Anastasia Beverly Hills – Modern Renaissance Palette Fall Makeup Tutorial

Check out the video at https://youtu.be/YpL6JRUID08

Products Used:

Revlon Colorstay Foundation for Normal/Dry Skin in Natural Tan
LA Girl Pro Conceal in Medium Beige
NYX Eye shadow Base in Skin Tone
Sephora mineral Compact in Mat Tan
NARS Deep Throat Blush
NYC Bronzing Powder in Sunny
NARS Laguna Bronzer for Contouring
Anastasia Glow Kit in Sun Dipped Moonstone
Jeffree Star Velour Lipstick in Androgyny
Modern Renaissance Palette – Burnt Orange in crease, Venetian red in crease, Red Ochre in outer crease, Cyprus Umber in outer V, Antique Bronze on lid topped with Primavera in center.
Lower Lashline Burnt Orange, Venetian Red, Cyprus Umber
Anastasia Gel Liner in Brown
Maybelline Colossal Kohl in Jewelled Jade on lower lash line
Sephora Outrageous Voume Mascara
Perfect Brows Toolkit by Luscious Cosmetics in Medium to Dark Hair

 

 

Brushes Used:

Morphe Brushes E23
Morphe Brushes E28
Morphe Brushes E17
Morphe Brushes E14 (lid brush)
Morphe Brushes E431 (pencil brush)
Beauty Blender
IT Cosmetics #4 Blush Brush
Morphe Brushes M510 Highlighter Brush
Sigma Large Powder Brush F20 for Bronzer
Morphe Brushes E8 for Contouring
Real Techniques Setting Brush
Real Techniques Buffing Brush

 

Makeup Tutorial – Morphe Brushes 35N, 35B Palettes

Check out the video at https://youtu.be/5LAQ_pKsew0

Products Used:

Morphe Burshes 35N Eyeshadow Palette
Morphe Burshes 35B Eyeshadow Palette
Plum Nature Studio Kohl Kajal in Black
NYC High Definition Liquid Liner Pen in Black
Loreal Volume Million Extra Black Lashes Mascara
Maybelline Las Discover Mascara

Brushes Used:
Morphe Brushes E23
Morphe Brushes E17
Morphe Brushes E14 (lid brush)
Morphe Brushes E431 (pencil brush)

My Makeup Look for Indian Festival

Rakshabandhan festival has recently passed in India and below is the makeup look I wore that day. Its a special festive day since I meet and see all my brothers and other close relatives.

The products I used were:

YSL Fusion Ink foundation in shade BD50. I love this foundation for the hot and especially humid days in Delhi. This is a water based foundation with amazing coverage and does not need a lot of powder for setting either, since too much powder also disappears when you have been dabbing sweat from your face million times a day.

Too Faced Born This Way in shade light beige. I mixed a drop of this in the YSL fusion ink because it adds nice depth to the texture and finish of foundation without making it greasy or heavy. You can totally skip this. Though this color is a shade lighter than my skin especially now in summers. It would be my perfect shade in winter 🙂

I used Morphe Brushes concealer in shade Honey under my eyes and for highlighting. I used Coty Airspun loose face powder in translucent extra coverage for setting my face and under eyes.

Morphe Brushes 35N eye shadow palette. This is an all matt palette and great for creating lots and lots of looks. Though Iove my shimmer pop most of the time, I love days when I go for an all matt look. The shimmer shade in the inner third of the eye is Colourpop super shocl shadow in Cheap Date.

I used Loreal Super Liner, Extra Black Gloss liquid eye liner. For brows I used Luscious perfect Brows Tool Kit in medium to dark. I basicallyuse the powder from this kit. I personally do not like very carved brows so just use the powder to draw and add dimension.

For blush I used the Too Faced Love Flush blush palette and for bronzing I used New York Color bronzer in Sunny. For highlighter I used Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit in That Glow in shade Sunburst.

On lips I used Sleek Makeup matt me liquid lipstick in Velvet Slipper. As you see its a maroon berry color on me and I loved it since my dress had small patterns in this color.

I used Beauty Blender for foundation and concealer and also for setting the under eye area. I used a powder puff to lightly dust my face. My eye brushes were all from Morphe Brushes (E30, M441, E28, E14, M431). My blush brush is from IT Cosmetics #4 brush. My bronzer brush is from Sigma F20 and for highlighting I used Morphe Brushes M510.

