Day 4, Marvelous Make-up

I just want to say here that I have never been paid in any way to endorse any make-up products in Nineteen Days to Gorgeous. Actually, I have not been paid for any product recommendation, whether it be clothes, make-up, hair care, accessories, etc. I’ve researched, personally bought (at my own expense) and personally tested (or imposed upon my daughter or my friends for their evaluation) every item listed in the retail detail sections or within the body of the text.

Day 4. Marvellous Make-up
Getting gorgeous
Don’t you just love cosmetics? Those glamorous pots and shiny creams, glittery pigments, shimmery colours and golden liquids all hold a mystical enticement, an attraction that’s as old as history.
Make-up appeals to the imagination; it allows us to be whatever we want to be. We don’t apply make-up and promptly turn chameleon-like into an ethereal being, the pleasure is the knowledge that make-up provides us with the ability to do so if we want to!
To put it in a nutshell, make-up enables us to play up the features we like and play down those we consider less attractive.

What do you want to enhance about your face? Examine it without make-up.

• What are your best features?
• Do you have great eyes?
• Perhaps you have a gorgeous smile or fabulous skin?
  Focus on the feature that inspires and enlightens you, the one that gives you confidence. Then work on emphasizing it. Don’t take any notice of the characteristics you consider to be less attractive; sometimes the little imperfections that make you unique also make you beautiful.
  

Do you pause at the ‘stars without makeup’ features when you flick through the gossip magazines while you wait at the hairdressers? There they are; Cate, Jennifer and Nicole going about their daily business - with no make-up on! The accompanying article usually implies it is rather unacceptable to be going about au naturel. Well, you and I both know there’s nothing wrong with going out with a naked face, just as we know that when we have used make-up our self confidence and esteem is higher!
We are so used to seeing glamorous photographs that we have unreal expectations of how we ourselves are supposed to look. Celebrities change before our eyes; they get thinner or blonder or more bronzed by the week. Sometimes we watch with prurient interest as they plunge in the opposite direction and bulge out of their clothes, or, shock, horror, dare to show some cellulite! Those unflattering photographs (often shot from afar) are published untouched.
A celebrity photographed in glamour mode on the front cover of the fashion mags will have been through a gamut of hair dressers, colourists, make-up artists, manicurists and fashion stylists, and that’s before an airbrush touches the photograph!
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that beneath the gorgeous designer garments and beautifully applied make-up is a real person with the same insecurities as everyone else.

Make-up can’t change the actual shape of the face. Features such as high cheekbones, a shapely nose etc. can be enhanced with clever contours, colours and shadows while lesser features can be downplayed with camouflage and concealers; but we are stuck with the shape unless we spend a lot of money on a procedure involving an anaesthetic and an inordinate amount of trust in a stranger wielding a scalpel!
Having said that; weight loss can contribute towards a changing face shape. Obsessing over face shape though is really a waste of the time that could be productively spent playing up your great features or correcting issues that aren’t so great.

Pots of promise
Now we’re stepping through our summer years (and while we’re talking about it, no one wants to be in their ‘Autumn Years’!) we have the ideal opportunity to edit and adjust our make-up. The newer way is to appear as though you are not wearing make-up at all. The conundrum is that to achieve this look we probably need to use more products now than we’ve ever used before!

Buy only the products you know you’ll use. If you race out and purchase every single item described here the financial outlay will be enormous. Tread slowly, and assemble your new cosmetic arsenal gradually. Check the make-up you already possess against the shelf life of make-up guide at the end of day six which is about navigating cosmetic counters. Obviously finish up any item that’s still good before you replace it with the latest new formula, new colour products.

Most cosmetics last quite a long time, so you might consider it worthwhile to invest a little more in a product you know you’ll use every day for a couple of years. I have a pot of Laura Mercier’s Secret Brightening Powder and a pan of Laura Mercier’s Secret Concealer (they’re not so “secret” now are they!) that I’ve used every single day for more than three years and as I write there are still many applications left in them. I believe they were worth the extra outlay.
Remind family and friends that make-up is a very acceptable gift! They often haven’t a clue what to buy you so give a gentle nudge towards cosmetic and beauty presents that will benefit you both!

