Makeover: Sharon's Wedding.

It's been ages since I did a makeover, eh?  Well, this one is from a while ago too, but I thought I'd show it to you now.  Sharon's appeared on the blog a couple of times since it started, and she's a good friend, so, when she asked me to do her wedding makeup last year, I couldn't really say no.  Then, when I found out she was getting married at the Houses of Parliament, and there was going to be a beauty editor of a national daily newspaper present, I had an attack of the collywobbles, I won't deny it.  But, I bit the bullet and got on with it, despite being a little out of practice, and here are the results:

I wanted her to glow, with beautiful, flawless skin, and to look like all she'd done was added a slick of red lipstick to her lips.  Sharon doesn't normally wear much makeup at all, and I didn't want her to look too "overdone". 

Thank you, Sharon, for letting me share the photos of your special day.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Makeover: Laura

Laura got married yesterday, but way back in February she asked me for some ideas for her wedding makeover.  Here's what we came up with.

Please welcome Laura:

Laura was a little too young to remember Prisoner Cell Block H, hence the rather cheery "before" pic this week.  As always we start with the foundation.  Laura is very pale (and yet had been recently colour "matched" as an NC30 by a MAC assistant who obviously needs their eyes testing, and possibly a change of career), we decided to use Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in 51 Light Vanilla instead, which is a great demi-matte foundation which lasts a whole day, and leaves a healthy glow:

This gave us a great canvas to work from, and we decided to concentrate on the eyes.  In order to make whatever we applied last for the whole day, I used Benefit Creaseless Cream in RSVP as the base for the colour.  A lovely shimmering champagne shade, this does NOT budge, and is great for wedding makeups.

I then went on and added a little Bobbi Brown colours from the chocolate palette to define the eye (this palette doesn't suit me at all, but it's stunningly versatile on other people, I've found):

I lined the eyes - very lightly - with the same shade, and then added Bourjois Ultra Care mascara to define those pretty lashes:

To add some colour, and a little bridal glow, we brushed a little of the deepest shade of Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips in Natural on the cheekbones, then used the lightest shades to highlight:

All that is missing now is a touch of lipgloss.  We used Bobbi Brown in Rose Sugar, and the look was complete, here's the blushing bride!

And here's the before'n'after:

I hope everything went well yesterday for you Laura, and I wish you and Kris every happiness in your new life together!

Makeover: Helen S

 Gosh, it's been a few weeks since I posted a makeover, I'm really sorry! I hope you'll all make Helen very welcome, she's a great friend of mine, and we've been makeup shopping A Lot over the years. Mainly because it took me a very long time to cure Helen of her frosted mauve lipstick fetish .... Here she is, all fresh-faced, and only slightly apprehensive about what the day is going to bring.

Helen popped along on Valentines Day for some chocolate, a girly gossip and a brand new look, we've worked on her "polished neutrals" for work before now, but this time Helen wanted something completely different and dramatic, suitable for a night out.  Having a look through both our makeup collections, we thought grey would be a great option to bring out the beautiful brown of Helen's eyes.  But, as always, before that, we started with the base, which in Helen's case was a mix of Bobbi Brown tinted moisturiser, and Mac Studio Fix powder:

Initially we had decided on Bourjois Liquid eyeshadow in Platinum Gris, but once it was on the skin, I realised that although it was certainly dramatic, it really wasn't dramatic in the right kind of way. So, immediately after applying it, we took it back off.

We replaced it with Benefit Creaseless Cream in Skinny Jeans, which has long been a favourite eyeshadow of mine, it's slightly more pewter, and as such tends to be a little more flattering on pale-olive skintones.

A dramatic evening look seems to demand lots of eyeliner, so we took the skinny jeans around the eye, and used a little black liner to define the top row of lashes.  Next stop, mascara:

We used Bourjois Ultra Care mascara - which is one of my all-time faves for makeovers -  and here we also added a pop of Bourjois Rose Coup de Foudre blush to Helen's cheekbones. Helen had never worn mascara before, but I'm reliably informed she's been out and bought one now!

 Breaking all my own rules (I wouldn't normally put pink with this look, but we were going for different) a slick of Lipstick Queen's 15 Minutes of Fame gloss in Minute 3 finishes off the look,and Helen's all ready to party!


















