Friday, January 15, 2016

Pretty Pink Eye Tutorial

Well, hello there. This blog post is ridiculously long, so here's what you need to know. Light pink eyes are in. They can be scary because pink eye is a thing. A gross, yucky, contagious, oozy (sometimes?) thing. Don't be scared. I promise you won't look sickly. Let's hop to it. 


Start with a fresh clean face. And clean hands. Please, for me, just go wash your hands before you touch them to your face excessively. I'll wait. I've primed my face for makeup here using Argan Vitamin C serum and Aveeno moisturizer. I prime with moisturizers mostly in the winter because my skin is dry and sad. I'm liking this Argan stuff lately, and loving the Vitamin C boost, BUT it HAS TO dry before you add another product onto your skin. I didn't know this the first time I used it and my makeup was peeling off of my face like a bad sunburn the whole day. Not cool.


Since I'm not doing a heavy eye look today I'm applying foundation first. I whipped up a little cocktail very professional-like (on the back of my hand) with Younique Mineral Touch foundation and L'oreal Pro-Matte. Why? Because I scientifically researched through very in depth testing that their textures would create the perfect coverage. Not really. The Younique one is too dark for me right now so I mixed in a lighter shade. I'm blending this into my face using small circles and a (very dirty) kabuki brush.


Here's where I get a little high maintenance. If you're chuckling now thinking so far it's all been high maintenance, yeah me too. Which is why most days I don't wear makeup. But when I do, I do it ALL. So I color correct using the two bottom left colors (orange and yellow) in the NYX compact to cover my dark blue circles that my genes and my baby so lovingly gave me. I throw these on with my finger and blend out harsh edges (left picture). After that I face paint with a little Mac Pro Longwear Concealer in NC-15, which I believe is their lightest shade. Bottom right shows me blending it out with my Real Techniques sponge. Basically a beauty blender with a nice hard edge on it. I personally don't dampen mine because I find it steals basically all of the product I've just applied when damp, so I use it dry. You can use a brush for this, or your finger, just make sure you take the time to blend it all out.


Using the My Sculpted Face contour palette by It Cosmetics I set my under eye area to prevent my concealer from settling into my lines. It still does, because even at 25 I have a lot of lines, but it helps. This color is WHITE. It's really difficult for me to find a truly brightening shade for my under eyes since I'm so pale, but this bad boy does the trick.


Same palette, using the lightest contour shade and making my brush flatter by squishing the bristles together (so fancy), I'm going to carve out the hollows of my cheeks. This face is SO necessary to find your natural contours, fish faces may look cuter but they don't work for crap. Lastly, I'm going to blend UP with the product left on my brush. BLEND UP! Never down. Blending up will lift.


Getting those eyes ready for some shadow with Milani's Eyeshadow Primer. Put it all over: lid, crease, and right under your brows. I really love this stuff, I think it's definitely worth the 5 bucks or whatever it was. But if you don't feel like buying eye primer, just use some concealer and set it with a very light shadow or powder. Why prime? It helps brighten your shadows and make them last longer/stay put.


Diving into this light pink shade from the Morphe 35C palette using a fluffy angled brush and placing this all over the lid. I love Morphe's shadows! I just went ALL. THE. WAY. upstairs to find out the name of this palette for you. My stairs are steep. You're welcome. And it's really bomb and cheap so...you're welcome again.


Same palette, taking this beautiful orange/brown and placing in the crease with a fluffy brush.


To add just a little more dimension I'm going into the shade "Caregiver" from my Tartelette palette and placing it in the inner corners and the inner third of my eye lid. My lighting is off here, but this shade is a very very light pink so it will make the eyes seem bigger.


Going back into that same orange and placing it on the outer third of my lash line with a pencil brush.


Using a precision angled brush I'm going to add some "liner" with some brown shadow from the 35C palette. I like to use shadow when I don't want to fly into a blind rage from using liquid or gel liner. So I use it pretty frequently. I'm creating a tiny wing here, but it's not really necessary if wings scare you. Just makes the look a little more romantic.


