First, I'd like to thank all of you who read my initial blog post and left such nice comments on my Facebook page. Now, I would like to ask you to comment on the blog page, as well. If you loved it/hated it/wish my laptop would explode, whatever - let me know what you think. I would like this blog to be interesting and funny, and for that I want to enlist your help. Please ask questions, make suggestions on what you would like to read about and feel free to let me know if you don't agree ( I may not care much, but will certainly act like I do).
I would like to use today's post to discuss some of my feelings about makeup and beauty. Makeup has been my passion for many years. I knew I wanted to be a makeup artist when I was 14. I had skipped school and was home watching TV, when world-famous makeup artist George Masters came on, took a guest on the show and in less than an hour had transformed her from drab to pretty fabulous. The hair part didn't interest me, but I loved the transformation I saw from the makeup. I knew then that I wanted to do that. However, it was 1969 (don't hurt yourself counting, I'm 56) and I was in Alabama, so I thought I had as much chance of doing that as I did running away to Oz w/Dorothy - my back-up plan. BTW - red glitter shoes w/a blue gingham dress? Were there no gay people on that set?
Fast forward to the late 70's - I had moved to NYC, worked in a makeup shop on Madison Avenue, started to get some celebrity clients, etc. But I missed the South, so I moved to Atlanta. While working in a salon there George Masters came to do a personal appearance. I was finally going to meet the person that inspired me to choose this as a career. Little did I know that his assistant would quit and George would ask me to take his place. Duh, yeah! We traveled and worked together for several years until I decided there was more to life than hotels and airports. So, I settled in New Orleans in the 80's and fell immediately in love with this crazy, amazing place. This is home.
People ask where I went to makeup school. I don't think there were any when I started. I learned at the side of one of the all-time greats. George taught me things that I have never seen anyone else do and for that I will always be grateful. I would love to thank him in person, but he passed away in the mid 90's. Through my time working with him, I learned to love clean, simple makeup that focused the attention on the face, not the products. That has not changed. He also taught me how important the brows are to a face and the huge difference you can make by shaping them correctly. It is quite possibly the single most important thing you can do to improve your look. Discuss among yourselves.
OK, let's talk about some makeup,eh? I carry many products in my shop; there will be times that I include some of them in the discussion(s) and there will be times that I do not. I will always let you know if I sell something, just for the sake of full disclosure. First, let's all say how much we love YSL's Touche E'clat. I don't agree with the company's selling it as a concealer, to me it is more of a highlighter. You can hide darkness several ways: by covering with a color that matches your skin as closely as possible ( I use and sell Keromask, which we will talk about another day), color-correct/highlight with powder - Shu Uemura's M100 shadow is the greatest for this - just brush under the eye after everything else is done; or reflect back a brighter, "lit-up" surface by highlighting w/ a sheer, creamy formula - Touche E'clat. If you take this product and dot under the eyes, on the top of the cheekbone, up to the hairline, those hateful lines between the nose and mouth and in a "T" down the center of the face, then blend w/your foundation brush (you'd better be using one!), you will create a glow that looks really fresh and healthy. Again, I don't feel it takes the place of concealer, but when some of your darkness is due to bone structure, as with a recessed eye socket, adding this is the way to go. It appears to bring forward any areas you highlight with it. This is a technique (Chiaroscuro) that has been credited to both Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo - light comes forward, dark recedes. It is why we find black and white photography so beautiful...the play off of the dark and light along with the countless gray areas. Makeup is the same way - that is how we "re-shape and balance" a face. Just remember, as with almost all good makeup, a little goes a long way, you can always add, removing when you've put too much is an entirely different thing.
Today's Wisdom:
If you only choose to do a little makeup, concealer, lips and mascara, for instance, please get things that match well. If you're just going to wear a few products, all the more reason for them to be the right ones.
Hope you got something out of today's post. Let me know.
Until next time....
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