Here goes. This is what I looked like after my first makeup trial.
Tonight I have my next makeup trial. This trial is with another makeup artist (MUA) - one who made me up last year for our friends double wedding.
So I pulled looks that routinely catch my attention when I'm flipping through magazines at the salon.
What I like about the looks is the pale lipsticks (top two photos), the touch of pale blush (top two photos, bottom right photo), the shadowing of the outside edge of the eye (left two photos), and lighter shadow near the nose that gradually moves to the darker edge (left two photos, bottom right photo).
What I like about the top two looks is that the blush isn't overwhelming and much more natural. The two bottom looks caught my attention for the paler blush with pale lipsticks - the eyes are too smoky.
I also pulled looks that I dislike and totally could not imagine on me. Here those looks are:
Hopefully these images give the MUA a better idea of what I'd like for our wedding. Basically I want to feel like me - the me cubes fell in love with. (Maybe this next admission makes me a bad bride but I love the makeup I wore for our playa wedding - none. You can see what my face looked like in the recap of me getting ready.)
Did you struggle with getting your makeup right?
YES! I am definitely struggling a bit. I'm wrestling with the "makeup or no makeup" question myself. At the very least, I will wear eye makeup and lipstick, but as for the rest of the stuff... I dunno! I just don't look like me when I wear makeup, and I want to look like ME on my wedding day. That said, I think it's a matter of finding the right product, something lightweight that matches your skin tone. This takes a bunch of trial and error.
ReplyDeleteI had my first makeup consult on Sunday at Sephora. I thought it went really well until we took some test photos and discovered I looked orange! This is because I said I wanted "dewy" but apparently "dewy" actually means "irridescent golden" - which on me, in photographs, looks orange. I loved what he did with my eyes and lips, but the foundation/powder was all wrong. My face was a different color from my neck! I went back on Tuesday and spoke with the same artist, who agreed that the previous try wasn't right, and helped me find some tinted moisturizer (light foundation) and powder that suit me a lot better. What they do is serve to even out my skin tone, and now that I've found something that works with my skin, it doesn't look fake or cakey in photos (or in real life). It also helped to have friends who know makeup both times I went to Sephora. (BTW, if you go to Sephora on Powell for a consult, ask for Joseph to help you. He's great!)
I agree that your first makeup trial is no good. It makes you look older, and the eyes are WAY too dark. In your makeup trial, and almost all of the examples you show here, there's eye makeup both above and below the eye. I think this is what gives you raccoon eyes. What I recommend is NO liner on the bottom lid, and brown or deep purple (not black) liner on the top lid. Brown mascara, not black, and not too heavy on the lower lashes. I would use lighter eyeshadow too: browns, pinks, golds... I agree that smokey eye isn't good for your face.
[cont]
I like the lip color, but it could be lighter - I think that would give you more the look you're going for.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the foundation/powder that was used in your trial isn't quite right, much like mine. Your neck and face aren't the same color, so you look a little red. Why don't you use the foundation you normally use? I bet you'd be happier with the results. Or, use a tinted moisturizer, which is the lightest foundation you can get, for a really light, un-made-up look. Another thing that's helpful is a color corrector. For me, Joseph recommended purple because I have a lot of yellow in my skin tone (which surprised me).
I don't know how light you are compared to me (I'm about as pale as it gets), but the combo we settled on was:
1) Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting Foundation Primer (Lavender) - put this on first to cancel out yellow tones
2) Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer (Porcelain) - put this on second to even out your skin tone
3) Sephora Collection Mineral Double Compact Foundation SPF 10 (R15 - cool porcelain) - put this on third to "set" the makeup (helps get it to stay all day).
It sounds like a lot of products, but it actually looks very natural and nice. Still, I'm going to do a few trial runs before the wedding to make sure I like how it looks (both IRL and in photos).
It took a lot of trial and error to come up with this combination of products. I definitely recommend going to Sephora and trying on a bunch of different stuff, taking outdoor photos of yourself in each product, then trying another one if you don't like how that looks.
I'm so glad you posted about this, by the way. I've been obsessed with makeup for the past few days, ever since I went to my first consult. I'm learning all kinds of stuff I never knew! :)