My Latest Makeup Attempt

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

http://www.lauras-playground.com/forums/uploads/gallery_19475_1544_30698.jpg

I've got an appletini and I'm ready for some brutal honesty. What am I doing wrong...

[Guest angels wings]

I would add some blended colours for your eye shadow and black eyeliner to bring your eyes out more. The next thing maybe a lip liner makes your lips look more shapely. With your hair maybe try a fringe to the side . Hope that helps . Keep smiling lovey

Angel

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

I would add some blended colours for your eye shadow and black eyeliner to bring your eyes out more. The next thing maybe a lip liner makes your lips look more shapely. With your hair maybe try a fringe to the side

Hmm.. what do you mean by blended colors? Lip liner? should that be a darker or lighter tint than the lipstick? Fringe to the side? Can you give me a link to a pic demonstrating that I don't know what you mean.

Thank you.

[VickySGV]

The front edge of any hair piece (wig or wiglet) goes right at the edge of the non-receeded hair line. The front of the wig cap does not meet you eyebrows. A lip liner pencil the same or just a tiny bit darker shade will work nicely, just be sure to color inside the lines with the lipstick. Fringe is another name for bangs, and you will do better with an off center part on the hair, and the bangs swept toward the side your face away from the hair part. (Another way to say what Angel did). To blend colors, put a line of one color on your eye lid, and another darker shade in the crease, and overlap them some what, the overlap is the "blend" part of the art work.

[Michelle 2010]

Hi MsG,

its good for a woman to assess her strengths and weaknesses in terms of a "game plan " for how to use makeup.

If you look at any makeup ads in a decent magazine such as LHJ or Redbook (sorry, don't go to Teen or Cosmo...), you will note that no eye shadow is uniform in color between the eyebrow and eyelid. In your case the upper eye area is prominent and the lid itself is not seen (in this picture). Therefore you want to eliminate the two dimensional look of the upper area by shading the middle and outer part slightly darker moving away from the nose. the lid itself is not seen in the photo, but no doubt is seen IRL as you move, talk etc. The difference in color between lid and upper area should not be garish or loud, rather subtle and part of a theme, probably earthtones.

It looks like some foundation may have been used. That should be rebalanced through the use of blush, subtly applied. There is info an the internet as to whether you should use peach, pink etc based on skintone. Remember, its easier to add than remove... We ladies new at this art do not want to be mistaken for clowns so it is important to not put big round pink spots on our cheeks, right? Subtly is the key word...

The lipstick is nice. I think they lipliner comments are intended to enhance what is already a strong point for you. Definition and shape... again, follow the natural line... none of us will ever look like Angelina Joliee with our lipsticks.

Now, the hair...

What they are saying is that the wig is sitting too far forward on your head, darling. It should be slid back until it sits where your real hair either is or used to be. Your avatar photo appears to have it placed properly.

The main thing to remember about the whole wonderful world of makeup and hair is that our efforts should be designed to accent our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. It can create illusion but it can't make me look 35 years younger or make me look like Scarlet Johansson when she was in her red hair phase... (boo!)

So enjoy yourself. If you are totally new to this, I would seriously consider booking with a makeup consultant, explaning candidly what you want and what you are doing. It will save you tons of money on products that you shouldn't have bought when you didn't know how to apply.

today whenever i shop and am asked whether I need help, I simply say "I'm shopping for myself and I would like to browse such and such..." Then when I need help, they are ready to treat this customer properly

Hugs

Michelle

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

Thank you all so much. I've got such an excess of information I am trying to put togahter. I read that one differance between men and women is the hairline on women if further down the head so that's why the wig is where I put it. I'll slide it back an inch or two from now on. I think I can snag a couple lip liner pencils so I'll try them next time I get to play with makeup. I've got an eyeshadow kit called "Pedal Power" with a range of pinks, purples and such that are marked "brow" "lid" "crease" and something else I cant make out. That one is the darkest. I tride it as a liner and it was a horrible mistake. One site recomended a gold eyeliner because of my eye color. You are saying go back to black. I will try that next. The problem I have is these hoods over my eyes. The recess the lids and lashes so bad. Maybe I should talk to my doctor about minor plastic surgery to get the skin worked on or something. I was thinking about trying a duct tape face lift where I would use tape to tighten up the brow skin and get the eyes to look more human. But that may be a bad idea if I need to run the wig back further. I was going to hide the medical tape under the wig...

Well, I will try your sugestions and see if I can look less like a clown and more like a librarian.

[Michelle 2010]

Now darling...The statement was that we strive to avoid looking clown like, not that we need to retreat from looking clown like, lol!

And... I have known some very sexy librarians

Just as an fyi, I know several men who have had eye surgery done to get rid of upper eyelid fleshiness for solely cosmetic reasons. They also had it done by Doc's who were quite used to documenting it as surgery needed because of vision blockage and thus it was covered by insurance. Not that I advocate falsely representing anything at any time.

Another btw; when, many years ago, I started playing with cosmetics, I purchased the kits put out at Christmas as inexpensive presents....something like 2000 colors for $19.99....well, maybe 40 colors. The reality is those kits are not very good. The powders don't blend very well. I bought them because I could pretend they were gifts and feared being embarrassed. Even if the alternative is buying off the internet, I would shy away from seasonal gift sets unless they are by reputable companies you have heard of.

Michelle

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

I realize that under any makeup and wig I use there is a 40+ year old frame that hasn't been well cared for. I'm trying to reverse the damage with lots of lotion and exfoliation but like a rusted out 69 chevy there is only so much you can do before you need to take it to a professional for some serious body work.

