makeup

LIGHTEN UP

photos: Justin Coit/thebeautydepartment.com post designed by kristin ess

It’s Monday morning and I hope you’ve had your coffee because we’re going to get technical! By now you know that Lauren and I love a contoured face; I do this by “pushing” features inward to create depth by applying a darker color in the hollows of the cheeks, temples, along the hairline and under the jawbone. But the other half of this equation is taking it one step further by “pulling” other features forward, using a highlighter under the eyes, above the cheekbones and above the brows. It should be subtle and undetectable (hint: BLEND BLEND BLEND!), but you’ll see how it really draws the attention to our best feature, the eyes.  Here we’re so excited because one of our favorite actresses, Kristin’s client Jamie Chung (Hangover 2 and Sucker Punch) kindly sat in to demo this look with us!  And stay tuned in the next couple weeks because she’ll be starring in a few more posts!

TOOLS: concealer, concealer brush, pearly liquid highlighter, sponge (egg-shaped if possible), foundation brush.

Basically, picture yourself skiing with goggles on and getting too much sun, when you remove the goggles, the non-sunburned area above and below your eyes is where you’ll want to lighten with the highlighter.

1. Start on a clean face that has been moisturized and primed.

2. Correct any under-eye dark circles with your favorite crease-less concealer and a lay-down concealer brush.

3. Apply a pearly liquid highlighter under your eyes, starting at your nose then working outward with an egg-shaped blending sponge, using the pointed end of the sponge to dab and stipple it to the desired areas (this really presses the product into the skin). Increase the area down to just above your cheekbone, all the way from your nose to the beginning of your temples.

4. Then again on about a quarter-inch above your brows, start at the outer corner above your left brow then dab all the way across to the outer corner above your right brow.

5. Last, apply foundation to your whole face, reaching the perimeters of the highlighted area, but NOT covering it. To be more precise in your foundation application, use a sponge or foundation brush, then blend with your fingers.  The key is to only apply foundation to the areas above and below the highlighted area, a.k.a. everywhere but where your imaginary skiing googles would be.

It’s very subtle and only a trained eye will detect it, but on a tired Monday morning, it is well worth the extra minute!

XO Amy Nadine