Creative ways to save time and use less makeup

Whenever I work with a personal client or real life woman, I tend to get one of two responses:

“Yeah, this makeup looks great but I’d never be able to do it at home” - or - “I don’t have enough time to spend on my makeup”.

So for those of you who are running on limited time and makeup skills, this piece is for you! I’m going to outline some of my favorite time cutting tricks, multiple use products, and must do steps designed to give you the most impact in your makeup regime.

Let’s start with a variety of multiple use and time saving products. You’ll be surprised at how many options you have with some very basic items already sitting in your bathroom drawer.

Lipstick: Depending on the color, use it on your cheeks and lips. Apply straight from the tube for more color or run your finger over the bullet and tap onto your lips and cheeks for a sheer stained look.

Lipgloss: In addition to using it to lacquer your lips try using it as a dewy highlight on your cheekbones. Squeeze the product onto the back of your hand, rub it with your finger to warm up the product, and pat it onto your cheekbones. Please note, this works best with sheer shades in a satin or pearl finish; I would avoid any formulas with glitter or opaque color.

Lipstick Pencils: These are a great product because they combine the softness of a lipstick with the definition of a pencil. These pencils are chubbier than a traditional lip pencil and are available in a wide range of colors and finishes.

Cream Blush: Again, color depending, try this on your lips, cheeks, and eyes.

Blush and Bronzer: Both of these items can be used as eye shadow and will create a warm, uniform look.

Dilute your concealer: While a lot of women choose to not own a foundation, most will have a concealer. Try mixing your concealer with a bit of your moisturizer if you want to use it for all over coverage.

Cream Eyeshadows: These are typically available either in a tube similar to lipgloss or in a compact. Regardless of packaging, cream shadows can be quickly applied with the fingers. Best of all, they dry down to a beautiful powder finish and have great staying power. As with many of the other products outlined here, these can be a great face highlight depending on the color.

Tinted Moisturizer: This is one of the best inventions of all time! Now you can moisturize, protect, and get sheer coverage all in one step.

Powder Foundation: This product gives you the coverage of a foundation with the finish of a powder all in one step. While powder foundations are ok for all skin types, they don’t always look the best on those with drier skin so take care when shopping for this product and be sure to moisturize first!

This list is not complete without one of my favorite products from NARS cosmetics: the Multiple Stick. This is a cream product that was created for the exact purpose we are discussing here – minimal product with maximum effect in an easy to use medium. The Multiple Sticks can be used on the eyes, cheeks, and lips and are available in a huge variety of colors, transparencies, and finishes. Apply these under or over your foundation or on their own.

Lastly, let’s go over some less thought of options and investments that will pay off in the long run.

Priorities, priorities, priorities: Always start by working on the feature you want to play up the most. This way, if you run out of time, at least your favorite feature is finished. This is especially efficient for the eyes, the feature most women are interested in accentuating. If you do your eyes before anything else, any residual fallout from your products can simply be cleaned up without wasting time on patching and redoing your foundation or concealer.

Primers: While priming may seem like an added step, it eliminates the need for more touch-ups in the day therefore saving you precious time. Foundation primers lock in hydration and keep your makeup looking and feeling fresh all day long. Eyeshadow primers allow your shadow to go on more smoothly with better pigmentation and they won’t crease or fade.

Quality Skincare: Better skin = less makeup. Using preventative measures and taking good care of your skin will make your skin look brighter and more youthful through the years thus eliminating the need to cover and mask many common skin issues. As a side note, if you don’t feel like you have time to wash your face, pick up a cleansing water or cleansing wipes for easy, water-free cleansing.

Practice makes perfect: there is definitely a learning curve when it comes to makeup and it might take time to catch up. Experiment with new products and techniques but do it when you have a little more time to invest in the venture. Master techniques and products while you’re relaxed and soon you’ll be able to incorporate special touches into your daily routine with ease and speed.

Get organized: take some time to go through your makeup collection and throw out anything you haven’t used in ages or that may have become discolored or developed an odor. Get little drawer organizers to keep things in order. I have found great trays at Ikea, Fred Meyer, and Bed Bath & Beyond for very reasonable prices.

Invest in duplicate products: keep an extra set of your powder or concealer or lipstick or blush (or whatever your favorite or most needed product may be) in your purse or at the office. This way you won’t be scrambling to put products in your purse as you leave in the morning. Also, if it’s one of those days where you didn’t finish your makeup to your liking, you can complete things as you sit at a red light or in the bathroom at work.

Good luck and happy makeup!

Amy Gillespie, makeup artist, makeup tricks, makeup tips, makeup secrets

Dior Electric Tropics

Anyone who has spent time with me recently knows that my favorite trend this spring is orange lipstick. Orange is such a fun color to wear - bright, versatile, and just plain fun. I like wearing it as a stain by tapping it into my lips or more boldly by applying it directly from the tube. It really does wonders to brighten the gloomy days we've been experiencing here in the Pacific Northwest.

This brings me to Dior's new collection, Electric Tropics. It has one of the most beautiful shades of orange lipsticks I have seen in quite a while - bright yet soft, full color yet glossy. Anyone can rock this color! There is even a beautiful orange nail color to match. The rest of the collection is full of beautiful neutrals, the perfect compliment to the dazzling lipstick.

Check out the collection here or visit your local Sephora or Nordstrom to play with it in person; you won't be sorry!!


Amy Gillespie, makeup artist, Portland, Oregon, Dior, makeup, makeup trends, new makeup, Pacific Northwest, Seattle, Los Angeles

Citizens of Beauty

This is a quick post to offer a plug for my friend and fellow makeup artist Kendra Stanton's blog. She puts me to shame in the blogging category and covers a great array of topics.

Check out her blog www.citizensofbeauty.com and like her Facebook page too! Her website is great too if you want to take a look at her amazing artistry, www.kendrastanton.com.

Why Purple Eyeshadow is so Awesome

Today I am presenting a case for one of my favorite products in the entire world: PURPLE EYESHADOW. Every woman needs at least one shade of purple for the following reasons:

• It is just as versatile as the common shades of brown

• Available in a wide array of tones - neutral, cool, and warm; anyone can wear this color

• It brightens virtually any eye color

• I can't think of another color with as many options - jewel tones, pastels, soft, bold, shimmers, mattes, satins, sheer, opaque - there is something to fit every mood and personality

• It works for every season - try the richer, deeper or jewel toned shades for fall/winter, pastels or brights for spring/summer

• It is a timeless color and the only updating necessary is trying new techniques and ways to wear it from season to season
  

• There are so many amazing color combinations that can be created with purple as the focal point or an accent - pair it with golds, bronzes, coppers, turquoise, yellows, pinks, oranges, silvers, whites, wines, burgundies, greens, etc. The list goes on and on!

• It is an overtly feminine and empowering color symbolizing nobility, riches, sensuality, and sacredness
  

Some of my favorite purple eyeshadows:

• Jolie Poupee and Violetta duos from NARS

• Shade 092 from Makeup Forever

• Palettes 804, 809, and 808 from Dior

• Lavender Ombres Quadrilumieres from YSL

And just for fun, try Everlong mascara in Ever Violet from YSL


Most of all, have fun with it! It's only makeup and it washes off just as easily as it was applied - you only live once!!

Good luck and happy makeup. xo




Amy Gillespie, makeup artist, makeup artistry, eyeshadow, color, Portland, Oregon, advice, tips, tricks, techniques

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