 

Contouring & Highlighting Products Available in India

If you are a regular on Instagram or youtube makeup videos, you would know what is contouring and highlighting. If you missed the boat on it, I will try to explain it as briefly as I can.

Conturing is adding shadows on your face to push back areas in order to bring out a more chiselled bone structure using makeup.

Highligting is the opposite. When you use makeup to bring forward the facial features in order to bring out more chiselled bone structure using makeup.

Each one has specific products namely contouring powders & creams and highlighters in powder or cream. Contouring & highlighting is also done depending upon your face type like we saw in applying blush to your face.

We also talked about bronzers earlier and there I said bronzers are not contouring powders. I still stick to that, however when you want a light, subtle contouring, a bronzer applied on the areas where a contouring product would go, gives a contoured effect as well.

A bronzer should only be a couple of shades darker than your skin color so that the shadow effect is like a shadow and not brown stripes down the sides of your face or neck. It should be matt. No shadows have shimmer in them, so you cannot use a shimmery brown powder as a contouring powder.

Highlighters are shimmery and shiny and glossy. The colors that look good on India skin are gold tones, champagne tones, rose gold, pink tones. You can purchase these as palettes or individuals and there are so many of them.

If you are new to contouring, start with powders as these are easy to control and blend compared to creams. There are many many videos on youtube teaching how to contour.

Some of the contouring palettes & individual packs that you can get in India are:

Makeup Revolution Blush & Contour Palette

ELF Studio Contour Palette

Bahama Mama by The Balm

Aesthetica Cosmetics Contour & Highlighting Powder

Morphe Brushes 09F Palette

NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette

Kat Von D Shade & Light Palette

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette

Mary Lou Manizer The Balm

Makeup Revolution Radiance Highlighter Palette

The products mentioned in this blog can be purchased from www.amazon.in, www.nykaa.com, www.beautybay.com & http://www.elitify.com. These sites ship to India. You can also find them in the NewU stores. A lot of the brands mentioned have their stores in malls or Lifestyle or Shopperstop.

Eye Makeup Available in India

Eye makeup can definitely be more than kajal or black eye liner which is the most that we are used to seeing in India. I will go over the various products that go in creating an eye look – simple, bold, crazy you name it.

Eye primer – like a face primer, this helps in holding your eye makeup longer, preventd eye shadows from creasing. If you use a concealer for under eye dark circles or for hiding other blemishes, you can use it on the lid as a primer too. I use the MAC Studio Finish or Pro Longwear concealers as eye primers many times. These also help eliminate any darkness or discoloration on eye lids. Some eye primers that you can buy are:

Essence I Love Stage Eye Shadow Base, NYX eye shadow base, Faces Metaliglow, MAC Paint Pot, Revlon PhotoReady, Deborah Milano 24 Ore, Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo, MAC Prep n Prime Vibrancy Eye Primer, Inglot Eye Makeup Base.

Eye Shadow – of course we all know what are eye shadows. There are an array of colors, formula, palettes available in the market ranging from different prices. When you buy eye shadow palettes look for ones that have at least a few matt shades for blending and crease. There are many quads available that have only shimmery shades. Its great for single shadow look, but you would still need something to blend the crease, else it does not look very well blended. Some great shadows and palettes that you can check out are:

L’Oreal La Palette – Nude & Rose (best for your money’s worth in drugstore category), Maybelline – The Nudes, Any Makeup Revolution Palette (Again very good shadows, good range of shimmers and matts), Freedom Pro Shade & Bright, MUA 24 shade immaculate collection, MUA Armour Palette, Rhapsody Palette, Morphe Brushes – 35N, 35W, 35S, 35E, 35T (my most favourite eye shadows, best color payoff and blendability. These cost from Rs1500-Rs1800 on www.beautybay.com for a palette of 35 colors), Any MAC shadows – singles or pre set palettes, Estee Lauder Trios, Anastasia Beverly Hills Artist Palette, Self Made Palette, Urban Decay Naked Palettes (all 3).

This is not an exhaustive list but only the ones I have tried and know about. I keep adding palettes and single eye shadows to my collection.

