Las Vegas make over

Jacob treated me to a makeup lesson at the spa in Treasure Island. Although I’ve had my make up done before, this time I feel like I walked away with some very usable tips that I’ll be putting into practice right away.

I thought I’d share the things she told me, if only to help me remember them for the future.

Skin:

First, moisturize. Then apply a foundation. Powder is not necessary, nor are sponges to apply, but you can use them if you like. You can use your fingers to dot a small amount all over your face.

She, for the first time I’ve ever heard, did not recommend concealer, saying it’s too thick. She uses something called “paint” or just powders her undereyes.

Cheeks:

Next, lightly brush bronzer on the hollows of your cheeks and all over your face for a sunkissed look. You can vary the amount for the drama of the look.

Brows:

You should darken your brows and fill them in with a brown eyeshadow.

Eyes:

I was informed that eyeliner is not a “natural” look, which is what I originally requested, so I told her I want a step beyond natural. She lightly drew around my eye with a pencil, then softened the line with brown eye shadow. Softening the line is really important. It needs to look like it just blends into the eye shadow.

For the lid, she spread a medium light color all over the lid up to the eyebrow. Then she hi-lighted the crease with a darker shade, and put a really light color just under the brow and at the corners. She blended it all so you couldn’t see a contrast between the colors. If it’s too dark or dramatic, you can go over it with a lighter color to soften the look. And if you want the eyes to really “pop” you can put a light color on the lid.

I asked for a trick to help the fact that my eyes are too close together, and she recommended putting a light shade (like white) on the bridge of the nose between the eyes.

You can use two different types of mascara to make the lashes look thicker. Do both the top and the bottom lashes in a back and forth motion to make them look thicker. Because my eyelash curler I got in China broke, I got a tiny one from Sephora to curl and separate the lashes before putting on mascara.

For green eyes, she recommended staying away from blues and pinks and sticking with greens, browns, and purples (which is unfortunate—I have a lot of pinks. Oh well).

Lips:

Stay away from the dark lip liner and light lipstick-it’s too 80s. Here is my new lip shade:

Le Metier de beaute sheer brilliance lip gloss.

If you go with a more neutral color on your lips, you can do more dramatic things with your eyes.

The tools…

The most important thing I learned was choosing the right brushes. I got a new set from Sephora. I don’t know if it’s necessary to pay extra for nice brushes (I could have got similar ones at Walgreens) but I am liking my Sephora brushes quite a lot.

Without brushes, it’s really difficult to blend correctly. I learned the short haired brush is ideal for highlighting, and the eyeliner brush is ideal for adding eyeshadow on top of eyeliner.

This lesson was a great help for a makeup-clueless girl! I really liked it because she made it seem easy to replicate, and most important of all Jacob loved the finished product.