Subtle Saturdays (#2 August 18, 2012)
1. Brows. This is number one because it's one of the most important and most forgotten parts of a full face routine. I mentioned this briefly in yesterday's post since Fierce Friday's focus wasn't brows so I'll elaborate a little more here. Full brows are in style according to the trends in fashion and makeup for Fall 2012, meaning no more pencil-thin brows. Your eyebrows frame your eyes and help give structure to your face and whether you have the blondest blonde or the blackest black brows, age/waxing/tweezing and more cause thinning. Whether you have some holes in your brows, the tail ends have started thinning out, the shade of your brow hair color is fading, whatever your case may be, touch them up! Maintaining your brows isn't simply keeping them from looking like you were finally found after being stranded on an island for months; it's keeping them clean, neat, full, and even. And face facts: if you're out of high school, you probably need a little assistance. Waxes, gels, powders, pencils and more are out there to keep your brows looking perfect and staying that way for the day!
2. Lips. This one will never cease to amaze me. Watch your favorite TV shows, especially with younger characters, look around you in the mall and grocery store, or at least think for a minute and tell me what you notice everyone seems to just forget. THEIR LIPS! You take all that time to conceal, blend, set, highlight, contour your face, then your eyes, whether you simply swipe on some mascara or do the whole nine yards. And then after all that you say, "ahh screw the lips"? No. Not okay. You don't have to go crazy with it and wear some super noticeable, red, sexy look. But simply forgetting them is NOT okay either. You look unfinished, like you just forgot something. There's simple solutions out there too: nude lipsticks, sheer glosses, tinted chap stick for crying out loud! There is NO excuse to doing a full face of makeup and just leaving your lips out. Your lips are where you speak, and smile, and kiss, and so much more from .. don't leave them out!
3. Blush. I understand the thought here why many forgo cheek color. I have too too too much redness in my face, especially my cheeks and I know I'm not alone in that at all. You spend all that time applying primer tinted to reduce redness, then concealing the redness, then blending that out with the rest of your skin, then setting all your work and now you're supposed to add color back to your cheeks?! The answer is yes. When you successfully cover your redness (or whatever else you may be concealing), you are left with an even, smooth canvas. And I know once you find the right products and application techniques to achieve this, it's a godsend ... but you can't stop there. If you don't add some sort of cheek color, you look washed out. No one in the world, not even a baby with perfectly untouched skin that you envy, has an exactly even skin tone. It's just not natural. And if you choose to forget the blush, you look undone, washed out .. like you're going for the living-dead look. Find a shade that's natural and complimentary to your skin tone and the other makeup you're going to wear, not one that will fight with your eyes or lips. As you get more comfortable adding color to the same place you just hid color, experiment with different cheek colors. Blush is honestly one of my favorite portions of cosmetics and there was a time I never ever thought I'd say that, but it's true!
4. CORRECT shade choice of foundation. Oh boy, is this a big one! It amazes me walking through drug stores and even department stores and seeing how people think they choose the correct color. I've seen matching to the under side of the wrist, matching directly to their face in the cheek area, matching to the top side of the hand, and more. Wrong, wrong, wrong! And it's not even your fault! Magazines, home shopping channels, and many other places you turn are all giving different, conflicting advice as to how to match your color to your skin tone. Here is how, and it's a two-parter:
- Begin along your jawline. When you apply your foundation, it needs to match along your jaw and into your neck. Your face gets more sun than your neck, obviously, so matching to your face alone will inevitably leave a line once your makeup meets your neck. The first step is to figure out your undertones: are you cool (pink) or warm (yellow). Next, choose 2-3 shades around your skin tone and run a swatch from the bottom of your cheek, down your jawline, into your neck. Place all 3 swatches next to each other and the one that seems to "disappear" is the right one.
- Also!!! Make sure when the makeup is on, your chin matches your collarbone and chest (cleavage) area. When someone looks at you dead-on, if your face is a different shade or undertone than your natural skin on your chest, it stands out! Don't forget that when finding the right makeup color, there are TWO key points!!!
Well I know that's only 4 tips, but they are certainly not short ones so I won't dump a huge book on you for Subtle Saturdays. These are just a few crucial points that are truly "subtle" differences that will make a HUGE impact on your look! I hope you find them helpful and if you have any questions about them or anything else comment away or come find me on Facebook!
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