Summer Makeup Event Entry #10: Leslie (Retro 50's Glam)

This past year, both my grandmothers passed away. Although those were sad times, I praise God they were both believers... I look forward to the day I can see them both again in heaven. When my PauPau (Mom's mom) passed away, one of my cousins was able to compile old photos of her to show during a slideshow at the memorial service. One of the photos stuck to me, and it was always easy to bring that image back up in my mind.

This last entry for the Makeup Event is special to me because she was my inspiration for this look.

All photos taken by Alex Chow, Pato Man, and Jennifer Quen

(* Excluding old photos of my grandma)

Here's my PauPau (Wasn't she beautiful?)

I knew I wanted to try this look on my cousin Leslie, but I didn't tell anyone WHO my inspiration was, I just mentioned the Retro 50's Glamour look. I guess I was somewhat intimidated and wasn't sure if I would be able to succeed with this look. I think sometimes, I'm my hardest critic, especially when it comes to things I really care about.

Before and After

Here's a black and white comparison with Leslie and my PauPau

To get this look, one of the most important features to get down was the eyebrows. Because Leslie's eyebrows were already pretty light, it was easy to change the shape of her brow with pencil and shading. I drew a much thinner straight line for her brows, pulling them out towards the temple instead of going down for that arched look that is more common for today.

Additional steps for creating this look included bigger bold red lips, super contouring, extreme lashes, and a fake mole added on with a dark brown eyeliner. For the eyeshadow, I used a bone and cork shade to enhance Leslie's eye shape.

I had asked Margaret to give Leslie that finger-wave 50's hairstyle. She came up with a perfect addition of adding the white flower.

What an experience! I loved every moment of it and was extremely pleased with the results. I'll leave this post today by sharing a couple more photos of my PauPau.

My granparents...when they were really, really young in China

Summer Makeup Event Entry #9: Rhena (Natural Modern)

The look we went for with Rhena is a pretty natural look. I wanted to give her a slightly more updated look to balance out her features. Instead of staying with the brighter burgundy lip color where the focus went, I opted to play up her eyes and tone the lips down slightly. Here's what we came up with!

All photos taken by Alex Chow, Pato Man, and Jennifer Quen

Before and After

Additional shots

I like this one where Rhena is smiling nice and big!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's model: Leslie (Retro 50's Glamour)

*Tomorrow will be the last entry for this yeat's Summer Makeup Event!

Summer Makeup Event Entry #8: Mona (Asian Monolids - Smokey Purple)

If you have asian monolids, you're just like me! No deep crease, maybe a more pronounced double lid on one eye depending on how tired I am that day. Anyhow, the makeup application and techniques for monolids are a bit different than the for the eyeshape we normally see in magazines and ads. When my cousin Mona signed on for the Makeup Event, I knew I would like to play up her eye features!

All photos taken by Alex Chow, Pato Man, and Jennifer Quen

Before and After

Margaret worked on Mona's hair first. Here are some close ups of the progress

Here's a great shot of Mona's hair! She was done and waiting for her spot on the makeup chair.

One of the most important steps for opening up the eyes (especially asian eyes), is the blending. It's super important! For this smokey purple look, the darker purple/eggplant shade was applied closest to the lashline. From there I added two additional purple shaded colors in succession from medium to light up to the brow bone. Finally, a charcoal shade was brushed onto the outer upper, outer corner of Mona's eye to give it a "lifting" effect.

To finish off the more dramatic eye look, I gave Mona a nude colored lipcolor with a bit of gloss.

Additional outdoor shot

Oh, one thing that is really important that often gets forgotten are the eyebrows. Many Asian brows tend to be really light and sparse. If you find yourself nodding your head in agreement, find some time to practice filling in your brows. You can do that with a pencil or with brow shadow filler. They frame the face and really help to make it all seem right :) I have to do mine everyday, otherwise, I look browless...hahaha.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's model: Rhena (Natural Modern)

Summer Makeup Event Entry #7: Tiffany (Grecian goddess)

So Tiffany was the only girl that came in where I didn't know what she looked like :) Tiffany is a friend of Margaret's, and I'm really glad she was able to join us for this event!

I had started an album compiled of ripped out magazine pages with makeup, hair, and color themes that I would eventually want to try out. When I flipped through the pages with Margaret before everyone showed up, we stopped on the one picture that eventually inspired this Grecian goddess look. I got so excited when Margaret said Tiffany would be able to pull this look off (yay!), plus she had been wanting to try the hairstyle out for a while (double yay!).

All photos taken by Alex Chow, Pato Man, and Jennifer Quen

Before and After

I have to totally give it to Margaret for her neat work on Tiffany's hair! I loved everything about it from the tucked in curls, to the whimsical effect of the golden sash/ribbon, to the added volume at the crown, to the loose ringlets around the face...everything! This was a good one :) Good job Mags!

Here are some additional hair shots taken prior to makeup application

Needless to say, I was super excited to complete the look when Tiffany sat down in my chair for makeup. I was aiming for that innocent and lit-up goddess appeal. For that, I went for a golden eyeshadow color to bring out the golden ribbon that was in Tiffany's hair. I placed false lashes for added eye-openage (is that a word?), and used several tones of blush/bronzer for that lit-up look.

Close up with eye work in progress

Close up with eye work complete

Additional shots

This one's cute huh?

Jennifer, one of our photographers, had a great suggestion of possibly having outfits that would match the looks better. I completely agree. I hadn't thought that far into if for this first Makeup Event, but it'll definitely be something incorporated for the next one. I know this Grecian goddess look would have been sooooooo much better with an outfit that really lent itself to the look.

Anyhow, it was great meeting you Tiffany!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's model: Mona (Asian monolids - Smokey purple)

Summer Makeup Event Entry #6: Regina (60's Mod)

I remember looking at my mom's senior graduation photo. I loved it. It was black and white, she had shoulder length hair that she had flipped out. I used that first as inspiration for Regina's 60'd Mod look. It developed from that photo taken long ago to what we came up with during the makeup event!

All photos taken by Alex Chow, Pato Man, and Jennifer Quen

Before and After

Action shots

I really emphasized the eyeliner around Regina's upper and outer corners of her eyes. It looked drastic at first, but really came together for the look we were trying to achieve. I finished that up with some nude colored lips.

I love this black and white profile shot!

"Snuffaluffagus lashes!"

Stay tuned for tomorrow's model: Tiffany (Grecian goddess)