Kate Middleton: Makeup fit for a princess.

Kate Middleton, in case you've been living under a rock the last few weeks, is the lovely common-blooded bride of England's formerly handsome, prematurely balding prince William who proposed to her after 9 years of reports that a proposal was iminant. Its a pity, he shouldn't have been pressured into it.

Anyway, Kate has become our generations Diana, with every outfit she wears getting sold out in seconds, her hairdo becoming instantly chic and of course her makeup being analyzed. Despite, as my previous blog mentioned, makeup trends leaning toward bright, loud matte looks, Kate has kept her makeup simple, dewy and natural as I think befits and princess.

Since my last how to blog focused on creating a natural look i think i will soon make a kate middleton makeup video which has a little more color on the eyes than the Williamsberg crowd would go for, but is still a subtle, glowing look that would would look just as at home at the office as it would under a bridal veil.

Its OK for me to NOT like beauty trends right?

OK so i know i'm a pro in the biz and all that but i hope its OK if i totally hate this season's upcoming and current trends in makeup. and frankly in hair and clothes. its like the 80's resurrected.
According to the fashion powers that be, aside from hair bumps, VERY textured big wavy hair, puffed sleeves, multilayered clothes chunky bright jewelry and other scenes from my very early childhood being cool again, makeup is having an 80's revival and while i can teach you how to do it, i'm not a fan.


its all about loud and matte: matte everything is back. i was raised both as a teen and then taught in beauty class that matte is bad. matte looks dry, dead, lifeless.  Dewy skin, and luscious lips were the way to look youthful and fresh. keeping lips neutral allowed you to play with color on the eyes. , blending was the key to every look and i loved every second of it.

So now they recommend matte foundation and strong matte colors all over. Matte lipstick in colors like fuchia and orange and purple, pink powder cheeks and on eyes, instead of blending to create definition they talk about applying of vibrant (i.e. loud color)
and the total givaway to the 80's mess: straight, bushy brows. my whole life i have loved the look of an elegant graceful arch over the eyes to anchor the look and frame the face. these arches could be pointed or curved, bold or delicate, but the so called BOLD brows around now just look messy to me. i mean they are combed and gelled but look masculine, heavy and neanderthal like.

i may do a video to demonstrate these looks just for fun and for those who do want to be trendy,
but i believe that beauty has to be about bringing out your best look and while sometimes trends can be great, (i love that the sculpted contoured look is back) i don't beleive one should wear a trend just cuz its a trend. you have to be confidant enough in yourself to look good wearing something everyone else isn't because it suits you.

THE NATURAL LOOK : BP and WILLIAMSBURG- this is for you

in have been geting more and more requests from chassidish customers in the boro park and Williamsburg communities B"H. in a way they are the most challanging customers because when they want a natural look they don't mean a well blended or soft look. they want a natural look- as in they want their face to be radiant but with no makeup really showing especially on the eyes. it takes alot longer that you'd think to create this kind of look.

doing makeup for the sephardi community where they love color is more fun as an artist but also in many ways easier. you can play around.

On these clients creating the illusion of glowing skin is key. The shape of the eyebrows, the hilights and contours, the lush lashes....you can't rely of color to do the job for you and mistakes wil be more easily noticed.


I have alread shown in my contour blog and my concealer video how to create the base for this look in terms of glowing skin.

Onto the eyes. there are several ways i do this.

1: Powder eye shadow.

I apply a thin layer of a matte primer or shadow magneton the eye to hold the color. then cover the eye in a satin finish nude eye shadow. satin finish is not shimmery but not as flat as a true matte- it does catch the light a bit. i then use a blending brush to add a deeper shade, about 2 shades, into the crease. which color? most people assume brown when creating shadow and this may be true but brown comes in different shades and depending on the eye color you may want to go with  different shades of brown.. a taupe is most universally flattering when in doubt. Brown and hazel eyes look best with a purplish brown, like the color of hot chocolate. Blues should go with a greyish bown, or taupe, green eyes with a golder of coppery brown. in truth any of these colors will work with any eye color but these are the colors to choose to make the eyes really sparkle. add just the barest hint of the color in the crease and blend. the color will be almost invisable appearing like a natral shadow but the eyes will stand out. i add a hint of a shimmering highlight shade under the brow bon and the inner corners of the eye to make the person appear awake and well rested.
i usually use my coastal scents warm palette for this look.

