11. February 2010 by admin.

The world of on-camera is digital now.  The HD formats and high resolution cameras can reveal more than our naked eye can perceive.  Makeup artist go as sheer as they can get away with.  I generally try to use concealer and powder only if possible.  But there are definitely times when more coverage is needed.  Choosing the color of your foundation and/or powder coverage is MOST important to looking your best on-camera.  It’s also great advice for everyday wear.  The biggest mistake women make is matching the foundation/powder to the skin on their face.  You should be matching it to your neck.  When making a choice for a client, I actually like to swab a color in three places; the center of the chest where the neck meets, off center in the middle of the neck, and just under the jawline   If I find the foundation/powder blends well in these spots then I’ll swab it onto the face.  About 50% of the time it is a little lighter than the skin color of the face.  That’s okay.   Why?  The skin on the face suffers more from weather, discoloration, breakouts, tanning, etc…and that causes a surface color difference from your neck.  If I were to match a color on your face that is darker than your neck, the camera would magnify the color difference and you would look rather bizarre on camera; like a floating head!  The skin on the face, neck and chest should flow as one color.  Now that might mean you feel paler than usual but fear not!  There are ways to warm up for the camera, and remember, in post production they usually warm up skintone for the finished product.  As always, you have to blend, blend, blend!  

 How can you warm up your skin tone?  Stay away from bronzers, first of all.  They have metallic flakes in them that are meant to shimmer.  On camera it looks awful.   Warm up your skin by applying a darker matte tanned powder to the sides of the cheeks (like you would a bronzer) and also across the forehead.  Blend, blend!  Use your powder over it to soften it up if you feel it looks too strong. Then I like to take my cheek color and dust it on the apples for that suntanned look.  Generally I will use a matte or lightly shiny cheek like Mineral powder or crème.  Sometimes even a dab of clear lipgloss on the cheeks for that super shiny look for an everyday look.  If in doubt, stay matte.

Finally, the next mistake in selecting your base/powder is the light you are using to make a choice. I always use natural light.  Fake light, like store lighting or makeup lights, are not near as truthful as natural light; “the light that doesn’t lie.”  As inconvenient as it might seem, taking a handheld mirror to the makeup counter and then running to the outside door after dabbing it on your skin will make the decision much clearer and easier.  The natural light will demand perfection and when you see a color that disappears, you’ve hit the jackpot!

Now, there are exceptions to this advice.  Women, and sometimes men, will have a drastic color difference on their face versus their neck.  This is usually surface skin conditions such as rosacea, Retin-A, hyperpigmentation, etc…  It is then that I choose a color in the middle; darker than the neck yet lighter than the face.  The coverage has to be denser for this skin issue so the quality of a base and powder is very important.  The base should have excellent blendability and coverage.   It should also be buildable so that layers can be added without losing the integrity of a flawless coverage.  When changing the color of skin, the quality of the product becomes a deal maker or breaker on camera.  If you have this skin challenge then fill your makeup kit with the appropriate products and develop a great habit of blending.

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10. February 2010 by admin.

Dreary, cold weather!  Besides making you yawn and yearn for the warmth of the fireplace, what does the skin do when exposed to the dry warm indoors to the dry cold outdoors over and over again?  Dry up.  With little to zero humidity in the air it is quite common to experience flakey dry patches and tightness in the cold wintertime.  Product I love?  Try Nivea crème in a 1 oz. small blue pan that costs around $1.00.  Even oily skin can experience flakiness and a little dab of Nivea works wonders.  Work it into naked skin or even mixed with your foundation.  During the day dab a little onto the flakey area, (over foundation and powder!) tapping into the skin with your finger.  No rubbing.  Lightly powder over to knock out shine.  The size is perfect to keep in your purse or makeup kit and can last a long time. Good stuff. 

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3. February 2010 by admin.

For my friends who are actors and auditioning for on-camera work I want to educate you on what the industry expects of how makeup is applied for when you get the job.  The best way to understand this is to look at the commercials and/or print ads in magazines.  Take a super close look at the mom’s and ladies in their late 30’s and 40’s and you will see nearly naked makeup.  Mascara is really the only noticeable thing and that’s if you are looking closely.  I bring this to your attention so that your expectations of what you will look like in the finished product are real.  Most of us past 30 put on more makeup in our everyday life and it can be a bit of a shock to feel so stripped back and pale.  Now, there are ways to conceal, cover and enhance that are sheer and natural but even then, less is more.  I know of a makeup artist who was working on “Up In The Air”.  When the director saw in the camera that the eyeliner on the actress was noticeable he went off and yelled about it! 

So, that’s great motivation to take care of your skin.  Eat healthy, look into retinol or AHA products to even out your skin tone, make sunblock your religion and make peace with what you look like with your face having little to no makeup.    

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3. February 2010 by admin.

Bridal makeup can be very rewarding to apply.  It is such an important day in a woman’s life and with all eyes upon her it’s important for her makeup to make her feel radiantly beautiful.  The most challenging thing with bridal makeup can be the expectations.  I have had ladies show me images torn from magazines with a desire to look just like that, however the problem is that with today’s over-retouched images getting that “exact” look is impossible.  It can be a process of translating their vision into a more realistic appearance.  What also needs to be considered is the grooms taste.  In reminding a bride that her future husband will be staring into her eyes he might have a little to say in how much makeup she wears. 

 Generally, bridal makeup, as shown in the before and after images that follow, capture a blushing and glowing bride.  Soft shimmery pinks, crème or shimmery pink powder on the cheek with a brighter lip are most appealing.  Remember, you will be looking at these images in years to come so trendy looks can quickly become outdated.What helps determine the application and types of products used is location of wedding, (outside in the heat?) time of day, (is it natural light, candle, indoor light?) how long she will be wearing the makeup (9:00 am to 12:00 am?)  These details help me decide what type of base she should wear and if waterproof products should be applied. As always, with brides, a run-thru is a must so that she knows exactly what to expect

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14. January 2010 by admin.

