easy brightened eyes

I can't tell you how often I hear women say they want to play up their eyes with minimal products in a limited amount of time. To some this may sound unachievable but when armed with the proper products and setting aside a little extra time to practice beforehand, you'll be able to quickly pull off these tricks with relative ease in no time at all!

What you'll need:

• dark eyeliner in any form but liquid - gel, cake, powder, or pencil will all do the trick but make sure you have a lining brush for the first three mentioned


• a brightening wand such as Touche Eclat from YSL, SkinFlash from Dior, Skinlights from Revlon, etc.


• mascara


• optional: a shimmering white or cream colored eyeshadow

First, I will go over a technique called tightlining. This is one of the best makeup tricks of all time and will do miracles for your eyes. You'll be wondering how you made it so far in life without it.

Tightlining is a technique that has been used for ages in professional circles for TV and film because it defines the eyes without weighing them down or closing them in. The idea is to line not on the lid nor on the membrane (the wet part under the lashes next to the eye) but rather right in between the two - you are essentially lining on the roots of the lashes. I tell clients all the time that you'll know you're in the right place because your lashes will move around a lot while you do the application; if your lashes are stationary you're doing it wrong. For an even brighter look, try doing this with a dark cobalt blue shadow. Much like how a red lipstick with a blue toned base makes your teeth look whiter, a cobalt will brighten the whites of your eyes. My favorite is China Blue by NARS.

Here is a shot from a shoot I worked on. The model does have eyeshadow on as well, but you can see where I tightlined her upper lashes. In her case, I used Aqua Creamliner from Makeup Forever. (photo - Lavenda Memory)

How to do it:

• You'll want to close your eyes and relax them. You can not do this trick with your eyes scrunched closed.


• Gently pull up on your eyelid. This not only exposes and opens the lash line where you want to apply your products but also tightens the skin making it easier to deposit your color.


• If using a pencil, make sure it is nice and sharp. Starting at the outer corner, draw on your eyelashes in feathering strokes, back and forth like you're sketching. Don't try to draw a single, continuous line; use short strokes and allow a line to naturally build. Work from the outer corner towards the inner eye and gradually use less pressure to ensure that the line tapers away softly.


• If using a brush, you can apply a cake, gel, or even powder. When working with powder, simply spritz your brush with a little water, wipe off any excess moisture, and dip into the powder, tapping off the excess if necessary.


• As before, close your eyes and relax them. Gently pull up on the eyelid. Place the brush on the outer corner at the lash line and wiggle it horizontally to place the product - please note, as you wiggle the brush, it should be stationary; you are not moving or blending, you are firmly setting the liner in place. Lift up, move in closer towards the center and repeat. Do this all the way across until you get to the inner eye. Unlike the pencil, you won't have to vary the pressure because you'll be depositing less and less product as you move across your eye.

Open your eyes and compare the lined eye to the other. You will not look like you are wearing eyeliner but you will notice that the lined eye looks brighter and more defined and your lashes look thicker and darker.

To finish off your eyes, take your brightening wand and apply a stripe on the brow bone following the shape of your eyebrow. Concentrate the most product at the arch of your eyebrow. Don't wipe to blend it; I like to take my finger and tap it out until it disappears into the skin. You may also use your brightening wand under the eyes to brighten any dark circles or on the lid to even out any skintone issues such as visible veins or discolored skin.

Give yourself a few coats of mascara and you are done! As another option, you may add in a shimmering white or creamy colored shadow appropriate for your skintone (even a peachy or pinky shade can be nice). With a small brush (or even your finger!), place a dot of shadow on the inner corner of your eye and tear duct area as well as a dot under the arch of the brow. This will add a soft touch that will reflect and glow when caught in the light.

There you have it - Fast, defined, and brightened! Good luck and happy makeup!!

Amy Gillespie, makeup artist, makeup tricks, makeup tips, eyeshadow, beauty, Portland, Oregon

and the beat goes on

Just a quick post today. Here are some quick grabs from a shoot I did with photographer Matthew Brush about a month back. We shot in The Dalles, OR, a town about 80 miles east of Portland on I-84. It is known as the windsurfing capital of the world and therefore quite windy. It was extremely cold all day long but thankfully sunny. Many kudos to Cora and Kate, our awesome models, for sticking it out so long in their short shorts!












photos - Matthew Brush
hair - Shamus McClellan
makeup - Amy Gillespie
styling - Nikki Brush and Michelle Clabby
miodels - Cora and Kate, Q6


Amy Gillespie, makeup, makeup artist, Portland, Seattle, LA, fashion, photo shoot, editorial

when HD goes wrong and how to make it right

By now, several of you have seen images of Nicole Kidman walking the red carpet with what appears to be a terribly blended white powder on her face.

