Permanently Beautiful

Cats-eye Eye Makeup

Cat eyes glittering, Hollywood’s most gorgeous felines stalked the red carpet at Sunday’s Emmy Awards. Gowns were sleekly formfitting, sparkling with sequins and Swarovski crystals or cascading in multi-tiered ruffles flowing into sensually flared mermaid tails. This year’s biggest trends on the red carpet were the curvaceous mermaid silhouette, lots of sparkle, soft up-dos that were pouffy rather than head-hugging, sculpted bronze cheek bones, glossy natural lips and alluring cats-eye eye makeup.

Makeup artists used elongated eye liner and eye shadow combined with ultra-long lashes to create a mysterious cat-like eye. Glee star Lea Michele did a smoky-eyed take on the retro look. She elongated her eyes with dark, thick, black eye liner brought to a bold, swept-up point beyond the outer corner of each eye. Layers of thick, long, clumpy lashes were added to create a dark, dramatic eye.

Tron star Olivia Wilde took a lighter, more elegant, but no less dramatic, approach to achieve the feline look. Olivia lined her eyes with a bold stroke of dark eye liner, then added a pointed swoop of eye shadow, extending it from the outer half of her upper lid to a soft point at the tip of her eyebrow. However, Olivia’s eye makeup did little to detract attention from her barely-there lace gown.

You don’t need a Hollywood makeup artist to look good when you wear permanent makeup. Permanent makeup provides a perfect base for stand-alone natural beauty or for layering on the latest makeup style – the best of both worlds!

When popular British actress Sally Whitaker felt she was losing herself during her battle with breast cancer, permanent makeup came to her rescue and restored her sense of personal beauty. 

Fantasy became all too harsh reality when British actress Sally Whitaker was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time that her character in the hit primetime British soap opera Coronation Street was also battling the disease. In fact, Sally credits the experiences of her onstage persona with prompting her to do the self-exam that discovered the lump in her breast. As her on-screen character moved from initial cancer discovery into treatment, Sally was motivated to monitor her own health. Finding a lump in her breast and discovering that it was cancerous created an eerie feeling of deja vu as her real life experiences began to mirror those of her on-screen character. Sally’s personal battle with cancer gave tragic poignancy to her character’s on-screen fight with the disease.

During chemotherapy, Sally lost all of her hair, including her eyebrows. While she could cover her bald head with cute caps and scarves, the loss of her eyebrows made her feel extremely uncomfortable about her appearance. Without eyebrows she felt her face looked robotic and unattractive and she began to feel her self-confidence eroding. Permanent eyebrows applied by a skilled permanent makeup artist rescued Sally’s self-esteem and made her feel attractive and feminine again.

Heidi Klum

Summer travel means makeup needs to be fast, easy and portable. You want to look great when you travel during the summer, but who wants to spend their vacation in front of a makeup mirror when you could be splashing in the sun and surf? Hot, humid summer days invite a minimalist approach to makeup. Less makeup means fewer touch ups to control sweat and shine. Then there’s the whole space issue. When you’re trying to avoid those hefty baggage check-in fees, packing light becomes an art form. Every inch of space in your carry-on becomes precious. Who wants to choose between a bulging makeup bag and those to-die-for sandals? Pare down your makeup bag and pack both!

So what’s the absolute minimum amount of makeup you can comfortably get away with? Women who have artistically-applied permanent makeup need only pack a moisturizer with sunscreen and some lip gloss. When you wear permanent cosmetics, life is just that simple. The ultimate minimalist makeup, permanent makeup ensures that you look utterly fabulous whether you’re tanning on the beach, going for a dip in the ocean, sweating during spinning class or sipping margaritas by the pool.

Without permanent makeup, you’ll need to add a few items to your makeup kit. When model Heidi Klum travels, she packs only the bare necessities: sunscreen, concealer, gloss, lipstick and mascara. The rest of us would probably add foundation, powder, eyeliner and blush. Without permanent makeup, it’s hard to keep your makeup bag from bulging.

One of the fun things about permanent makeup is that you can layer makeup directly over it whenever you want to create a special novelty look like Lady Gaga’s huge anime eyes. But the nicest thing about permanent makeup is that after the party’s over and you strip away all the gunk, you still look model beautiful!

