By Victoria, Theatre Makeup Artist

Victoria is a 19-year old college sophomore who attends school in Massachusetts for Engineering, but she’s an avid Theater Makeup Artist and has worked on a variety of shows, from dance shows (think intense, flamboyant glitter) to periodic musicals. She aims to combine her “nerdy” passions with her artistic ones: to overanalyze the mathematics of reshaping the face, learn the science of why a product works better or worse. She’s a romantic dreamer who enjoys re-imagining herself in a soap opera, pretending one day a prince is going to come riding in on a dragon and take her away. Until then, she’s planning to use her makeup brushes and colors to force her friends to be the stars of her imaginary fairy tale.

How-to: Blushing & Highlighting

As a follow-up to my post on contouring, I wanted to discuss how to finish up your look with blush and highlighter. Blush and highlighter really bring life to the face, giving you that sought-after glow. Highlighter has a secondary benefit of really bringing contrast to the shadows, which brings out more of that lovely bone structure.

When do you need blush, highlight, and contour? For me, the answer to blush is always, but what about contour and highlight? If you’re of a darker skintone, like NC/W 45+, skip the contour and stick only with highlight. Contour colours unfortunately rarely run too dark, and you risk the color looking muddy on the face. On the other hand, if you’re lighter skinned, like NC15 and up, be very careful with balance. A dramatic contour and highlight can really sculpt out your features but beware of the risk of looking skeletal.

What You Need

A good directional brush, with a smaller head, or a head the size of the apple of your cheek. The same brush for contouring works perfectly here, so options like the MAC 165, MAC 109, or e.l.f. Blush Brush work perfectly. As for a brush with the head the size of your apple of your cheek, options like the MAC 119 (for smaller apples) or 120 (for rounder apples) are great.

Your favorite highlighter. For more of a glowy effect, choose shimmery highlighters, like Dior’s Amber Diamond, Elf Studio Shimmer Palette, or MAC Cream Colour Base in Pearl/Hush. These will give you beautiful glowy finish and really bring your face to life. For a more of dramatic effect, to contrast with the contour, stick with a matte flesh-toned shade that is a step or two lighter than your natural skintone. For this, I turn to powder foundations, or back to my trusty MAC Shape powders, which contain a hint of shimmer (but not too much!). You can definitely layer a shimmer powder over a matte lighter powder, but for natural looks I would avoid this, as it tends to read a bit ashy.

What shades should you choose for highlighter? For a natural highlight, its important to match your undertone with the product. Warmer beauties will find products with a golden or yellow undertone to be really flattering, like Dior Amber Diamond, NARS Albatross, or MAC CCB in Hush. Cooler beauties will find pinker or even lavender toned highlights work great. Look for products like Dior Rose Diamond, NARS Miss Liberty, or MAC CCB in Pearl.

Your favorite blusher. If you’re going with a shimmery highlighter, avoid a blush with too much pearl or frost unless you want to compete with a Twilight vampire for attention!

If we refer back to my original diagram for contouring, it makes finding blusher and highlighter placement is easy!  I like to highlight after contouring; generally, highlighting anywhere where you didn’t contour will help deepen the shadows.

Make a line parallel to the contour line on the top of your cheekbone, and along that line is where the highlight should go. Placing the highlight closer towards your ears will widen your face. Highlighting closer to the apple of the cheek will cause the apples to appear rounder. Whatever you choose, the length of your highlight line should not exceed the length of your contour line; stop highlighting wherever your contour stops.  Then, highlight under the browbone to make the browbone pop, and extend out that highlight to join with your cheekbone highlight. This will help deepen and define the socket, as well as define your cheekbones.

Applying blush last will help to gently blend everything together, but don’t overdo it or else your lines will become muddy and unclear! Blush placement helps reinforce highlighter placement, so apply your blush along a parallel line in between the contour and highlight lines. Don’t smile and apply blush! On many face shapes, this will actually cause the blush placement to be too low. Instead, get some extra lift by applying blush higher along that line. However, if you have a wider face, or you want to soften the cheekbones, apply blush lower along the line, as it will give you an instantly slimmer face.

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Do you use any makeup products in ways other than their intended purpose? Like lipstick as blush? Eyeliner as lip liner?

I’ve definitely used a lipstick as a blush before (which is handy if you forget your blush!).

Thanks to Meghan for today’s question! Got a question idea? Submit yours here.

