Tip-Full Tuesday: Makeup for Monolid Eyes

I love asian eyes - I think they are absolutely beautiful and so much fun to make up, however, I get a lot of girls asking how to apply makeup to asian/monolid eyes. 

So here we go:

• You always want to apply primer to your lids like MAC's Prep & Prime Eye or TooFaced's Shadow Insurance. (Both are phenomenal products)
•  Using a flat stiff brush, sweep a dark shadow over the entire lid, creating a round shape up to the crease (I prefer to use something with a little shimmer to it like MAC's "Smut" or "Twinks")
• Blend out with a champagney or peachy pink color (MACs "Dazzle Light" & "Honey Lust" are favorites as well as Bare Escentuals "Trust") - making an upside down "u" shape...and blend blend blend
• Go back with the darker color and blend
• Highlight the brow bone with a highlighter color - (MAC's Vanilla, Brule, Dazzlelight)
• To "round" the eye, take a lighter shimmery color and apply to the middle of the lid. 
• Using an angled liner brush, smudge black shadow (MAC's Carbon or Tuxedo) along the lash line, blending it out to soften the line.
• Using the angled liner brush, take the dark shadow you used on the lid and smudge on the outer half of the lower lash line - this will open up the eyes. 
•  If you would like, use a lighter shimmery color and apply to the inner half of the lower lash line.

Tip-full Tuesday: Makeup for Dark Complexions

Hello Lovelies,
I cannot tell you how many times I have worked with women with dark complexions and have them tell me horror stories of makeup artists who have turned their skin ashy/grey looking because they don't use the proper products.
I have also had many girls and young women just entering into the makeup world ask me for tips because they just don't know - most recently from Denika, who sent this note:

 "Hi SaRa, 
     I m 13 and a mocha diva as mu friends say. I hav tried some makeups but they dont work for me ~~make me loook sik or just weird. hhow do i pik guud makeup for mee? Thnx."

*Choose foundation that has undertones of yellow and red. Dark complexions on the lighter end generally have more yellow where as on the darker end of the spectrum they tend to have more red. Always be sure to see how the color looks in natural daylight - store lights distort colors.

*Since dark skin has more pigment than fair skin, choose blushes on the darker end of the spectrum of berries, peaches and pinks. To apply, start with less - it's always easier to add more color than take it away. This is true for all skin tones.

*Lip colors that will work well are plums, pinks and purples that have a hint of gold, deep berries, and browns that have a hint of red to them.

*When looking for eyeshadow colors, the options are pretty much endless. You can use browns, blues, red, deep purples... If you don't know where to start, below you will find a list of MAC suggestions. (Anything starred is a personal favorite)

Neutrals
Bisque
Bronze
Brown Down
Brown Script*
Embark
Espresso
Handwritten*
Naked Lunch*
Satin Taupe*
Vanilla*

Blacks, Greys and Silvers
Black Tied
Carbon*
Electra
Print
Silvering*
Smut*


Reds and Pinks
Hepcat
Paradisco
Sushi flower*

Oranges
Antique
Coppering*
Kid
Mythology*

Golds
Amber Lights*
Dreammaker
Gorgeous Gold
Woodwinked*

Greens
Club*
Green Smoke
Lucky Green*
Velvet Moss

Blues
Aquavert
Deep Truth*
Electric Eel*
Freshwater
Moon's Reflection
Plumage*

Purples
Beautiful Iris
Beauty Marked*
Contrast
Vibrant Grape*
Sketch*

Thanks again for your wonderful question Denika - have fun & stay beautiful.

                                        Sara

Tipfull Wednesday: How to avoid "Cake Face"

      You all know the look I'm talking about - the one where you can see layers upon layers upon layers of foundation and powder. I've been guilty of this before, and I'm sure most of you have - because after all, how else are you going to get your foundation to cover those imperfections?
 
The first thing to do is apply a moisturizer with SPF in in. This will hydrate any dry patches, help even out the surface of your skin and help prevent sun-damage. 
  Next apply a primer, such as MAC's prep and prime or Smashboxx's PhotoFinish Primer, it will not only create a barrier between the foundation and your skin, but it will also help to even out skin tone, make your makeup stay on longer and absorb any oil.





Apply foundation a little at time; you can always add more coverage if needed, but it's harder to remove excess. Make sure you blend outward, into your hairline and your neck.

If you notice any blemishes after you've applied foundation, instead of adding more foundation to your entire face, use a concealer. Cover the blemish and slightly around the blemish with concealer and blend out.

Apply powder to set the foundation with a powder puff or a powder brush. Again, using as little as possible. This will help prevent the foundation from creasing or melting throughout the day.


To finish it off, use a mist of setting spray. For daily activities, I suggest MAC's Fix+. If you are planning on a higher level activity or have an event, use Urban Decay's Up All-Nighter. I cannot tell you how much I love Urban Decay's setting spray! If you're worried about your makeup melting, fading, or just not lasting - use Urban Decay's Up All-Nighter. 








