Dear friends,
this post was meant to be published before X-mas and NY`s eve, but due to the lack of time I`m posting it only now. Sorry for the "christmassy" pictures (hope it will not bring the winter blues :)) and also hope that information will be useful!
I want to thank Elena Krygina (Елена Крыгина) for being my inspiration and virtual teacher, Sam Chapman (for being a great make up artist and creating Real Techniques brushes) & Nicola Haste from Pixiwoo and a fantastic MAC make up artist Vinton, - for being super professional&effective and helping me to choose the right shades/products in 1-2 minutes time (thank you for your help, I really appreciate it)!
And now, after words of gratitude have beed said, I think that it`s about right time to get started!
xx
Recently I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of compliments that I received regarding my make up, which made me to came up with an idea about the post, dedicated to techniques, tools and products that I use to create my evening/festive look.
And speaking of make up, first of all I need to say a huge thanks to my current favorite make up artist Elena Krygina, who`s video (YouTube)
lessons are just the best of the best (at least from what I`ve ever seen so far, - and believe me, I`ve seen quite a lot)! She is not only super professional and precise, but also has a wonderful sense of humor and a charisma, - such mix, that you just cannot resist.
So, as my beloved Elena K. would say, - "kAroche" :) (which means "long story short" in Russian), - let me go straight to business and start sharing with you all my "what&how" things ))
1. First of all I am applying a
primer all over my face. I`m using
PREP + PRIME FACE PROTECT SPF 50 from MAC in particular. If to be honest with you, - I didn`t bother to use a primer before, as I thought it`s just "another extra product", "I don`t really need it" and "it`s too much" and blah blah blah ... but the one and only Krygina managed to persuade me and explain why this product is so necessary. Those of you, who understand Russian, please listen to what she says about the primers
here , and those, who don`t, - consider primer as a:
1) component that links your decorative make up products with the skin, allows easy application and prolongs durability of your make up;
2) product, that evens out skin redness, makes pores and fine lines less visible and
3) protective "barrier" , that prevents your foundation to soak into your pores, as well as soothes the skin and absorbs all the extra oil.
By the way, speaking of extra oil: using a primer does not mean that you can skip application of your regular moisturizer/lotion/cream, as in that case in a long term you may end up with dehydrated/dry skin so make sure you use both products.
My results: since I`ve started to use a primer, a noticed a really big difference in how long my make up lasts and foundation doesn`t look "cakey"(which is very important). Sometimes I don`t even do any "touch ups" during the day. Also it`s more pleasant to apply your foundation on already prepared, velvety and smooth skin, - I, personally, can compare it to the base coat, that you put on your nails before actual nail polish.
2. In case I would be doing my everyday, very natural so-called "no make up" make up, I wouldn`t be using any eye shadows and after primer I would apply a foundation and the rest of the products straight away. But since we are discussing more evening and sophisticated look here, an accent on eyes is a must. I always do the most difficult part, - eye make up, - first, especially if dark shadows are being used, which means that even if my eye shadows will fall onto my cheeks and my under-eye area during application, it all will be easily covered by concealer and foundation later and the final result will look much more polished and neat.
So next product to apply is eye primer.
Why do you need to use an eye primer?
The answer`s easy: thin layer of the eye primer neutralizes lid colour, makes lids look more even, prevents eye shadows from fading and creasing, makes the eye shadow easier to blend and allows your make up to last longer;
3.Next, - eye shadows. As a dark shade to accentuate my eyes I use deep plum color called Twinks from
MAC and as a light shade, - Oasis Dew from
BellaPierre (company, that specializes on mineral make up, highly recommend to pay attention!). Sometimes I mix it with another shade, called Coral Reef (see below on the picture), but I definitely prefer Oasis Dew which is more neony, and Coral Reef has more gold color. Always make sure you blend your shadows nicely, so no obvious lines would be seen.
4. Eye Pencils. Without them your evening make up (even with the most fantastic eye shadows) will be unfinished, so make sure you don`t forget about these buddies when create your festive look.