Here’s how to create Lady Gaga’s huge anime eyes:

1. Apply primer around the eye, including lower lashes, using a slightly lighter concealer or foundation than on your face.
2. Fill in your brow with deep brown eye shadow, increasing the arch.
3. Enlarge the white of the eye by lining lower lids with a 1/4 inch curved line of white cream shadow. The line should be very thin at the eye’s inner corner, becoming thicker as you move toward the outer corner.
4. Layer 3 sets of false eyelashes on upper lids and apply a single layer to the skin along the white area under your lower lids.
5. Draw a thin line of charcoal gray liner along the false lash lines. 
6. Use dark pink shadow to create curved contours along the upper lid and under the lower lid, making the outermost end of the curving sweeps slightly thicker.
7. Highlight contours with shimmering silver cream shadow, adding a single dot of silver to inner eye corners and the center of each upper lid to focus admirers’ attention.

Watch out for paparazzi!

Anime Eyes

Those huge doll eyes Lady Gaga showed off in the bathroom scene of her recently released Bad Romance video have struck a chord with teens and twenty-somethings and become this summer’s surprise must-have accessory. Young women are using outsized colored contact lenses imported from Asia to mimic the avant-garde singer’s bigger-than-life anime-style eyes. These specially designed circle contacts create the effect of huge doll eyes by covering part of the whites surrounding the eye’s iris with a huge circle of color. Fans call the new look cute, but the FDA warns that the foreign-made, Internet-sold contacts are illegal and unregulated and pose a risk of eye damage. U.S. ophthamologists warn that wearing improperly prescribed contact lenses can cause serious eye injuries including infections, corneal ulcers and corneal scratches. Blindness can even result from severe eye infections or injuries. 

Of course, Lady Gaga didn’t put her beautiful peepers on the line when she made the video. Computer-generated special effects were used to create her wide-eyed look. You too can have Gaga’s childlike eyes without risking your eyesight. Using special makeup techniques, you can apply makeup directly over your permanent makeup to go “Gaga” for an evening of uninhibited fun. That’s one of the advantages of permanent makeup. Your permanent makeup keeps you looking fresh and gorgeous 24/7 while providing the perfect base for those times when you want to glam it up!

Next time we’ll tell you how to create Lady Gaga’s anime eyes.

Twilight

With Eclipse, the latest edition of the Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, opening in theaters across the country, Twi-hards are rushing to mimic Bella Swan’s gorgeous look of pensive, brooding innocence. But Bella’s pale face and sensuous features have captured a following well beyond the dark, midnight circles of vampire fans. Kristen Stewart, Bella’s real life alter ego, is a fair-skinned natural beauty worthy of emulation.

Twilight makeup artists capitalized on Kristen’s natural beauty, using neutral shades so the actress would look like she wasn’t wearing makeup on screen. As anyone who has attempted to go sans makeup knows, there’s a big difference between no makeup and artfully applied makeup that only looks like you’re not wearing any cosmetics. It’s the difference you get when you wear permanent cosmetics. Permanent makeup artistically defines and enhances your natural features beautifully. Without apply a drop of makeup, you look like you just left the salon.

What tricks do makeup artists use to create Kristen’s natural on-screen look? Keep shine at bay with a blotting pressed powder in a light shade. Prep eyelids with neutral primer, then apply three neutral eye shadow shades to create depth, using very slightly different neutrals on the lid, crease and under the brow. Line with dark brown eyeliner and finish with a coat of black mascara. Highlight cheekbones with barely colored powdered blush and lips with creamy-finished brownish plum lipstick. All that’s left to do is practice your smoldering gaze.

Drew Barrymore

Have you seen the new commercials for Cover Girl Outlast Lipstain starring the always darling, inimitable Drew Barrymore? Highlighting Drew’s sunny smile, Cover Girl’s latest lip cover looks fresh and carefree, the perfect choice for easy, breezy summer wear. Light and pretty, the new lip stains introduced by Cover Girl, Revlon, Sephora, Candy and others brush your lips with light-weight color that lasts all day. An interesting new lip color product, lip stains feel less heavy on the lip and less “cakey” than traditional lipsticks, yet they provide a more penetrating lip cover than sheer lip glosses. Actually, what they seem to mimic most is permanent lip color.