Eye Liner – There are a range of colors and formula in eye liners too. The traditional being black liquid or gel liner for the perfect wing or line on the lid. Gel liners can be applied to your waterline also and do not fade or bleed during the day. Liquid liners available are water proof as well. Look for what kind you want. Then there are colored pencil liners for eye liner or water line. Some of the eye liners you can buy are:

MAC gel liner in black, Bobbi Brown gel liner in black and brown, Inglot gel liner (many many colors), Maybelline eye studio lasting drama gel, L’Oreal Paris Super Liner (many colors), Rimmel Scandaleyes WaterProof Gel Liner, L’Oreal Paris Superliner Gelmatic pencil liner, Maybelline – The colossal liner, Revlon Classic Fabuliner, Lakme Absolute Eye Artist, Maybelline Hyper Matt/ Hyper Glossy liquid liner, L’Oreal Paris Super Liner Extra Black & Brown, Maybelline Vivid Smooth Liner pencil (best color payoff in waterline), Colorbar I-Glide eye pencil

Mascara – to coat your top and bottom lashes. You could use an eye lash curler to curl your top lashes and then apply the mascara. There are many videos on youtube on how to curl your lashes, do watch one before you use these especially if you are a new user of eyelash curler. Mascaras again come in waterproof version too. You need to identify you want a mascara for lengthening or for volume or both. Some of the mascaras to buy are:

Maybelline Volume Express, L’Oreal Paris Voluminous, L’Oreal Paris Volume Million Lashes, Inglot Flase Lash Effect, Inglot Volume & Waterproof, Faces Ultime Pro Gel, Deborah 24 Ore, Makeup Revolution Amamzing Volume, Rimmel Glam Eyes, Benefit They’re Real, MAC Extended Play Gigablack Lash, MAC Opulash Optimum

False Eyelashes – Yes, all those ad pictures you see or the closeup of beautiful eyes with long curved lashes, they are fake in all probability. There is a huge market in world of false eyelashes or falsies as they are fondly called. There are not too many options available in India yet. Ardell is a brand that retails on some websites. NewU carries one brand in their store. International websites are full of these, but a lot of those are still not delivered in India.

You need a lash glue – Ardell Duo is a world favourite of many MUAs. Then you need falsies. Ardell Demi no 124, Natural Strip lashes no 117 are good ones to start if you are new to false lashes. There are many videos on youtube on applying false lashes and trimming those to your eye size.

Brow Enhancer – Grooming of eye brows is something we are not new to, eye brow shaping is what we diligently do every month or as frequently it is needed and eye brow pencils we have seen women draw their faces with since we were kids. Some of the improved brow enhancers available to fill in and shape the brows are:

Maybelline Fashion Brow Duo, Freedom Pro Eyebrow Kit, Makeup Revolution Brow Dual Ultra Brow Arch & Shape, Colorbar Stunning Brow Pencil, Inglot Eye Brow Pencil, Deborah Eyebrow Perfect, NYX eyebrow cake powder, NYX Auto Eyebrow Pencil

The products mentioned in this blog can be purchased from www.amazon.in, www.nykaa.com, www.beautybay.com. These sites ship to India. You can also find them in the NewU stores. A lot of the brands mentioned have their stores in malls or Lifestyle or Shopperstop.

Blushes Available in India

For the continuity of the posts I am writing, I thought I will write about contouring as a separate blog series since there is so much to write and talk about contouring especially now. So in order to keep things simple, lets go over blushes.

You all in all probability would know what a blush is and what’s its purpose in face makeup. Blushes add the rosiness, flush to the over all face look. Your blush should look more like your healthy face color.

So select a color that is your natural flushed look color and does not stand out too much. Like dark red colors look lovely on Indian skin. Where as if you are light skin colored a light pink would look good on you. You can definitely pick bold blush colors for when you want that look. Sometimes blushes come with shimmer too, so when you pick your blush be aware if you want glittery cheeks.

One guiding rule I once read was, make a tight fist with your hand for 10 seconds and see the color on your fingers. That is the color you want to match.

The blushes normally are in powder compact or cream. Thumb of rule says- powder blushes are for people wit oily skin and cream ones for those with dry skin. You can make your own rules if you can make the product work for you. I have dry skin and I feel cream blushes just do not blend well on dry skin. So I like powder blushes. I can blend them the way I like it.

For application, take a nice fluffy blush brush, swirl it in the powder pan, tap off the excess (always do this for blushes, or else where you put your brush would have SOOO much color and blending blushes to lighter color is not easy, you can always add more) and swipe it upwards on the apple of the cheeks or side of your face. The blush application varies with face shape too.

For a cream blush, put some on your finger or a brush and apply.

Make a fish face to find the apples of your cheeks and start applying from center to front and then to back. Do not smile to find apples of your cheeks. You can use small round motion to blend the blush. Do not use straight swipes on the sides of your face, because this is not how we blush naturally. Do not take the round circles too high or too low.

