For this lesson, Branka showed us an editorial fashion look using contrasting colours on the eyes and lips. Contrasting colours, or complimentary colours as they are known are colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel such as blue and yellow and red and green.
Branka's demonstration
This is Branka's demonstration for the contrasting colours look. I really loved the look that Branka created and particularly liked her colour choice. The beautiful yellow pigment of the eyeshadow on the under eye is strong and compliments the purple eyelid well, whilst contrasting with the purple toned pink lipstick on the lips. The one thing that I absolutely loved about this look was the eyebrow that Branka formed. The model, Rowan, has shaved eyebrows and I think Branka did well to create a realistic looking eyebrow and shape. She did this by mapping out dots where to place the brow and then drawing fine strokes onto the face to look like hairs. I really found it impressive and would like the opportunity to practise doing this as it is a good skill to learn and really helps to frame the face.
Products/Equipment used:
-Kryolan bright palette
-Kryolan neutral palette
-Inglot eyeshadow palette
-Kryolan white greasepaint
-Le Maquillage foundation palettes
-Kryolan translucent powder
-Kryolan lip palettes
-Kryolan blush palette
-Brushes
-Vaseline
-MAC mascara
-Gown
-Cotton buds/cotton pads
-Cleanser/toner/moisturiser
Step by step:
-Prep the models skin by cleansing, toning and moisturising.
-Apply Kryolan white greasepaint to the eyelid, no higher than the crease, using your finger.
-Taking a clean brush, blend the greasepaint into the eye ensuring there are no creases.
-Choose a bright colour from one of the eyeshadow palettes and place it onto the lid using an eyeshadow brush and pressing the colour into the lid ensuring the colour reaches the lash line.
-Choose a light, neutral colour from the Kryolan neutral palette and taking a fluffy brush, apply to the upper lid area, up to the brow.
-Using a taupe colour from the same palette, apply to the crease and blend making the bright colour less harsh.
-Using a flat/angle brush, apply greasepaint to the water line and then apply a line underneath the eye, connecting to the lid.
-Apply a different colour to the greasepaint using an angle brush.
-Tidy up any loose pigment under the eye with a cotton bud.
-Chose a mixture of foundations from the Le Maquillage palettes that match the natural skin tone of the model and apply a light application to the skin using a foundation brush, paying attention only to areas that need significant coverage.
-Set the foundation using Kryolan translucent powder and a duo brush.
-Using a fan brush, apply mascara to the upper and lower eyelashes, being careful not to hit the eyeshadow and allowing the mascara to look slightly clumpy.
-Using a contour powder from the Kryolan blush palette, bronze the face in areas where the sun would naturally hit it. (cheekbone, forehead, nose, chin)
-Using a flat/angle brush, chose a bright colour from the Kryolan lip palette and create a triangular bow for the lips. Fill in the rest of the lips.
-Warm a small amount of Vaseline between your fingers, pat onto the makeup to create a dewy look (cheekbone/lip/chin)
Evaluation
What went well:
I really enjoyed playing with colour in this lesson and particularly loved the technique of using white greasepaint as a base. Although I did find that the Inglot palettes have very strong pigments, the colours were enhanced even further with the white base. I really loved the intensity of the blue colour from the Inglot palettes and think it looked great when contrasting with the pink lip colour. I was pleased with my overall application of the eye makeup and think that I blended the edges well using the soft colours from the Kryolan neutral palette. The technique of using softer colours to blend the bright colours is one that I find very useful and I think it works very well. I was really pleased with the application of the foundation, especially when choosing the right foundation colour for the model as at the beginning of the year, I distinctively remember struggling to match this models skintone and spending a large part of the session struggling to mix the right colours. I think that as I have been practising and working on a large variety of people, it is helping me to quickly assess the skin before choosing an appropriate colour so I am very pleased with my progress. Another aspect of the makeup I was particularly pleased with was filling in the eyebrows. This is also something that I have struggled with in the past and I think that by looking in the mirror more often to check for balance, I have been able to make them more symmetrical .
What I found difficult/What I could improve on:
Although overall, I was very pleased with the makeup, there are aspects that I could improve on. I think that I could have benefitted from blending the white greasepaint more than I did as the blue eyeshadow did look slightly patchy with lines across it when the model closed her eye. Although this was subtle and not completely obvious, I think it could have been avoided with just a bit more blending. I found creating the points on the bow of the lips quite tricky and think that mine looked a bit more theatrical than intended. If you look at the photograph, you can see that I missed part of the lip when applying the colour. To correct this in future I would first fill in the lips and create the triangle bow shape after. Another thing that I made a mistake with during the lesson was applying too much bronzer to the face. My model looked very brown but it is not visible in the photographs because after realising the mistake I had made, I toned it down by adding translucent powder.
Overall, I was really happy with this makeup lesson and am pleased with my progress. I think that I have seen a significant improvement from the beginning of the year and am enjoying that my confidence is growing. I really loved using the Inglot palettes as I had not used them previously and I especially enjoyed the effect the white greasepaint had on the pigments.
