Make-up a sparkle

As we gear up towards the festive season, you will have hopefully had some facials done regularly, eyelashes semi-permanently lifted and curled at your beauty salon, and maybe some hair highlights or lowlights with possibly a good styled cut at the hairdressers. So now let’s concentrate on make-up matters, and looking absolutely sparkling and fabulous!
Make-up works better on super exfoliated skin because all the dead skin cells have been removed and it reveals a beautifully refreshed, smooth skin surface of fresh new skin cells. So after a good toner and moisturiser, the skin should have the perfect canvas for the make-up artistry.

Concealer
Apply some concealer to dark or blemished areas such as under eye, possibly eyelid or chin area; also if the laughter lines around the mouth area are deep, a line of concealer down the line can create a plumper appearance. Any dark pigmentation can also be covered with concealer. Applying concealer around the eyelid and the under-brow area helps to create a light colour base area for applying any eyeshadow, as well as helping the eyeshadow adhere better, so it can work as a primer. The concealer should be slightly lighter in shade than your actual skin colour, but it does have to be the right tone to your natural skin tone, for example, if you have a pink or beige skin tone, that needs to match or it will look odd, even when foundation goes on top.

Foundation
Use a mineral foundation colour that is as close to your own skin shade and tone as possible – this will give the most natural appearance as it can be applied on the areas that actually require it and not all over the face to look as though it is caked on and can reveal some of the natural flawless areas that may be visible. The most common areas that don’t need any cover are the forehead, top of cheek and nose area. With the right shade and tone of foundation, along with some good blending in work using a teardrop sponge, it should blend superbly. The teardrop sponge is perfect as the pointed top works well with blending in the concealer, whilst the larger rounded end is great for blending in the foundation and turning around a little to use it on the colour of both concealer and foundation together. Get this foundation part right and it can look so natural.

Eyeliner
Use a liquid eyeliner for those alluring eyes that just create drama. Use a black or charcoal grey eyeliner, find one that you can work with easily and draw a line two thirds in from the outer corner of the eye, starting with a thin line and gradually get thicker as you draw outwards and upwards, and go a little beyond the actual corner end of the eye itself, whilst holding the brow upwards at the same time. Holding the brow upwards and outwards allows for gravity and keeps the drawn line from being drawn and dropping downwards. Use the same hold of eyebrow for drawing a line under the eye area, two thirds in from the outer corner of the eye. Now choose a different colour to draw on the inner corner of the eye; if you want real attention focus to the eye area, use a strong colour like a bright blue, or go for a navy or plum – you can also choose a glitter eyeliner to add that little extra Christmas sparkle.

Eyeshadow
A lot depends on eye shape for real eyeshadow work to be done correctly to create that professional artistry, but one simple little method that most can get away with, is with a little basic use of a soft pencil eye liner drawn slightly above the liquid eyeliner and with use of the same eyebrow holding method. Working from the outer corner of the eye, a third in, draw upwards to the end of the previous liquid liner drawn with the pencil, then using a smudger, often at the end of pencil eyeliners, just smudge inwards and upwards gently to give an illusion of smoky eye shading. Use a colour of your choice – charcoal grey, wine, navy or dark brown for a more natural looking eye shadow. Use a touch of highlighter colour dabbed, literally just dabbed, just under the brow and on the eyelid to finish off in a cream, silver or gold shade, according to your choice of pencil and eyeliner choice, so that colours work well together.

Mascara
Use a mascara that you know works well for you, creates the desired lash that you like, wash off or waterproof, curled and lifting. Thin coats applied over each other works better than one big, thick, clumpy coat. Black or dark brown works great.

Lipstick
Use a strong colour liquid lipstick stain that dries and stays put as your liner on the full outer shape of your lips, and then use a lighter shade for the centre to create a plump look. Add some lip balm to compliment with softness and shine for that luscious lip lustre. If you have not used any glitter on the eye area, you can use a little in the centre of the lips.
If no glitter has been added to eyes or lips, a little glitter can be added to the cheek area or to some hair gel or mousse and applied to the hair.

A glowing Merry Christmas!

Love and Sparkles
Samsara x

www.samsarabellydancer.co.uk
Facebook: Samsara Kyriakou