Artistry & Playtime

Along with my regular job as a beauty consultant, I do some work as a makeup artist. I've done a few weddings, but most of my work is for local photographers. Sometimes, this requires me to create some crazy and bright looks.

Since my summer was packed full with other responsibilities, I haven't booked any jobs over the last few months. Now that I have a few lined up for late summer/early autumn, I decided to break out my kit and experiment.

The result:

Without a professional retouch, of course.

Complexion: I started out with my favorite primer, Lorac AquaPrime (Sephora, $31), and covered all discoloration with Revlon Age Defying Moisturizing Concealer in the Light shade (Target, $8). Despite the fact that it's a drugstore brand concealer, I find that it does just as good of a job as Cargo's OneBase (Ulta, $26). Then I used my all-time favorite foundation, Cover FX Total Coverage Cream Foundation in E20 (Sephora, $42). I wanted to make my skin incredibly light, so I added a generous layer of Stila Illuminating Powder Foundation in 10 Watts (Sephora, $28) and buffed a bit of BareMinerals Original Mineral Veil (Sephora, $20) over the top. For daily wear, of course, I would never layer this many products; while doing makeup for print, however, we can throw wearable practicality out the window.

Eyes: To prime, I used my go-to primer, Lorac Behind the Scenes (Sephora, $20). Then came one of my all-time favorite products: Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream (Sephora, $22). I started in the center with the red (#8), using my fingertip to apply, and blended it out with a sponge brush. To draw the top black line, I used my Almay Liquid Eyeliner in Black (Target, $5.04). It may be a drugstore eyeliner, but it's one of the best drugstore products you can buy. While I prefer other products for daily wear, I love using this eyeliner for photoshoots; the felt-tip applicator lets me use it like a pen, and since it's not self-loading, I can control the amount I'm putting on. Then, I used my pinky finger to apply the Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in gold (#11) all over my lid.

Once I had my base of color, I wanted to tone down the shine of the gold, and also create some smoke. I tapped Urban Decay's Deluxe Eyeshadow in Honey (Sephora, $18) all over the lid in order to even out the shimmer, and covered the outer 1/4 of the lid, from lash to crease, with Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in matte black #4 (Sephora, $19). I blended with my fingertips, taking care to blend up and out.

To line, I grabbed my Lorac Front of the Line PRO (Sephora, $23) and pressed it right against the top lash line, creating an incredibly thin line, then lined the top waterline. I wanted to create some definition without adding a thick line to disrupt the thick lines of color on the eye. On the bottom, I used the same Lorac liner on my waterline, then used a liner brush to sweep Buxom Lashliner in Leatherette (Sephora, $16) along the lower lid. I finished off the eyes with Urban Decay's Lush Lash Mascara (Sephora, $20).

After all the makeup was applied, I held a makeup brush to my face and lined up the outer corner of my eye with the outer tip of my brow, which is where eyeshadow should stop. To make the nice straight line, I kept the brush in place, dipped a Q-Tip in makeup remover, and followed the side of the brush to erase any makeup that had gone over the line.

For my brows, I chose Smashbox's Brow Tech Trio in Auburn (Sephora, $24), filling the inner part of my brows with the lighter color and the outer part with the darker color.

Lips: For the lips, I used the same two Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream colors I used on my eyes, and lined them with the Almay eyeliner.

Chime in: what colors/looks should I play with next?