I also found this shot of poor Zachary Quinto who has suffered a similar fate.

So what's the real scoop here? I've seen discussions where all sorts of ideas were tossed around such as a bad makeup artist to the possibility that the celebrity quickly doused their face in rice powder prior to exiting their limo to problems with cocaine. However, none of these options, no matter how sensational, hold true.

It turns out the culprit is HD powder, most likely the beautiful fine white powder from Makeup Forever.

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently spent some time in LA. One of the reasons for my trip was to attend The Makeup Show, a really great trade show and conference put on by The Powder Group. In a world that grows increasingly more digital and where HD is becoming a popular format, much emphasis was put on HD makeup. The theory is to have a finer makeup that appears invisible on the skin so as to minimize the appearance of makeup on the skin on the large screen TV most people now have sitting in their living room. Some in the industry feel that older styles of foundation and powder are not appropriate for this format and therefore the age of HD makeup was birthed.

HD makeup in it's truest form is not the culprit in these photos. As with all new trends, there is a learning curve and it can be trial by error. Many HD powders contain light reflective particles that can have an adverse reaction under some camera flashes, similar to a sunscreen containing titanium dioxide. If it is used too heavily or not blended enough, you will get a result similar to the photos above. As it turns out, HD powder is not the best product to use as a traditional blot powder (setting makeup, controlling shine, etc.) The real purpose and beauty of the powder is to to blur and smooth. In this case, it is amazing on large visible pores, lines and wrinkles, or anything else that can cause uneven texture resulting in an "EEK!" moment when it is broadcast to the masses in all it's HD or digital glory where ones eyeball can take up a substantial amount of your 60 inch flat screen.

For best results, apply your foundation and concealer. Use a traditional powder to set and control shine where needed and if needed. Just dab and blend it through the T-zone and make sure to hit the corners of the nose. Adequately blend it in a circular motion with a fluffy powder brush. Follow it up with a dab of HD powder (a little goes a very long ways so be light handed, you can always add more if need be). I prefer to use a duo fiber brush for this. These are the brushes that have black bristles at the base with lighter, fluffier white bristles at the ends. Buff, buff, buff in a circular motion on any areas you'd like to blur - lines, wrinkles, large pores, etc. Buff, buff, buff, and buff some more in small circular motions - don't whisk it all over the face as you might with a traditional powder but be very targeted with your placement.

Don't be scared of these products! They can have a beautiful effect for brides or anyone having their photo taken. An HD powder is so light that even a man would feel comfortable wearing it so I highly recommend it for grooms, actors, or male models and even a client needing corporate head shots. However, if you are concerned, snap a quick picture with a flash camera to see if it is blended enough. You'll really only run into this issue with night photography or if there is a harsh flash being used. Under normal circumstances and natural light, visible powder will not be an issue.

Good luck and happy makeup!



Amy Gillespie, professional makeup artist, Portland, Oregon, Makeup Forever, HD makeup, Nicole Kidman, Zachary Quinto

oh, the times, they are a-changin'

Up until now, I've basically used this blog to offer quarterly updates (although I feel this estimated frequency may be a tad on the generous side) on some of my gigs and to toot my own horn a little. Basically, I've maintained the blog because I've been told that is what the modern day entrepreneur should be doing. However, more frequency is required for it to be of any beneficial use to myself or any of the fabulously talented individuals to whom I link.

After a random, completely scientific poll on facebook in which the following reading options were offered - updates on my jobs, latest news, etc.; tips & tricks; product recommendations/reviews; current makeup and style as seen in magazines, on the runway, etc. - the results are in! And it seems each of the topics were equally requested meaning this blog will soon be featuring tidbits on a plethora of topics. Please stay tuned and check back regularly! I feel that a goal of blogging once a day is far too lofty for a procrastinator such as myself but I will do my best to be compiling a myriad of topics to discuss and will faithfully (i.e., more than once a quarter) post these things here for your reading pleasure.

Thanks for reading and feel free to submit requests or ideas on anything you'd like to see more of or learn about!


Amy Gillespie, makeup, makeup artist, freelance, fashion, beauty, commercial, editorial, Portland, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, photography, photo shoot, wedding, bridal

busy bee

So my life has been crazy, hence the delay in new posts.
I've been busy with tons of shoots, traveling to LA, and cramming in hours working for Dior (one of my side gigs). More updates on all of these things, especially my trip to LA, to follow. For now, here are a few quick grabs from a shoot I did with amazeballs (her words, not mine) photographer, Shelli Wright.

photos - Shelli Wright
makeup & hair - Amy Gillespie
models - Option Model and Media












Amy Gillespie, makeup artist, hair, fashion, photo shoot, editorial, wedding, Shelli Wright, Portland Oregon, Seattle Washington, LA, Los Angeles, west coast, Option Model and Media