My all time makeup pet-peeves

You've seen them.

Makeup looks gone bad. Horribly bad.

So in my attempt to rid the beauty world of the overly extreme makeover, here are my all time makeup 'please don't do this!" extremes. And as a makeup artist, I've seen every one........

1. WAAAYYYY too much blush Easy fix for the blush that screams hooker. Blush is supposed to look natural, flushed, pretty. Think J.Low. She's got it down. (Or she DID before she let personal makeup artist Scott Barnes, who put her on the map, go.) Apply your blush before ANY other color on your face. If you look like you could throw on lip gloss and mascara and run out the door, you're good! The best blush color? No, it's not fuscia. It's a pinky/peach. Think
Nar's Orgasm powder blush. There's a reason it's the #1 selling blush. It's a soft shimmer, and pinky/peach that looks young, fresh on anyone of any age. (J.Low and Lara Flynn Boyle rarely make an appearance without it on..) And it's all about location, location, location. Smile, tap blush on apple cheeks. Done. That's where you blush. Period. Easy.

2. The dreaded blue eyeshadow ala 1960's. Okay, I think whenever someone is in that dreaded "color" shadow mode, it's because someone at some time said "gee! that looks great honey!" When it painfully didn't. We're suckers for a compliment. Someone likes that blazer I'm wearing and I'm wearing that thing 3 days in a row. Beauty is supposed to make you look at the whole image. Not just one thing. You want the whole you to shine. In photography makeup, a trait of a good makeup artist is when their makeup style blends in with the whole photo. It doesn't stand out like a sore thumb (a common complaint of many photographers I know, "ah, does red lipstick really go with that sundress?" I feel complimented on my work when someone oohs and aahs over the photo, not my work. Then I know I've done a good job. So if something is taking the focus away from you, well, it's because it's taking the focus away from you. Ditch the blue shadow unless it's halloween.

3. Navy blue, dark blue, any blue. Why do older women feel compelled to wear navy blue eyeliner? Or grayish blue shadow? Why? Why? Why? It's because they want to bring out their eyes which feel as if they're slowly disappearing into their face. But the sad thing is, anything with blue, dark blue or grayish blue around your eyes really brings out the dark blue undereye circle under it, even more. Yep. Copy a color on your face that you don't like in your makeup, and it'll look worse. Way worse. Case in point: a red dress with sunburn. See? Doesn't work. Go warmer, chestnutty, hazelnut like in shadows and liner instead.

 

Shown: '>Fresh
Eye Contour Duo in Chilean Hazelnut/Morel Noir

4. You're looking a little tired. Are you feeling ok? We've all been there. Feeling tired. Bored, listless. But you're not. Really. You feel fine. What the? I hate to break it to you but it's your makeup. Your makeup color choices are making you or actually your skin look tired. How? You're wearing colors that have gray in them. A grayish pink blush, a grayish mauvey lipstick, a grayish eye shadow. Even your foundation might be gray. Yep. All that gray is making you look tired by bringing out the gray in your skin. You don't need a facial. You need another color. How can you tell? Put your cosmetic color onto white paper. What color do you see? If you see gray, that's the culprit. And gray is the #1 added color to cosmetics. Makes me wonder how many women have run to the skin care counters to get the latest alpha hydroxy, skin brightening wonder creams, only to find out it's really the makeup that makes you look, well, you know, tired.

5. The Susan Lucci overdrawn lips. Okay, even Susan Lucci isn't even doing it anymore, so why are you? Overdrawing the lips does NOT make your lips look bigger. It makes them look like a clown. Always has, always will. So how do you fake the illusion? It's in the color and the shine. Yep. Shine. A lighter color, think a nude pink like

In The Nude Lip Pencil by Fresh

 

The perfect shade that mimics your lip color, or any color that is 2 shades deeper than your actual lip color is perfect for you. Apply to your lip line and not a millimeter more. Then add shine. Yep, shine bounces light and gives the illusion of a fuller pout. Try Bobbi Brown's lip gloss. She has a different type of shimmer going on in her lipglosses that makes your lips look 3-dimensional. It truly works.

Well, I'm off. To save the overly extreme makeovers of the world, one beautiful face at a time.....

Tags: makeup don'ts, Fresh Lip PencilTags: Fresh Eye Pencil