Makeup DO's and PLEASE DON'T's!

If you were to follow one and only ONE rule of makeup, it must be this:

Makeup is to be applied in plenty on light, in front of a mirror.

That's it.

Sure, you can get technical and install a swivel headed lamp above your mirror that's positioned at a 45 degree angle from where you sit/stand in front of your mirror so as to give you the best view needed to bring your features to life, but really, all you need its light and a reflective surface...

... a memo that was missed by a few good folks of the Glitterati.

O H



M Y



GOODNESS!!!

Oh lordy!

These are images that I chanced upon and well... they kinda do speak for themselves, don't they?


Permit me to provide some simple solutions.

This is Emma Watson of the Harry Potter films fame. She has lipstick on her teeth!!!!! This should be a punishable act!

Solution:

A simple way to avoid it is by first applying a matte lipstick with a lip brush, blot it and then your gloss over it (the matte lipstick prevents the lipgloss from bleeding and feathering) but to ensure that your lip ware doesn't stray onto your teeth, take your index finger, and put it into your mouth, up to the second digit/knuckle and wrap your lips around it, making and "o" and pull your finger out. Any excess lipstick/gloss will rub off onto your finger, leaving your pearly whites, exactly that!



So who ordered the extra-clumpy?

Tammy Fay has always loved her some voluminous lashes but C'MON!!!!

Solution:

Take your wand as close to the lash line as you can get with out smearing the eye makeup. Shake the wand back and forth in quick motions to deposit most of the product at the base and then rolling the wand, sweep it upwards towards the tips. Repeat this on the inner and outer corners for clump free, voluptuous lashes. Don't forget to roll the wand for even product distribution!


Everyone knows how much I love bronzers, but there is a point where the glowing stops and the reflectivity begins! Holy light blubs, Batman!

Solution:

A bronzer should be two shades darker than you skin tone with SOME reflects. Follow the "rule of 3" when applying. Take a big powder/blush brush and start your application on top of the eyebrow arch, towards the temples, down to the hollow of your cheek and back and finally, down to your jaw bone, towards your chin - essentially creating a "3". To further blend, take a kabuki brush and buff it out. To add additional sun-kissed-ness, LIGHTLY run some bronzer across your forehead, nose and chin, only using the left over product on the brush. Finish this with a matte peach/pink blush and glow away!


Miss "That's Hot" has always had a golden glow about her, but CAKED ORANGE is a new one. Lets find her a new BFF (better freakin' foundation!)

Solution:

When sampling foundations, there are a few rules to follow:
1. Color: Test the product on your jaw line or inner fore arm and blend to see if it matches the skin color. If it does, its the right color.
2. Texture: Creams for dry skin; liquid for combination; and powder for oily.
3. Application apparatus: Liquid foundation brushes for (duh!) liquid, sponges for creams and kabuki for powders.
4. Application: APPLY AS NEEDED! Moisturize your skin first and then apply your foundation to the center of your face and blend outwards. Apply concealer to problem areas and set with translucent finishing powder. THE END!

THIS HAS NOT BEEN PHOTOSHOPPED!!! Nicole here quite literally over powdered her nose!

Solution:

I'm going to hazard a guess that this was done in an attempt to covered any redness or dark circles. The easier way is to apply a concealer, a shade or two lighter than your skin tone, under the eyes and around the nose area. Cover this with foundation and set it with a finishing power, or Mineral Veil. No re-powdering needed.


Dear X-Tina,
The 'porcelain doll' look belonged to our era.
Sincerely,
The 1920's.

Solution:

Under eye concealer should be only two shades lighter, that your natural skin color so that when you do put foundation over it, it comes back down to your natural tone, as opposed to gray. Also, highlighter should be applied to the highs of the cheek bones, above and below the eyebrow arch, bridge of the nose, cupids bow and the tip of the chin to catch the light. ONLY!

Photographer: "We need some Kleenex here, STAT!! A face is flashing back!"

Solution:

Mattifying primer! I've said it before, the primer is a genius invention, ye of little faith! It would not only make the makeup last, but it would also absorb the skin's excess oils that come creeping to the surface.

It also doesn't hurt to keep some Kleenex handy on a humid night out. But remember to dab, not scrub or wipe!







There's blushing, and then there's bruised. Overkill X-Tina, serious overkill.

Solution:

Blush is seasonal - Summer is for bronzers and shimmer blushes. Winter is for a matte flush. When applying blush, decide what you want to accentuate: apples or cheek bones.
Apples: select a color that gives you a wind bitten flush such as a pink/peach color. Smile to find your apples and using a big brush, apply the blush in a circular motions, blending the excess towards the cheekbones. This gives a youthful glow.
Cheekbones: pick a warmer blush color and starting at the temples, coming down and making somewhat of a Nike Swoosh through the hollows of your cheeks and blend! This will also provide an element of contouring too!

There is something to be said about a smokey eye - and something completely different when presented with panda eyes! Not only do they look scary, they render the face devoid of any color and make they eyes look smaller!!

Solution:

Don't bring the shadow so low under the lower lash line. Using a smudgy kohl pencil, line the waterline, spilling out just a touch onto the lash line. Switch to a pencil brush with some matte black shadow and smudge along the lash line. Not only does this provide the under eye smoke, it also sets the kohl in place. I've too often seen kajal that has run from the waterline, past the last line and accentuating the dark circles. Your body heat causes the oils in the kajal to melt and run. The shadow will absorb the oils and make it last longer.




