I just wanted to share this fun look I did for a New Year's Eve Masquerade...I would have loved to add more detail to the mask, but we only had an hour together. Luckily everything turned out great and my customer was thrilled with her mask!

I mean, Kim Kardashian is one of the most beautiful women in existence....maybe not the most talented, but we can't have it all now can we?

Anyway, this is Margaux. She pulls of the Kim look beautifully! I was happy to have such a lovely client to work with!

Kim's signature look consists of a few main focus features:
Smokey eye with lots of lashes- of course
Heavy contouring and highlighting
Nude lip
Flawless skin

There is an insane amount of detail that goes into creating this look, I think I will do a series of detailed posts regarding Kim Kardashian's makeup. In the mean time here is a brief overview..

Skin:
*Any good makeup application starts with a good foundation- skin care. If you take good care of your skin your makeup with look better and wear better throughout the day! Kim's skin is always clear; even when she is photographed without makeup on, there is not a pore or blemish in sight.
*Pick a foundation that is best suited for your skin type and your skin's needs. Whether it's a sheer coverage or full coverage is up to you. Everyone needs something different. Kim wears a very full coverage, but she is also in front of cameras constantly, so keep that in mind when you are shopping for a foundation.
*Choose a concealer that is a few shades lighter than your skin. I like to apply the foundation first, then apply the concealer to all the high planes of the face. This will be your "highlight." There are a ton of videos on the web explaining this technique in depth...
*In order to maintain that strong highlight you will need 2 powders. One for the highlighted areas and one for the rest of the face. For example: Margaux wore an NW20 powder under her eyes, but a NC35 on the rest of her face.
*You can also contour with a cream product, but on Margaux I used powder. Blunt blush is a good choice for medium to deep skin tones, but make sure you start with very little and gradually build it up! The contour cremes from MAC are great if you have a little more time on your hands.
*Kim always adds an extra highlight on top of everything else to add a bit of shimmer to her face. I prefer Cream Colour Base because it adds a luminous look without being glittery. It mimics the texture of dewy skin, which looks more natural but is still noticeable. It also tends to photograph better than powder highlighters.

Eyes:
*Kim has a full brow, but it isn't overly defined or "tattooed" looking. If you already have a full brow just fill in the sparse areas with a little bit of shadow and you're good to go. Margaux is blessed with perfect brows, so I had to do very little work in that area. If your brows are thin and sparse, like my own, try using a pencil to thicken them up a bit. Be sure to use light pressure to avoid having a heavy drawn on look.
*Usually Kim's smokey eyes are in neutral shades like browns, golds, and black. On Margaux I used (from light to dark): Nylon, Saddle, Brown Down, & Carbon. Under her brow I applied Brule as a highlight. We added a clean winged out liner using blacktrack and smudged Smolder Eye Kohl into her lower lash line.
*Kim ALWAYS has on falsies, and usually they are on top and bottom. Margaux went for a more natural approach and we just loaded up on Extreme Dimension Mascara. For Kim style lashes try #36 lashes on top and a few individuals on the lower lashline

Lips:
*A nude pink or peachy shade is key! A few go to colors are: Viva Glam 5, Creme Cup, Modesty, Hue, Viva Glam 2, Pure Zen, Fresh Brew, and High Tea
*If your lips aren't as full as Kim's grab a lip liner that is just a hair darker than your lipstick to give the illusion of fuller lips!
*Don't forget gloss! Kim wears creamy shades with high gloss to show off her full lips!

Keep practicing and you'll have the Kim K. look down in no time!

WOO HOO! Everyone grab some popcorn and get ready to laugh at my first video!


...jk, I didn't even bother talking this time because I have no idea how to edit yet..I figured it would be safer to just keep quiet! Except around the end when I get attacked by a fruit fly.


Products from start to finish:
Painterly Paint Pot
Smolder Eye Kohl
Cinderfella Mineralize Eyeshadow with #239 brush
Copperplate Eyeshadow with #224 brush
Gesso Eyeshadow with #239 brush (I used a separate brush, or you can clean off the original. Make sure you don't use a dirty one or your highlight will be grey looking!)
Fit + your #239 brush and re-apply the Cinderfella shadow
Smolder again
Carbon Eyeshadow with #214 brush
Extreme Dimension Lash

VIOLA! 

