It's MY Makeup!

Red lipsticks look fabulous on our Asian skin, as well as really making a statement. Because many of us have yellow and olive undertones, the best colors for us are ones that have warm undertones as well, like berries, cherries, and even fire engine reds.

In order to make sure your red lips look amazing, be sure to follow these steps:

1. Exfoliate your lips with a toothbrush in order to make them smooth, plump and ready to be the focal point of your face.

2. Add a dab of lip conditioner or lip balm onto your lips to keep them moisturised. Don’t add too much though, or the red colour won’t stay on your lips.

3.  Apply some of your regular concealer around the edges of your lips so your red lips really stand out.

4. To keep your lipstick from running, apply a lip liner to your lips in a red that’s quite close to the red you’ve chosen for your lipstick.

5. Use a small lip brush to apply the color onto your lips. If you apply straight from the tube, you have a greater chance of making mistakes which are harder to correct with such a bold colour.

6. Build up the pigment gradually. Apply a thin layer of lipstick, then blot your mouth with a tissue and then apply another layer. Repeat these steps until you’re happy with the color and shape of your red lips!

7. Finally, keep the rest of your makeup simple and understated. Your skin should be fresh looking, your eye makeup should be simple, and just use the tiniest bit of blush on the apples of your cheeks to top off the look.

Sun **)

Sometimes when we talk about makeup looks, it’s hard to create what the Internet gurus are doing if you don’t have any makeup brushes! Here are the basic brushes I think that everyone should have. It’s important for your brushes to be good quality, because the quality of the makeup is only as good as the makeup brushes. Here are the 5 makeup brushes I think should be in your basic collection.

1. Stipling Brush for Foundation or Sponge like the Beauty Blender Sponge
2. Powder or Kabuki Brush
3. Blush Brush
4. Flat Shading Brush for Eye Colour
5. Crease or Blending Brush for Eye Colour

You can get good brushes from any some good brands are:

• Shu Uemura (top of the line)
• Mac
• The Body Shop (best value for money)

To keep your makeup brushes clean, wash them with a mild shampoo once a week and leave them to dry on the edge of your sink.

^^) Sun ****

Take a look at these photos from PopTeen magazine, a popular Japanese magazine:

Japanese magazines are famous for telling you how to do makeup step by step. Of course, these magazines are in Japanese! So it’s hard to read them. I’ll translate for you as best I can what they are saying, which will help you to recreate the doll-like, luminous look that’s pictured here.

1. Start with skin thats been cleansed, moisturised, and primed. We want the skin to look as flawless as possible.

2. Apply a translucent liquid foundation all over the face. Blend.

3. Apply concealer under the eyes, around the mouth, in the corners of the nose. Blend.

4. Apply hilighter down the bridge of the nose, under the eyes, under the eyebrows, just under the center of the bottom lip, and in the center of the forehead. Blend.

5. Japanese artists usually draw in circles, rather than in lines like we do in the West. So, using a peachy eye shadow, draw in a circular motion on the top lid, taking the shadow up a little past the crease. Blend.

6. Using a brown/taupe colour, make a small circle on the outer 1/3 of your top eyelid, just to add dimension to your face. Blend.

7. Using a gel eyeliner, line the top of your eyelid, making the line thicker towards the outside corner of your eye.

8. Using a darker brown eyeshadow, trace the outer 1/2 of your bottom eyelid, connecting to the black eyeliner on the outer corner of your top lid. Blend.

9. Apply a shimmery white shadow to the inner corner of your bottom eyelid, to brighten and open up your eye.

10. Add individual false eyelashes to your lids. Use longer lasheson the outer corner of the top eyelids, medium length single lashes in the center of the upper eyelids, and shorter lashes all along the bottom eyelids.

11. Apply mascara to top and bottom lashes, blending the false lashes with your regular eye lashes.

12. For this look, your eyebrows should be relatively light. Fill them in gently with a light brown pencil.

13. Apply a peachy blush to the apples of your cheeks.

14. Insert circle contact lenses to create the illusion of larger, doll-like eyes.

15. Add a baby pink pearlised lip colour to your lips, and top it off with a baby pink gloss.

16. With a small powder brush, dust your face with a pearlised loose powder.

You’re done!

Sun ^^)

This week’s post is going to be about applying blush on Asian faces to suit our skin tone and our face shapes.

COLORS
Many asians have yellow undertones and olive skin. The colors of blush that look best with our colouring include oranges, peach, coral, and very soft pink. Of course, you can always try different shades for fun to experiment.

HOW TO APPLY
Most Asians have a round or a square face shape, which means that it is more wide and doesn’t always have very defined cheekbones.

If you want to create cheekbones, apply the blush on your cheekbones and blend outwards towards your ears.

We often want to create the illusion of a slimmer face, apply blush in a sideways V on your face’s sides and then blend your makeup up and outwards.  Take a look at the green hilights on the pictures below for some examples.

EXAMPLE VIDEOS
These tutorials are from the famous Korean makeup artist Jung Saem Mool.

Sunkissed Glow

Soft Pink Makeup

I hope this tutorial is helpful for you.

Sun ^^) xoxox