Have a beautiful day lovelies!
Lipstick and Loves, 
Sara

Nuetral Everyday Makeup Tutorial

Alright Lovelies - here's the look that I have received multiple requests for tutorials on and the one I tried to film this morning and failed miserably at - definitely can't wait to find the other camera!
To get this look:
Face:

1. Before anything else, apply moisturizer to a clean face and let it soak in for a few minutes.
2. Apply a face primer - like MAC's Prep & Prime. Primer is a multitasker - it will help even out redness, blot out excess oil, and smooth out the skin so your foundation goes on more smoothly. It also helps your makeup last all day!
3. Apply a small amount of foundation. Either dot it on your face with your fingers or use a foundation brush - but be careful; a little goes a long way - too much and you're face will get cakey. Using a stippling brush, stipple the foundation on being sure to blend well into your jawline, neck and hairline. 
4. Set your powder with a setting powder. 
5. Using a small blush/contour brush, contour cheeks with a powder that is 1-2 shades darker than your skin tone
6. Using a small blush brush, apply a pinky blush - start with less then add more if you would like -
7. Using a fan brush, apply a highlighter (I use Dazzlelight Eyeshadow) to the top of your cheek bones and done the center of your nose.

Eyes:

1. First things first, use an eye primer to ensure your shadow will last all day and not crease. My personal favorite at the moment is TooFaced Shadow Insurance. MAC has a good one called Prep & Prime Eye, Sephora carries a cheaper one as well. 
2. Next, using Large Shader Brush, sweep Dazzlelight (a shimmery vanilla color) across your entire eyelid and up to your browbone. This will create a base for the rest of the shadows if you didn't use an eye primer. If you did use a primer, you only need to sweep Dazzlelight eyeshadow along your browbone.
3. Using a small shader brush (you can use the large shader brush, I just like to use a smaller one for this step because my eyes are small.) sweep All That Glitters (a shimmery, honey color) from the tear duct to about 2/3 of the way across your eyelid. 
4. Then using a medium shader brush, you're going to take MAC's Smut (a dark, smokey, plum-y color) lightly define the outer V. Smut is dark, so use a little and build up to the darkness you would like. 
5. Using a blending brush blend out and up the dark color
6. Using the same blending brush, pick up a little bit of Twinks and sweep it from the outer corner of your eye to a little bit over where All The Glitter ends and blend. 
7. Using the same blending brush, use Shale and sweep just above the crease and below the browbone. This will add a little bit of coolness and will also get rid of any harsh lines from the darker color.
8. Using a bent liner brush and MAC's fluid line in blacktrack, line the top lash line and wing out and line the lower water line. 
9. Curl your lashes and apply a coat of black mascara.
10. Apply false lashes. I used Duo's black lash glue and Ardell's Demi lashes, but you can use whatever you would like or none. 
11. Curl real and false lashes together.
12. Seal lashes down with a thin line of MAC's fluid line; set liner upper lashline and lower water line with black eyeshadow (Carbon).
13. Eyebrows: Using an angled brow brush, fill in your eyebrows with a powder. I use a warm light brown to fill mine in due to the fact that I currently have reddish hair; but a general rule of thumb: if you have light hair, use a color 2 shades darker, if you have dark hair use a color that is 2 shades lighter. 

Lips:

1. Line with a flesh tones lipliner
2. Apply a medium pink lipstick
3. Finish with a clear or pink lipgloss

Finish off the look with a few spritz of finishing spray - my personal favorites are MAC's Fix+ Setting Spray and Urban Decay's Up All Nighter.

List of ALL Products used:
Brushes/Tools:
Foundation Brush (MAC 190 OR Sephora Professional Platinum Foundation Brush #47)
Stippling Brush (MAC 187 OR Sephora Pro #44)
Large Powder Brush (MAC 134)
Small Blush Brush (Sephora Pro Blush Brush #49)
Small Contour Brush (MAC 168)
Fan Brush (Sephora Pro Fan brush #43)
Large Shader Brush (MAC 252)
Small Shader Brush (MAC 242)
Blending Brush  (MAC 224 OR Sephora Pro #10)
Bent Liner Brush (Sonia Kashuk)
Angled Liner Brush (Sephora Pro #22)
Lash Curler (Sephora)

Products:
CVS Moisturizer
MAC's Prep & Prime Face
Face Atelier Foundation in Porcelein
MAC's Mineralize Skin Finish Powder in Light
La Femme Blush/Bronzer Pallette - 3rd lightest bronzer, 1st and 3rd lightest blush
MAC Eyeshadow Dazzlelight
MAC Eyeshadow All That Glitters
MAC Eyeshadow Smut
MAC Eyeshadow Shale
MAC Eyeshadow Carbon
Benefit BadGal Lash Mascara
Duo Lash Adhesive in Black
Ardell Demi Lashes
Flesh colored lipliner (I can't read what brand or the exact color...it wore off)
NYC Lilac Dream Lipstick
Paula Dorf Light Pink Lipgloss
Urban Decay's Up All Nighter Setting Spray

Enjoy! Feel free to send me photos of your finished look & keep sending questions and tutorial requests to: MakeupbySaraC@gmail.com !

Lipstick & Loves,
Sara

*Photos by Dave Kelley @ Studio Seventy3
**Disclaimer: I was not asked by any of the companies/products mentioned above - these just happen to be the products I like to work with at the moment.