The Makeup Bandit

*Photo Courtesy of seenindonesia.com*

So we’ve all done it.

You find a cosmetic mirror, pick it up and check to see if your lip liner has smudged. WAIT.. There’s a 5x magnifying side on this thing?? Sweet! Up to eye level the devil mirror goes & realize that you can now see the micro organisms having a party in your pores. Depressions, Dents and Divots galore..

First things first..

PUT THE MIRROR DOWN. Your first reaction is going to be to pick away at what you see on your face. This will potentially introduce more bacteria to all the blemishes and black heads, making them a bigger issue than before.

I’m here to tell you that no one looks at you from 1/2 an inch away from your face and YES YOU ARE STILL AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS.

Now that we have the situation under control, I am going to help you out a bit with two products combating large pores and the irritating muck that loves to inhabit them..

1. Skincare: I mentioned in my previous post that I use a mask called ‘Bliss Steep Clean’ I am going to give you a quick explanation on why I love this guy..

It comes in a pump form and you will notice there are two colors going on, blue & yellow. Place your pointer finger on one side and your middle finger on the other, press down equally and it will dispense both colors. Now mix these thoroughly to activate the solution (when it turns green) and smear it all over your face in an even layer. Leave on for 15 minutes (I usually get distracted and it ends up on there for around 25-30 min.. Oops!).

Do this once a week and you will be thanking me. Why you ask? Well here’s the quick ingredient break down..

-Prozymex: Exfoliating enzyme that helps texture and skin tone.
-Vitamins A, C, and E & Grapeseed Extract: Fights free-radical damage, brighten and moisturize.
-Salicylic Acid: Surface exfoliator and anti-inflammatory, also helps reduce sebum blockage.
-Zinc Gluconate: Helps regulate sebum, oil, and shine. (The culprit of your black heads)

This means..

-It doesn’t dry out your skin (I know you want to feel squeaky clean, but that only means the product has messed with your skins PH, freaking it out and now it will over produce oil to compensate.. This is NO GOOD.)

-It loosens congestion so those stubborn black heads will be removed with less strain. Please wash your hands before attacking your face, it will help against spreading all the germs.

2. Cosmetics:

- Too Faced Wrinkle Injection: Meet my magician.. I love this product for filling in large pores & light wrinkles. Reasons? Well you aren’t smearing the dimethicone (which is a silicone polymer) all over your face where you might not need it, it acts more like a spot treatment.

Warm up a pea sized amount between your fingers and then gently pat over the areas you want to fill in. DO NOT use a silicone based foundation on top of this product, they will roll over each other and you will think your face is peeling off. (At least that is what I thought when I first made this mistake.)

**Disclaimer about pores - You cannot physically shrink the actual depth/size of your pore, this is something that is genetically decided. The best way to make your pores ‘appear’ smaller is to keep them clean. Make sure to wash your face with a gentle cleanser at the end of the day, exfoliate, and smile alot.

Ok.. well that last one isn’t proven, but I believe that smiling can solve any issue, so its worth a shot right? At the very least a pearly white smile distracts people from my pores ;)

Until next time!

*TMB

*photo courtesy of 123rf.com*

Why so serious? Oh ya.. Its because you were born with dark circles under your eyes & you have bought every concealer, cream, or serum on Earth to get rid of them. What?!? They didn’t work? Bullocks..

(And NO I am not talking to you, the one who has a terrible sleep schedule, party’s like a rockstar, and doesn’t drink water.

Yours is simple - You have made your skin the Mojave Desert by not drinking the h2O it needs to remove toxins, depriving it of time to rejuvenate during sleep, and making it listen to that horrible *OONS OONS* music at ‘da club.’

Calm it down a bit and you’ll see a difference my friend.)

I’m talking to the poor people who look like they haven’t slept in 6 years from the moment they came out of the womb. My advice is for the extreme cases.

Congestion/Allergies: The skin under your eyes is significantly thinner then that which surrounds the rest of your face. There are veins beneath the skin to remove blood from the area, but if you have any nasal congestion this can dilate and thicken the veins causing darkness.

Pigmentation irregularities are another cause of darkness, which is worsened by sun exposure (wear an EYE CREAM WITH SPF & some hot sunglasses)

Lastly is Hereditary Darkness, this just means it is in your DNA. Unfortunately, changing this is as easy as changing your height.

 After three years of working at Sephora (that is 720 days of my life; if not more) I have fortunately seen almost every complaint possible walk through those doors. It was great for practice and keeping me on my toes as an artist.