Almost every brand in India has their line of blushes. Of course MAC is my favourite and they have a huge range of colors that you can try. The Morphe Brushes blush palette(9B) is amazing and you get like 9 colors, most of which are perfect for Indian skin colors. NARS has very good blushes but they are hard to get in India right now. Sephora has many good brands that have their blush lines that have colors complimenting our skin color.

Below are some pictures to show you blush application depending upon the face you have. If you don’t know your face shape, there are thousands of good articles on internet to help you.

Bronzers Available in India

What is a bronzer and I am an Indian, why do I need one, I am already tanned? Isn’t it for people who don’t get enough sun and want to look tanned. Well, yes and no. Yes, its for you to look tanned and no its not only for lighter complexion people to look tanned.

The deal is when you apply your base and foundation and powder up your face, your face looses its depth. It looks a flat one color, the color of your face of course, but very flat. And a bonzer gives you that “lived in” look in your makeup. You add a bit of color to your face by bronzing it where the sun naturally hits your face when you are tanned. You can bronze your face to bring more structure to it like defining hollows of your face under your cheek bones, shade your jaw bone to give a strong,structured jaw appearance.

Bonzer and for that matter highlighter and contouring are techniques to bring out features of your face structure that you have (or don’t have and wish to have) instead of a flat looking face.

I would typically apply it to the center of my forehead (near hairline), temples, side of my face, on and under jaw line and also under my cheeks, on under my collar bone and decollatage for that natural tanned look. Its not supposed to make you look brown, dusty or orange, but naturally bronzy & sun-kissed.

While selecting the shade of bronzer don’t look for the darkest shade assuming Indian women are already tanned. Look for a shade darker than your skin, at most 2 shades dark. Look for warm tones shades rather than cool tones shades. Don’t pick shades that have a grey undertone in them (it will in all probability be for contouring). And lastly bronzing powder and contouring powders ARE NOT THE SAME. So when you are looking for bronzer, only look for bronzer. We will talk about contouring powders when we get to contouring.

Bronzers should be matt, many a times bronzers have some shimmer in them. If you are planning on wearing this on a regular basis go for a matt one. When you are looking for that J Lo bronze shimmery goddess look, find yourself a bronzer with shimmer.

For application take a big powder brush, swirl in the product, tap off the excess and apply it on the face with a light hand.

There are a few brands available in India that have bronzers in their makeup line.

Diorskin Nude Air

Stila Sun Bronzing Powder

Benefit Hoola Bronzer

The Body Shop Blush on Bronze

MAC Bronzer

Clinique True Bronze

Guerlain Terracotta Bonzing Powder

Shisheido Bronzer

Makeup Revolution London Bronzer

NYX Bronzer

The products mentioned in this blog can be purchased from www.amazon.in, www.nykaa.com, www.beautybay.com. These sites ship to India. You can also find them in the NewU stores. A lot of the brands mentioned have their stores in malls or Lifestyle or Shopperstop.

Setting Powders

Once you have put color correctors, foundation and concealer on your face, next steep is to set that beautiful well blended creation of yours. You need a setting powder. This could be a loose powder or a pressed powder compact. These should be very finely milled especially what you use to set your under eye makeup.

The setting powders’ sole purpose is to set and preserve your face base and not necessarily add any converage. So the setting powder should either be transparent, translucent, no color, or the shade of your foundation or at best one shade lighter than your foundation color.

You can use a brush or a powder puff to set your foundation with powder. Only use a very light dusting of it.

Some of the very good loose setting powders available in India are:

Estee Lauder Lucidity loose powder, Revlon Skin Lights face illuminator powder, NYXloose powder (transparent), Inglot transparent powder, MAC prep & prime finishing powder, MAC Select sheer loose powder, Natio Translucent loose powder.

Most of these brands make loose powders in color also, just go to a counter and color match yourself.

About pressed powder compacts, every brand has one and in many many shades. Again based on your skin type and skin color, pick up the right one for you. Even if you have dry skin, looking at the weather in India, set your base makeup even if you just set your t-zone. You can use a makeup setting spray in the end to get rid of the powdery look. We will talk more about this in setting sprays.

The products mentioned in this blog can be purchased from www.amazon.in, www.nykaa.com, www.beautybay.com. These sites ship to India. You can also find them in the NewU stores. A lot of the brands mentioned have their stores in malls or Lifestyle or Shopperstop.