I`m not a big fan of black eye liners/eye pencils and I find it very sad, when most girls usually go particularly for that color, without even considering any other options to emphasize their eyes. For me, black is a bit too evident, and I believe that coffee/plumy/chocolaty shades can compliment my eyes much more. I use
eye pencil from MAC in shade Coffee to line the upper eyelid and
Kohl Power Eye Pencil from MAC in shade Feline on waterline.
5.Only after my eyes are done I apply my foundation and my concealer. I use
Luminous silk foundation from Armani, I do like lightweight texture of this foundation, it absorbs quite quickly and creates natural looking finish. And to cover my under-eye circles I opt for classics, -
Touche Eclat from YSL.
6. After foundation I use my loose powder to mattify and set the make up. My current choice is
Les voilettes mineral invisible skin fusion loose powder from Guerlain. (It was difficult to take my own picture due to the "mirror" effect of the packaging finish. so please enjoy a professtional shot! :) )
7. Now (when you might think that it`s all done, but no, it`s not :)), moving on to Contouring. I will not explain now why contouring is important and how incredibly it impacts the way your make up look, I`d rather leave it to professionals, please see one of my favourite make up artist`s Samantha Chapman`s (a.k.a. part of the Pixiwoo project) video:
Or if you understand Russian language (although even if you don`t, it`s worth taking a look anyway), please see my beloved Elena Krygina`s video lessons below:
Following Elena Krygina`s recommendation, to darken the areas under my cheekbones, sides of my forehead, under my chin to define a jawline, a little bit sides of my nose and to give face a nice oval shape in general, I use
Powder Blush from MAC in a shade Harmony, whereas to highlight particular areas (a dot on the top of my lip, on the bridge of my nose, above the cheekbones, in the middle of the forehead and under the eyebrow) I use
Lustre Drops in a shade Pink Rebel from MAC.
As my highlighter is liquid, I apply my
Sculpting blush from Make Up For Ever on the apples of my cheeks first (before the highlighter).
8. OK, now you`re amost there, don`t worry! :) The biggest part is done, now it`s just a little bit is left, - eyebrows and lips.
To define my eyebrows I brush them first nicely and then apply self-sharpening
pencil from MAC in a shade Lingering (again, beautiful colour, which seems to be not too dark, but just right).
Important note: please-please-please, ladies, before doing your evening make up, make sure your eye brows look neat and polished, and correction (if necessary) is done. Otherwise in my (and not only my) opinion, there is no point in spending your time and energy on creating "The perfect look" with help of other good products, it`s without saying, - eye brows play significant role on your face.
9. And yes, you are right, I haven`t applyed my mascara yet. And there is a reason for it: after we do our eye make up, lots of powdery textures are due to apply (powder itself, blusher,contouring powder blush, sometimes a little bit of bronzer etc.) and if your eye lashes are already covered with mascara, you risk ending up with the effect of "dusty" lashes. So if you really want your eyes to stand out, I would rather recommend to apply mascara at the very end of the process. At the moment I use
Hypnose Doll Eyes mascara from
Lancôme. (I might actually make a post about my favourite mascaras in the future).
9. "L" is for lipstick. But pencil comes first. I use
lip pencil in Plum colour and a
satin lipstick in Faux shade, all from MAC.
Sometimes I also apply a little bit of
Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector from CLARINS.This award winning lip balm not only has a very nice scent, but also nourish my lips, makes them look smooth and plump and doesn`t feel sticky it all (which I find very important)! I often wear this product on my lips alone, it`s perfect both for daytime or to compliment your evening look.
10. And last, but not least, - these are the only brushes that I use. (Although I`m looking forward to extend collection :))
(From left to right):
1)
Bellapierre eyeshadow brush made from natural hair (to apply the main colours on my lids)
2)
Real Techniques base-flawless expert face brush for my liquid foundation
3) MAC brush, that I use for blending my eye-shadows (unfortunately it`s quite old, so I can`t see the number)
4)
Real techniques Blush brush (to do contouring and to apply my blusher/bronzer later), - I know, I know, I know, that I am meant to use other brushes for contouring :)
That`s it for now, using this opportunity I wish all of my readers very happy and prosperous 2014!
Keep in touch & follow Helen`s life blog on
Facebook &
Instagram (helenslifeblog)!
Thank you very much for your time.
Love,
JP