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Photo by Vincent Lappartient

Chanel Spring/Summer 2012 Sneak Peek

Peter Philips, Creative Director of Chanel Makeup used the following Chanel products to create the runway beauty looks:

• Face: Vitalumiere Aqua Fresh and Hydrating Cream Compact Makeup SPF (April 2012), Natural Finish Loose Powder, Highlighting Face Pen, Long Lasting Concealer
• Eyes: Fantasme and Emerveille Illusion d’Ombre, Ebene Stylo Yeux Waterproof, Clair Le Crayon Khol, Crayon Sourcils, Inimitable Waterproof Mascara, Chanel Precision Eyelash Curler
• Cheeks: Blush Horizon de Chanel Glowing Blush Harmony (January 2012)
• Lips: Rouge Coco Baume Hydrating Lip Balm (January 2012), Plaisir Glossimer (March 2012)
• Nails: April, May, and June Le Vernis Nail Colours (January 2012)

See more photos!

Photo by Vincent Lappartient

Photo by Vincent Lappartient

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L’Oreal Paris & Project Runway Colors Take Flight Collection

Just in time for autumn’s fashion-forward styles, L’Oréal Paris, in conjunction with Emmy-nominated Project Runway, introduces “Colors Take Flight” – a limited-edition cosmetics collection of four palettes inspired by the captivating colors of exotic birds. L’Oréal Paris Consulting Makeup Artist and Project Runway featured artist Collier Strong helped develop this collection which offers new and stunning shade ranges, rich textures and the tools to create distinctly different makeup looks. Inspired by the Cockatoo, the Owl, the Raven and the Amazon Parrot, these four cosmetics sets bring runway-inspired beauty to new heights.

Charming Cockatoo

• Charming Cockatoo’s Gaze Eyeshadow Quad ($8.95)
• Charming Cockatoo’s Blush ($9.95)
• Charming Cockatoo’s Pout (8.95)
• Charming Cockatoo’s Wisdom ($4.99)
• Charming Cockatoo’s Mystery ($4.99)

Watchful Owl

• Watchful Owl’s Gaze Eyeshadow Quad ($8.95)
• Watchful Owl’s Blush ($9.95)
• Watchful Owl’s Pout (8.95)
• Watchful Owl’s Night ($4.99)
• Watchful Owl’s Lust ($4.99)

Audacious Amazon

• Audacious Amazon’s Gaze Eyeshadow Quad ($8.95)
• Audacious Amazon’s Blush ($9.95)
• Audacious Amazon’s Pout (8.95)
• Audacious Amazon’s Flare ($4.99)
• Audacious Amazon’s Flash ($4.99)

Sultry Raven

• Sultry Raven’s Gaze Eyeshadow Quad ($8.95)
• Sultry Raven’s Blush ($9.95)
• Sultry Raven’s Pout (8.95)
• Sultry Raven’s Dream ($4.99)
• Sultry Raven’s Strength ($4.99)

availability: October 2011 at ULTA locations, drugstores, and mass market retailers nationwide.

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Watchful Owl’s Gaze

Audacious Amazon’s Gaze

Charming Cockatoo’s Blush

Audacious Amazon’s Flash

Audacious Amazon’s Flare

Charming Cockatoo’s Pout, Sultry Raven’s Pout, Watchful Owl’s Pout

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Need a quick fix to a beauty problem?   Here are a few quick fixes to get you through the day

1. Use triangle sponges for removing makeup mistakes not just for applying foundation.  If you have a mascara smudge or too much blush or eye shadow powder has specks on your cheek?  Take one of these sponges and rub it out – it’ll be gone in a flash.
2. Are your lashes so long they make marks on your eyelid?   Right after applying mascara, turn your blow dryer on cool and low speed and aim at your lashes.  It will help the mascara to dry quickly and prevent smears.
3. Have unruly fly-aways?  Use a clear mascara to tame fly-aways.  You always wanted to know what to use clear mascara was for!
4. Have your cheeks lost their lustre?  Press moisturizer into cheeks to re-bloom your blush
5. Out of nail polish remover and you smudged your polish?  Top your nail with clear coat and rub to smooth out.
6. Polish your nails and don’t have time for them to dry?   Run your nails under cold water for a quick dry fix.
7. Has your hair gone flat and you need a lift?  Hot Tools makes Velcro rollers that are metal lined that offer a quick fix.  Roll in your hair, give the rollers a shot of warm air with your blow dryer and in 2 minutes you have full, voluminous hair.

Do you have a favorite quick fix you’d like to share?

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