Okay. This is where the magic happens. I cannot, I CANNOT stress to you enough the importance of a good eyelash curler!!! I get asked a lot (and usually I'm not) if I'm wearing eyelash extensions, fake eyelashes, etc. and when I tell people I'm not they seem fairly shocked. I do NOT have super long lashes, I really don't, they're pretty darn average. I just learned how to really get in there with my eyelash curler. So as my mother taught me, and her mother before her, and hers before her, today, I teach you. Except that I actually taught myself and my mom asks me all the time how I do it. So mom, this one's for you: 
1. Start by placing your curler in the middle of your lashes, exactly between the base and the ends. Make sure you have all of your lashes, from inner to outer corner, in there.
2. Clamp down and pulse (lightly) up to 5 times.
3. Release and move all the way, and I mean ALL THE WAY to the base of your lashes. Please don't clamp your skin. This is so unnecessary and painful, do a little practice squish if you think you've got some eyelid in there. Clamp down and pulsate (NOT lightly) here for awhile.
4. SLOWLY release, you do NOT want to rip your eyelashes out! Take your time and be nice to your pretty eyelashes, this may be their first time of soaring to new heights. 
5. Survey the results and repeat as necessary.
A few notes: this is all a lot easier with a good curler, the one in the picture is from TJMaxx and Bed Bath & Beyond has a good one too. You might have to purchase a few before you find one that's right for your eye shape, but, and THIS IS IMPORTANT, your curler needs to over correct when you clamp down. This is crucial or it will barely curl. It needs to have like a really bad under-bite (while still actually touching where it clamps), you with me? Another note: you don't want to create 90 degree angles in your lashes, so seriously, go light on the first clamp in the middle of your lashes. But don't leave it out, it's important to curl here too or your lashes will fall forward faster throughout the day leaving them flat. Last note: yes I DID say "last blash" instead of "lash blast" in my graphic. I should fix it, but I'm not gonna. Forgive me.

WHEW. Do you even care what kind of mascara I used after that rant? No, you don't. Just get something that dries fast. Seriously, otherwise you've just curled them for nothing as the weight of a wet mascara will just pull those puppies right back down. It has happened to me. *Sobs*


Brows. Fill in your brows. Unless you were blessed with beautiful thick brows. And even then maybe fill them in. I have to create mine because unfortunately the early 2000's were the age of waxing and I was young and dumb. If your brows are shaped like mine it helps to first find the high point and go from there. Envision what you want your brows to look like before you dive in. See the brow, be the brow.


Blush and lipstick are always last for me because I usually know after my eye shadow is done whether I want to go dramatic or natural. Today we go natural. You don't have to have two brushes to apply your blush. I use two because it makes me feel better after buying so many brushes if I actually use them. If you're going to use only one, use the tapered Real Techniques brush...the pink one. I place mine directly on the apples of my cheeks and blend it up and back slightly. 


I wanted a nude-ish lip so I'm using Jeffree Star's liquid lipstick in "Celebrity Skin" with a nude shade from Mabelline on top. If you want to jump on board the liquid lipstick craze but don't know where to start, start with one of Jeffree Star's. His formula is the best. Kat Von D's is a close second for me, but it's is a couple bucks more, wears off faster and seems to be more drying on my lips. However, it is winter and dry as heck. I ate Thai food with "Celebrity Skin" on and it barely wore off in the center, so that's something.



We're done, we're done, we're DONE. 
I know this may seem like it takes all day, but it usually only takes me 10-15 minutes to do my makeup on a normal day. Unless you're going to take a selfie in between every step, this will fly by for you too. Have fun!

Products used: 
Younique Liquid Touch Foundation - See distributor, my friend can hook you up!

Tools:
Eyelash Curler - Brand is Cleanlogic, nowhere to be found for purchase online :(