2: Cream eye shadow.

most cream shadows will crease so this is tricky. I use Illuminare cream eye shadows. they come in only skintones, browns and 2 highlighters making it ideal for this kind of look and they don't budge once dry. They do take a bit of practice. they're available on the Illuminare website.

3: foundations:
The fastest way to create this look, is using different color cream foundations. i use my cinima secrets five color palettes and apply a nude shade all over the lid, blend a deepr shade from the same palette into the crease with my finger, add a lighter shade uner the browbone and then set it with a translucent powder like kryolan or makeup forever.

 In some cases i will add a brown gel liner, smudging it in with the shadow before it sets.

Then use a lash curler and sweep on a volumizing mascara.


For cheeks is as usual prefer cream blushes, sometimes using a lipcolor as a blush and BLEND WELL!! to avoide the streaky look. however i will sometimbes use powder blushes. i will dust lightly from the apples up the cheekbones with a brown or bronze blush for dimention and then swirl a peachy pink on the the apples for that pinched fresh look.

for lips i use a neutral nude, pink or peachy color, and i always prefer to use longwear lipsticks for simchas like covergirl outlast or loreal infallible.

sorry about that

I culdn't do the stage makeup blog i wanted to because as i was preparing to do it my ride to the theater rang my bell wondering where i was. apparently they had asked the cast to be there an hour and a half earlier but having left my cell in the dressing room i didn't get the text. i'll try to do it before my next performance jan 8th if i have time after shabbos.

Stage Makeup! FUN FUN FUN

I am currently in the cast of the Neshei tzedakah Player's cast for The barons and The bankers- the story of the Rothschilds and due to frequent costume changes and the fact that i play both a male and female at various point in the show, I am having a BLAST with the stage makeup for myself and the rest of the ensemble. stay tuned for my videos showing my looks for the show.  I'll show you how i go from the painted up brightly colored look that i wear with a HUGE wig and 18th/19th century ball gown to the way i masculinize my face to play inspector fouche, napoleon's police chief.

VIDEOhow to use concealer so you don't need foundation

Concealing in place of foundation

Greetings, my public! So yesterday I was telling you about how proper concealing can let you go foun dation free for every day. The benefits are great. no foundation ever looks as natural as your real skin assuming you have even skin tone (no blotches, redness, ect). If you are interested i may demonstrate this in a video later on.

I mentioned in the splurge or save series that there are 2 types of concealers (i'm referring to cream concealers cuz thats all I really use.) under eye concealer which is meant to brighten and hide dark circles, is supposed to be creamy and opaque. Camouflage concealer is meant for covering up blemishes and pimples. it is thick and pasty like spackle. it would look bad under the eyes because of its cakey consistency but the under eye concealer would be too emollient for blemishes and would slide right off pimples.

Its commonly thought that yellow concealer is best for undereyes. Not necessarily. it works if your dark circles are maroon or reddish but if they're blue, well yellow and blue make green and no one needs green undereyes. my favorite color for undereyes is an orangey pink or salmon color, in about the same range as your skintone. sometimes i'll mix that with a little yellow if the clients skin calls for it. Benefit's erase paste is a great under-eye concealer

another one is coastal scents concealer quads in light- the light one has a salmon shade which is great for undereyes as well as a yellow shade to mix it with if needed.

Using either your ring finger or a small soft concealer brush, lightly tap the concealer back and forth under the eye area until it is well blended. if you do it too hard it pushes the concealer into the fine lines and creases making them seem deeper.

With blemishes, take a tiny concealer brush and take a camouflage concealer like benefit's Boing, or coastal scents 10 color concealer palette and apply a tiny amount to the blemish. then use your pinky to push the concealer into the skin. don't tap, or the concealer will come off. just push into the skin so it blends with the surrounding texture.

set with a fine translucent powder and you're done. skip foundation and apply color as usual.

Going Foundation Free- It CAN be done!

