me 40% off of all of my Mac purchases, basically making them on the same price point as the drugstore stuff :D.
Why makeup? I don’t know. An artist friend once said I’ve got a repressed artist inside of me, but I’m not sure I buy that. I just think makeup is fun- and everyone should look at it like that; makeup doesn’t have to have a reason, it doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Makeup is just a hobby of mine- some people play video games, some people spend money at the Mac counter!
So, ask away. Whatever you want- about me and my personal makeup stuff, questions you personally have, or whatever. Like I said, I’m not a professional makeup artist, but I do makeup for many folks and can hopefully answer your questions!
Like you, make-up is my favourite kind of “applied art”.
What are your favourite make-up artist/books?
How do you find people that are willing to be “made over” by you? I’ve had all my friends and I find it is too much of a step to ask co-workers or mere aqaintances.
Kevyn Aucoin’s books, while a bit dated now, are wonderful! Here’s one and another. I totally suggest both. He does an amazing job really demonstrating the importance of contouring, as well as shows how to completely transform a person. Just amazing stuff.
As far as people- I’ve only once offered to do someone’s makeup without them dropping hints. I’m a high school debate coach and one of the girl’s from another school was talking about how she was going to go to the Mac counter for her prom makeup, but was afraid they wouldn’t listen to her, blah blah. I offered to do her makeup for her and I thought she was going to cry she was so happy. She said she wanted me to but was afraid to ask :). She ended up looking gorgeous- her mom cried when I finished on our “test run”- very sweet.
Every other time, my friends (or students) just outright ask. Well, or my friends will drop hints, “Ohh, I just don’t know how to do a smokey eye, but I’d really like to see if it works for me…” Yeah yeah yeah, I’ll do your makeup. Shaddup.
As I see it, with as much money as I squander on makeup, I may as well use my powers for good sometime. Plus, it’s not like I could ever get through all this war paint I’ve got on my own anyway!
I’ve worn essentially the same makeup for the last 20 years. I don’t think I look dated, but it’s possible that I do. What’s something I can do to freshen my look?
Madam, you are a stud and if you changed nothing, you’d be wonderful. For example, I rather like how you do your cheeks- it looks very fresh and youthful.
I suppose it depends if you want to go trendy or just a little update. Trendy- fuller eyebrows have been in for a while (thank you, Kim Kardashian), so you could fill them in a bit if you were into that. I will tell you two things about filling in your brows: 1- it takes a lot of practice and 2- it will look waaaay over done to you the first few times. The trick is to not shade the inner corner of your brow (the inner third) much, but rather to focus on your arch and tail. Then, once you’ve got the color applied (you can use a pencil, dark shadow and a stiff brush, whatever you like), take a Q Tip and smudge it, so it just looks like faded out color. That’ll look more natural.
Another thing you could do is go for a slightly more creamy lip stick (or even a gloss, if you’re into such a thing). The rule of thumb is that gloss looks younger and fresher, lipstick looks a little more aged. The Mac Cremesheen Lipsticks are a nice rich lipstick that have just a hint of sheen without being OMG gloss. Also, the mac “Amplified” lipsticks offer a similar finish, here’s an example of one (though super hot pink, you can get the idea of the finish it has).
Me personally, it’s for fun. If it weren’t fun, I wouldn’t wear it. Some women (and men, hey!) wear makeup to cover flaws, some to accentuate the features they love, some to stand out, some to blend in. I think I’m pretty studly with or without makeup, but I like to set aside some time to play makeup artist when I can.
Any advice on covering dark circles under the eyes? I’m a super-pale girl, and the skin under my eyes just looks dark and bleh. I’ve been trying Tarte’s Rest Assured, the pink sheen part, and that helps but I’m still kind of sucking at really covering the dark area properly.
There are oodles of products that claim to be able to fix this, but the best you can do is minimize a bit. My understanding that the best thing to do, actually, is to drink tons and tons and tons of water. I’ve heard of people putting tea bags on their eyes, too, to deal with that problem. Personally, I’ve got dark circles, so. …
I can’t imagine how throwing something pink under your eye is going to cover the dark circle. You need to counter the color by going to the opposite end of the color wheel-- since dark circles are mostly blue or purple, you generally cover them with some sort of yellow concealer. When I was younger and cheaper, I used this stuff by Maybelline. Personally, my dark circles are warm colored and blue purple, so I need something yellow and cool to counter that. So, I am currently using yellow tinted concealer in NW (meaning: NOT Warm— NC means NOT Cool) 30, I think.
