Corrie Dubay is a makeup artist extraordinaire and owner of Midwest Makeup Supply and Femme Makeovers  She is a friend and hero to girls everywhere.  She is beyond talented.

Corrie has a newsletter that she sends out with helpful makeup tips like these and is reprinted here with her permission.  I am certain you’ll find this useful!  You can sign up for her newsletter here.

Love, Hannah

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Darlings!!

School is back in session!! Dig out your notebooks and pencils. Today we’re going to learn about the Smoky Eye – a classic look that never goes out of style!! A+ and bonus points for anyone who sends me photos (for my eyes only) of their work (makeovers@midwestmakeupsupply.com)!

😀

XOXO from your favorite makeup guru,

(See…even Pennywise loves a good smoky eye!)

Corrie
FemmeMakeovers | Midwest Makeup

A Smoky Eye Can Fix Everything!

What is a smoky eye?? Well – in the simplest form – a smoky eye is shading and smudging an eye pencil or eye shadow into and along the upper and lower lash lines. However….if you ask 10 people what a smoky eye is, I’d bet my favorite lipstick you’ll get 10 different answers…and none of them would be wrong.

I’m going to cover how I personally like to do a smoky eye – which will be a little more than just shading the lash line. I mean come on…if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it!  Let’s go!

Here are the tools and products you’ll need to do your smoky eye. And please remember – this is MY version so you can do any variation of it you wish. The concept will be the same – it’s just how dramatic you decide to take it (less dramatic for day-time wear, more dramatic for night-time wear, etc.). Also – please note that you can easily swap out colors….the whole idea behind the smoky eye is the dark, shaded lash line/lid – so feel free to play with the color.

1. Eye primer
2. I’m using three eye shadows (dark purple, light grey and black – and I realize the colors don’t translate well on the screen but you get the idea).
3. Eyeliner pencil in black
4. A fluffy brush, a tiny smudge brush and a short bristle fluffy brush
5. Mascara

1. Start by applying your eye primer to your entire lid. Then, lightly dust your lightest shade all over the lid using your large fluffy brush.

2. Using your smaller fluffy brush, apply the darker color to the outer corner of the eye, up to the crease and blend out. I prefer to keep the inner corner and middle part of the lid a little lighter and brighter (it keeps my eyes more open looking). Darkening the entire lid would produce a more dramatic look. If you have more hooded eyelids (like I do), it could close your eye down a little (or make them appear smaller). I also will come in with my tiny smudge brush to keep the color more concentrated in my crease the closer I get to the inner corner of my eye (keeps the crease and color application precise).

3. Next, take your small smudge brush and darken the outer corner with a little bit of black. Then smudge a tiny bit on the lower lash line as well (this is important for the smoky look).

4. Take your black liner pencil and line the upper and lower lash line. Think of it as working the liner into your lash line – we want to create the illusion our lash line is thick and full. Once you get your liner on, take your tiny smudge brush and smudge it in. Again – important for creating that smoky look.

5. Apply several (thin) coats of mascara – and/or, add false lashes. Click here for step-by-step instructions on false lash application.

6. Take one last look and touch up any eye liner or darken the shadow if you wish. Once I have my lashes or mascara on, I do usually like to darken the liner a little bit and/or add a little more smudgy-ness to the lower lash line to create a little more intense drama….because…why the hell not?!?!

Corrie Dubay is a makeup artist extraordinaire and owner of Midwest Makeup Supply and Femme Makeovers  She is a friend and hero to girls everywhere.  She is beyond talented.

Corrie has a newsletter that she sends out with helpful makeup tips like these and is reprinted here with her permission.  I am certain you’ll find this useful!  You can sign up for her newsletter here.

Love, Hannah

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Hello Everyone!

Today we discuss brows. Remember these things:

1. You need them.
2. Sisters not twins
3. Don’t forget about them.
4. You CAN do this!

😀

XOXO from your favorite makeup guru,

Corrie
FemmeMakeovers | Midwest Makeup

Brows! Where do I….what do I….how the….??? YIKES!!! I know, I know. Brows can be intimidating. But!! You don’t want to neglect them. I totally get that they can go horribly wrong, fast…but – with a little practice and some guidance – you can have brows with shape and a nice arch. Trust me when I say brows are something you need to get comfortable with and include as part of your makeup application. They frame the face, open the eye and polish and finish your look.

