5 Makeup Tricks That Changed My Life Forever
I’ve been playing with make-up for the better part of 4 decades, so didn’t think there was much left to master in my bag of beauty tricks.
Until last spring, when I met Jo-Anna Lynn.
Faced with a school fundraising event that night and 3 hours of sleep, I found myself barefaced and haggard. The only weapon within reach was an old lip balm with a missing cap at the bottom of my bag.
So in a desperate act of financial tomfoolery, I threw a beauty Hail Mary and scheduled a blow out and professional make-up application at Sharon Dorram. Gabriele is my regular go-to blow out guy for special occasions, but this was the first time I blindly paid someone a small fortune to freshen my face.
“I’m going to a school thing (you know, other mothers and teachers), so I want to look rested and pretty.” I told Jo-Anna. “But not hot pretty, nice pretty. Inspiring a little envy would be nice though. Can you do that in 45 minutes?”
Clearly no stranger to the landscape of New York City alpha moms, Jo-Anna looked me squarely and said, “Are you kidding? I can do that in 35”.
Jo-Anna wasn’t a just make-up artist; she was a beauty Fairy Godmother. Faster than I could say bippity-boppity-boo she transformed me from dreary urban working mom into a luminous PTA Goddess.
Better yet, she taught this old dog some new tricks that changed my make-up life forever:
I’ve shared this tip before, and it’s still one of my favorites. The trick here is blending the two different types of foundation and the Beauty Blender.
- Begin with a good primer (we know this).
- Dilute a drop of foundation with a few drops of tinted moisturizer and blend. This also helps customize the color.
- Apply with a lightly moistened Beauty Blender sponge. Press and dab, press and dab all over your face until it’s well blended.
- Lightly press with a tissue to bind it to the skin for the most natural look.
- My go-tos: Beauty Blender Sponge, Laura Mercier Primer, Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer in Nude, Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk in #5.
In olden times, I would do this with a white pencil to theoretically brighten the whites of my eyes. But you know what? I looked like a crazy racoon with scorching white around the inside of her eyes. My go-tos: Nars Larger Than Life Pencil in Rue Bonaparte or Benefit Eye Bright.
Keep in mind, I’m a brown-eyed girl so keep this may not work as well all you hazels, greens and baby blues out there. Still, my eyes looked ginormous, bright and stayed that way until midnight.
- Using an eyeliner brush, press dark brown matte eye shadow into your upper lash line.
- Then, line your eyes with a deep navy kohl pencil on top to set it. Again, dotting it on to avoid applying too much.
- Lastly, take your eyeliner brush and smudge/blend with the dark brown shadow over the kohl layer.
- Keep it simple on your lower lash line; line the outer half softly with the dark brown shadow.
- My go-tos: Bobbi Brown Eyeliner Brush, Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow in Black Chocolate, and Bobbi Brown Long Wear Eye Pencil in Black Navy.
This is my favorite trick of all time for looking awake and 5 years younger. Doing this cleans up the smudges nicely and gives you a clean lower lash line.
- Put on all your shadow, liner and top lash mascara. Lightly line your lower lash line with shadow if needed
- Apply a color corrector with a concealer brush if your eyes need a little boost. Personally, I look like a Twilight extra without concealer so I always need the extra help.
- Then, lightly apply a concealer with the brush and blend, blend, blend, blend, blend. I skip the powder because it can make my eyes look crepey.
- As the final touch, lightly apply your lower lash mascara
- My go-tos: Bobbi Brown Color Corrector in Light Peach and Creamy Concealer in Warm Beige.
It’s no brainer that nothing screams early 90s like a visibly lined mouth, but I’ve noticed the older I get, the more my lips lack definition so I need a little help.
- Apply a pinky sheer lipstick with a lip brush (the color guidance applies to girls over 35+ more so than the youngins)
- Then, carefully fill in the areas of definition you think you need with the pencil in a color that’s as close to your natural lip color as possible.
