Monthly Archives: October 2011

Make-up - As a professional make-up artist, I am first in line to spread the word about the sometimes unbelievable results that properly applied make-up can achieve.  Make-up can hide an array of facial imperfections, from dark circles to blemishes, red splotches, acne scars – you name it!  But here’s the thing: make-up can disguise, but ideally, you shouldn’t want it to.  Make-up is far better used to enhance your features; to bring out the color and shape of your eyes, contour the angles of your face, add color to your cheeks and fullness to your lips.  You get the picture.  The best results are achieved when make-up is applied to a ‘clean slate’, a complexion that is clean, glowing and healthy.

A properly cleansed face is just as important, if not more important, that the makeup you apply to it daily.  Having a ‘clean slate’, will not only improve the look of your makeup once applied, but you will have a beautiful complexion even without the need for make-up – which as a make-up artist, is sort of paradoxical for me to admit to.  But there you have it – your first order of business: get that face glowing! It’s a lot easier than you may think.  You don’t need to spend a lot of money on expensive facials or creams, nor will you need to spend a lot of time – what you will need to do is start a daily routine, that will only take about ten minutes a day.

Let’s begin with the morning routine that will have your skin make-up ready and have you feeling refreshed and revitalized. Here’s the run-through in 4 easy steps:

Step 1 – Cleansing

Open your pores by splashing warm water on your face, then apply your cleansing product in gentle upwards strokes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water (never hot).

Your final rinse should be with cold water to close your pores.

Step 2 – Toner – apply toner to even out your skin tone, it will revitalize your skin and wipe away any excess cleanser that may have been left behind.

Step 3 – Moisturize using a DAY cream or serum.  Apply your facial moisturizer in a gentle upwards motion.

Step 4 – Eye Cream

When applying your eye cream, I suggest you use your ring fingers in a dabbing motion.

Apply the cream in a half moon pattern from right under your tear duct to the point where your eyebrows end.  Repeat a few times, until you feel that the product has been absorbed.

And Voilà! That’s it.  Your face is now make-up ready, should you choose to apply it.

This same morning process should be repeated at night with one addition: removing your make-up (an absolute MUST).  Although I intended to focus on the importance of prepping your skin for make-up application in the morning, you must incorporate a nightly cleansing routine to achieve a dewy, fresh complexion.  By the way, the nightly routine is included in the 10 minutes a day.

A few rules to live by:

Never, never, never (did I mention never) leave your makeup on overnight! This can cause clogged pores which lead to blackheads, breakouts and an overall dull and pasty looking skin. Now, I must admit, I have on occasion left my makeup on overnight ( no need to go into the details of why) and have woken up to regret it. My mascara inevitably had irritated my eyes, my face felt oily and dirty and need I mention the state of my pillowcase! I am adamant about going to bed with a fresh face; your skin will love you for it and your thanks will be a beautiful, radiant complexion.

So, your first new step for your nightly routine is:

Step 1: Make-up Remover

I recommend first using an eye makeup remover followed by an overall facial makeup remover product such as: Marcelle Essential Cleansing Cloths, Marcelle Cleansing Cream, Marcelle Essentials Cleansing Milk, or Marcelle Cleansing Water.  As you can see, there are many products to choose from, so no excuses! Use the one that feels best for you.

The rest of the steps are exactly the same as the morning routine, with the exception of applying a ‘night’ as opposed to a day cream.

*It’s important to incorporate an exfoliating scrub or mask into your routine once a week, preferably at night (especially for exfoliating), thereby avoiding a ‘pink’ face before applying your makeup.

Lipstick or lipgloss - the popularity of each one seems to change from season to season but I have noticed something interesting, women tend to gravitate towards one or the other and psychologists would like us to believe it is a subconscious choice.

I recently read an article that claimed that women tend to wear the opposite product of what their mother does.  If your mom is a lipstick person you are more likely to be a gloss girl and vice versa. It's an interesting idea and in my own case it's actually true, my mom has always worn lipstick and I tend to prefer gloss.  Not to say I don't own four zillion lipsticks, but I do wear more gloss than lipstick so I am obviously subconsciously rebelling! I don't have any kids but it would be interesting to know if I did have a daughter if she would lean towards lipstick...

There are pros and cons to both formulations: lipsticks tend to be longer lasting, well pigmented and less messy while glosses are super shiny and can be applied very precisely.

Whichever one you like - application is the key - The Joker and Robert Smith from the Cure are the only ones who can get away with lipstick smeared all over their face, the rest of us should try to stay inside the lines!  Here are a few tips for perfect lipstick/gloss application:

1) Start with a smooth surface - gloss is a little more forgiving but nothing looks worse than lipstick on top of chapped lips!  There are several ways to get rid of the dead skin: buy a pre-made lipscrub, make your own with sugar and olive oil, or use a soft toothbrush/facecloth.

2) If you want to use a lipliner go for it but please make it the same colour as the product you will be wearing - the late 90's with that dark lipliner, light lipstick trend were dark times my friends - history is something to be learned from! I have personally become a fan of reverse lipliner which basically is a clear wax that you draw around the outside of your lips, this prevents the lipstick or gloss from bleeding outside of your lips!

3) The darker/brighter the colour you are using is, the more precise your application needs to be. If you can't be bothered messing around with this step than use a lighter colour as it's then less obvious that your application isn't perfect!

4) Have fun with it - it's makeup! Don't let anyone tell you that women over 30 can't wear gloss or redheads can't wear pink - I break both of these "rules" all the time!

Now what do you suppose those pychologists would say about women who like to layer gloss over lipstick?