ottawa makeup artist Tag

Sweet Valentine Makeup Look

Hello beautiful!

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

I know that we don’t need an official day to celebrate our love relationships, but I’m a romantic and I love an excuse to celebrate!  There is a certain air of excited anticipation as women get ready for their date on this day and spend a bit more time then usual to make sure we look our best.  Also I got engaged on a Valentines day, so it’s extra special for me!  Maybe that’s why I got excited and created two different looks for your inspiration. 🙂  This week I will start with the Sweet Valentine look.

THE LOOK

When I thought about this look I imagined a demure girlie girl with a whimsical style, almost Carrie Bradshaw-esque like that believes in love at first sight and holding hands.  This makeup look is certainly girlie with a soft pink palette on eyes, cheeks and lips, but not overpoweringly so.  It’s simply lovely.  Women often shy away from wearing pinks on their eyes, but I happen to think that a properly chosen shade of pink can be very flattering and feminine.  My trick to avoid making the eyes look sick when wearing pinks is to blend them with other colours and don’t judge how it looks until you do eyeliner and mascara.  Once you have an eyeliner that serves as a border between the eyeshadow and your eye ball, pink colour looks 10 times better, trust me.   Let’s get to the details, shall we?

HOW TO

SKIN

I evened out model’s skin with a creamy foundation that has medium coverage.  Since this is a going out look it’s ok to wear a bit more foundation to make sure the skin looks really even toned as long as it’s blended well. 🙂 I set the foundation with sheer powder to achieve this natural matte skin finish and lightly brushed the softest pink blush on the cheeks for a kiss of barely there colour.

EYES

To make sure the colours of the eyeshadows pop nicely I used a primer in a nude beige colour first to cover any lid discoloration that might interfere with the eyeshadows.  Then I applied a light pink colour eyeshadow all over the lid, a darker pink in the crease and a browny pink in the outer corner and smudged it on the bottom lash line as well.  I almost always brighten up the inner corner of the eyes with a light eyeshadow that is slightly (or very, depending on the look) shimmery.  The eyes were finished with a dark purple gel eyeliner to keep all the makeup in the same tones.

TECHNIQUE TIP – CURLING LASHES AND APPLYING MASCARA

A big part of this look is to have these wide open innocent Bambi eyes, so I really focused on making the model’s eyes look more open.  There are few tricks to achieve this.  First, ALWAYS curl your lashes!  I meant it!  Unless you have curly lashes already, you will be amazed at a difference and will love the push up effect!  Yep, the push up effect is not just for a bra. 😉  When you curl your lashes, it will make them look longer and your eyes more open and bigger.  Now I know that a lash curler can look like a torture device and in the inexperienced hands it can certainly become one.  Here is how you want to use it not to hurt yourself and to achieve maximum impact.

Find a curler that works for your eye shape.  They are not all created the same, so try them out before you buy.  Always curl your lashes before you put on mascara.  You can risk breaking your lashes if you do it the other way around.  To curl – look straight in the mirror and bring the lash curler from under towards the eye so that your hand makes a slight dip approaching the eye. Practice getting the curler as close to the lash roots as you can without pinching your skin.  This will give you the most lifting and elongating effect.  Do a gentle test squeeze of the curler to make sure that you don’t have your skin caught and then pump the curler squeezing tight for about 5 seconds.  Open the curler, move up the length of your lashes and stop half way and curl again to give them a nice C-shape curl instead of a harsh L-shape one.

You can help your lashes stay curled when applying mascara by holding the wand horizontally and wiggling it back and forth and then pushing it up as you move the wand upwards.

Seems like such simple things, like curling lashes and putting mascara on them, but there is are these technique tips that make it more effective and easier!  I find it’s like that with most things in makeup and I love showing women all the tricks!  So if you are in Ottawa and would like to become a pro at your own makeup, check out my Educating page.

LIPS

The lips were painted in pink (of course!) see-through glossy stain.  I didn’t want the opacity and heavier texture of the regular lipstick to keep the feel of this look light and playful.

PRODUCTS

MAC Eyeshadow Palette.  I love the fact that you can make your own palettes at MAC!  In case you didn’t know, you can purchase any of their regular permanent eyeshadows in pans that fit in the empty palette of 4 or 15 eye shadows.  In this palette I put together the following eyeshadows:  Vanilla – warm ivory, Yogurt – soft pale pink, Girlie (of course!) – rosy pink, Haux – soft muted rosy brown.

MAC Fluidline in Macroviolet.  My go to gel eyeliner that applies super smooth and has a finished look of a muted liquid liner.  It stays on really well with minimal smudging.  The best part is that you get to choose the brush to use with it depending on the effect you are going for.  This one is a beautiful deep smokey violet colour.

Shu Uemura Lash Curler.  If you type in google search Shu Uemura, the first thing that comes up is Lash Curler.  They set the standard many years ago and it is still one of the best on the market that has the least potential to hurt your eye and so easy to use.  Also seems to work for most eye shapes unless extremely hooded.  I still remember researching where I can get one since I couldn’t get it in Victoria, BC (where I lived at the time) and purchasing my first one on a trip to San Francisco.

Burberry Bold Lash Macsara in Ebony.  If you like high-impact mascara with lots of volume on the lashes (ahem, yes!) – this is the one for you!  The formula is creamy and very pigmented and the fibre brush has the perfect spacing between the bristles to coat lashes very thoroughly and generously in a super black bold finish.

Benefit Pin Up Lash.  This is the first time I purchased Benefit lashes.  I didn’t even know they make false lashes.  I came across them searching for a perfect lash for the amped up version of this Sweet Valentine look and this has certainly delivered!  They are multi-layered, so it looks like there are three different types of lashes placed on top of each other creating really fluffy dramatic effect without looking too heavy.

Bourjois Rouge Edition Aqua Laque in Rose on the Rocks.  This product has a unique and pleasant texture – feels like water going on, so lightweight and cooling.  It has more colour intensity then a regular lipgloss with a mirror-like shine minus the sticky effect.  The glossy finish wears off but the colour stain stays for a long time.

GLAMED UP VERSION OF THE LOOK

I didn’t want to go darker on the eyes or on the lips to temper with the sweetness of this look, so I decided to pump up the lashes volume by adding dramatic false lashes and a swipe of black liner on top of them.  The difference with such a subtle change can be quite big, I think.   The eyes have an extra oomph to them without using darker or brighter eyeshadows.  Judge for yourself.

I wanted to mention my exciting partnership – starting with this look the very stylish and awesome girls at Vincent Boutique  will be providing my Beauty Series with stunning clothing that makes my wardrobe jealous.  I’m sure you have noticed how gorgeous the outfit for this look is!  You are lucky if you leave in Ottawa then you can check out them and their beautifully curated collections in their location on Preston, otherwise it’s online creeping, I mean shopping for the rest of you! 🙂   Here is some more eye candy…

So here is my interpretation of the makeup look for the sweet and lovely romantic girl getting ready for her date on Valentine’s Day.  I hope you like it!  I hope you try it out!

And if you do, I would love to see it!  Don’t be shy, post your interpretation of the Sweet Valentine look here or on Instagram with a tag #EffortlessbyKlavaZ.

Come back next week to check out the second Valentine’s Day look in my Beauty Series!  And in the meantime, follow me on Instagram @KlavaZ.makeup and Facebook Klava Zykova Makeup Artist and Educator for everyday makeup inspiration.

Have an effortless beauty day!

Let’s play!

Klava Z

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