Yet the first time I had come in contact with extreme darkness, I was not so excited to be forced to learn.

This lovely human being had been blessed with hereditary darkness as well as pigmentation issues, and she was NOT very happy to shake what her mother gave her. Here she found herself in my chair with puppy eyes asking for help as her last resort. I dove head first into another ‘hypothesis’ of mine, not without some hesitation on her part but she was a trooper. (**She was Caucasian, this is important to how I dealt with the application**)

COLOR CORRECTION and THEORY: No I’m not talking using Green or Yellow sticks to conceal it. Yuck. I’m talking complimentary colors. (Adjusted per skin tone).

I used a BLUE BASED semi-matte red lip pencil from NARS called Cruella . HEAR ME OUT! After letting an eye cream with SPF soak in her skin for 5-6 minutes, I took a small concealer brush and applied a LIGHT layer of the red on ONLY the areas of darkness. Then I used a finely milled setting powder (in this case it was Makeup Forever’s HD powder) to solidify the lipstick. Finally I used her matching liquid concealer to even out the color & set it again.

Why did this work? The red lipstick was the perfect color to cancel out the darkness underneath her eyes, then applying a concealer on top blended it out. Color correctors are KEY when you have any unnatural colors to conceal. Without them the darkness is going to show through your concealer since there is nothing actually ADDRESSING the issue. In turn you will use less of each product. This means less makeup pooling into the natural folds under the eye & it’s easier on the wallet. WINNING!

To this day I have not found a 2 in 1 product that works as well as this two step method. Companies make products to service a wide range of clients but all dark circles are not made equal. So instead of trying a blanket product, you are able to customize your correction. Its an extra 10 seconds, but it works wonders.

You are not light skinned? No problem! For olive/dark skin: Try a light coat of bright orange lipstick/cream color under the eyes before applying the proper concealer color.

Cheers *TMB

Here’s my first makeup lesson I’ve recently learned and would like to share!

 It involves the fine and tedious art of Beard Laying - I have come to love it, and while I am still perfecting my skills at it, I have hit my first few bumps! Yay! (Yea Yea I know - Who likes to screw up while applying a beard for a feature film?)

Something going wrong means you know what never to do again, and you don’t have to take the time to relearn a particular skill way down the road. I’d call that winning in my book!

Here are my pros:

 While working with a lace beard purchased from my LOVELY friends at Chicago Costume, I have found that they blend fantastically if your client has a few days stubble. Obviously this will not work with a woman because they don’t USUALLY have enough testosterone to cause a full beard (in most cases) If you are lucky enough to work with a woman who has stubble? Well then you’ve lucked out!

 Underneath the lace, the hair gives a more realistic placement to the single strands of hair that are knotted and tied to the cross hairs. Stubble tends to help when placing each hair separately too. The only time I’ve needed a clean face is if we are changing the beard color from the person’s natural color.

 Also, pay attention to where each follicle is on the face! It’s an easy way to place a beard and have it look the most natural.

Now lets get into my troubles with the beard laying:

 The adhesive I used for this beard was Spirit Gum. This product has its ups and downs, the most uncomfortable part about this guy is the smell. VERY POTENT and if your client has sensitive skin? WALK AWAY FROM THEM IF YOU ARE HOLDING SPIRIT GUM. It will be extremely irritating to that person who gets rashes when walking within 500 ft of a Bath and Body Works.

 Besides the smell, I noticed that the adhesive was staining the lace and a small bit of the salt & pepper colored beard. NO GOOD. If I want a camera to be able to shoot within 40 feet of the actor, the stains aren’t acceptable.

 My solution? Cover up with foundation & adhere with a clear glue - Did it work? Yes but No. The clear adhesive worked like a charm but the lace picked up more pigment then the surrounding skin and just made it more noticeable.

 2nd solution? Stipple with a sponge along the edge of where the beard touches the skin. I used both dark brown and skin tone as to continue the look of ‘Salt and Pepper’ Hair. Did it work? Yes! Looked great on the head shots with an HD Camera and as well as up close to the eye. In hind sight… If this were to occur again, I will remove the stained part of the beard from the face and clean off with makeup & adhesive remover before placing it back on the face.

So there you have it! My most recent lesson learned while on the job. I hope this helps you as well - You can look forward to me posting videos/makeup reviews/blogs/pictures etc!

The Makeup Bandit

*Photo from Western Academy of Arts - Student applying beard*

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