Monday, November 12, 2007

Feeling like a teenager

I'm feeling a LOT better today. I think that most of the overwhelming fatigue over the weekend was caused by the flu shot I received on Friday. Those shots are very hard on me and I end up sleeping a lot and feeling really awful. Last night Ian sent me up to bed at 9pm (after I started falling asleep on the couch at 7:30pm) and I didn't get up until 11am today. I actually felt sort of good when I got up. Whew!!!

For the upcoming bellydance recital, I want to wear false eyelashes and have a smoky eye look. This afternoon, I played around with makeup and false eyelashes. I sort of felt like a teenager playing with her mom's makeup and trying to replicate the looks in the magazines.

Unfortunately, today's experiments failed. I had trouble with the false eyelashes because I think the adhesive I'm using dries too quickly and because I'm clumsy when it comes to applying them because it's not something I have done before. I must practice this more because I really, really want to be able to use them. My features don't exactly stand out in my face, especially on stage, and false eyelashes will help. Provided I can get them attached correctly - false eyelashes that are falling off are not the right look. :)

I tried doing a smoky look with black and grey eyeshadows and it didn't look right, even though I thought I put everything in the right place. One problem I had was that the shadow went everywhere. I think I need to work with less at a time and with a different brush. I may also prefer to wet the shadow or use a cream shadow. I'm also wondering if the traditional smoky eye colours are right for me - they're black and grey. Since I'm so fair, under stage lights my eyes might look a touch too skeletal. I'll have to look around. And practice, practice, practice.

I was also reading something that said if you're pale (like me) to use bronzer on the face and all exposed skin (like the midriff) for the stage. I hadn't thought of that. It would be nice to be less... ghostly? glowingly white? up on stage. :) I'll have to see what I can find.

6 comments:

Darling Jee said...

I was going to suggest cream shadow. I have dry eyelids so I stick to that. I found some good cream shadow when I was at the L'Oreal warehouse sale. It's Maybelline Dream mousse.

If I want to use powder, I apply an eye cream first. I use Aveda's Tourmaline Charged Eye Cream.
http://www.aveda.com/templates/products2/spp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY10562&PRODUCT_ID=PROD5895

As for the smoky eyes, I find that grey and black make me look like I have a black eye because I have such dark circles so I use greens and blues instead. You could try those?

Can't help with the false eyelashes tho. Maybe drop in at the Mac counter at the Bay to see if they have any suggestions? Or the bronzer for that matter. Although I have a very fair coworker and I think she uses Neutrogena something-or-the-other. Ha, sorry not very helpful!

Chantelle said...

Thanks for the tips! Here I thought I was good at doing makeup - until I had to do something new.

The blacks and greys definitely won't work for me for the smoky look (I also look like someone punched me), but after thinking about it, I was considering browns to golds. Those are colours that have worked as eyeshadow on me in the past. I'm going to get some cream shadow as well.

I'll have to talk to makeup people about bronzer for my midriff. I need something that will stay put even if I sweat (aside from the fact that bellydancing is hard work, the lights are hot). I'll need to talk to them about false eyelashes, too, although I really think that I just need practice with those.

BTW, how do you find out about all of these great warehouse sales? I'd love love love love to go to these because, as you know, I love to shop. And I love a bargain, too :)

Take care,
Chantelle

Darling Jee said...

I find out from my friends who go through fliers and have other friends who know these things. The L'Oreal sale is by invitation only and it's super hard to get in. I worked it many years ago so I know that it's usually very good. As for the others, P&G was decent but J&J was crap as were H&M and most of the other clothing ones. I'll remember to keep you posted in future.

Anonymous said...

I came across a really neat blog that has tons of makeup examples from the runway:

http://www.backstagehttp://www.backstagebeauty.net/runwaybeauty/runwaybeauty.html

Personally, I like this smoky look, but I'm not sure if it's what you want (you like the heavy-lidded look, right?), but anyway, they used smoky plums on a pale face:

http://www.allure.com/trends/look/2007/08/look_now?slide=4

Love,
Vicki

Anonymous said...

wait, I think that makeup link is old. here's a new link to the blog:

http://www.backstagebeauty.net/runwaybeauty/2007_11_01_runwaybeauty.html

oops!
vicki

Anonymous said...

A tip I got from a makeup artist about false eyelashes is to cut them in half before applying them. Apparently they are easier to place this way.