From left to right:
1. Prime eyes. I used MAC Painterly Paint Pot. I prefer my finger, but you can also use a synthetic shadow or concealer brush.
2. Apply Bronze eyeshadow all over the lid using a flat shader brush. I always grab the 239 or 242 for this...The more dense the bristles the more color payoff!
3. Using a deep brown, I used Bloodline pigment, and a 219 pencil brush pack the color on to the outer corner of your eye in a sideways V shape. Extend the eyeshadow a little bit further out past your lashes, this lays the groundwork for that elongated cat eye look. Bloodline is a limited edition pigment, but you could also use Smut, Handwritten, Embark, Mystery...any dark matte brown.
4. Sweep a 217 or 224 blending brush all along the crease to blend out the two shades you just applied. Focus on only touching the bristles to the crease area and try not to touch the lid at all! Blend up and out to create a gradient cat eye effect. Don't over blend! Over blending will just muddle all the colors together.
5. Take any small eyeshadow brush and apply a shimmery light color to the inner corners of your eyes. I used Nylon. This lightens the look and makes your eyes look brighter and well rested. If you have naturally wide set eyes you can skip this step.
6. Highlight under the brow bone. I almost always use Vanilla. I prefer a matte highlight, but any light shade will do.
7/8/9. Apply a black eyeliner to the top lashline, water line, and then smudge into the lower lashline with a 214 brush. I used Blacktrack fluidline, but you could also use Smolder or Feline Eye Kohl for a super smudgy smokey effect. You can also wing out your eyeliner to enhance the cat eye effect created with the eyeshadow!
10. Finish with mascara!

TA-DA! Good luck!

We all get in makeup ruts. I constantly find myself grabbing for my "neutrals" palette when I'm in a rush for work and then throughout the day I'm saying "I need to wear more color." Luckily, one of my staff members (THANKS ELISA!) gave me a few homework assignments and made sure to assign me colors I rarely wear. 

12/6/12:
I applied Designer Purple Pearl Glide liner all over the lid as a base - The Pearlglide liners are AMAZING! They are super bright and glittery, and what girl (or queen) doesn't like glitter? You can wear them as an eyeliner, or in my case they make a great base color.
Next, I loaded up a 239 brush with Young Punk mineralize eyeshadow and pressed it into the liner. This shade is equally glittery! The photo just doesn't do it justice! *Note to self: buy a real camera.*
I blended out the crease with Kid eyeshadow, a neutral flesh toned brown. Doing that blended out the purple so you couldn't see any harsh lines. 
My highlight, as always, was Gesso under the brow. And on the inner corners I used Vanilla Pigment.
I finished with Boot Black Liquid Liner and lots of Zoom Lash Mascara!

12/7/12:
I started off by applying Undercurrant Pearl Glide Eyeliner all over my lid and blending out the edges, fading the color upwards past my crease. I've decided I need these in EVERY color!
After that I took Spruce, a crushed metal from our Guilty Passions: Brilliantly Cool holiday kit, and applied it on the inner and outer corners of my eye with a 219 brush.
Using a 239 brush I pressed Old Gold pigment onto the Pearlglide liner on the center of my lid.
To blend out all of the edges I used a 224 brush and applied Kid to the crease.
My brow highlight was Vanilla, and I finished it off with Blacktrack Fluidline and my usual #3 lashes.

Don't be afraid to try new things! Breaking makeup habits and forcing yourself to try new products is the first step towards becoming a successful artist! 

I finally forced myself to wear some color! Hooray! I used several shades, which I am not used to doing. I like to keep things pretty minimal...But I am still really happy with how it turned out!

Products Used (All MAC):
Painterly Paint Pot
Coral Crepe Paint Pot (Limited edition)- Lid only 
Rule Eyeshadow- Lid
Magenta Madness Pigment - Crease
Grape Pigment/Contrast Eyeshadow - Outer V
Just Eyeshadow - Inner corner 
Freshwater Eyeshadow- Lower liner
Vanilla Eyeshadow - Highlight
Blacktrack Fluidline, Haute & Naughty Mascara, #3 Lashes...

