Thursday, November 21, 2013

A little winter brightness

Meet my lovely sister: Jessica. She is so naturally gorgeous, with stunning blue eyes and luscious lips. Here is her look:
Jess gets up quite early for school. For her makeover I wanted to do something pretty and low maintenance, using minimal products. She's got such beautiful skin, but like most girls her age, she has trouble with a little redness and acne. I wanted to even out her coloring without "masking" her pretty face. It's also been getting so cold these days... Making getting up extra early so not fun! Early mornings and cold dry air can really dull your skin, so I focused on keeping her look fresh and bright. 

Here is what I used:
Revlon Color Stay Eyeshadow Palette in Sun Swept
Benefit "They're Real!" Mascara
Benefit "Stay Son't Stray" in Medium-Deep
Benefit "boi-ing" concealer (matched to skin)

Before we started, I shaped and filled in Jess' eyebrows. I tweezed, and then used an angled eyeliner brush and some matte brown eyeshadow, using short strokes in the direction of her natural hair growth. 

I started with primer, adding a little to her lids and under her eyes. Blend it out! I then added concealer around her eyes and spot treated here and there - I didn't want her skin to look "made up", so I really made sure to use thin layers of concealer, working it into her skin. Blend, blend, blend

I used the pretty pink shade in the eyeshadow quad as a base color, applying from lid to brow bone. I'm kind of also obsessed with the icy aqua shade in the quad. I swept that into her crease, which made her blue eyes POP! I then blended the taupe shade in the outer corners of her eyes and into her crease as well. To finish everything off, I used the lightest shade in the quad on her brow bone, the center of her lid, and the inner corners of her eyes. I then swiped "They're Real!" (favorite mascara) onto her lashes and her eyes were done.

I also want to note: this Revlon palette is great for beginners, especially for the winter season. A lot of the time lighter, cooler, colors can look too harsh on skin with olive tones. However, this palette provided a sheer wash of color that was just shimmery enough to make Jess look glowing and awake. It's also really affordable and the pink and white shades can double as highlighters. Talk about bang for your buck.  

I swiped Bella Bamba on the apples Jess' cheeks and then put on some lipgloss. To finish off, I added the pink shade of eyeshadow as a highlighter to the tops of her cheekbones, and dabbed it on the center of her bottom lip and cupid's bow. 

That's it! Isn't she gorgeous? This look is so fast and easy, and all of the products fit into a little makeup bag, perfect for taking to school for touch-ups. 

Xo