 I play with makeup with way kids play with crayons. I'll give myself a full face then wash it and start over, just for fun. I go through phases with makeup when I am really into certain products. I went through a colored eye liner phase, a lipstick phase, and now I'm on a concealer kick, with creams, camaflauges, hi-lighters, and primers and i discovered something. I don't need foundation. When concealer is done right, the color matches skintone exactly, it stays put and is applied right, you really don't have to bother with foundation assuming you have an even skintone. i use a salmon colored concealer mixed with a skintoned concealer to neutralize undereye circles, and a camouflage concealer pressed in with a small brush on my blemishes and thats it. i can leave it alone and left my pores breathe. and since foundations are the most expensive item in my kit, this allows me to save it for special occasions and clients.

in my next post i will discuss how to properly apply these concealers so that foundation isn't necessary

CONTOURING: chisel the face you wish you had

    Not only is contoured makeup highly fashionable right now it is also a great way to even out facial structure, create the illusion for strong cheekbones, thinner cheeks, smaller double chin and a slender nose.

   You'll need 3 shades of foundation or contouring powder. the middle shade should match your skintone exactly. The other two should eb 2 shades lighter and 2 shades darker than your natural skin color.

I found this picture online which i will use to help expplain how to use these colors.

The lightest shade should be placed in any area that light would hit if it was shining right at your face. the center of you face, bridge of your nose, middle of the forehead blending into the nose, brow bone,and chin.

. The darker shade goes under the cheekbones, under the chin and onto the neck, at the temples and in careful drawn lines on the sides of the nose. these should then be blended together. I like to finish that off with a hi-lighting cream or powder over the hi-lighted areas to give a nice glow and then use a setting powder like Makeup Forever's HD Microfinish Powder, available at Sephora..

SPLURGE OR SAVE: part 4

Final chapter in the splurge or save series.

Eye Shadow: save

OK what makes a quality eye shadow? PIGMENT! the intensity of the color as it appears on the skin , also called color payoff.

I do not buy department store eye shadows in principle because i think paying 14 to 20 bucks for one color is outrageous. i buy the eye shadows for my kit in artist palettes online and in that was i can get between 88 and 120 colors for a decent price, but the average frum women doesn't need that big of a selection and prefers a small product she can toss in her purse. At the drugstore, i find that Loreal's HIP (High Intensity Pigment) line of eye products rivals easily any of the pro brands i was trained with. the eye shadows are vibrant, and silky and easily bendable. I'm a big fan of their cream liners as well.

Loreal's wear infinite line is also a big favorite of mine as are Cover girl and Maybeline eye studio

Remember no matter what eye product you use they will look better, and last long when used with a quality primer.


Eye Liner: splurge.....mostly


OK so for eye liner its hard to give a blanket accross the board answer because there are so many kind. for most eye liner products, assuming you want a clean line and not a smudged look which does have its fans,  you're gonna have to pay for quality.

Liquid liner: here you can find good products cheap. Revlon's color stay liquid liner and Milani liquid liner do have great long lasting formulas. I wore Revlon colorstay to my own wedding and it looks flawless all night.

Cream/Gel: This is my favorite kind of liner and i confess many of the ones in my kit are off brand that i found cheap and bought as a way of trying out new colors without investing too much. And while they look as good as the more expensive ones, they don't last. they dry out quickly so i don't get much use out of them before throwing them out. A cream liner also has to be top quality if you want it to stay on properly. Poorly made formulas can give you the racoon look like nothing else by the end of the day. while physician's formula does make a line of cream liners which are decent and cheap (3 for $10), mac fluidline is the holy grail of gel liners.

Khol liner: don't bother. a powdery mess that does nothing special no matter where you get it.

pencil:  Like cream liners there can smudge and spear and it can also be tough to get the clean line you want. now thats fine for blended looks like the smokey eye but if you want a defined look ONLY buy drugstore brands that are waterproof or longwear. Revlon Colorstay pencil is a safe bet.




Cake eyeliner: cake eye liner is actually a pigmented pressed powder. any well pigmented eye shadow can be made into a liner with a dampened liner brush. so if the shadow is good, you're fine.


Alright ladies, now GET SHOPPING!

SPLURGE or SAVE: part 3

Moving right along.....

Concealer: Splurge

 Concealer is one of the trickiest products to get right application wise even for an artist. There are two kinds of concealer according to Laura Mercier : under eye concealer which should be creamy but shouldn't settle into creases and crows feet, and camouflage concealer which should be more of a thick paste for covering pimples and blemishes. The camouflage would look like spackle under the eye, while the creamy concealer would slide right off zits.  Pigmentation and texture are crucial in concealing so you can't afford to go for bargains in this department. Sites like coastal scents do have some decent concealer palletes that are more affordable that the most expensive brands, and i use them in my kit but for the real cream of the concealing crop i love Benefit. They have some amazing concealing products. Erase Paste for the under eye, Bo-ing for covering booboos, and the Stay Don't Stray concealer primer which keeps the Erase Paste from sinking into fine lines. They have a sample kit in medium shades called "Confessions of a Concealaholic" which, if the colors suit you are a great way to try out their concealing and priming products.