Recently we did headshots for contestants in this summer’s Miss Missouri America and Miss Missouri Teen America pageant. These are before and after candid shots.  Remember, all makeup application colors and techniques are for on-camera.ERICA

 Lovely Erica is a fantastic dancer, lively personality and a ham to boot.  She was a lot of fun to work with.   First noticeable thing was the difference in her skin tone on her face versus her chest.  We used her foundation by Makeup Forever and I mixed it with Nivea creme in the small blue tin.  This turned her foundation into more of a tinted moisturizer and also makes it much easier to glide over the neck and chest.  I use my hands to warm up the foundation and massage it into her skin.  I set with MAC studio fix powder and then contoured her forehead with a much darker shade of MAC studio fix, dragging the makeup brush from her hairline into the highlight section of her forehead.  Her skin needed more coverage to even out her skin tone due to self tanning lotion. Self tanning lotion can read orange on-camera.She has a high forehead which puts her browline, not her eyes, more in the center of her face.  To balance this out I put more drama in her eyes using charcoal and black gel liner and lots of mascara.  This gave the appearance of a bigger and more wide set eye.  Her lips had a nude pink pencil to line, blended the pencil line into the center of the lip with a lipbrush then nude gloss in the center.  No lipstick.

Katie is a striking dark beauty with cinnamon eyes that are slightly deep set and strong angular features.  Her skin had little issues so I used Maybelline Mineral Power concealer under her eyes to brighten, pulled the edges of her eyebrow out to make her eyes appear rounder, used Urban Decay gold from inner corner to middle then frosted black from middle to outer edge.  I was careful in pulling the black softly up into the beginning of her brow line which, again, makes her eyes appear bigger.  I used a gel black eyeliner on top and halfway from outer on the lower.  She has fabulous eyelashes that curl naturally and were enhanced with  3 coats of mascara.  Her lips are lined with a pink nude liner, blended into the center and then nude gloss.

McKENSIE

McKensie is only 15 and is competing in the Teen division.  A stunning girl with fantastic eyes and smile.  Again, great skin.  Her eyebrows needed the most tweaking.  I love using eyeshadow for the brows and a precision angle brush.  This application gives the softness of a real brow versus a pencil which can look hard and somewhat fake.  As a teen, dewy eyes have a feeling of youth, so I used shimmery brown and golds.  The liner was Teddy by MAC (coppery dark brown with shimmer) smudged and pushed into her lash line with an angle brush and then under the eye halfway to the center.  I dabbed a shimmery highlight into the very inner corner of her eye.  Her eyelashes are intensly curled with lots of mascara.  Her eyelashes required some comb through during the applications.  I bronzed her cheeks with a darker MAC studio fix (C7) then highlighted the apples with a reflective mineral powder blush in bright pink by Wet n Wild.  A teens makeup needs to reflect youth so a brighter color on the apple of the cheek captures that.  Lips are lined in nude, blended into the center and then MAC Pink Clash Lip Glass over the lip.

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12. January 2010 by admin.

 For as many years that I have been specializing in makeup for the camera, one of two things happens with each lovely face that sits before me whether she is 15 or 70 years old. The most common occurrence is the “conversation”.  It erupts immediately when they sit down in front of me and I see them up close.  They confess all their flaws, problems, or ugliness that virtually all women see in themselves and having someone who specializes in beauty staring at their face minus the façade of makeup is very intimidating to women. The makeup chair becomes the confession booth and therapist’s couch. 

The least common reaction to my scrutiny is to shut down.  I will have women sit in my chair and I can immediately sense the walls come up in defensiveness,…fear that I am seeing their hidden insecurities regarding their appearance that they try so hard to hide from others.  

 The intimacy in touching a woman’s face demands a great deal of sensitivity and empathy on my part.  I too am sucked into the commercialization and stereotyping that society pounds upon us girls from the beginning of our lives.  We are force fed “beauty in a box” with the subliminal message that what we are is not pretty or good enough.  However, having been immersed in the world of female beauty for so long, my view of makeup and its purpose has evolved.  I have a much different perspective now than where I first began in the late 70’s with purple eye shadow and Bonnie Bell lip gloss. I now view makeup not as a savior nor an enemy but a tool to enhance and express what all women so dearly desire to feel…natural beauty.

Beauty is such a personal thing to each woman.  That’s how it should be.  Every woman is unique in her skin, eye color, shape of the face, lips.  Truly I have come to enjoy the rawness of each naked face before me because the potential screams out to me.  Pulling out and enhancing the features in such a way that compliments the individual is exciting, challenging and very rewarding.   

 Makeup is a fantastic tool to reveal the hidden beauty of the face which in turn reveals the beauty inside the woman.  With the amazing formulas that have arrived in skin care and foundation, it really comes down to finding the right product for your individual face through which flaws are hidden and beauty revealed.   

 I will be posting before and after images of the women who come to me for makeup.  The products I use and suggestions I have for them will be blogged for all to read.  The fact that the industry is overwhelmed with makeup and skin care choices makes navigating the world of makeup intimidating and expensive.  The products I use and choices I make are individualized for each face.  Sharing this information might apply to you and help you navigate your way to better choices in makeup and application.   

I do not sell makeup (no Arbonne or Mary Kay pressures from my chair!) nor do I manufacture my own “exclusive” brand.   I do not like preaching.  Nor do I claim to know all the thousands of product choices out there.  (They all pretty much do the same thing, with different labels)   I do know faces and believe that each person needs to find the products that work best for them.  I hope the knowledge I will be sharing can help you on your journey to true beauty.

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