"Fast Face"
Most women have limited "makeup" time in the morning; us mamas have even less. Here are some step by step basics to start your day off looking and feeling better, no matter how little time you have (or how awful the previous night was):
(Side note: if you're wearing the same clothes from a day or more previous, skip the makeup...take a shower. oxox)
If you have 2 minutes:
On a clean face, apply full coverage powder all over face (be sure to blend below jawline).
On eye lids apply a matte base, from lashline to brow, and even below the lower lashline (try a neutral m.a.c paint tube; I use "untitled").
On lips, a quick lip balm.
Your face is instantly *awake*, and you look far more together than you did two minutes ago (you'll also feel a lot less like a crazy person when your face no longer shows how awful you feel).
If you have 5 minutes:
On a clean face, apply full coverage foundation stick (if you have 8 minutes, use liquid).
Blend (preferably w/foundation brush, but fingers work in a pinch...pun not intended).
On eye lids apply a matte base, from lashline to brow, and even below the lower lashline (as above in the 2 min prep).
On upper eye lid, add a simple black line. You can use any liquid liner. (My standby is m.a.c. Fluidline in "Blacktrack") If you use a pot liner, as I do, you'll need a good small angle brush. You can make your line as thick as you'd like (even up to your crease!) just so long as you taper off by the middle of your eye (or "iris"). However, it's best to start out as thin as possible: you can always thicken the line as you go (and keep some cotton swabs handy for "oops").
If you have 7 minutes:
Add mascara to the 5 min prep. (Don't rush through your mascara. If you do, it will clump on you or you'll snag your skin and then you have to deal with cleaning up that "oops")
If you have 10 minutes:
Add lip colour and blush. (Since having my babies I stopped wearing my lipsticks until I discovered "lipstains"; these are long lasting and won't leave kisses all over your little one(s). A dab of blush centrally on the apple of your cheek will instantly make your eyes *pop*.)
If you have 15-20 minutes:
Add eye shadow before your eye liner and mascara. (We'll cover that step-by-step some other time...)
"Eye Shadow Application"
Applying eye shadow can be as simple or complex as you would like it to be. For starters, let's begin with SIMPLE: choose (or have someone choose for you) 3 or 4 colours that complement each other and range light to medium to dark (if you choose 4 colours, you'll have 2 mediums).
START with a shadow base. Apply the cream from your top lash line up to your eyebrow, and across the entire lid.
Then take the lightest of your shadow colours; cover your shadow base with this colour (lash to brow, corner to corner).
Then take your medium colour. Apply across your lid, from your lashes up to the crease of your lid (note: if you don't have a prominent crease, just look for where your eyeball ends under your lid).
Finally, take your darkest colour (which if you're going for a daytime or "natural" look does not in fact have to be very dark), and apply it in a sort of "pac-man" shape in the outer corner of your lid, against your lashes and into the CREASE of your eyelid.
This is your BASIC shadow application DONE.
Colour tips:
Foundation: If you have bluish tints to your skin, you'll want to go warmer and if you have reddish tints to your skin you'll want to go cooler: either will achieve balance.
FYI:
Where available, eyelash tinting and eyelash perming is worth EVERY penny...
(to come...)
"Latest Trends"
"Smokey Eyes"
"Red Lips"
