FACE PRIMER:

The first step I will discuss in prepping your canvas is the foundation primer. The basic purpose of a primer is to create a smooth, even surface for your foundation and makeup  to glide over.

If your skin has a mix of dry and oily patches, uneven texture, fine lines or wrinkles, or if you have trouble getting foundation to blend easily across your face,… this product  will probably make your life a lot easier.  Your makeup’s ability to “glide” across your skin will be dramatically better.

Primer also works to help ALL of your makeup last longer.  This is because it helps create a barrier between your makeup and your skin, which means that there is less interaction between the oils in your skin and the makeup.  Also, if you have concerns about the ingredients in your makeup being absorbed into your skin, this barrier can be of benefit.

Perfecting Face Primer

Apply it after moisturizing and before any other makeup, as it is, essentially,…the base to the base.  Putting it underneath the eyes and on the eyelids can help smooth out concealer and eyeshadow application.  Concentrate it in areas where you tend to have excess oil or skin inconsistencies.  Use it sparingly, use it where you need it most and don’t worry about the rest of your face.  Using your (clean!) fingers for application will work just fine.

A good primer will have very noticeable results.  Primers with silicone tend to be a better bet.  Motives Perfecting Face Primer works beautifully for me.  If the product isn’t working wonders for you, don’t use it.  If you are generally happy with the way makeup applies on your face, don’t use it.  There are a lot of possibly beneficial extra makeup steps that can add up time wise.  Your aim here is to use the products that serve as the most effective solutions for your needs.

If you don’t have much experience with makeup, you may need to experiment with the different types of products to see which ones really work magic for you and which don’t.  When you have a good sense of what is at your disposal you will have an easier time picking your key items.  Prioritize!

We will go over foundation in my next post.  Cheers!

Top beauty website ,Beauty Snob, recently praised our foundation of choice: Liquid Powder Mineral Foundation as being, and I quote,  “…By far the most amaaaaaaazing mineral make up, ever!”

It also went on to glow over the Full Coverage Photo Finish Powder,  “Bedroom Eyes” Pressed Eyeshadow, and Essential Lip Kit!

Read the full review at Beauty Snobs “Motivated Beauty” article.

Beauty Snob Motives review

YOUR CANVAS:

Once you have cleaned your face and used proper skincare (including exfoliation!), we’re ready to talk about prepping your “canvas”.  The skin on your face is the foundation of your look.  Like an artist builds paint on a canvas, this is what the rest of your makeover will be built upon, so we want it to be as smooth and even as it can be.  When your skin is even, it allows the rest of your features to shine through and take center stage.  Hopefully most of that smooth radiance can be accomplished by how we take care of our bodies, but if not, we can smooth out our complexion with some great products.

The products that are used when prepping your face are  foundation primer, concealer, foundation, and face powder.

Now, why would we use these products?  They serve a number of purposes:

1. They even out skin tone.
2. If your skin is at all oily they help with oil absorption (as long as they aren’t oil or grease based!)
3. They create a base for makeup…something for it to adhere to,…and this  really helps with overall longevity.

Moisturizing your skin before using makeup will make a big difference in how easily the makeup applies.  A light, oil free moisturizer is usually best.  Do allow for it to absorb though before putting on any makeup.

Once again, as previously mentioned…I am going to demonstrate a basic flow of makeup application.  This is meant to serve as a guide, not a rulebook.  What works best can and will change based on the person and the situation.

Next up!  Foundation primer…

baking soda or white sugar

Though proper daily skincare will make all the difference in how healthy your skin is, many people forget about a step that shouldn’t be done daily, but is not to be passed over:

EXFOLIATION:

Your skin is constantly shedding, so you need to get the dead layers off.   Doing so really makes a difference in how easily you are able to apply your makeup. It also gets down to the new, attractive layers of dermis. If you think about it, your dead skin cells aren’t going to be vibrant with health because they are, well, dead. So getting rid of them will improve the glow of your skin.

For a quick, cheap, at home fix that is gentle and more effective than the average store bought product, do the following:

Mix a small amount of either baking soda or fine white sugar in with your cleanser in your palm.  The more you add to the cleanser, the stronger the exfoliation effect will be.  Then simply massage the mixture into your skin (but don’t get crazy harsh about it or anything). Make sure to pay special attention your nose area, as the dead skin builds up around there really quickly and will make your foundation and powder look terrible. When done, rinse and continue with your skin regimen as normal!

Here are a few additional tips on exfoliation:

• Exfoliating once or twice a week is generally right on target.  The optimal frequency will be affected by your skin type, age, habits and the climate you live in.  Listen to your skin and be careful not to do it so much that you cause irritation, sensitivity or dryness.
• Always moisturize skin after exfoliating, to soothe and nourish.
• If using a store bought exfoliator, be careful that the texture is not sharp or abrasive. (Even apricot scrubs are excessively harsh).  Abrasive particles create micro tears in your skin’s dermis.  Ouch!
• Many products have exfoliation properties built in.  Be aware if you are already using a product that is doing the exfoliation for you.  We don’t need any overkill.

LIP PREP:

All this applies to your lips as well! Your lips have skin too and they don’t like to be forgotten about! Exfoliating your lips is like magic. They look so much softer and more supple…. They are drastically easier to use makeup on afterward, and, exfoliating always brings out the healthiest of glows by stimulating your circulation.