Here's the before and after:

Makeover: Isobel

Another very quick makeover this week, featuring the lovely Isobel, who came to visit Chez Lippie recently.
Meet Isobel:

Isobel wanted a very simple evening look.  One that looked polished, and elegant, but that wasn’t too dramatic.  We had a chat about colours, and discovered that muddy purples were the order of the day.
As ever, we start with the base.  Now, Isobel is 60 years old, and has skin that many a thirty- or forty-something would envy, barely any pores, and very minimal lines, I was in awe!  With this in mind, we used a very, very light base of Benefit You Rebel in Lite:
Then, onto the eyes.  We wanted to make them the focus of the look, so we picked out a Laura Mercier eyeshadow (one of my own personal favourites) in Twilight, and used that all around the eyes:
I also used the same shade as a liner – applied with a liner brush – and followed this with a touch of Bourjois Ultra care mascara in black:


To highlight those lovely cheekbones, I used Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips as both a blush and a highlight.  I love these US-only versions of Bobbi Brown’s shimmer bricks, the quality is astonishing for a “drugstore” product, and they’re very flattering.

I added a touch of lipstick (sorry, very, very sorry, I can’t remember which one) and used MAC Behold eyeshadow to darken Isobel’s eyebrows a touch, for added definition.
Here’s the before and after:

Apologies – as always – for the terrible photographs in this makeover, this was a nighttime makeover, and we struggled with the lighting.
Thank you, Isobel for taking part, it was great fun, and I really hope you enjoyed your new look!

Mini Makeover - Genna

No time for a proper makeover this week - genuinely things are INSANE here at Get Lippie at the moment, but normal service will be resumed soon, I promise!

Last time Genna appeared on this page, we turned her into a California beach babe:

  This time, something a little more traditionally glam:

A smokey eye with a nude lip.  I used a pink Milani palette (more about that later this week) and MAC eyeshadow in Beauty Marked, alongside Bourjois Clubbing liquid liner, for a glittery, pinkish smokey look. It was a look we created for a party last night, hence no more in-depth photos.

What do you think, would you like to see a step by step on this look?

Makeover: Rebecca

I recently put out a call on my blog for volunteers for makeovers, and the lovely Rebecca from Le Salon de Beaute had volunteered almost before I’d finished writing the post!  Take a look at her blog if you get a chance, it’s a lovely one, and I’m a big fan.
Anyway, this is Rebecca refusing to give me her best “Prisoner Cell Block H” impression.
I was a bit nervous during this makeover, as Rebecca is a talented makeup artist in her own right, so I was really putting my amateur skills to the test here.
As always, we start with the base.  Rebecca has very pale skin, and I had a little trouble matching her up with my small foundation supply, but the nearest match we came up with was – once again – Max Factor Seamless in Porcelain:

It’s evened out her skintone well (it’s a foundation I use a LOT), but I can’t help thinking it’s  just a touch too warm on Rebecca’s skin.
We had a fun time picking out some colours to use, and eventually we decided to do something a bit different, and went for a pink and burgundy smokey eye.  As a colour wash, I used ELF’s Shimmering Facial Whip in Pink Lemonade:

It’s a lovely soft pink shade that you can use anywhere on your face, and it makes a nice eyeshadow base too. 
It’s not as scarily bright as you might think on the eyes, and I thought it was a lovely, brightening shade.  In order to smoke it out, I used Korres 77s eyeshadow in plum, which is a lovely  burgundy, and an eyeshadow that I use very often.  I used it as a liner, and to define the outer V of the mobile eyelid and into the crease:
I then finished off the eyes with a sweep of Bourjois Ultra Care mascara (full review of that coming soon!) and added a little of MAX lipgloss in VI to Rebecca’s lips:

I think she liked it:


Here’s the before and after: 

Thanks so much for taking part, Rebecca! It was lots and lots of fun!

Makeover: Helen H

I love Sundays at Lippie Towers, every week there's a different person here for a makeover, and it's always fun figuring out how a person wants to look, and seeing if I can recreate that look for them.  Please meet Helen:

Two Helens in two weeks!  Helen is a very pretty girl, who wanted to learn more about applying foundation, and using colour.  As you'll see, we discovered that Helen's favourite colour is in fact, black, so we mainly used that ...

As always, we start with the base, for this makeover, we used Max Factor Seamless foundation in porcelain, and used a touch of Bare Escentuals in bisque as a concealer on those areas that needed it:

This has evened her skintone beautifully. We were inspired by a  picture of Julia Roberts wearing a smokey eye designed by Kevyn Aucoin:

 

 

And so we went on to define Helen's eyes with a mixture of 2 True number 9 shadow, and Rimmel Jet Black eyeshadow.  First we used 2 True as a colour-was over the whole eyelid area:

The we defined the crease with Rimmel Jet Black, and went on to use that as an eyeliner too:

 

 

Because Helen's brows are a little sparse, I then went on and filled them in with a little Smashbox brow fix in brunette, and added a little Bourjois mascara:

 

 

Then, to finish, I defined those gorgeous cheekbones with a little Ilamasqua blush in Rumour, and covered her lips with Chanel Rouge Allure in No.1: Delight:

Here's the before'n'after:

 

 

A slightly more wearble version of the Julia Roberts look, but achieved with a minimum of products and fuss.  Thanks for taking part, Helen!