A Lesson in Lashes

In April's issue of Seventeen Magazine, you will find a perfect example of how you can add lots of drama with individual lashes! You will fall in love with how they really elongate your eyes. At your local drug store or beauty supply, pick up Short, Medium, Long and Mini Individual Flare Lashes, or online you can find Combo Packs that have Short, Medium and Long's and a separate pack of Mini's. I prefer Duralash by Ardell Flare Individual Lashes. You'll also need a lash glue, and I use DUO's Eyelash Adhesive in Clear because it goes on white then dries clear. All can be found online at www.madamemadeline.com





First, I applied two coats of Mark's Make It Big Mascara in Raven on Lauren's top and bottom lashes. (www.meetmark.com) I always focus on applying lashes one eye at a time. Squeeze a pea-size dollop of the lash glue on the back of your hand. You want to give it a minute to get tacky, so I always do this first. With tweezers or your fingers, pull out 4 Long's, 4 Medium's, 3 Short's and 3 Mini's from their case and place them in separate rows on the back of your hand. Starting with the outside corner of your eye, place two Long's on the very end of your lash line, as close to each other as you can get them. Direct them outwards at a 45-degree angle to create more of a cat-eye look. Directly next to the 2 Long's, start adding lashes towards the center of your eyes in this order: 1 Medium, 1 Long, 1 Medium, 1 Long, 2 Medium's then 3 Short's. If you find that you don't have a lot of space between your lash line and your eyebrow, making the Long's look too costume-y, forgo the Long's and instead use 6 Medium's and 5 Short's, same as above, with two Medium's at the outside corners, then every other until you only have Short's left. Repeat with your other eye. If you stick to this order, I promise you will have head-turning lashes!!



On your bottom lash line, place 3 Mini's on the outside corners, carefully placing them between your own lashes. If you are lucky enough to have really long bottom lashes, use 3 Short's instead. Just make sure with bottom lashes, you apply the false ones as if they are backwards! I use my fingers to apply all of the top and bottom lashes, because I really like the control of being able to get in there, but a lot of make-up artists prefer to use tweezers. Lauren also loves to use tweezers when she is applying them on herself before she goes out at night. Just have fun with it, practice until it becomes second nature, or have a girlfriend come over before you go out and apply them on each other!

Here are some more pictures from our shoot...

Here she is with the lovely Lo Bosworth, who had her make-up done by my colleague Natalie Miller:

All photos courtesy of Seventeen Magazine, Kenneth Willardt, Ardell and Duo. www.seventeen.com

Soft Spring Colors

One of my favorite make-up looks for Spring '09. For this shoot on Jenna, I used a rosy pink lip color, a mosaic of petal pink on her cheeks and varied her eye color, using a base of light gold then switching it up between aubergine and aquamarine.

Foundation:

I used Hourglass Veil Fluid Oil-Free Foundation in Sand, a really luminous formula that fights the signs of aging. http://www.beautycloset.com/

Eyes:

All over the eye lid and in the crease, I applied NARS Single Eye Shadow Duo in Isolde, applying the darker gold first then sweeping the lighter gold on top. http://www.narscosmetics.com/


Next I applied Estee Lauder Pure Color in Berry Ice from the lash line to half the width of the eye lid as well as along the entire bottom lash line with a thin eyeliner brush. It is a high-density pigment so I only had to apply one coat. http://www.esteelauder.com/
For a couple of the shots, I swept Mark Mini Mark-It Stick for the Eyes in Marina as a thick eyeliner along the upper lash line. I love all four of the colors for Spring because they're very playful yet wearable. http://www.meetmark.com/



Cheeks:

For a Spring lightly-bronzed look, I applied Elizabeth Arden Sun Goddess Bronzing Powder in Medium in the hollow of her cheeks, across the top of her forehead, down the bridge of her nose and under her jawline. I love this bronzer because when you swirl your bronzing or powder brush in it, it grabs mostly the bronze color but the perfect amount of the pink highlight. http://www.elizabetharden.com/