Next to applying false eyelashes and eyeliner, brows are something a lot of people struggle with. Not only are we trying to figure out the color, shape, where to start/stop, place the arch, etc., shaping the brow (hair removal via waxing, tweezing, etc. that makes doing our brows so much easier), might not be an option.

But don’t worry! There are ways we can work around it. For this newsletter – I’m going to stick to the simple version: shaping and filling the brow using a pencil, powder or cream. I’ll do another more-in depth tutorial on completely covering the brow (using wax or glue stick) and re-drawing at a later time.

First – burn this sentence into your memory: Brows are SISTERS not TWINS. I repeat: SISTERS NOT TWINS. Similar but not identical. Okay? Okay! Second – my favorite saying: Practice! You NEED to practice!! So don’t do it once and give up!

Let’s get going. Everyone’s face/eye/brow shape will be different. These are just guidelines to help you get the concept down. Once you get it down – it’s up to you to practice and play with it to determine: Do I like fuller brows? Thinner brows? A higher arch, etc.

Products: There are three types of products I like to use for brows: cremes (applied with an angle brush), pencils and powders (applied with an angle brush). Cremes and powders are my favorite. Pencils are easy to use and work fine, but I feel if you’re not careful, the brow can look a little too drawn on resulting in a very artificial looking brow. Creme is great for when you have a thicker/fuller brow (where hair removal isn’t an option) and have to ‘cheat’ the shape a little. They are build-able, tend to show up better and I think they last longer, too. Powders tend to give the most-natural look (in my opinion).

When we’re putting our brows on – we want to be mindful of a couple things – where to stop and where to start. If we start the brow too far in and/or down, you can end up looking mad! Or like Divine if you go too high! If they are too close together – that will look strange, too. We also want our brow to end in the correct place – we generally don’t want our brows extended down onto our temples. The following is a guideline of where to start, stop and place your arch:

1. Imagine a line from the inner corner of your eye, up. This is where we want our brow to start.
2. Imagine a line from the outer corner, following the angle of our lower lash line out. Here’s where our brow should stop.
3. Imagine an angled line from the outer edge of your iris. This is roughly where the highest point of the arch should sit.
4. Imagine a horizontal line from the bottom of the inner part of the brow to the outer part (tail) of your brow. The start and stop point should match by sitting on this line. This will help with balance.Choosing a brow color: I typically like to match my brows to my hair color, but as we know – that might be hard (ie: dark brows naturally but wearing a blonde wig). The only hard rule I tend to follow is trying to avoid using straight up black for my brows. It can come off as a little too harsh. So – if you want to wear a blonde wig but have dark brows – roll with it. It’ll be fine. It would be hard to lighten – it could be done if we covered the brow completely, or, perhaps by using a brow mascara-type product, but that could end up looking very unnatural (which is not usually what we want).

To start your brow, very lightly draw your initial brow line in, doing both sides so we can check for balance. Once you are happy with where it starts, the arch and the stopping point, continue to add line by line until you get the shape and fullness you want. As you add each new line, take a step back to look for balance and symmetry (it’s hard to see if things are balanced if our face is only inches from the mirror). And remember! It’s easier to add product than to take away.

This might be hard at first, especially if your brows are longer and darker. If you can trim them down a little that might make it a little easier. If they are darker, your best bet might be to give them a little shape by add more of an arch (if you can) and a thinner/longer tail (if you can).

Once we are happy with the shape, I like to come back through with a spoolie (or a clean mascara wand) to blend, soften and groom the brow into place. You can add a brow gel or wax if you want to keep things in place (the wax or gel is a good idea if you have longer brows).

Corrie Dubay is a makeup artist extraordinaire and owner of Midwest Makeup Supply and

Femme Makeovers  She is a friend and hero to girls everywhere.  She is beyond talented.

Corrie has a newsletter that she sends out with helpful makeup tips like these and is reprinted here with her permission.  I am certain you’ll find this useful!  You can sign up for her newsletter here.

Love, Hannah

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Raise your hand if you have thin lips (…slowly raises hand….).  Raise your hand if you’ve tried to correct a thin lip but ended up looking like Ronald McDonald (it’s okay…we’ve all been there!). Don’t panic – I have a few tips that will help give you fuller-looking lips without looking like a clown. BUT!!! Like I say with everything It’ll take a little practice – so dig out your lip pencils. Class is in session.

