Makeup Techniques Are Keys to Putting On a Happy Face
The alarm rings. You’ve overslept and have exactly 30 minutes to make it from the bedroom to the board room.
No time for makeup, right?
Wrong.
According to Amy Greene, author of “The Successful Face” (Summit Books: $14.95), you can have a face fit for the board room in less than 10 minutes.
“It’s a lot like cooking; there are no mysteries to putting on your makeup,” says Greene, creator of Beauty Checkers, a makeover salon at Henri Bendel’s in New York. Formerly, she was beauty editor of Glamour magazine, where she “invented” the concept of makeovers.
Greene is touring American cities to promote her book, which is filled with tempting tidbits. A couple of her favorites: Use anti-perspirant on your nose to cut shine (only for very special occasions because it clogs pores), and sleep with more pillows to prevent puffy eyes.
Where and how to apply your makeup, not how much you spend on it, are the basics behind her clear-cut, no-nonsense beauty guide.
“Ninety-nine percent of women apply rouge incorrectly. A diagonal slash, a round circle (apple cheeks) or unblended streaks are common mistakes. Contouring with blusher around the jawline only gives you a five o’clock shadow.”
When Greene applies her rouge, she sucks in her cheeks, starts at the temples and dots the color along her cheekbones in a crescent shape.
Everyone’s face is lopsided, Greene notes. She applies all of her makeup while looking straight into the mirror.
Greene recommends applying mascara with your mouth open because this in turn opens up the eye sockets to enlarge the area you’re working on. She always dusts eyelashes with powder between layers of mascara, to thicken them. She applies eye shadow in a cream or beige shade in the area between the eye and nose to lighten dark circles. For a full bottom lip, she recommends using a darker lipstick shade on the lower lip and a complementary, lighter shade on the top lip to even them out.
While young women today tend to avoid cosmetics and lean instead toward a more healthy, natural look, it’s obvious that Greene doesn’t agree with that trend.
“Everybody over 18 looks better with makeup,” she believes. “You should try to look as if you’re not wearing any, but with so much pollution in the air, the protective coat that makeup gives is essential.”
Cosmetics aren’t her only “must.” If you’re over 13, Greene strongly recommends wearing a night cream. Her first choice of all brands is anything but typical.
“Crisco shortening is an excellent one. It does the job, and I’ve never known anyone, of any skin type, to have an allergic reaction toward it.”