Next I used one of my favorite blush trios of all time, Scott Barnes Blush in Posh. With the darkest of the pinks, I swept it under her cheekbones. The medium pink was applied on the apples of her cheeks and the lightest pink above her cheekbones as a highlight. Scott's products are currently hard to find because he is in between backers so whenever one is listed on eBay, grab it! Or check with The Beauty Closet and see if they have any more in stock. http://www.thebeautycloset.com/

Lips:


I applied a single coat of Shu Uemura gloss in PK382S, a must-have for Spring!
http://www.sephora.com/

Here are three more of my favorite shots from the shoot:

Photos courtesy of Randall Slavin, NARS Cosmetics, Mark Cosmetics, Scott Barnes, Elizabeth Arden, Hourglass Cosmetics and Estee Lauder. http://www.randallslavin.com/

A Trio Of Black Liner

Black Eyeliner served three ways! (Ok, I've probably been watching too much Top Chef!) Here is a quick course on the eyeliner techniques that I used on Annalynne McCord, Shenae Grimes and Jessica Stroup for 90210's photo gallery, shot by Art Streiber. It's a great example of three different ways you can apply black eyeliner: Kohl Pencil, Wet Shadow or Gel Formula.

Kohl Pencil on Annalynne:

For Annalynne, I used my trusty Shu Uemura Drawing Pencil in ME Black 1. It glides on with ease and I love its metallic concentration. I started in the inner corner of the upper lash line and dragged the pencil tip outward, slightly winging it up at the end. I incrementally made the line a little thicker as I worked my way to the outside of the eyes. I then drew a thin line across the bottom lash line and finished by rimming inside the lash line with the pencil. ** Tip: for a thin line, use the point of the pencil, holding it almost perpendicularly to your eye. For a thicker line, slant the pencil to a 45-degree angle, using more of the side of the tip of the pencil. Don't be afraid to try holding your pencil at different angles -- make-up is temporary and you can wipe it off and try again as many times as it takes for you to get the hang of it!

Wet Shadow on Shenae:

For a softer look on Shenae, I opted for an eye shadow powder, applied wet. This is one of my favorite techniques in make-up! First, take a slim and angled eye liner brush and wet it with water until it's fully soaked. I love NARS Angular Eye Shader Brush 04. Next, swirl it around in a single black eye shadow until it is loaded with the color. In this case I used Night Breed by NARS, a deep metallic black that I adore because the silver specks catch the light but don't affect the concentration of black color. On the back of your hand, draw a couple of lines to make sure you are happy with the consistency of the wet shadow while smoothing out any powder clumps. You might need to re-dip it in the shadow until you have it right. Just like I did for Annalynne with the drawing pencil, sweep the brush across your lash line, starting at the inner corners and increasing the width as approach the outer corners. This brush is especially brilliant for drawing a thin line on the bottom lash line because of the breadth of the brush. For a day look like this, it's prettier to have a thin line of the bottom. You want to define the eyes in the day time and save the drama for Tuesday nights at 8pm! **Tip: For double the intensity, re-wet your brush, load it with more shadow and go back over the line.

Gel Formula on Jessica:

For the ultimate definition of the eyes, without the extremity of a liquid liner, use a gel liner pot, like I did here on Jessica. When I first started in make-up years ago, we had to use grease paints for this effect! Now many lines have created gel liners, and one of my favorites that I used for this shoot is Elizabeth Arden's Color Intrigue Gel Eye Liner in Black. It glides on smoothly with ease and comes with its own liner brush. Use the same method as the wet shadow liner and watch your eyes become piercing with every coat! **Tip: One coat for a more subtle look, 2-3 coats for extra drama!

Whatever your personality, find the method and products that work for you... or do what I do and use a different technique for different moods! Always remember to have fun with it and NEVER be intimidated by make-up. It's one of your creative times of the day to play!

Photos courtesy of Art Streiber, The CW, Shu Uemura, NARS and Elizabeth Arden. http://www.artstreiber.com/ http://www.thecw.tv/ http://www.shuuemura-usa.com/ http://www.narscosmetics.com/ http://www.elizabetharden.com/