Isla always makes me laugh. She’s definitely one of  the funniest woman I’ve ever worked with, and I love that she can crack up the room with a joke, a story, or simply a look.

During the many days of press for one of the recent films in which she stars – The Great Gatsby – I convinced her that she needed to branch out from her usual nude lip color because she looks  FANTASTIC in a bold lip.  From that day forward, she let me experiment, painting her mouth with bright pinks, deep berries, and bold reds.  Since then, every time I arrive to get her ready to walk a red carpet, shoot a picture for a magazine or make an appearance on TV, she points to the outfit she’ll be wearing and says with an excited smile: what do you think? Should we do a lip?

For the shoot above, however, we opted for a more neutral palette, one that every woman can feel beautiful wearing, and easily accomplish on herself . This is what I used:

ON HER EYES

To make her brown eyes smolder, I pressed two shades of shadow from Neal’s Yard Remedies cosmetics line in Barley and Cocoa, and into the inner corners I lightly pressed Kjaer Weis shadow in Cloud Nine to add even more dimension.

I used Dr. Hauschka Kajal eyeliner in 07, Mellow Sienna Brown, (which was just a seasonal release, so I apologize – it may be hard to find if you don’t want to order it through the link above) to smudge along the inside of her lash line, on both the top and the bottom.

On her lashes I used multiple coats of Korres mascara in Obsidian Black.

TO READ THE REST OF THIS HOW-TO, PLEASE CLICK THROUGH TO ONE OF THE BEST ONLINE MAGAZINES I KNOW: 

thechalkboardmag.com

talk to you soon! xxx

Susan is one of those women who is constantly busy doing interesting things, with interesting people, for interesting causes. I always learn something about the humanitarian efforts around town and around the world when I see her. I can’t say I’ve learned how to be a great ping pong player since I’ve known her, but I have tried my hand at it while at her well-known ping pong club, Spin.

One thing I have learned (through some trial and error, I’ll admit) is to use about 80% cream makeup products on Susan, relying on powder only for eyeshadow – which is always blended well and smeared along the edge with my finger or a q-tip -and the teeniest little bit of translucent powder on her T-zone to set her foundation. This months’ Allure Magazine has a great article complete with makeup tips and tricks from makeup artists on how to look your most youthful, which aren’t really applicable to the youngest models with whom I work, but for anyone in their very late twenties on up, I think these are some good rules to follow.  I see Susan again next week and I’ll try to do a different look on her and blog about it soon, complete with a product shopping list. Did I mention that my mom and Susan bear a striking resemblance to one another?

This is what I used on Susan in the picture above:

Darphin Organic Jasmine Aromatic Care Oil (Smells delicious!)

Darphin Predermine Densifying Anti-Wrinkle Cream for Normal Skin (seals in the oil I just applied)

(I allow the above to settle into the skin for a few minutes before starting the foundation)

 Armani Face Fabric Foundation, SPF 12, This stuff will not settle into fine lines. I apply it very sparingly  – starting in the middle of her face and tapering off the further I get from the center – first with Armani’s natural bristle foundation brush, and then lightly tapped into perfect submission with the Beauty Blender, a perfectly textured and shaped sponge (that was just thoroughly soaked and squeezed dry in a towel)

MAC eyeliner in Teddy – one of the best in brown/black/gold (smudge-able and long wearing). Drawn along both top and bottom lashes and dotted inside the lash line, and then smudged with a thin synthetic brush to create no hard edges.

Lancome Color Design Quad Eye Shadow in Showstopper Style (this is the best set of shadows I’ve found that works well on so many different skin tones). I generally don’t use the lightest shimmery shadow in this quad (four different eyeshadow colors in one palette) on women over 45, as the highlight in the corner of the eye often looks overdone. Instead I use the tan shimmer all over her lid but not above the crease, as well as very softly under the bottom lashes before the liner, smudged with a q-tip.