Color Correctors & Concealers in India

Any flawless makeup face is cleverly covered with concealers or color correctors to hide those pesky spots and blemishes and redness and dark circles that appear on face. You would typically color correct before applying foundation and apply concealer after applying foundation. Concealers and certain color correctors are also used to brighten & highlight the face too.

What the hell is color correcting? Its a very happening trend on youtube and with makeup brands these days. Every brand is coming out with correctors for different problem areas. Below is a simple chart to explain color correction.

The principle is as follows: secondary colors neutralize primary colors. These are marked opposite each other on this wheel. So if you have redness on your face, a corrector in color green with hide that. For those dark circles (which is basically blueness), orange color will hide those and for dull yellow/sallow face, a purple color will hide that. See the chart below, where the colors overlap you get a neutralizing effect.

Color correctors come in various shades like for dark circles the corrector shades vary between orange, peach & pink depending upon the skin color.

Brands like NYX, MAC, Inglot, Revlon Photoready, Smashbox, Costal Scents, ELF, City Color, LA Girl, Bobbi Brown, MUA, Freedom Pro Correct Palette are some of the brands available in India that make color correctors. Many have individual pots of different color so you can buy the ones you need, many have palette in which you get 4-6 colors including 1-2 concealers. The color correctors are quite heavy duty and can completely cover the most stubborn or deep pigmentation/scars. 

I also wrote about color correcting primers in myblog on primers available in India.

Now on to concealers. Concealers also achieve similar results but are milder I would say. In that also you get cream and liquid concealers, cream ones being thicker thus providing higher coverage versus the liquid version. When selecting a concealer for concealing purpose choose a shade darker than your skin color.

Concealers are also used for highlighting the face, like under eyes, nose, forehead, chin especially the liquid concealers since they blend better. When choosing concealer for highlighting always select a color lighter than your skin color. Basic principle of face makeup, the outer perimeter of your face, where the sun would hit you, would be a bit tan and middle of your face would be comparatively lighter. This is achieved by highlighting and bronzing & contouring. We will talk in detail about these when we get to highlighting and contouring products.

Every brand makes concealers drugstore and high end. Some concealers I use and have liked for the longest time are from MAC, L’Oreal True Match, Inglot AMC Concealer, Maybelline Fit Me, Maybelline Dream Lumi. Depending upon your skin type – oily, dry select your concealer.

The products mentioned in this blog can be purchased from www.amaon.in, www.nykaa.com, www.beautybay.com. These sites ship to India. You can also find them in the NewU stores. A lot of the brands mentioned have their stores in malls or Lifestyle or Shopperstop.

Applying Foundation

Now that you know how to select a foundation and how to buy a foundation, lets talk about a few ways of applying foundations. The following application techniques are applicable to all kind of foundations – cream, gel, liquid, powder.

The brushes or tools could vary and I have talked about tools and brushes in my blog with same name. You can either use a brush or a beauty blender to buff, stipple, blend the foundation on face. You can use a foundation brush or even your clean fingers to apply the product but ALWAYS use a brush/tool to blend the foundation for an even airbrushed look.

When blending foundation, always use downward strokes on your face for 2 reasons, its in the direction of the fine hair on your face, so by working it down you are not raising those little hair and other reason being, you don’t want the foundation to be absorbed in your pores. Any product that you want absorbed in the skin like moisturizers you want to work those upwards.

For a fuller foundation coverage, the foundation could be a full coverage and when you blend it, use stippling motion (up and down bouncing motion) with your kabuki brush or beauty blender. If you have medium coverage foundation you will need to layer it more than once. In order for the numerous layer to not look cakey, buff in the first layer in circular motion or downward strokes and then stipple the second or last layer. Buy stippling multiple layer it will end up looking cakey as soon as you set it with a powder. By buffing one layer you are pushing the product in the skin giving a more natural look.

For medium to sheer coverage on your face, buff the product in, blend it with a brush using circular motion or downward strokes on your face. Using circular motion with a kabuki brush causes bit of exfoliation, so if you have dry skin do not push the brush very hard on the face and use very light strokes or just don’t use circular motion.

You would do the same with a beauty blender also, for a more coverage stipple it on your face, for a more sheer/natural coverage swipe it on your face in downward strokes.

There is a very good video I saw yesterday on youtube by famous MUAs Simply Sona & Melissa Alatorre that talks about do’s and don’t of foundation. I will link it if you want to see beauty gurus talking about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IaH-a3Rp2o