I have decided a while ago to start a Beauty feature on this blog, as I felt it really needed one to be more complete. To do it, I wanted to invite specialists to give you their best tips for skin care, make up and anything beauty related.
My first guest is the lovely Alexandra Collins. She has been working as a hair and make-up artist for two years and mostly enjoys clean, natural looks that enhance women’s natural beauty.
Her favourite products are: the whole Dermalogica line, Eight Hour Skin Protectant, Tweezerman tweezers, eyelash curlers, mascara, Make Up For Ever Face & Body Foundation, 187 brush from MAC, Benefit lip glosses and bright pink blushers!
On her blog What the Pros Do she gives “Tips, advice, and reviews from her journey to become a make-up artist” to quote Alex directly. Today she gives us tips to achieve a Classic Hollywood look.
The key to this look is a flawless base so before you start with the makeup cleanse and moisturise well so you have the perfect canvas to work on.
❤ Applying your foundation of choice with a brush and blending well will help you achieve a beautiful base. For this look I used a little foundation on the eyelids to even out the colour and lightly powdered to set.
Tip: I love to buff foundation into the skin using the dual fibre brush such as the 187 Brush for a flawless finish.
❤ Apply concealer where needed. The areas that usually require attention are under the eyes and around the corners of the nose. If you have a blemish, apply a dot of concealer on the blemish and lightly pat with a finger to blend in.
Tip: Don’t cake on concealer other wise it is more likely to crease and sit in fine lines. Start with a tiny amount of concealer on a small brush or the tip of your finger and pat on only where needed, adding product until any discolouration is concealed.
❤ Get a sexy feline flick of liner using a gel liner such as Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Black Ink with a fine liner or angle brush to help you get a crisp budge proof line. Looking down draw a thin line as close to the lash line as possible from the inner to the outer corner on the eye. Practice doing this in one quick clean sweep, as the slower you go the more wobbly the line usually turns out. Now to create a retro flick look straight into the mirror and imagine you can see the flick and make a tiny dot at the finishing point. Now join that dot to the line along the lashes so it looks like one fluid line and tweak to get the thickness you want.
Tip: To help you keep a steady hand either rest on a table or cross your other arm over your body and rest your elbow on your wrist. You should also keep a cotton bud dipped in eye makeup remover on hand to correct mistakes.
❤ For added glamour apply a set of false lashes such as Eylure Naturalites in 107 or 100. Squirt a small amount of lash glue on the back of your hand and drag the band of the lashes through the glue and wait a couple of seconds for it to go tacky. Looking down, place the lashes as close to your natural lashes as possible. Give the bottom lashes a good coat of mascara too!
Tip: You will find Duo glue in just about every single makeup artist’s kit so get your hands on a tube if you frequently wear lashes.
❤ Groomed brows are also key to this look so fill in brows using a brow powder with an angled brush and brush through some brow gel to keep in place. If you hold your brush at the corner of your nose and line up with the outer corner of your eye the brows should tail off ending when it meets this line.
Tip: Can’t find a brow powder that matches your brows? Use a matte eye shadow instead
❤ To achieve a perfect, classic red lip use a liner that matches your lipstick colour exactly. Follow your natural lip line and subtly shape the lips if needed so they look symmetrical. Fill in the lips with your lipstick, blot and reapply to get more wear out of your lip colour.
Tip: If you struggle applying dark lip colours start with a gloss which you should find easier to apply.
❤ Clean up around the lips and eyeliner with concealer and a small brush for a perfect finish.
❤ This look typically would have been very matte but for a modern twist just powder through the t-zone, under the eyes where you concealed and powder blemishes that have been covered to set.
