My 15 minute 'summer glow' makeover!

I had an 'ah hah' moment last Friday.   My mother-in-law looked over at me and said, "I've never seen you wear lipstick, why?"   I started to roll out the answer I've used for over twenty years, "I don't like to draw attention to my mouth because of my crooked teeth."   And then realized I can't use that answer anymore.  And began to grin.  Very widely indeed.

I'm not ready for a BOLD lip colour yet, but I thought it would be nice to get some help putting together a new and easy look for summer.    Tanya Johnson, a good friend who did my wedding make up, was kind enough to haul her pro make up kit over to my place over the weekend to show me how to put together a natural-looking daytime look that would take no more than 15 mins to apply.

We used this image of the stunning Freida Pinto as inspiration - I love the slight green shimmer on the lids, the fresh cheeks, and the subtle lip.

Here are the basic steps for my new look, according to Tanya:

"Pic 1- Start with a bare, clean face.

Pic 2- Cosmetics laid out: foundation, powder for the brows to make them fuller and more defined, mascara, lipstick, blush, eye shadow, loose powder shimmer powder to set the foundation and complete the look

Pic 3- On your face -which only has moisturizer on it- blend your foundation evenly on your face and down your neck. for the blending you can use a brush, sponge or your fingers. I prefer to use my fingers as I find I can control it better.  The heat from my fingers smooths the product better to appear as though you wear nomake-up at all.

Pic 4-  I blended a neutral gold shimmer color all over your lid and up to your brow line.  This highlights the brows allowing them to frame your eyes. Then I followed the shape of your lid and along the lashes with the green blending it with the gold shimmer. I also use the same green along the lower lash line. I used black liner along the outer half of the upper and lower lashes. Once satisfied with the eye shadow and liner I applied 2 coats of black mascara on the top lashes and one coat on the lower.   After I completed your eyes I used the eyebrow shadow to fill in your
brows followed by an eyebrow shaping gel to hold the brows in shape.

Pic 5- I finished the look with a translucent powder which had a touch of gold to set the foundation as well as give the skin a nice sun kissed glow. Then I applied lipstick with a touch of gloss which helps the lipstick to last longer whilst also giving lips a smoother look."

I thought the make up would feel really heavy, but this was not the case.  Best of all, five hours later, it still looked great!   I'll modify some of this for everyday wear (maybe use a mineral powder instead of cream foundation, and I don't know if I'll do the eyebrows), but overall I think this was a lot of fun and surprisingly easy.   Thanks Tanya!

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