Make-up explained
The process for complexion perfection involves most of the following products:
This is the order skin make-up is applied:

Primer
Foundation
Concealer
Camouflage
Loose Powder

Whether you use all these products depends on the condition of your skin and how much product you actually want to wear. To get longevity from your make-up (that is if you want it to last from dawn to midnight) or if you have skin issues and concerns you’d prefer to conceal, you may well find you need to use all the products listed above.

Not everyone wants to wear lots of make-up and that’s fine too. Just wear the amount of make-up that you are most comfortable wearing – it could be none, and it could be a face full of cosmetics. The main point is that you’re empowered with the knowledge of what’s available out there for you.

There aren’t many problems that make-up can’t address. Red patches, blotches, blemishes, age spots, freckles, sun spots, dark under-eye circles and blue veins can all be smoothed out and hidden. Today’s products are so advanced and user-friendly, possibly the most difficult part is selecting what to use! Also, new products have been developed to extend, prolong and complement the old favourites we have used forever. So, although newer make-up remains a pleasure, the method of application and what goes where has definitely changed!

First things first: Primer
Primers are “cosmetic undercoats” designed to create a base and provide a key for the cosmetic to glide over the top of.
Foundation primer is a serum-like gel used to seal moisturiser and smooth the skin, preparing the surface for the make-up foundation that follows – just as an artist primes a canvas prior to painting a picture.

Foundation primer prevents the skin from ‘grabbing’ the foundation in patches and helps keep the foundation in place throughout the day so there’s less need for touch ups. The life of your foundation product is extended because you don’t have to use so much to get an even coverage.
Most foundation primers contain a smidgeon of silicone, (a fabulous ingredient that temporarily tightens the skin and helps fill in lines, wrinkles and pores) plus other elements to deflect the light from the face (which aids the diffusion of fine lines) and add radiance and freshness.

• Make-up experts suggest we warm products before applying them to the skin.
• Put a dab of the foundation primer onto the fingertips of one hand and rub gently with your other fingertips to warm it. Spread it over your face on top of your moisturiser and gently massage it into the entire facial area, including the eye area.
• If you forget to do the palm thing and end up smoothing foundation primer on straight from the tube it doesn’t seem to make much difference.
  

Step up to the base: Foundation
The days of slapping a layer of thick pancake foundation over a slurp of any-old moisturiser have long gone! Despite the light textures, newer foundations are formulated to reduce the appearance of minor redness, to blend patchiness and cover blemishes. Generally newer foundations even out the skin tone and give your complexion a gorgeous, smooth appearance.
If you aren’t into foundation perhaps you’d consider wearing tinted moisturizer containing a sun protection factor (SPF) instead? Tinted moisturiser is a great skin friend to everyone regardless of skin type; especially for those days we prefer to go light on make-up but want to retain a groomed appearance.
Liquid foundations in tubes are the easiest foundations to apply, but identifying your correct colour can be tricky, especially if you shop for cosmetics in your supermarket where testers are not available and products are sealed in blister packs.
Department stores and mass variety stores often stock the same brands at similar prices as the supermarkets and usually have testers (and consultants) to help you.

You’ll use less foundation when foundation primer is applied first.
Use your fingertips (clean of course!) to control foundation application. Make-up artists advise apply foundation with a brush or a sponge, but a lot of product is wasted - more product is left on the bristles of a brush or in the depths of the sponge than actually makes it onto the face.
Apply foundation over your face and blend it lightly below the jaw line and into the hair line. Don’t apply to the area around the eyes because eye shadow base and concealer, the next steps, will be applied there.

