Formal Event Makeup ! How to Decide ?

Hi All,

I know it has been some time since I have blogged. I promised a lot and I am absolutely going to deliver that. However life took over, my makeup career took off to a new level, and there have just not been enough hours in the day for it all. I also work full time, and my days/ weekends have been insane this year with weddings, events, galas, parties, photoshoots, fashion shows, & just finding time for family & friends. So I am going to be posting some new blogs, and wanted to start it off with an honor I received back in June from the Museum of Fine Arts - Boston.

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston approached me about donating my makeup services for their Summer Solid Gold Party where the benefits go to the Museum Council Artists in their Residency Program as well as some local charities. It was a shocking surprise and an honor that I was chosen to be apart of this. It was such a fun great night, I brought my best friend with me and we had a blast !  This was a Black tie event & With the holidays just around the corner, formal events are going to be coming about !So this is  going to lead into my next discussion .... how one should wear their makeup for a formal event !

Ok girls we all know, we need to get the dress, the shoes, the jewelry, the right clutch, and we cant forget about the hair! But a lot of times people never put that much effort into thinking about the right makeup to complete the look. Whether it be a black tie affair, a wedding, your wedding, a formal cocktail hour, prom, etc. So here are some tips on the best ways to figure out what makeup look goes best with the theme of your overall look.



                                            The Process:

Once the gown/ dress is picked out, jewelry, shoes, the bag, we usually start to think about the hair. Which is definitely a must. But once you have decided the hair theme, up, down, half up, curly, straight, pinned and wavy, etc. you have to start to think about the theme of your look and what feature of your face you would like to pop more. Your eyes? your lips ? both ?  ..... so how do you go about deciding on makeup ?As you see in the pictures to the left. I chose to wear a very simple, elegant sweetheart neck gown, with a little bit of a jewel embellishment. After that was set I decided that I wanted an old Hollywood glam hair look. Swooped over and big curls, nothing crazy. So how do I know what type of makeup goes with this ? well I look at everything from the color of the dress, to my skin tone, my hair color, and the season. 



Christine Hendriks & Natalie Lelless



 

Step 1: Think about your daily makeup and what you are comfortable wearing. We don't want you to look like a crazy person because this is a formal event. The goal is to make you look like you, enhanced, but also flowing nicely with the theme of your overall look. So this is where you need to decide, is my dress classic looking? is it daring? high fashion? what have I decided on for hair ? am I willing to wear color on my lips ? or would I rather just my eyes pop out? I could have easily done a red lip and neutral eyes to go with my old Hollywood hair theme, however with a dress that is really a very light lavender color and it being June I opted for the same type of look more modernized. With a grey smoky eye and a coral lip.



MFA Council Member Ken Bonnano



Step 2: Once you have decided what you are comfortable with and what you think would go nicely with the color of your dress, hair, and skin tone. Then its time to play around a bit with makeup ! If you are not good at doing your own makeup or just lost as to what to do, I suggest making your way over to your local department store to get a free consultation. You can always hire a makeup artist like myself  for the event as well. This way you have a consultation before hand and then you don't have to worry about knowing how to do your makeup the day of, or start googling makeup theme looks on the Internet. However if you just don't have it in your budget to hire someone, or time to get over to the mall, here are a couple of tips:

Smokey eyes: Smokey eyes are always a great makeup look for a night out on the town. They will take any normal daily look to a high fashion glam one. However this does not mean you have to use black or really even know how apply a smokey eye. Get into your makeup case, take out all your shadows. Do you have a dark green ? do you have a dark grey ? dark purple ? even a dark brown ? Remember lavenders bring out green eyes and golds bring out blue. Start by using a neutral base coat all over the eye lid. On the lid put the next lightest color. Then in the crease take the darkest color you have and fill the crease with that, now take that color from the outer corner of your eye just to mid center of your lid and fill it in. Highlight from right under your brow bone to the crease of your eye with another light shimmery color. Gold, or a light silver work great, then use some black or dark brown liner to line the top lid. Line the bottom lid with the same and if you are scared of smudging the liner to get the smokey eye look take that dark color you put in the crease, line over the eyeliner and finish with mascara!

Red Lips : Red lips are something that I hear a lot of people telling me they are afraid of. However wearing red lipstick to a formal event not only makes people's heads turn, but it also gives for a very confident classy look. Make sure to see if this goes with the theme and coloring of your dress as well. Red lips can be applied a couple of different ways. Always make sure to line your lips first. You can use a neutral liner as opposed to a red one if you are not used to wearing liner. Start by coloring your entire lip in with liner. Then take the red lipstick and apply making sure all of your lip has been touched by the color. Some people prefer a matte red look, and some like the glossy red look. If you are going matte the only next step I recommend is to have a little bit of lip balm on you, as the matte lipstick will start to dry out. You can just dab some on from time to time and your lips will killer all night. However if you want more of a glossy look, either buy a red lip gloss that matches the red lipstick you used, or what I suggest is buying a clear lip gloss, just a apply a few dabs over and walla ! you have a very confident, sexy, classy Red lip for your formal event. Don't forget Red lips can take any casual outfit and spice it up a bit!

Either of these looks will get you that evening look you have been wanting !

Product Recommendations: For smokey eyes I love to use two products, especially on people that are not used to wearing a lot of makeup. For the crease I love to use M.A.C eye shadow in Satin Taupe or Green Smoke. For lip liner I recommend Smashbox waterproof lip liners in matching skin tones. For red lips I recommend NARS matte lipstick in Vezuvio. This red will go great with many skin tones and complexions.