Time To Up My Game!

I started doing my makeup about ten years ago.  Over the last decade, my face has changed quite a lot.  The first picture here was from about six years ago.  The second is from last fall.

Yes, I am older but I think I actually look younger in the second photo, mainly due to losing a significant amount of weight between the two pictures.  My face has changed shape and has become narrower and more angular.  I also tend to get dark circles around my eyes that I didn’t get when I was younger.

As one’s face changes, a makeup routine will need to adapt as well.  Over the last year or so I’ve been getting a little frustrated with my makeup routine.  No matter how much highlighter or concealer I was using, the darkness would start to show through after a couple hours.  I had tried to contour my face to have a rounder shape to contrast the bonier structure my face had developed after losing weight.

I decided to was time to schedule a makeup lesson with Corrie, the owner and incredibly talented artist of Midwest Makeup in the Uptown neighborhood in Minneapolis.  I had a few goals I wanted to accomplish during our appointment.

First of all, I wanted to streamline my makeup process.  My routine consisted of color correcting by using red lipstick over my jawline to contrast the blueness that facial hair can create under foundation.  It’s effective…but due to my dark hair I need several layers of foundation to counteract the blueness.  Corrie had introduced me to Dermacolor Camouflage Creme beard cover.  I was really pleased with how effective this worked.  I only needed one layer of foundation to use over the beard cover and my jawline.

I also wanted to find new foundation besides the Dermablend (and others) that I normally use.  Besides the Dermablend, I use liquid foundation, but Corrie introduced to cream foundation and corrector for under my eyes.

Cream foundation is used with a pallet and a pallet knife similar to how a painter would use paint…which, if you think about it, is exactly what one is doing.  I then used a brush to apply the foundation.  I really liked the Groaftobin line of foundation and corrector that Corrie taught me how to use.

I wanted to learn contouring to achieve a more oval shape to my face.  It’s widely thought that the “ideal” facial shape is an oval and contouring is an effective way to achieve that.  After watching a lot of makeup tutorial videos I thought I knew how to make this work for my face but I was never happy with the results.  Corrie taught me how to contour MY face.  My face is different than yours, and it’s different than every face in a makeup video.  What works for one face will not necessarily work for another face.  Corrie matched my skin color to a few different shades and showed me how to which foundation shade to which parts of my face.  She showed me how to blend and how blending foundation uses a different technique than blending highlighter.

Another goal was upping my eyes hadow game.  This was a lot simpler than I was making it, and I was really happy to learn some new techniques using different colors.

Finally, I wanted to find new brushes to use for foundation, blending and for my lipstick.  No matter how careful I am, I can never achieve a nice smooth defining lip line.  Corrie showed me which brush she uses for lipstick and taught me some helpful tricks.

An hour and half later, I was more energized and more excited and confident about my makeup routine that I have been in years.  During the appointment Corrie would work on half of my face and I would mirror her technique on the other side of my face.  She was patient, supportive and talented.  I really feel I know what works for my “new” face, not anyone else’s.   Makeup is one of the most challenging, satisfying things one can learn.  It’s a humbling, empowering skill.  There are times where I feel amazing and times I feel very male.  Although I used the same technique and products for years, I almost always looked different each time I did my face.  It’s not an easy thing to learn, and it’s absolutely worth investing time and money to learn techniques and which products to learn.

Love, Hannah