I know that's a lot! But work with what you already have and try to add your own spin to it! Good luck :)

I rarely wear bold, bright, colors on my eyes, so today Bonnie sat me down and we played with color!

Not the best "after" photo, and please excuse my overly done brow. I filled it in for a photo for my previous post.
She used Gorgeous Gold, Electric Eel, Stars N' Rockets, Contrast, and a purple liquid liner...

THANKS BONNIE!

I have decided that for the next week I am NOT ALLOWED to touch any of my "Neutral" Palettes. I am going to challenge myself to work with more color and less neutrals...I don't know how long that'll last!

I've been on a bit of a hiatus lately, but as of tonight I'm back in action! As most of you know, I recently transferred to another MAC that is a bit closer to my house...Can't beat a five minute commute! Between transferring to a new store, and the chaos of every day life, my blog fell to the bottom of my to do list. Womp. Womp...
So, to get back in the swing of things, here are a few photos from shoots, weddings, and of course HALLOWEEN!

     Halloween was great! It is, understandably, my favorite holiday of the year! Although, I'm sure most makeup artists would agree with me on that one. Since Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year I was fortunate enough to have Halloween appointments almost every day of the week leading up to the 31st.

     Matt, my boyfriend, went as Jack the Ripper (seen above). Since his identity is unknown I decided to make him look aged, tired, and "corpse-like." We used a light foundation all over, and I contoured him heavily with cream and powder products. The new MAC sculpting creams worked great for this project! I was able to contour his face as well as create lines and wrinkles. To set the contours and to give his eyes a tired look I used grey and mauve toned eyeshadows. Quarry and Haux by MAC were ideal shades for the look we were going for! For the veins under his eyes I used a cream blush from MAC called "tea petal."

   Eli was SUPPOSED to be a vampire! He showed up at my house with a last minute change of plans: Zombie makeup. Luckily, he's my friend....and I had a latex piece of "rotten flesh" lying around. Using spirit gum I attached the piece to his cheek and blended out the edges by building up a few layers of liquid latex.  I also put a very thin layer of liquid latex across his forehead, this later served as peeling flesh. Once that was completely dry I applied a light colored full coverage foundation over his face, ears, chest, and hair. Then I darkened they eyelid and area under the eye to give the illusion of a deep-set, hollow eye. I added a few veins using a blue paint pot, and finally set everything with a loose powder.
   To "zombiefy" his skin I tugged and pulled at the liquid latex on his forehead to create "holes" and "peeling flesh." Using MAC contour creme and fake blood I colored the wounds accordingly.

     Earlier in the week I decided to play around with some makeup during a fit of boredom. I took inspiration from my Halloween costume last year, as well as several other doll makeup images found on Pintrest and Google.  The first thing I did was conceal my eyebrows using a glue stick and concealer.  There are a ton of tutorials on Youtube that give step by step instructions on how to do that! For my skin I mixed Vanilla pigment with a light full coverage foundation, this gave the skin a plastic shiny look. I set the foundation with translucent powder and sprayed Fix + to maintain a dewy finish. After the skin was done I drew on an exaggerated cartoon like eyebrow using Blacktrack Fluidline. I used matte purple shades on the eyes and made sure to apply the makeup in a very round shape to make the eyes look big and doll-like. I Finished the eyes with eyeliner, black on top and white kohl on bottom, and false lashes. I applied the lower set of lashes below my natural lashline to enlarge my eyes.
     I applied a bubblegum pink blush on the apples of my cheeks in a circular shape and added some freckles with my Fluidline. Still using the Fluidline, I drew a glasgow grin and a cupie style lip.

What did you dress up as for Halloween?

Graphic eyeliner is a classic staple look that will never go out of style!
Trends regarding the style and shape change seasonally, but the basic principle
will always be around. All you need is a liquid or gel liner and a steady hand!

Dont be afraid to put your own spin on it! Add a different color, texture, or shape in to the mix and you may be impressed with what you come up with!

I stumbled across this liquid liner tutorial online. Simple and to the point!

Holy guacamole! Found this little gem today online after a customer told me about it...