#Girlboss Professional Makeup Look

#Girlboss Professional Makeup Look

Hello beautiful!

Welcome to Everyday Effortless Beauty Series by Klava Z, which is a bi-weekly beauty series showing you how to do flawless, fresh, fun and natural makeup looks for everyday life.

March 8th was an International Women’s Day and I wanted to honour it with this week’s look #Girlboss – professional makeup look.  I grew up in Russia where this holiday was lavishly celebrated all across the country and women were celebrated.  Even though back then we didn’t have the term girl boss, but many were by default, because it wasn’t common for women to stay at home, every one I knew was a working woman.

Today I’m surrounded with kick-ass girl bosses who run their businesses with style and even if it’s not easy – don’t show it.  I’m in total awe of women’s abilities to balance all the roles that they take on.  I know from a personal experience that it can be challenging and I’m still trying to find the balance between developing my business, spending time with my lovely family, taking time for myself and taking care of my house.   I guess I’m a girl boss in training. 😉

 

 

THE LOOK

I wanted to create a makeup look that says “power” and what better gets that point across then a red lipstick?  A lot of women think that they can’t get away with red, but trust me, there is a perfect shade of red lipstick waiting for you somewhere to be discovered.  It is also a matter of getting out of your comfort zone – if you are not used to wearing bright colour lipstick then even your perfect shade of red will look too harsh to you.  Give yourself some time to get used to it!  Wearing red can make you feel more confident and it’s a proven fact that people pay more attention to what someone is saying when their are wearing a red lipstick.  Another great reason for girl bosses to wear it. 🙂

In this makeup look for work every feature of the face is polished for a professional look, however nothing competes with the lips.  You don’t want anything taking away the impact of the power colour.  Let’s take a look at the details of this makeup.

 

FACE

You need a flawless base to make the bright colour lips stand out in the best way, so make sure to do your foundation properly, covering any discolourations on the skin.  I used a liquid foundation with medium coverage and natural finish, meaning not too glowy or matte.  The t-zone was powdered to make sure that it doesn’t look oily midday.  The cheeks were defined with a blush in an earthy-peach blush colour that was applied under and slightly across the cheekbones for a contoured effect.

EYES

Often I recommend to not put anything on the eyes other then mascara when wearing a bright pop of colour on the lips for a modern look.  However, in this case, I wanted the eyes to be more polished, since it is a professional makeup look for work.  So I did a classic look on the eyes.  Soft cool pinkish grey colour was blended all over the lid and in the crease with a soft brush to add depth to the eye.  Light eye shadow was patted with a flat brush on the lower lid to brighten up and open the eyes.  To define the eyes, I applied a thin liquid eyeliner across the top lash line stopping where the lashes stop.  Be careful not to go over and down the eye edge as it will make the eyes appear droopy.

Brows are really important to this look!  Brows really define the character of the face and they need to be meticulously defined and polished.  Fill in the brows with a pencil or powder, making sure that all the gaps that make them look uneven are filled in and then go over with a brow gel to set them in place.

TECHNIQUE – RED LIPSTICK APPLICATION

I will warn you right away that I didn’t use a lipliner on purpose.  I find that brighter and darker colour lipsticks without a visible liner look more modern and fresh.  If you are used to a lipliner to even out your lips – find one that matches your lipstick perfectly and use it AFTER you applied lipstick.  This way it will even out the borders of your lips without looking like a definite line.

 

1. To make sure that your bright beautiful lipstick will stay on strong all day – use a lip primer.  I use the one by MAC and I let it sit on the lips for at least two minutes before I start applying a lipstick, otherwise it doesn’t have a chance to set and won’t hold your lipstick in place as well.  Trust me, giving time to a lip primer to set makes all the difference!

2. Use a lip brush so that you can define the borders of your lips instead of using a lipliner.  Tip – I like to use a concealer brush for more full lips as lip brushes can be too small so takes longer to fill in the whole lip.

