Getting Prettier... (Part Three)

And now for the brows... Brows are very important, but often overlooked. The brows frame the face, so make sure they look beautiful! Would you hang a beautiful piece of art on your wall with a tacky, busted up frame?  Of course not!  Do those brows!

I'm a serious believer in NOT over plucking, but having a clean, nicely arched brow.

First step... tweezing. You MUST have a great pair of tweezers. As far as I'm concerned, nothing will ever beat a set of Tweezerman Slant Tweezers.

Check out the fun designs they are coming up with!

Next, it is time to fill in, and define the brows. For awhile now I have been using Stila Brow Set with a slant brush.

And then setting the brow with M.A.C. Brow Set in clear, using a disposable mascara wand.

I have also recently found a new brow product that I am really loving. It is the LORAC Take a Brow (tee hee).

Not only does each kit come with two brow powders, it comes with a really cool brow wax that I am loving right now! Carol Shaw does it again!

Now for eye colors... I don't want to get too detailed with this, because honestly, I could go on forever and ever and ever. I'm a big fan of eye make up. You're eyes are supposed to be the window to your soul, so accentuate them!

I will tell you a few things... I don't believe in priming the eye lid with foundation. I think, if anything, this causes more creasing. Prime the lid with a nude shadow, it works much better.

My favorite kinds of eye shadow, in no particular order are...

Chanel

M.A.C.

Stila (although you have to be very careful with them, as they tend to break)

Nars

Tarte

and

Urban Decay

My favorite eye liners are...

Chanel Automatic Liquid Liner (A favorite of Lily Allen and Paul Starr.  I would also nominate this for a Nobel prize for make up, if such a thing existed...)

M.A.C. Eye Kohl (I love how BLACK the color "Smolder" is, and I love the texture of this liner. It is soooo blend-able!)

Lancôme Le Stylo Waterproof (again, very blendable and has a great powdery texture)

And last, but certainly not least... M.A.C. Fluidline (great colors and can also be used as a shadow if you're feeling adventurous)

Open those eyes!  Curl those lashes!

I recommend the shu uemura lash curler.

The M.A.C. full lash curler is pretty great too!

As for lashes, my favorite individual lashes are shu uemura flare lashes.

At $15 they are pretty pricey. If you're not willing to spend that much, the Ardell flare lashes are nice too.

As far as strip lashes go, I prefer the cheapies! My favorites are Ardell #116.

All of the Ardells are pretty great though!

Now for mascara... If I've ever done your make up, if you've seen me do make up, if you've just been in the same room with me, you know what I'm about to say... Lancôme Hypnôse!!!!

I love it, I swear by it, I stand by it, it's the best... what more can I say? Of course there are other great mascaras... this is my favorite!

To be continued...

<3

Amy

And now... back to the Pretty, my pretties.... (Part One)

First off, I would like to thank you all for reading this and being interested.  I am pretty blown away by the response I've gotten to this blog.  It's only been up for less than two weeks and people are visiting from all over the world.  Thank you so much for your kind emails!  I am especially humbled by the emails from other make up artists.  I promise I am working on getting back to each and every one of you.  I really appreciate all of your kind words!

And now... I'm going to call this The Amy Face's Amy Faves...

(unfortunately I am going to have to break this up into a few posts, so I hope it makes sense!)

People ask me all the time about my favorite make up.  Some people assume I only have love for one make up line.  I believe the best make up kits are a mix of the best products from many cosmetics lines...  I'm going to tell you what I am loving right now, and I'm going to try to do it in order of how I would normally "beat a face". ;)

I like to cleanse the face with Mario Badescu's Glycolic Grapefruit Cleansing Lotion:

This removes excess oil and dead skin so you are starting with a fresh palette. 

I then go on to moisturize and prime the skin.  I really love LORAC Oil Free Moisturizer.

Carol Shaw, the creator of LORAC, is an amazing make up artist.  You can tell she puts a lot of thought into her products.  This is a perfect example.  A lot of moisturizers are too thick to work with your make up.  Sometimes you put on a moisturizer, and then your foundation just sits on top of it.  The LORAC moisturizer is very light, but moisturizes and soothes just like the creamier formulas.  Just about every make up artist I know has this in their kits, and for good reason!

Sometimes the under eyes need a little boost of energy.  There are a few great products I recommend for this.

Benefit's De Puffing Action Eye Gel is great!

The name says it all!  It does exactly what it says it does!  This is a great boost for tired eyes.

Another great product is L'Occitane Olive Oil Express Eye Treatment.

If I could, I would fill up a bathtub and bathe in this stuff!  I actually bought this product on a whim in the JFK airport, believe it or not.  I was bored waiting for a plane and I will pretty much try anything that promises to minimize puffiness and dark circles.  This stuff is great!  I kind of became addicted to using it on myself!  There's something really soothing about it.  When I use it on a new client I can pretty much do a countdown in my head... It's like 3, 2, 1... "Wow, what is this stuff?, it feels great!"  The only problem is that it's a bit thick.  You must be sure to wipe away any excess gel before applying make up or it gets crumbly and messy.

Now for face make up.  Of course there are many different formulas you can use depending on the type of coverage necessary for the client or job.  

I prefer a "less is more" approach.  If a client already has beautiful skin it is totally unnecessary to use a heavy foundation. 

My favorite liquid foundation is Armani Luminous Silk Foundation.

Most make up artists I know use this as their primary foundation.  It really is like silk!  The formula sinks right into your skin and still allows natural skin tone to shine through.  I think it is a miracle product and if Nobel prizes were given out for make up, the inventor of this foundation should get one!  That being said, it ain't cheap!  $55 a bottle is what this will set you back.  If you are just buying for yourself, it is worth the splurge, but if you are a just starting out as a make up artist, and have to buy multiple colors (I would suggest getting every other color and mixing) it is a big investment.

That being said, there are many, many, many alternatives that are amazing and a lot more cost effective.

The closest thing I've found to the Armani formula is the Stila Illuminating Liquid Foundation.

As I said, it is very similar to the Armani formula.  It settles in to the skin nicely and the colors are beautiful.  It is about $20 cheaper per bottle and I love the design!  Jeanine Lobell certainly had the make up artist in mind when she came up with the squared packaging.  It fits in a make up kit much more nicely than the Armani rounded bottles do.

I am also a big fan of tinted moisturizers for those who don't need much coverage, or for men's grooming.  My favorite is the Stila Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer.

The formula is just like a second skin.  It evens out the skin tone and brings a healthy glow to the face.

Another tinted moisturizer I posted about recently is the mark. c-thru-u beautifying sheer tint.

I LOVE this product!  I've even been using it on myself a lot lately.  The color is beautiful, the formula is light, the packaging is cute... what's not to love?

To Be Continued...

<3

Amy