Lancome Color Design Sensational Effects Eye Shadow Smooth Hold Matte in Mochaccino, which is a soft taupe-brown, which I use lightly along the outer edge of the lashes and gently fade towards the outer corner of her lid

Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara in Very Black – enough to seriously coat the upper lashes

Kjaer Weis Cream Blush in Blossoming (one of the most incredible all natural  – 95% organic – makeup lines on the market. added bonus: beautiful refillable containers) I like to apply with a soft synthetic brush and then blend with the sponge in small taps.

Laura Mercier Lip Liner in Baby Lips – I first line her lips, and then fill them in with the pencil to help the color stay longer and appear more intensely.

Laura Mercier Creme Lip Colour in Tea Rose

Dr. Haushka Lip Balm in a pot, applied on top for a little added shine without any of the stickiness or reflectiveness sometimes inherent in lipgloss.

There’s been a lot of buzz about lip stains over the past few years. I love them for times when I’m not going to be with my client, after our initial hour together, to check that her lipstick hasn’t smudged or faded. You can use them with a lip balm, allowing just their color to show, or layer a lipstick over top for increased intensity of color.

On two separate occasions last week I used a lip stain from Josie Maran called Jitterbug. Both days Julianne was wearing a black top so I thought it would be fun to brighten up the look with a great, vibrant lip color. We loved how it looked so much that we decided to use it again the next day. I love putting hot pink on a pale, pinky-skin-tone’d redhead. Jitterbug is a really intensely bright hot pink, and the beauty blog world was all a-buzz with commentary on how great she looked wearing it.

Using a lip stain requires some prep that you’re likely not used to if you normally wear a lipstick or gloss. These steps are very important, or you’ll lose both the beauty, as well as the effectiveness of the product.

1. Gently exfoliate your lips prior to application. This should be done EVERY day (another post will follow on this because it’s so often overlooked, and really so necessary). The quick and easy way to do this is towards the end of your shower, use a washcloth, a soft toothbrush, or even the pads of your fingers to gently remove the dead, scaly skin that collects on the lips. EVERYONE should do this – men, too.  When I go to get someone ready to walk the red carpet I start our session with a lip exfoliation by handing them an organic baby wipe and having them rub it gently in small circular motions over their lips.
2. Generously apply a NON-PETROLEUM lip balm. This is where I stand on the whole lip balm thing: petroleum and petrolatum do a great job sealing in moisture if it’s there already. However, most of us have dry lips and need to add moisture, rather than just sealing the skin. (Plus, do you know where petroleum comes from? Yuck. That’ll be for another post, as well). Choose a lip balm that’s formulated with shea butter, beeswax, honey, or any other natural oil – anything natural that will absorb and hydrate is what makes sense to me.  Don’t you notice that when you use a lip balm with a petroleum base, you have to reapply just as soon as that slick feeling goes away? Your lips deserve better!
3.  Very important: Once the non-petroleum lip balm has had a few minutes to absorb, kiss the back of your hand, or a tissue (or give it to another set of dry lips via a kiss), and remove any trace of it.
4.  There are two styles (in my opinion) to lip stain application.
   a. For a more natural look: Start staining the center of the lips and then fade towards the edges.
   b. For a more deliberate, constructed look, outline the lips (you can even give yourself a little extra help along the edges if you want a more full look, particularly on the cupids bow and along the top edge) and then fill in the center.
   Be careful to stay within the lines since these pigments really do stain.
5. Finish with a lip balm that you’ll put in your pocket and reapply as needed. You can also choose to use a gloss if you want more shine.
6. Enjoy touch-up free, kissable lips, with color that lasts for hours and hours!

Side note: I like Josie Maran’s lip stain line because the colors are intense, they’re not tested on animals, they’re paraben-free, they’re fragrance-free, and the packaging is mostly recyclable.

Side note #2: If you accidentally get the lip stain coated with lip balm it will clog up the felt tip. If this happens, gently press the tip into a slightly damp, warm wash cloth. It should do the trick.

Side note #3: The only drawback is that the few formulations I’ve tried have dried out within the tube/pen container thing pretty quickly, making them one of those items you use a few times and then return to find it too dried up to use again. Maybe there’s a trick I’m missing to bring them back to life that’s not listed on any website?