- Top with gloss as needed.
- My go-tos: I like Cle de Peau Beaute Lip Luminizer in Fig Tart and their gloss in their Lip liner in 101.
OK ladies, what super secret make-up tricks do you keep up your sleeves?
What a treat–I desperately need a make-up and hair fairy!! I love Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer but never get the primer because I am afraid of breakouts? What do you do with the new Benefit white eye pencil? Still line inner rims? The only great idea I ever have is to go to the MAC counter and they put on lashes for you! Thanks for all the product/use tips!
Oh there’s nothing better than having your eyelashes professionally applied!
For the Benefit liner, it’s actually a peachy pink color and you line the inside of your lower eyelid with it. You can also use Nars in Rue Bonaparte and this brand called Buxom makes one as well. The big learning for me though was to use a peachy pink, not a white. And to be sure the pencil is safe for use around the water line which these brands are. Can be a little
irritating if you wear contacts though.
Becca
I use very little make up on a daily basis so, when I have a night out or something that requires some serious dolling up, I have resorted to make up videos! There are so many on Youtube that have made my life so much easier. I love the Laura Mercier primer and I use G. Armani foundation but I never thought of blending it with a tinted moisturizer. Also I used to apply the concealer after foundation but before eye-shadow – will have to try this innovation. I apply a little bit of light pink to my cheeks (my complexion is fairly dark for a caucasian) to brighten my face and, in the evening, I put a slightly darker shade under my cheekbones to give them more definition. It works.
Huge fan of pink cheeks. I’ve got this pale yellow complexion thing going on so I need it to make me look alive. Make-up videos are awesome! I would have done one myself to demo some of this, but thenI realized it wouldn’t make anonymous anymore:)
Becca
I was wondering why you didn’t do a demo video. Maybe you could pluck a stranger mom who needs help and do a makeover video, because as great as your verbal instructions are I’m pretty sure if I tried this myself I would end up looking like Krusty the Clown!
That’s actually a great idea and think I’ll do that next time, I know most of my friends would jump at the chance to get a free make-over. Thanks for the idea!
Becca
Hi there – thanks for these tips! I was actually thinking of combining the Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer with my Armani Luminous Silk to sheer out the foundation and get some of the dewiness from the TM, but I’m concerned about how it will photograph because of the SPF 20 in the LM TM. What has your experience been with combining these two and flash photography?
GREAT question! For flash, I would actually use Koh Gen Do foundation, it’s my new favorite formula. The only watch out here is that I find picking the colors to be difficult because they come in pink and yellow undertones (and I’m an unfortunate blend of the two). It took a lot of experimentation with the make-up artist at Barneys to get it right. Long story short, I wound up buying two colors, but it photographs beautifully.
Becca
Thank you! I’m dying to try Koh Gen Do foundations (have heard awesome things) but don’t think they have it here in Canada! So, if locating that in time fails, do you think the Laura Mercier TM will photograph nicely, or do you think it’s best to leave it out of the mixture and just use the Armani LS foundation? I personally like how my skin looks better with the LM TM, but I want my pictures to turn out nicely!
I think you still combine the LM and GA nicely and look great. Are you shooting in natural light or in a studio??
Hi again – what shade do you wear in the Koh Gen Do foundation? The Laura Mercier TM in Nude is also a good match for me. It seems like a lot of Armani LS shades work for me – I have both 4.5 and 5.25. Thanks!!
I use PK-2 (pink) and OC-3 (yellow) in Koh Gen Do, but, it took a lot of trial and error for the make-up artist to find the right blend which I think is the downside to the line. In Armani I used between a 4.5 and a 5, but I find their shades easier to match. I too am a nude in Laura Mercier.
Good luck and let us all know which one you chose!
Becca
Great, thanks! Natural light and indoors at an evening event (which is where I’m hoping the flash doesn’t make my face look funny!). Thank you!