Makeup for Every Woman

When someone admires your makeup, it's not a compliment. When someone admires your beauty, you've succeeded.

What Calvin, Donna and Ralph are to fashion, Rex is to makeup. With hundreds of magazine covers to his credit and two best-selling books on makeup, Rex says, "There are no closely guarded makeup secrets that the pros keep only to themselves. There are only techniques and they can be learned."

SEE THE LIGHT:
Rule number one is to always apply your makeup in the light it's going to be seen in. Since most people apply makeup in the bathroom mirror, you should check it in front of a sunny window (for day) or in a dimly lit room (for evening) before going out.

In the evening, when you will be seen in dimmer lighting, some colors will look washed out. Choose lip and blush colors with reddish undertones to avoid this. You can also use more makeup on your eyes.

Day or evening, pick up colors from the clothes you'll be wearing. The color of your clothing reflects up on your face and will look best if unified with your cosmetics. Ask a colorist in your salon for guidance.

THE DANCER'S TRICK:
Before he was a makeup artist, Rex was a dancer. This experience taught him how to make stage makeup last under hot lights and constant physical activity. The dancer's trick is to press powder into your finished makeup with a damp sponge. This fixes the makeup in the skin and leaves a smooth, matte finish. Simply brushing it on will leave a powdery look and will do nothing to help makeup last longer.

TAKE A POWDER:
Another reason to always wear powder is to minimize wrinkles and large features that are magnified by the reflection of light. Creating a matte finish with powder prevents this from happening.

THE 5-MINUTE MAKEUP:
Lack of time is the biggest reason women give for not wearing makeup, or not applying it well. But you can look great in only minutes. Here's Rex's five minute, fool-proof plan:
AM: Moisturizer, base, concealer, powder, mascara, blush on eyelids and cheeks, lipstick.
NOON: Add eye shadow right over the blush you applied in the morning. This time of the day you have a few more minutes to spend, and the light is better so you can apply makeup in the light you're going to be seen in.

BALANCING ACT:
Day or night, to avoid looking overly made up, choose two out of three features to apply heavier makeup on. So, you can emphasize your lips and eyes, but then go lightly on the cheeks. Or, go heavier on your lips and cheeks, but lighter on the eyes. Finally, you can go heavier on eyes and cheeks, but lighter on the lips.

DAY TO EVENING:
To change from day makeup to evening in only a few minutes, try this quick routine:

1. Wipe face with a dry sponge.
2. Apply under-eye concealer.
3. Smooth out any eye shadow creases on the lid with a Q-tip applicator.
4. Go over eyelid with a brighter color that compliments your clothes.
5. Change lipstick to a more intense color.
6. Apply eyeliner under the lash line.
7. Press compact powder all over.

MORE TIPS:

• Apricot and peach tones are great color choices for Asian complexions.
• The space between the eyebrows should be as narrow as possible, to make the bridge of the nose look higher and less flat.
• To avoid accenting the roundness of the jaw line, draw your bottom lip in a soft triangle. You want to avoid a lip line parallel to the jaw line.
• To add dimension to the brow and lid area, use a highlighting shadow in the middle of the lid.
• To add height and dimension to the area between the brows, use a dark color on either side of the bridge of the nose.
• To make eyes look larger, when lining the lower lid, extend the line under and away from the eye. Choose a brown color here instead of black, for best results.
• Asian faces are often very round. To decrease roundness, work all your color outward. Eye shadow should go out toward the temple, and blush should blend closer to the hairline.
• When choosing foundation and concealer shades, look for cosmetics that have only small amounts of titanium dioxide. It should be as low as possible on the ingredient list. This is an ingredient that has an opaque, white color, which will make the makeup look ashy.
• Avoid foundation with pink undertones - they will turn gray on your complexion.