So – most of us weren’t born with a perfect pout…but that’s okay. We can totally cheat it and make it LOOK like we have lips that would make Ms. Monroe envious.
Before we begin – you’re going to need a few tools. Don’t even attempt to try this without the following items:

1. Lip liner pencil
2. Pencil sharpener
3. Lipstick
4. Lip brush

Why do I need all these things you ask? Because it will be next to impossible to get a nice, clean overdrawn lip without using a pencil. The second half of that is you don’t want to ruin your perfectly drawn on lip by applying lipstick from the tube. There’s not enough of an edge to create a clean line – so…applying with a brush allows for keeping that edge crisp and clean. Plus – it provides you with a more even application.

Alright – first we need to determine what it is we want or need to correct. Our upper lip? Our lower lip? Or perhaps both our upper and lower lip is a little on the thin side. Once you’ve figured out what it is you want to correct – grab your pencil. I like using a sharp, but slightly dull pencil (if that makes any sense). I like to sharpen the pencil to get a nice tip, then swipe it across my hand or a towel once or twice to take off the super sharp point. I find it’s easier to draw with a semi-dull point. Crazy, I know.

Next – start by finding your natural lip line. I find it’s easier if we lightly line our natural lip line first so we have a visual guide to go on. Once I’ve done that, I continue to go line by line, on the outside of my previous line, until I get the shape (here’s where you get to play and experiment with different shapes) and fullness I’m after. Be sure to play with a few different shapes to determine what you like and looks best. Example: do you want a rounded cupids bow, or something a little more pointed and sharper.

Also – going line by line allows you to correct any mistakes if you make them before things get too out of hand. It’s easier to add than to take away. So if you just start drawing and mess up – it’ll be much harder to fix.

**IMPORTANT NOTES: We are looking for symmetry. We want to make sure our lips look even. The best way to do this is to step back from your mirror after you think you have it done and look to make sure things are balanced. It’s really hard to tell when you’re looking at them inches from the mirror.

Second thing to keep in mind – ideally you want your lip liner to meet in the corner of your mouth. If you start drawing your lip line outside of where it meets in the corner, you’re tip-toeing into Ronald McDonald land. Not saying that you can’t do that – but it will overly exaggerate your lips and you could end up looking like a drag queen (which isn’t bad – it just might not look as natural).

Last thing I’d like to note is I typically prefer to over draw the upper lip more than the lower. I feel like an over drawn upper lip can still look relatively natural up close, where an over drawn lower lip can look a little strange if we go too far past our natural lip line. But hey! It’s your call! It’s makeup and you’re supposed to have fun with it.

Here’s an example of where you would over draw (or correct) based on your lip shape. Hey!! No making fun of my drawing! 😀

Ultimately – you need to determine how far outside your natural lip you want and are willing to go. One thing to be mindful of is when you DO overdraw your lip, you have to be careful when eating, drinking, etc. because you’ll be more likely to smudge it. You’re essentially drawing on your face so just keep that in mind.

Once you get your new lip shape drawn on, you now can apply your lipstick. Any of you who have had lessons with me know how adamant I am about using a brush to apply lipstick. You can use the brush to easily (and cleanly) paint right up to your lip line, get much more even coverage and have so much more precision when applying the lipstick.

Over drawn lips can look great if done correctly. I encourage you to give it a try! It can really enhance your look.

A few more lip tips and tricks:

• Even if you’re not overdrawing your lips it’s important to use a lip liner. It helps keep your lipstick in place and from bleeding.
• I try to match my liner to my lipstick if I can and think this is especially important when using reds. If I don’t have something that matches, I try to get as close as possible…..
• …However, if I want to create a little more dimension with my lips, I’ll use something slightly darker than my lipstick and blend my lipstick into the liner (more so in the corners).
• Using a slightly lighter color (to highlight) on the center of your lips will create a fuller looking lip as well. Just make sure you smoosh/blend together well (we want a nice gradient) – not a hard edge.
• To aid in longevity of the lipstick, fill your natural and newly drawn lip in with your liner before applying the lipstick. If the lipstick wears off, you’ll have that liner underneath to color your lips.
• Line your lips, apply lipstick, blot on a tissue, reapply lipstick and dust very lightly with a loose setting powder for a longer-wearing matte finish.
• Anything that says “Long-wear” is going to be very drying on your lips. So after wearing a long-wear product – throw some lip balm on to help keep your lips from getting super dry!
• If you like a shiny lip – know that gloss over lipstick will oftentimes shorten the wear of the lipstick underneath (also – worth a mention – cause your hair to stick to your mouth! Eeek! Drives me nuts!!). So if you do like to wear a gloss, bring something to touch up with.