So, your best bet is something yellow toned and probably cool, that’ll cover the circles almost completely. A good example is Kim Kardashian (we have similar coloring, so I use her a lot). She has bad dark circles not made up, but loads on the yellow toned concealer to cover them and looks pretty good. Because you’re lighter, you’d obviously want a less pigmented yellow toned concealer, but the same idea applies!
Of course, if your dark circles are more greenish (olive people), you might need a red toned concealer. If you’ve got red spots, you need to cover them with green concealer, etc. and so forth. Color wheel.
I sent in a letter from a friend saying she’d hire me to do her makeup, a picture of her makeup I did, and a business card. Voila. They have all kinds of different requirements for what you can send, but that worked for me.
I should also note: the trick that I did- and I’ve heard that works for everyone else- is to send your application in via Fax with your credit card number. Then, they run it immediately (there’s a $35 a year fee). I’ve never heard of anyone being rejected doing it this way.
Yeah, it’s one of those things that makes complete and perfect sense once you hear about it, but you never realize until someone tells you. I know the first time someone told me, I had a total DUH moment!
Okay, I’ve got one - how do you make undereye concealer look normal? It’s always visible on me (or at least I think it is) - for one thing, those little dents in your nose at the corner of your eye are often very dark on me, and it always looks really obvious there, I think. Plus, I find it very difficult to blend it under the eye without ending up taking half of it off or something, I dunno. Am I the only one with this problem? It’s so annoying that I rarely even wear concealer (I mean, I hardly wear makeup, but when I do I often skip the concealer even though I wish I could cover up under my eyes.)
I think the trick is using multiple colors of concealer- after all, all the bits and pieces of your face aren’t the same color, right? Going back to the Kardashian example, her makeup artists regularly talk about how they use 3-5 concealer shades on her, blending and blending to get the right match. Real, honest to goodness makeup artists usually have something like this in their kit, so they can mix concealer for anybody. Even if you’d never use the darker ones, for $16, it might be worth the investment. This Ben Nye one is very popular with makeup artists, too. The one I most frequently see, though, is the Makeup Forever Concealer Palette.
Either way, the key is to blend blend blend. A lot of people use brushes for this, but honestly? If you’re doing it on yourself and not too concerned with contamination (like you would be on a makeup client), you can just use your fingers. In fact, I think my fingers are the best way to blend concealer. You don’t smudge, but instead pat. Just pat pat pat pat pat the concealer until it is blended. Then, be sure to top it off with some powder, as that blend it even more.
I’ve been trying a skin-matching concealer too but when I’m in lazy mode I tend to gravitate to the “sparkly”/“glow” stuff to try to perk up my complexion. Looks like I need to go yellowish first, rather than skin-tone-matching and before I try adding anything “brightening” to it.
Sephora: Devious plot to separate us from our money, or godsend? (Or both?)
Glittery stuff will just exaggerate whatever is going on there- if it’s a bag, a wrinkle, a dark circle, you’re just putting a big LOOK AT ME right there Trust me, I used to do this all the time until I realized matte makeup is really the way to go.
Sephora is the worst, but also the best. If you sign up for their beauty insider thing, once or twice a year, they send out a $15 off coupon. When they do that is when I buy my Makeup Forever stuff, because then it is a reasonable price.
I need help. I went from wearing TONS of makeup when I was a teen - I used to dance on stage, and had to wear it very heavy - to being totally sick of it and never wearing any. I want to wear some now, a normal amount but…
Let’s be frank. I live in Albany, which isn’t quite booniesville but still…Most of the stuff sold here is for white people. The ‘professionals’? All white people. The makeup tips you can get? For white people.
Needless to say that doesn’t work for me. I don’t have terribly dark skin but it is brown. My eyes are dark and look bruised if I am not careful. They are set deep in my face, and would look beautiful with eyeliner and eyeshadow.
But I have NO idea where to even start. I am terribly ignorant. How do I get makeup tips for my skin tone and my color? Do those people in the deparment stores know what they are talking about or will they just be trying to sell me shit? I don’t have a huge budget for makeup. I don’t want $2 or $300 worth of stuff. Especially not starting out.
So - please help! How do I learn what kind of makeup to wear? I need my hand held from the getgo - please don’t assume I have any experience. When I was a teen dancing mostly other people did my makeup for me anyway.
My skin’s not bad otherwise as things go; it’s nice when your childhood friend asks you to please tell her what moisturizers and other skin products you’re using! So it’s mostly the eyes where that would be an issue.
I do have the issue with a little bit of discoloration around the mouth, probably due to oral contraceptive use or maybe skin exposure, but I’m hoping that the Paula’s Choice AHA/hydroquinone cream I picked up will help.
Trust me, I used to do this all the time until I realized matte makeup is really the way to go.