Women who wear permanent lip color never have to worry about their lipstick being fresh, leaving those unsightly lipstick rings on glasses or smudging some hunky guy’s shirt collar with telltale lipstick smears. Artistically applied permanent cosmetics are used to saturate lips with permanent color that won’t wear off! Permanent lip color is the ultimate long-lasting lip stain, making your lips look fresh and kissably lush 24 hours a day.

Permanent lip color can be applied with or without lip liner. You can choose a shade that enhances your natural lip color or bring in your signature lipstick shade for matching. When applying permanent makeup to lips, nationally known permanent makeup artist Melany Whitney can repair lip line flaws, add fullness to thin lips and add symmetry to problem lips. Permanent makeup gives you lips that are always beautiful.

Nicole Scherzinger

With her sultry smoky eye makeup, gorgeous high cheekbones and beautifully defined full lips, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger was a dance floor standout from the first day of this season’s Dancing With the Stars. Her sexy smoldering look was a good match for the flirty crowd-pleasing tango she danced with partner Derek Hough to win the mirrorball trophy this week. Nicole’s weekly appearances on the tenth season of the popular dance show have women across the country clamoring to re-create her alluring smoky eye makeup. Far from the overdone shadowing of some smoky eye fans, Nicole’s eye makeup highlights and outlines her eyes, making it impossible to take your eyes off them. Well, maybe not impossible. I’m sure my guy wasn’t the only one checking out those incredible costumes!

To create Nicole’s smoky eyes, first apply a sheer nude color over the entire lid. Then, from the lid to the crease, apply and blend a rich plum or dark brown eye shadow. Blending is the key to creating perfect smoky eyes. Keeping eyeliner as close to lashes as possible, line your entire eye in the same plum or brown shade as your shadow. Use a super thin brush to gently smudge liner up toward your crease and toward the eye’s outer edge. Finish with a double coat of black mascara.

Artistically applied permanent eye liner makes your eyes look sexy 24/7 and creates the perfect foundation for Nicole’s sultry smoky eyes.

On a recent Today Show segment, co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotba embraced the natural look, appearing on the show sans makeup. Before revealing their faces to the cameras on “no makeup day,” the women took viewers for a backstage look at the intense daily makeup preparation that goes on before the cameras roll. Ann Curry said, “Sometimes I feel like on the show I wear enough makeup to frost a cake.” While the Today Show women agreed they felt “liberated” without makeup and often went “au naturel” at home, they professed to more than mild nervousness about appearing “naked” in front of their television fans. At 45, Honda said she felt self-conscious without makeup. Kathy Lee confessed, “… it’s the dumbest thing we’ve ever done. I had a classic anxiety dream about it…”

What we noticed in checking out the photos from Today’s ”no makeup day” is that without their makeup these high-powered, attractive women look washed out and older. It looked like a few of them fudged a little, too. Kathie Lee definitely looked like she was wearing mascara and eye liner. Natalie Morales may not have been in full face makeup, but her eyes were definitely made up. Check out the pics on The Huffington Post and see what you think.

Women who wear permanent makeup have the best of both worlds. They enjoy the personal freedom of not wearing makeup with the confidence that comes from knowing they look beautiful every minute of the day.

Makeup artist at work.

Kate Gosselin may have had trouble staying in step on Dancing With The Stars, from which she just got the boot, but the divorced mom and former reality star of Jon & Kate Plus 8 manages to keep step where it counts — at home caring for her famous brood. With a new hairdo and glamorous makeover, Kate looked more like a Hollywood starlet than the busy mom of quintuplets. To help Kate maintain her new look and keep her makeup organized, makeup artist Zena Shteysel sent Kate home with a supply of Z Palettes, special clear vinyl magnetic cases that hold makeup pots so everything is visible and won’t get jumbled about.

Kate has the cases packed with plenty of neutral shades for the natural look she prefers. But at Zena’s urging, Kate will be adding some brighter colors to her makeup palette like purple and magenta for a bright look that’s a little more fun when she’s at home and out and about with the kids. Zena also suggested Kate brighten her lips with a rosy tinted lip shade.

While keeping her makeup organized will help whittle a few precious seconds out of Kate’s busy days, permanent makeup could give the harried mom hours of free time every week. Permanent makeup goes on once and keeps you looking gorgeous every second of every day. With permanent makeup Kate would never have to worry about the paparazzi catching her in a bad light. She’d always look fresh and fabulous.