Hidden Secrets – Concealer
We all love something that hides our flaws, and while some people can get away without wearing foundation, most people benefit from a little concealer beneath the eyes to cover any dark circles and to brighten shadows that might be lurking there. And let’s be honest, those shadows and circles are very noticeable - slap bang in the middle of the face, so who wouldn’t use the product that hides them?
Concealer is applied after foundation. If you’re use tinted moisturizer instead of foundation, concealer still comes next. Concealer needs to have a bit of oomph; essentially it needs to provide good cover. Don’t bother with sheer, thin liquid concealers as they don’t perform well enough on mature skin.
Your concealer should be the consistency of room temperature butter – gorgeously thick and creamy; it should just melt into your skin.
If the colour is too light you’ll end up with raccoon eyes and look as though you left your sunnies on during a sun bed treatment. They are both really uncool - raccoon eyes and sun bed treatments!

The best concealer colour:
Does the area beneath your eyes look brownish, or are there undertones tending towards yellow or green?
A pinky-beige concealer is the one to suit you.
Is the area beneath your eyes inclined to blue? Do you have noticeable purple circles?
A concealer in warm beige tones is the one for you.
Some concealers have built-in light reflecting pigments and others are specifically formulated with yellow pigments to counteract and neutralize heavy purple shadowing and circles.
Again, like liquid foundation, make-up artists recommend we use a brush or a dense foam wedge to apply concealer to the area beneath the eyes. If you don’t have much luck with brushes and end up wasting product and flicking it all over the place, use your (clean!) fingertips. Sponge applicators absorb and waste a lot of product.

• Take a tiny dab of cream concealer on the pads of your ring fingers and gently press the product onto the delicate skin immediately beneath the eyes. Blend and stroke it into the surrounding area.

Brightening powder is fine white powder used to set concealer immediately after it is applied. It covers the concealer and keeps it in place while introducing a light and lifted look to your eyes. If you’re prone to hot flushes, brightening powder helps prevent the concealer sliding down your face.oad a soft flat brush with a tiny dab of brightening powder and press it over the area you’ve covered with concealer. It may seem strange to use a white powder, but it blends into the skin tone quickly and really does bring a dewy-eyed freshness to the eye area.

Camouflage. To disguise.
Keep a compact of camouflage in your cosmetic drawer to cover up the skin issues you don’t want other people to notice. You may not need to apply camouflage every day.
Camouflage is more pigmented and less slippery than concealer so it stays in place well. It has a thick texture and gives excellent coverage on skin imperfections such as moles and freckles, redness around the nose, sun spots, discoloration, scars, veins, sudden break-outs or anything else that needs to be hidden.

• Apply camouflage with a fine pointy-tipped brush. Build it up, little by little over the area to be disguised. Good, less discernable results are obtained from several light applications rather than one big hit.
• Use fingertips to apply camouflage over larger areas - to hide rosacea, red patches or dark blemishes.
• Gently push and blend the product into the skin to give a nice light layer. If the product is spread around too much it’ll end up caking in one spot and drawing attention to the very area you’re trying to disguise.
• Apply it gradually and with a light touch.
  Camouflage can be used as a neutral base for eye shadow. Smooth it over the eyelids from the roots of the eyelashes right up to the eyebrows.
• A little camouflage cream pressed around the edges of the lips helps prevent lipstick from bleeding into the skin surrounding the mouth. Apply it lightly around the corners of the mouth to deflect light and make feathery lines visually recede.

Green based mineral camouflage is a terrific neutralizer for rosacea or any ruddy-coloured skin blemishes. The green pigments contrast with the skin’s natural redness.
Yellow based camouflage helps disguise and cover purple circles and dark areas beneath the eyes.

Hidden extras
While tattoos are fashionable body art, there could be occasions when you may not want to reveal yours. MAC ‘Studio Finish Concealer’ gives excellent full coverage that totally conceals tattoos, scars, birthmarks and serious blotches. You may need to order it as not all MAC stores or cosmetic counters carry the product as regular stock.

Loose powder – dust
If you hear the alarm bells of old age clanging when you think of face powder you are absolutely right! Those elderly desiccated pressed compacted powders settled into every facial crack and crevice, caked over dry patches, visually deadened the complexion and tended to look ashy. The heavy formulas were chalky, but at one time pressed powder was the only way women were able to achieve a matte finish on their skin.
Beautiful, feathery loose translucent powder containing light reflecting pigments that leaves the skin looking luminous is the newer finish for flawless complexion perfection.

