"Natural Makeup Please!"

When most women say they want their makeup to look natural, what they really mean is "make it look like I'm naturally flawless, but not wearing makeup." What they don't mean is "I really like my pimples, please make sure they're visible. Oh, and the bags under my eyes are important to me."

Any time that you see a celebrity looking incredible natural and not "made up" let me promise you, she is wearing a lot of makeup. That being said, I completely respect the desire of many women to look "natural." On a very basic level, this means using as little foundation as possible, making sure the blush and all products on the face are blended very smoothly, and that the colors used on the eyes are neutrals and not applied in a harsh or conspicuous way.

Last week I was honored to do Jenna's makeup, a bride-to-be who likes "minimal makeup" (in her own words) and wanted to look radiant for her engagement photo-shoot (by Sigala Photography). Since she's absolutely gorgeous, it wasn't too difficult to stick with her desire to stay natural.

Eyes: I used a very light beige shadow, slightly lighter than her skin color on her lid and then used a darker beige along the entire crease. I used a warm brown shadow on the very outer "v" of her eyelid to give her eyes a bit of definition in a subtle way. I then used a warm pink shadow with a tiny bit of shimmer over her entire lid, concentrating on the inner corner of her eye. Instead of using an eye liner, I used a burgundy eye shadow (applied with a damp eye liner brush) along her upper and lower lash line so that it would look seamless and not at all like she was actually wearing eye liner. I used a eye lash primer before applying mascara to make her lashes a bit fuller and appear longer.
(Products: Benefit eye primer, Lancome Divine Hold eyeshadow palette in Desert, MAC eyeshadow Da Bling, MAC eye shadow Twinks)

Face: I applied a thin layer of moisturizer on her face to give her a dewy glow. Jenna did not need a full face of foundation so I used a concealer brush to cover up only the areas that needed some coverage and blended it well. I used a powder foundation and dusted it lightly over her face to even it all out. I applied a little bit of bronzer under her cheek bones, and a peach colored blush onto the apples of her cheeks. I also applied an illuminating highlighter along the tops of her cheekbones and down the bridge of her nose.
(Products: Clinique Even Better corrector makeup, Bella Terra mineral foundation in #2, I.D. bronzer in Glow, L'Oreal matte blush in Peachy Perfect, MAC skinfinish highlighter in Precious Pearl)

It was a pleasure working with such a gorgeous and sweet person. Hope you all enjoyed the makeup info and pictures. Have a wonderful day!