Make up for glasses

Applying make up is a little bit different if you wear glasses. The lens sometimes makes our eyes look closer and cross-eyed. The make up application for the eyes have to make the eyes appear wider, brighter, and bigger. The best part about make up is the fact that we can always play with light and shadow. Its an illusion.

My sister was doing her homework with her glasses on and I was inspired to do a make up look that is easy for young professionals working in an office environment. (Thanks to my sister for being my guinea pig!)

 

The main concern in a professional looking make up application is to make the whole look clean and bright. With glasses its easy to look frumpy and sleepy. I focused on making the eyes wide by adding light reflective eyeshadow base with the contour on the outer corners of the eyes. The eyeliner application is also focused on lining the upper lash line with a darker emphasis on the outer corner. The lower lash line is only half lined with the emphasis on outer corner. A peach cream blush, highlighter, mascara, and a reddish-rose lipstick. I prefer lipstick over lip gloss because in my opinion it looks more polished than gloss. 

Products used to create this look:

Make up forever Sculpting Kit: I used this as a highlighter for the brow bone and high cheek bones as well as a shadow base for the eyes. I contoured her cheek bones, side of the nose, outer corner of her eyes, and on her jaw line.

The Make Up Store microshadow in xocoatl: This was used to contour her eyelid in the outer corner only.

NARS eyeshadow duo in Misfit: I used the cream base eyeshadow in this palette for her lids because it has a bit of a shimmer to it to diffuse the light and make the eyes appear more awake.

Stila smudge pot in Brown: I used this to line her upper lash line and 1/2 of her lower lash line. Emphasizing the outer corners.

Becca Cosmetics jewel dust in xantho: I tapped this glittery bronze onto the middle of her lids. This creates a beautiful shimmery 'pop' in her eyelids.

Stila convertible color in Gladiola: Though the color make scare people away this is a beautiful peach blush and when applied to the apples of the cheeks a natural healthy flush is created. I prefer peach blushes than pink-y blushes because it looks a little more radiant and natural.

NARS sheer lipstick in Gipsy: This is a beautiful rose color that looks great on most people. It has more color than Dolce Vita (another fave of mine and my personal go-to lipstick) that will read sophisticated career woman without being intimidating like a red lipstick.

 

Party look with brownish bronze and army green

I've created this brownish-bronze-army green smokey eye look that would be perfect for  a dinner and post-dinner drinks.

Using my little sister as a guinea pig, I started with a base color from lash to lid. Then I with a flat tipped brush I took the brownish sparkly shadow and lightly ran it across the upper lash line with more color deposit on the outer corner. I then used my smoky eye brush from Sephora to "smoke" it upwards to the crease line blending it up and out and deposited the darkest color on the outer section. I kept layering until my desired effect. The tip is to have a light hand and then make it as dark as you are comfortable with or for the right occasion.

Using a smaller tipped brush I lined the lower lash line with the same rule as the top lid. Lighter in the inner corner to Darker in the outer corner. I like eyes to have this gradient of color. I think it looks more natural.

I used a sparkly bronze for her middle lid and tapped it with a flat brush for that brightening effect. For the inner corners I used a sparkly gold color.

Lining the upper lash line with an army green liner and the outer lower lash line with the same liner. I added dimension to the lower lash line by using the same bronze shadow with a tiny brush from the inner corner to the middle of the lash line. 

Finishing off by curling her lashes and a few coats of lengthening mascara.

Photo Credit: Alaine Handa
Make up artist: Alaine Handa  

Matte eyeshadow

Sephora brand Matte eyeshadow

I've been really into matte eyeshadow and dark smokey shadows lately. Perhaps all the holiday sparkle has gotten to me and I want something more mysterious. I received a Sephora gift card for my birthday from a friend of mine and I went into the old store I used to work at in Soho. I missed working there sometimes. With $25 on the gift card, I didn't want to overdo it and wandered the store. For the price range of only $10 a shadow and the multitude of different textures and colors, its a steal. I picked up a matte shadow in No. 8 a sea gray which means it has a twinge of blue in it. This was just the color I was looking for. The Sephora brand eyeshadows have nylon-12 in them thus making it long-lasting and they are high pigmented so its not made of cheap stuff. I was happy that they had a line of matte eyeshadows, for those that are maturing and are worried about make up settling in fine lines, matte eyeshadows will work the best for you b/c you won't have to deal with sparkles settling in the lines which will magnify them.