Translucent powder sets everything beneath it in place, so foundation, concealer and camouflage stay exactly where they’ve been applied.

Mineral powder helps reduce oily shine and prevents make-up from slithering southwards!
Powder should feel smooth, silky, slightly moist and never grainy.
The newer way to apply loose powder is to use a rolled velour powder puff.

• Tap a little powder out of the pot and into the upturned lid. Use only a tiny amount, a pot of translucent powder goes a very long way and should last a very long time!
  Take the velour powder puff and fold it in half around your finger - like a taco. Dip it into the powder and work the product into the powder puff by dabbing the folded puff onto the back of your other hand a few times.
  With the puff still folded around your finger lightly press it against your face, roll it and lift it off.
  Continue like this, lightly pressing, rolling and lifting over all the foundation, concealer and camouflage.
  The puff should have picked up enough powder on the first dip to cover your entire face.
• If you’ve already applied cream blush skirt around it to retain the creamy glowing look.
• Applying translucent powder with a big fluffy brush is the older way. It doesn’t provide the same fine even application that a velour powder puff produces; plus a brush can easily smear the make-up it’s covering.

A specifically formulated completely translucent powder without any pigment in it at all (it actually looks flat white) is designed to give darker skin a luminous appearance. Pigmented translucent powder tends to look ashy on darker skin.

Blusher – a cheeky lift
Do you oscillate between powder blusher and cream blusher?
Do you actually wear blusher?
Maybe you whack on whatever came in the cosmetics gift pack you received for your birthday a couple of years ago and hope for the best?

No other make-up will give you a look of healthy freshness or enhance your colouring more beautifully than blusher. People notice our cheeks simply because they are the largest facial area, so wouldn’t you like your cheeks to look pretty, natural and glowing?

The older way was to use blusher to sculpt and contour the face. Unless you’re exceptionally adroit at this, sculpting is best left to professional make-up artists. Besides, sculpting is done with bronzer, not blusher. Those fabulous jutting cheekbones seen in celebrity photographs are manipulated by an army of professionals who are able to control the photographic environment. If you attempt it yourself you’re more likely to end up with a couple of pink tyre tracks racing down your cheeks and the look of a demented chook about you!

And no more sweeping the colour in a straight line across the top of the cheekbones, beneath the cheekbones, or in some sort of odd inverted geometric tick around the cheekbones!
Cream blush is the pathway to a youthful appearance. You’ll notice a huge difference when you switch from powder blusher to cream blush.
The downside of cream blusher is that it doesn’t last as long on the cheeks as powder blushers last, so you may need to do a quick retouch during the day and again before you go out at night.

Basically blusher should make you look as though you’ve just had an amazing time in the bedroom. Most of us are flat-out trying to remember what that was!
The newer way to wear blusher is to create a flush of colour radiating from the apple of your cheeks, blending it upwards and outwards, feathering the edges into your foundation.

• Find the apples of your cheeks by looking in the mirror and grinning. If you can’t find them; grin harder. The apples are placed quite high on the cheeks.
• Keep blusher away from the area between the bottom of your nose and the corners of your mouth. It emphasizes the lines.
• Blusher looks brighter in the pot than it does when it’s blended into the skin.
  Pale rosy pink is a good blusher colour for pale cool skin. A warmer blusher in apricot tones will blend into warm, light skin tones.
• Stronger coloured blusher is more complementary to deeper coloured skins. A dark skinned woman with warm (golden) undertones might select a mango coloured blusher containing a hint of antique gold whereas a dark skinned woman with cool (sapphire) undertones might consider a rose coloured blusher with plum tints to be her best choice.
• Use a blusher in the same colour family as your favourite lipstick – provided it is right for you.

I'm going to show you how to establish your personal skin tone, and we'll delve into the realm of colouring in next time. Meanwhile have a go and perfect the basics so you have a perfect base on which to apply your make-up. Kisses to you, Dawn