You can use the same techniques of exfoliation on your lips, just be gentle as the skin is delicate.  A great, ready made solution for any time, especially when on the go, is Motives Lip Pumice.  It is an easy to use exfoliator that removes dead skin while moisturizing with good for you ingredients like Vitamin E.

Next, it will be time to prepare your canvas.  (Otherwise known as your face!)

Over the next number of weeks I will be posting a step by step guide designed to teach you the basics of makeup application and how to use it in a way that works with your life.  My goal is to educate you on the types of makeup products, their purpose, how to choose quality items, and when and how to use them, or if you even need to use them at all.  But first I want to start off with a little perspective on the role of makeup in the every day goddess’s (<–that means you) life.

USING MAKEUP TO ACCENTUATE WHAT YOU LOVE:

Unfortunately, it is human nature to fixate on anything that we perceive as negative or anything that disrupts the “flow” of someone’s appearance. This basically means that if there is a blemish on your cheek or chin… an area where your skin is red, darker circles under your eyes, etc… it distracts from the rest of your features and ends up catching more attention than is merits. And to the human eye, something such as dark circles ends up stealing the show, so that it is harder for people to notice the beautiful eyes that the dark circles accompany. The role of makeup is NOT to CHANGE your features and structure. It’s not to make you something you are not,… it is simply meant to guide the eye of the viewer to the features you want to emphasize, the same way that a good artist composes a painting so as to focus the eye where they desire.

SO THE QUESTION IS: WHAT IS YOU?

What do you love about yourself? What makes you feel like “signature” you? Is it a quirky smile,… the color of your eyes? Your full cheeks? The arch in your brow?

Put focus on the features that make you feel unique and alluring. Make those features the star of your face. Your feature focus will influence how you choose to do your makeup.

Do you know what you love about yourself? Do you not love anything about yourself? If you haven’t learned to love what is uniquely you,…ask those you trust to tell you what they love. It’s likely that they see you in a way that you may not be able to see, and they can help you change your attitude about the features the universe has blessed you with.

YOUR QUICK ESSENTIALS:

Everyone should have an essentials list for makeup application. This is your quick and dirty five minute beauty job when you’re barely able to get out of the door in time. It is based off of your face’s particular needs and your favorite features. It’s made up of “oh my god I would die without,” and “my face just lights up when…” sort of items. And it’ll probably have one or two items that you never even thought of.

Your essentials list is going to be different than everyone else’s, so there is no perfect list for this.  Don’t get hinged up on whether you’re doing things “right.”  Makeup application isn’t a science, it is an art, personalized to each person.  If it works for you, it’s right.  If it makes you feel beautiful, and your face and skin happy, it’s right.  That is your only qualifier.

How will you spend your quick few minutes?  It depends.  Someone with complexion concerns will spend more of their 5 minutes on prepping their face. Maybe you love your lips and want to spend a little more of that time accentuating them. Perhaps defining your upper eyelids help make your eyes come alive.

Your focus determines what products take priority.

In the next post I will begin to go through the basic list of products in (approximate) order, what they are used for, and when and how to use them. You most likely don’t need to use all of these products all the time.

Stay tuned!

Skintelligence Daily Moisture Enhancer

The majority of foundations do best when they have a very smooth, dewy surface to be applied over.

To make sure your foundation works quicker and applies more evenly, be sure to moisturize your face a few minutes before applying foundation, or any other creme or stain makeup product.  Wait just long enough so that the moisturizer absorbs into your skin.

An excellent, affordable moisturizer is the Daily Moisture Enhancer by Skintelligence®.  It carries five times its weight in water to super hydrate cells, is safe for even the most sensitive skin, and  absorbs quickly and easily, making makeup application just that much easier.

Would you like to host an fabulous event like this?  Click here to learn more and request a booking.

Use your bare lips as as a guide when picking out a blush. To bring out a rosy flush, exfoliate lips prior to matching them with a blush color.  We recommend Motives Lip Pumice.  If you don’t have a lip exfoliator: water, gentle face wash and a gentle scrubbing with a wash cloth or towel will help to get rid of dead skin and rev up the blood flow.

Motives Pressed Blush gives an incredibly smooth blending color and long lasting finish.  Try a shade of Pressed Blush, or ask us at Real Venus to create a custom loose mineral blush specifically matched to your lip color.

Custom-blended mineral blush

Motives Pressed Blush

Makeup is meant to take focus off of our flaws, not to make us look like we have them!  A lot of times, blotchy blush application can be due to excess oils present in the skin.  Oil  has a tendency to catch onto and absorb blush pigment, accentuating the intensity of the color.

1. Apply makeup on clean, freshly washed skin.
2. Before applying powder blush, dust face powder across your cheeks. This will absorb any excess oil and will help diffuse the blush to look softer and smoother when it is applied.
3. Be gentle with the amount of blush you put on your brush.  Less is more.   It is much easier to build a few layers of blush to the right intensity than to smear a streak of bright pink across your cheek bone.
4. If you find that your blush still looks too strong, just add a little more face power over the top of the blush to calm it down.

If you are still having problems with blotchy application it is probably due to the quality of your blush.  You may want to look into finding a smoother applying product.  We recommend Motives Pressed Blush.

Mix creme concealer with your chosen product for a lighter, creamier finish. The more concealer you add, the lighter it will be.  You can also try a thin, sparing amount of it onto moisturized, exfoliating lips before applying lipstick.  This will also create a softer, lighter look.