I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve!
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| Chris and I were so excited and proud to win best dressed! We didn't go out for New Year's Eve, so this is the last exciting photo I have to show you! :) |
My husband and I both made resolutions to be more creative and give ourselves time to work on our vintage business. He's working hard on building a pin-striping kit for himself. Since their are many pre-made kits on the market, I got to thinking about make-up kits. There are some you can buy that say they have everything you need, but usually you could buy what is really necessary separately and get more! I am always building and updating my makeup kit, both for myself and my professional work. I'm going to start off with 10 items I think you really need in your personal makeup kit.
1. Tweezers. I know, not a makeup item. However, your eyebrows are so important to the way your face looks. If you want to look younger, keep your eyebrows as thick as possible. I've read many articles in Vogue and other fashion/beauty magazines giving this tip. I'm going to do a video on eyebrows later, but for now I have a few simple tips. Don't try to make your eyebrows look like someone else's, it never works. If you must pluck the top of the brows, be careful not to lose your natural shape. If you really need guidance, line where you want them to be with white eyeliner, and then pluck the outside the lines. You need tweezers in your makeup kit so you can pluck your stray eyebrow hairs everyday. This helps you look like you keep yourself up, instead of having run down scraggly brows. You can sterilize the tips of the tweezers with a swap of alcohol on a cotton ball. I usually pluck mine right before I get in the shower, so I don't forget.
2. Foundation matching your skin tone. Beautiful skin always looks fresh and is always in style. You should have a good a.m. and p.m. cleansing and moisturizing routine to ensure this. If you can get away with using soap, so be it. But make sure you moisturize before you apply foundation. This will allow the base to glide on, as opposed to caking up in some places. I know a lot of people feel strongly about foundation primer, but I like to apply a light coat of moisturizer, and then apply the foundation. You can use mineral, liquid, or creme to powder. Whatever works best for your skin type. It might take some time to find what you really like. But once you do, don't be afraid to stay loyal to your favorite product. If it ain't broke, right?
3. Blush. If you are not using blush or bronzer, you are really missing out. It helps sculpt your cheekbones, and gives you a pop of color you need in winter months as well as warmer ones. It brightens your face, making you look cheerful, feminine and glowing. Even if you refuse to wear foundation, please try wearing blush. You might need to dust some face powder on first, and it might not apply as well if your face is very dry. Again, moisturizing is really important to makeup application. If you worry about having "clown" cheeks, try applying blush with a cotton ball at first. I still use a cotton ball to apply my brighter colored blushes. It helps you control the application a little better than a brush. Try wearing blush for just one day and I think you'll be hooked! Try a pinky brown blush for a nice glow, or a pinky coral one for drama.
4. An eyelash curler. If you have naturally curly eyelashes, you can skip this one. If you don't, you better have a good curler! I like Revlon's and Mary Kay's. The Mary Kay ones were just part of a promotion for our new Lash Love Mascara, but I would love it if they made them regular line. Put the curler at the base of your lashes and squeeze gently about 10 times. If you have long lashes, move the curler closer to the ends and repeat. Curled eye lashes open the eye and make you look more awake!
5. Neutral Eye Shadows. I love bright colored eye makeup, but when just starting out it's best to stick with neutrals. Cream, white, and browns. I like to have matte shadows, which have no shimmer or glitter, as well as iridescent ones, which shine brightly. A good eye look to start with is a white shadow under the brow bone, a light brown or gold on the lid, and a darker brown in the crease. This gives you a put together eye look and it's what I always go back to when in a pinch.
6. Black or brown eyeliner. I like creme and gel liners you apply with a brush. They go on smoothly, and it's easy to color in the dreaded "line" we can get between our lashes and our eyeliner. My second choice would be liquid liner, however it can run and have a thin texture. Pencil is my last choice. I've yet to perfect "smudged" liner, but when I do I'll make sure and let you know! Also, if you are very fair, try using brown eyeliner instead of black for your everyday wear. You might find it's more flattering. I don't like liner on the lower lash line for ladies with dark eyes, as it can add a "goth" look you might not be going for. However, ladies with light eyes can usually get away with it. I remember back in the 90's, I wanted to do my eye makeup just like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She always had her eyes lined top and bottom with a black pencil liner. Somehow I always ended up looking like...well, not good. Yeah, Buffy has a blue eyes. Mine are very dark brown. She's tan. I'm pale. She's a blond, I'm a brunette. It's just one more lesson I learned about having to look like yourself, lol.
7. Black or brown mascara. If you are very fair and have blond eyelashes, brown or black/brown mascara could be very flattering on you for everyday wear. Black is best for ladies medium brunette and darker. That's not to say blond eyelashes should never wear black mascara, but I would save it for nighttime and going out.
8. A flattering pink lipstick. Red lips are glamorous, and I would love nothing more than to bring back brown lip liner with gold gloss on the inside. However, for those starting out, find a good pink you like. This will balance well with your blush and neutral eyes. Pink lips look good on all skin colors, and with all hair colors. Start off with a more neutral pink as opposed to bright and flamboyant colors. But if you want to do a coral color, I think it's pretty universally flattering. With lipstick I think it's worth the money to go to a Mary Kay lady like me, or MAC, or Ulta, and try the lipsticks on. That way you are buying a shade you know looks good, as opposed to getting home from the drug store and hating the color (happened to me more times than I can count or remember).
9. Gold lip gloss. Gold lip gloss always looks good, on plain lips or on top of pink lipstick. Mary Kay has a great one called Beached Bronze. So pretty, looks great with bronzer on cheeks as well.
10. A few good brushes. Start small. Eyeliner, eye shadow and a good eyelash comb. Build from there :) I like Eco Tools, as well as Mary Kay, Merle Norman, and of course MAC.
I hope this blog was somewhat informative and helpful to those of you just starting out wearing makeup and building your kit. I learned a lot of this the hard way over my many years of striving to make the best of my natural looks with makeup, haha. All of these product photos were taken by me (of course) and it was actually really fun. Who knew inanimate objects made such good models, hehe!?
Moving on...
My New Year's Resolution is...TO LEARN HOW TO SEW! Yes! I want to sew vintage clothes from patterns.
Also, we are hoping to rent a booth at one of the local antique malls in the next few months.
Overall, I think 2012 is going to be amazing, at least I hope so!
Love you all, and as always for questions about my photo studio or to book a shoot just email me at tiffanyaprilmiller@gmail.com
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