This post has not been about knocking the celebs, for sightings such as these are very rare and their makeup artists are usually perfect. Countless of us make these mistakes too and don't realize until someone, very embarrassingly points it out - trust me, I've been there!. Be warned, be safe and be gorgeous!

Cheers!

All Hallow's Eve.

So it was Halloween this past weekend, and all of Karachi was a buzz about what they are wearing to Club Night. Benny called me up a month before and said, "so how are you with costume or period makeup?". My response: hell if I know! I've never tried either! She wants to be either an avatar (oh my, that's gonna be a lotta blue and white everywhere!) or a geisha (she's gonna have some serious dancing troubles). I told her it would take some research, some trial and error, but we could get there eventually.

Flash forward three weeks


"Tanyaaaaaa! The avatar costume material isn't available! I'm gonna have to purchase a whole stock of tacky cheap blue material and it's just not worth it!"

My reaction: *phew*

Flash forward a few more days

We're slumped in Ben's room, I'm exhausted after a long day at work and Ben's curled up into a ball because her tummy muscles are killing her. The tv is on and we're flipping channels and all I registered what a flash of a blue wig when Benny exclaims "I wanna be Katy Perry for halloween!!!" What the?! She whips out her phone, calls up her designer friend and asks her for an estimate for the cost of making a dress out of confections and if it was even plausible. Ofcourse it is! But it'll cost Rs. 8000 to make (that's about $90).


Flash forward another couple of days

"Damn, I really wanted to be Katy Perry, but it's just not worth spending that kinda money for just a few hours. I need another look." I suggest, why not do like a zombie doll/corpse bride/bride of Chucky type thing? Her response "yeah, but I wanted to be Katy Perry!"

Wednesday night

*Ring*

It's Benny. "You won't believe the last two days I've had! (gossip gossip gossip)... And I've been thinking more about that dead zombie doll idea..." Ka-CHING! I knew I'd sway her eventually! "I have a white skirt, but I'm going to need like a lacy white top and some ankle booties." And while she rambled on about costume ideas, I mentally rubbed my hands together in delight of the upcoming play day ahead of me! Oooohh, what fun!!!


SATURDAY ARRIVES!


Benny shows up to be house with a backache and a heart set on venting about the trials and tribulations of living in Karachi. We sit down to chat, while she eats lunch and I inwardly curse my diet. She still hadn't found the white top and person X had really hurt her feelings. We (and by that I mean SHE) finish up lunch and head into my room where I dive head first into my closet and come out with two tops that looked like they could belong to a doll. Tried both, loved both and decided to see which one suited the look better. Then we got caught up on Gossip Girl. Evening rolled around, and I started to collected my makeup. The look of judgment, mixed with horror, mixed with amusement, mixed with derision on her face, when she saw how many places my makeup emerged from, nearly made me feel guilty at its volume.... nearly. But then I retorted with a clever "don't jealous" and felt instantly better. Two armfuls and a car ride later, we got to her place, where she made me a sandwich and I set up my transformation station in her flatmates room.


And so it began on all hallows eve...


I started by covering her from forehead to back to decolletage with Kryolan TV Paint Stick in Ivory and set it with the lightest foundation powder I owned. (In retrospect, I should have started by covering the eyebrows - a mistake, I will never make again) I covered the eyebrows by using lash adhesive to glue them down and then covered them with my foundation. Next came the eyes. I measured a quarter inch under the lower lashline and starting from the tear duct, I drew and outline all the way till the outer eye. I filled it in with a matte white cream shadow and set it with a matte white powder. Then, using a black gel liner, I liberally lined the upper lash line and followed it around the new lower lash area I made, thus making the eye appear much bigger, rounder and more doll like. Using a gray shadow, I drew in a new crease line which ended near the natural brow and drew in a new brow, half an inch above the natural one. Using a shimmery gray shadow, I began shading from the crease line upwards and added a shimmering white highlighter underneath the new brow. Oh and I used a neutral shimmery color on the lids too. I should mention that before we started this "reconstruction", so to speak, Bens had put a bucket load of hair product in her which we then proceeded to set with rollers and benders to give it that curly, abused look. An hour before opening them out, we blasted the hair with heat from a hair dryer too. Once the eyes were complete, I added a set of the craziest lashes I could find on the upper lash line and a set of relatively natural looking ones below and using a gel liner, we filled in the empty areas with hand drawn lashes. I contoured the face with a matte charcoal gray shadow to give her a hollowed, unhealthy look and then drew in the lips. After concealing them, I took a black eye pencil and drew in heart shaped lips. Mixing an indigo and bright fuchsia eyeshadow onto my ring finger, I dabbed the color onto her lips, giving her a purple toned lip and coated it with a purple lip gloss. Finally, we opened out the hair, back combed it some and tied two red ribbons into the messily partitioned hair.

The final look...

Voila!

Just the picture of innocence, ain't she?

Oh, and the dress was finally a white cotton spaghetti strap top with a frilly white skirt under, which, eventually looked like a dolls frock. This was paired with black stockings and gray ankle booties that had black lace all over. I was one proud mama indeed!


Oh!!!! And in between creating a dead doll, I made me an Egyptian goddess too! Blue on the lid, gold as high lighter, gold under the eye, tons on black gel liner, false lashes, mascara and oodles of bronzer everywhere made Ms. MB a glowing, gorgeous (which she already is) goddess!

Next year, I'm taking a leaf outta Cougar Town season two and dressing up as a weather person that got blown away!

... Or something like that..

Cheers!