Friday, September 4, 2009

Makeup Is Easy: Back to the Future

I forgot to take pictures yesterday, so of course about ninety seven people were all "I love your makeup!" I used the same colors today and DID take pictures so I could pass the intel along since this seems to be a winner.

I have a really hard time wearing blue eyeshadow, because I have some darker coloring under my eyes that tends to pop out when I wear blue. If that stuff smudges at ALL, I'm going to look dead, and no one wants that. Other skin issue dealt with in this episode of Makeup Is Easy...lip color. I used to have extremely strong lip color, and it seems to be fading, so now I need a little something just to get to the original color I had.

I have a couple nefarious zits this week, so I used a little bit of Prescriptives concealer and topped it with their mineral liquid foundation that I bought from the most irritating woman in the world at Macy's. Not a lot of boundaries, that woman, but she did hook me up with this foundation and the Strawberry lipstick from a previous post, so I guess I can't complain about the fact that she should DEFINITELY be telling fortunes and selling weird crystals out of her house. Concealer, foundation, and topped off with Body Shop Nature's Minerals powder. I can't remember if I have mentioned this before, but I also use a Prescriptives anti-redness lotion on my cheeks and across my brow line. I have just a sconch of rosacea in those areas, and it evens me right out. It's about $50 for a tube but it lasts forever and actually works, so if you have the same problem I would be comfortable recommending it.
I got a sample of Too Faced's Shadow Insurance from the nice peeps at Sephora with my last order, so I gave that a whirl today. So far it's hanging in there and I did notice better hold and smoother application as I was applying color. (I think a lot of people, if they use shadow primer, use the Urban Decay one in that little genie bottle, which is cool but is a bitch to get out of the tube. I understand that they have reworked the design of it, so I should probably give it another chance.) I would recommend this primer confidently as long as you know what you want to achieve. If you're just starting out with eyeshadows, give yourself a little time to figure out your own best techniques before you bring a primer into it. I know we're a society of convenience, but reapplication is not a big deal and if that's the worst thing you have to do in a day then you're way ahead of the game. The point of makeup is to look good, not be stuck all day with your early morning, uncaffienated boo-boos.
Can I take a brief side note here and call attention to the color of my eyes in this picture and like, every other closeup morning picture ever? I point this out particularly for Cindy, because every now and then I am all "HAH GREEN EYES TODAY, YOU SEE?" and she's like "...no, Jos." I just want to point out that there are in fact times when this happens, and that my eyes are jerks because by the time I try to prove that there is green in there, they have gone completely brown again. I don't know what the hell this is about but I do not like it.
What we have here is a blue mix that is sparkly and thus not as under-eye-color enhancing. I started with a base of First Class Con, then used Proud and Patriotic on the lid. The whole lid and right into the crease is covered, which you can only partly see because I am weirdly squinty today. I layered Magic Hats over it, blending just up over the orbital bone and into the hollow of my tear duct. To bring up the color a bit and lighten the whole affair, I swept this awesome pinky-orangey gold color called Glee Club Dropout over the top of the blues and into the browline.

We all know about color wheels, right? Here's a quick and dirty rundown of what to mix with what. Think of an empty pie chart and break it into six pieces. The three primary colors are red, yellow and blue, and those go in alternating sections. You have a pie with red, yellow and blue in three of six sections with white between them. Now fill in the mixes you would get by combining the colors...between red and yellow, you get orange. Yellow and blue, green. Blue and red, purple. Whatever color you pick will be complimented by the one directly opposing it in the pie you just drew in your head. Today's makeup combo pops because I accented the blue shadows with the orange tones of the gold. I have also done blue looks where I threw a little flame of orange in my tear duct hollow to bring up the color. Play around with this!

Clockwise from top left: Proud and Patriotic, Magic Hats, Glee Club Dropout and Lipstick Queen Medieval lipstick

For my lip problem as mentioned above, I used Lipstick Queen's Medieval lipstick. The color is based on the medieval tradition of coloring your lips with lemon because full color lipstick was taboo, and it really is a lovely light color that adapts to your skin tone. It's just enough to make your lip visible but not flashy and thus competitive with your eyeshadow. You really only want to highlight one feature unless you're doing huge show makeup, so this is a good compromise. If you think about it, your head is actually quite small, and your face even more so. That's why you want to limit yourself to one feature for day...any more and it gets very Mimi.

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