Lipstick: regular- splurge
               longwear- save

So this thing about lipstick is it doesn't stay on. right? its on your coffee mug, your pillow case, you're reapplying it........so with lipstick, a cheap product will be a waste. This is something where you get what you pay for. you need a texture that adheres to lips without feeling dried out and a strong pigment. this is also why lipstains have become so popular..If you're going to wear a regular cream lipstick, you ought to go for quality. Laura Mercier, Mac and Lancome are all known for great pigment and staying power in their lipsticks.

Another lipstick option which I personally prefer are ongwear lipsticks and lipcolors which have a color coat that dries and stays on for 6 to 18 hrs and a gloss coat  that goes on top to keep the lips supple and looking moist. these can be easily gotten at any drugstore. Covergirl Outlast lipcolors and Loreal Infallible lipstick and lipcolors are my favorites.

SPLURGE or SAVE?? Part 2

Now, where were we.....ah yes, to spend on the high street fancy makeup or save and go discount and drug store. Some surprising bargains to be had, and some surprising products you can't afford to go cheap on.
Foundation was a splurge,  mascara was a save, but what else?

Blush: Save

 While its true that many expensive blushes like Nars give a beautiful effect, you can indeed find beautiful glowing blushes at the drug store. the key is to know what to get. Avoid anything chalky and anything from the waaay cheap brands. I am always partial to cream blushes because, especially in natural light, they will always look the most ntural and blend the best. Loreal HIP and Covergirl  have some lovely options. Physicians formula is a wonderful brand for this who love sheer dewy glow. They have blush mosaics and palettes which combine various tones and shimmers when you swirl the brush on it and give you a beautiful multidimensional finish.

Bronzer: save

Yes bronzer is not something worth spending big on. I don't use bronzer much, but if I did I would be spending my makeup dough on physicians formula. They seem to specialize in bronzer and have SO MANY many varieties. As with the blush the magic lies in allowing you the customize the dimension, shade and depth by swirling your brush over several colors in the compact. and unlie many bronzers they have several LIGHT shades of bronzer to suit lighter skin tones.Too dark bronzer in the bane of any bronze makeup look. It screams fake.

SPLURGE or SAVE? what makeup products have to be expensive and which don't?

Money is tight these days. the value of the dollar is falling and everything seems to cost more than it used to.Everyone is tightening their belts and trying to find ways to cut back.
Interestingly studies have shown (people actually study this stuff) that when the economy dips, makeup sales go up! Women want to feel beautiful so when they can't afford to buy a new designer outfit or chic shoes, they will instead buy a hot new shade of lipstick or luscious mascara.

But still every woman wants bang for their buck. We want the lipstick AND the mascara. We want an array of eye shadows for every mood. We want concealer to make our skin look flawless and we want it to STAY PUT! But we still need some jingle left in our pockets. So what products are worth splurging on the high street brands and what products can you save and go for the department store brand with. You may be surprised.
The next few entries will give you some ideas and recommendation of products you should invest in and products you can get for far less.

Foundation: Splurge

 

No matter how fancy your makeup is, it will look cheap and obvious on the background of bad skin. A clean canvas as we say in the business is essential for any look. i personally like to avoid foundation when i can since if the person has good skin, no foundation will look as good as that. Cheap foundations may dry looking cakey, patchy or change color as they dry.
My favorite foundations are cream foundations by cinema secrets and graftobian, companies which specialize in makeup for film.. the finish is smooth and beautiful, colors are blendable and buildable for custome coverage and color.


Mascara: Save

Many of the drug store brands of mascara are actually made by the same companies that make the department store brands so you can get quality at Walgreens. Current favorites of mine are the lashblast line from Covergirl, and the Rimmel London mascaras. Coastal Scents also has a good one which defines well.

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This blog will be to give reviews, tips, hints and advice about makeup for the range of women a in the frum community from chassidish to sephardi. I will debunk myths, teach you about color and brush use and offer deals and specials to customers and answer questions. Cant wait to get to know you!