3. Gently blot lips to help press the pigment of the lipstick into the lips more thorough.  No smooshing your lips into the kleenex though!

4. Reapply your lipstick for more longevity and put back the shine that you took off while blotting.

If you think that it’s too much work, think about Marilyn Munroe who would put at least 5 layers of lipstick on to get the desired colour and fuller look.  But seriously, it only takes an extra minute to do this, but will result in extra 4 hours of perfect lipstick wear.

That’s it – you are ready to go out there and rule the world … or at least your office. 🙂

PRODUCTS

Giorgio Armani Cosmetics Eye Tint in Flannel.  This is an interesting liquid-to-powder eyeshadow formula.  The coverage is really buildable from sheer wash of colour to a more opaque shades.  Once it dries it feels, looks and acts like a powder eye shadow that is extremely long-wearing.  The colour is really cool, sort of muted rosy pink with gray-ish undertones and a golden shimmer-sheen. Certain tones come out more depending on the rest of the makeup and the skin tone, of course.

Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper.  I already sang my serenades to this liquid liner that is my absolute fav in the previous post here.

Burberry Effortless Eyebrow Definer in Sepia.  The design of this dual-ended pencil and brush is one of the best out there if you want to quickly fill in your brows for a natural looking definition. The triangular slanted tip is brilliant because you can use different angles of it depending on what area of the brow you are working on.  The powder texture adds subtle colour and will never look harsh.  There is a good reason it has won Best of Beauty Awards 2015.  Sepia is a muted brown with ashy undertones which is one of the most versatile colours in the range.

Burberry Light Glow Blush in Tangerine.  It’s all in the texture – lightweight finely milled powder that blends flawlessly and becomes invisible on the skin.  The colour is darkened peach with a tinge of pink and the pigment shows up just perfect – not too strong, not too subtle, which makes application fool-proof.

MAC Prep+Prime Lip.  I usually describe it as a double sided tape for your lipstick.  It will help smooth lips creating a perfect canvas for the lipstick and will help it adhere stronger to the lips for a super enhanced longevity and prevent from creeping the lipstick into the lines around the mouth.  Remember to wait 2 minutes before applying your lipstick!

Giorgio Armani Cosmetics Rouge Ecstasy Teatro #402.  Armani calls this a CC lipstick, meaning that it offers Care and Colour –  skincare lipstick that combines high-impact colour with the ultimate comfort of a moisturising balm.  It does feel very velvety soft going on the lips and the colour has this luminousity to it that makes the colour pop even more.  Teatro is a gorgeous orange based red which, unfortunately didn’t translate accurately in pictures (it looks more like a classic red).

GLAMMED UP VERSION OF THE LOOK

 

If a special occasion or dinner with clients is happening right after work and you need to quickly step up the look to a night version, it’s very easy.  I simply applied a shimmery grey eye-shadow all over the upper lid and blended into the crease.  It takes it up a notch but still looks professional.  If you want it even more daring and dramatic then swipe the same colour under the eyes as well.

I hope you will give this look a try and if you do – please post your interpretation of this look here or on Instagram with a tag #EffortlessbyKlavaZ.  I would be thrilled to see it!

 

 

By the way, after this #Girlboss makeup look I will be posting new looks bi-weekly instead of once a week.  As much as I love creating these looks and tell you how to achieve them, I found that posting every week was taking too much time from my actual makeup job and my family.  In my search for balance in my life, as I talked about in the beginning, I made a choice to scale down a bit.  I hope you won’t mind. 😉

Check back in two weeks for a new look in my Beauty Series!  And in the meantime, follow me on Instagram @KlavaZ.makeup and Facebook Klava Zykova Makeup Artist and Educator for your everyday makeup inspiration.

Have an effortless beauty day!

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Klava Z

Credits
Photos Throne Photography
Model Ashley O Models International Management
Hair TopKnot Hairstyling by Kirsty MacDonald
Styling Toast Special Events
Clothing Vincent