I'd love to pull off a "cougar" look. Get that 40 to 50 year old single woman on the prowl for a young man thing down. Not for a daily wear but just once be able to go to the mall and turn heads for all the right reasons. Be able to befuddle the poor teenagers at the counter so bad that they screw up my change while stuttering their appologies. Yeah, that's what I'd love to be able to do.

I was looking at my face and thinking that maybe I need to use glasses to hide the eyes better and maybe try to draw more attention to my lips. Be more subtle with eye makeup and find a killer blush color along with the right shade of lipstick and liner. I've almost got the beard and moustache shadow dealt with well enough that maybe attention drawn down would work.

Of course, if I can manage to make myself a set of latex breasts that I can blend to my skin well enough I could go low cut and my face would be irrelevent! Giggle.

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

New pic up in gallery with advise taken, I think... Give it a look and I'll get another appletini ready!

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

http://www.lauras-playground.com/forums/uploads/gallery_19475_1544_19572.jpg

Ok, I tried a few things, one of which is the lipstick blended into the concealer for the beard and moustache area. I also stuck with two colors of eyeshadow to keep it simple for blending. I also tried to even out the eyelashes a bit. I looked for a darker lipliner but couldn't find any. Oh, and I used lipstick again for blush blended in very lightly. As for base, I used powder only. I think it worked better, I need a darker powder though.

[Guest angels wings]

Wow lovey that is heaps better a little lighter on the top eye lid . Awsome job , you look pretty

Angel

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

Thank you! I thought I almost looked like my sister, if she had a few more miles on her over rough roads. She doens't have the pudgyness in the face. I need a better powder foundation methinks.

Now I need to maike a new set of breaticles in a C cup so I look less like a cartoon...

[Guest angels wings]

That black and white outfit with the boots looks great on you

Angel

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

I was so happy to find that top at a Salvation Army store. I have several tops that are stretchy and I think they look... well... slutty on me with the D cups I made. I cant see myself in public like that. The black top is actualy a stretchy black tank top with the loose fitting blouse sewn on at the shoulders and a little tie at the waist to pull it togather. The skirt is long but I can pull it up higher to get a shorter skirt option. I'm starting to think I need to accent the legs and bust while hiding the waist with loose fitting tops and shorter skirts. Once I get some shopping money I need to look for a short leather skirt. I think that would match the shirt nicely too. Maybe a pair of shear black stockings with the seam up the back along with a classic black pump with a 3 inch heel. That might be the look for going out with.

[JJ]

The rule I was always taught is that as we move past 30 the makeup needs to grow more toward the center in shade. Dark and light are for the youth. Not saying you aren't young but I do think a slightly lighter shade in eyes and lipstick would look better. Something to experiment with anyway. I found liner in gray or dark brown was much more flattering for me. Actually I had a friend who opened a fashion school long ago and had me do all the training courses with her so I could help teach since I was self employed at the time. I rushed out and got a regular job because teaching beauty courses was anathema to me and she wouldn't take no for an answer but the training still came in handy and has stayed with me. Though fashions in hair and makeup change constantly the basics like not going too light or dark etc don't change.

I also love mineral makeup-not the cheap knockoffs because there is a vast difference -because they blend well and allow contouring and such that is much more difficult to accomplish with regular shadows and makeup. Ebay has tons of sellers who sell starter kits to play with and find what looks best for you. As an artist I always saw my face as an art project and did enjoy creating a look with it and got a lot of compliments about how I looked (Not on my makeup-any time someone tells you how nice your makeup is the makeup is a failure unless it's an old friend commenting on the improvement.) and how much younger I looked than I actually was. Usually 20 years younger on average. Wasn't me really but then nothing was.

But you are doing good and getting there. Just some suggestions on things that once worked well for me with 50 years experience with makeup

Johnny

[Guest Danielle J]

MaryKay has a virtual makeup website thate you can upload your picture to, That you can try different combinations of colors and styles of makeup, also hairstyles. You can print them up and they have the list of the make up used,if you want buy it at a later date.

Hugs Danielle

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

Not saying you aren't young

It's not the years that do the damage, it's the milage... Oh... the miles...

but I do think a slightly lighter shade in eyes and lipstick would look better.

I will look into that. The kit I have has several colors in it, I will try something in the middle of it next time I get a chance.

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

Not saying you aren't young

It's not the years that do the damage, it's the milage... Oh... the miles...

but I do think a slightly lighter shade in eyes and lipstick would look better.

I will look into that. The kit I have has several colors in it, I will try something in the middle of it next time I get a chance.

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

MaryKay has a virtual makeup website thate you can upload your picture to,

Hmm.... Need to try that. I've got to set up the tripod with the digital camera so I can stop doing these mirror shots and get some better pics to put up. When I do that I'll get my face without makeup and play with it online.

Thank you

[Guest MsPerseveres]

Wow! If I didn't know better, I wouldn't believe that it was you. Very much within female norms dear - more practice can only make it better!

Hugs, Tami

[Guest MsGsptlsnz]

Thank you. I went to the Mary Kay site and played around a bit with their thing. It wont let you do foundation though, which is what I really need help with. My wife has severly limited my pocket money (part of the not leaving me deal) so I need to be more careful about what I buy. I need a good powder foundation for medium shade skin. I found a place in Rapid City that sells makeup faor reasonable prices so I may stop there on Tuesday and part with some hard earned cash.