Beauty 101: Face Makeup

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The face is the third thing I do in my makeup routine. This is to ensure that I can easily conceal any mistakes I made while doing my eye makeup and eyebrows. The basic routine I use for my face makeup is primer, foundation, concealer, powder, contour, blush then finally, highlight. These steps are one of the only things in my beauty routine that stays consistent. The very first thing you need to do before anything is knowing the undertone of your skin. There are three undertones, warm, cool and neutral. If you have warm undertones your kin is typically yellow or olive while with cool undertones your skin will lean towards blues and pinks. Another thing to look for when applying face makeup is your skin type. Like I said in my first post, I have combination skin which consists of oiliness in the T-zone and dry patches on my cheeks. The areas you have more oil you may have to powder more than if you have no oil and dry skin.
Like I said, the first step in face makeup is primer. Use a primer to help protect your skin from makeup and lengthen the time worn of the makeup. I use the Smashbox Photo Finish Primer to smooth out my skin and help my makeup apply easier to the skin. This primer is good for most skin types as it hydrates but doesn't make the skin create excess oil in doing so. Once primed, foundation is the next thing you use. For every day, I don't normally wear a full coverage foundation because I find that they can be heavy so instead I use a BB Cream. The BB Cream I use is from Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream in Light Medium with a dense blending brush to apply this. In her book, Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual, Bobbi Brown says "The reason we wear foundation is to even out our skin tone and texture.When applied correctly, the result is skin that looks clear and smooth. But, what is most important is that the skin looks better than it did without foundation." (Brown, 56). If I am going to choose foundation over a BB cream, I use the Fenty Beauty Foundation in 200. After foundation is applied, I go in with concealer. I apply concealer to the high points of my face to highlight and anywhere I have blemishes. The Nyx Hi Definition Photo Concealer Wand in the color beige. I blend my concealer out with a beauty blender that gives an airbrushed look to my face. The next step is to apply powder to the face to set down the liquid products. I like to use the Maybelline Fit Me! Pressed Powder and a fluffy all over powder brush. This is not a crucial step and can be skipped if you do not feel the need to set your foundation however I like to set the places I am going to use other powder products since it makes them easier to blend out.

The final result

The next step is contour. You do not need to do anything after powder but my face looks flat if I don't do anything to add definition. I use the Anastasia contour kit in light to contour my cheeks and forehead with a pointed contour brush to carve out my cheekbone and apply product to my forehead then I use the same fluffy brush from when I applied powder. An alternative would be bronzer. Brown describes bronzer as a way to imitate the look of the sun and to warm up the complexion (Brown, 70). This is adds color to the face without carving out your face. Once my bronzer or contour is done, I like to add blush. I use a flat fluffy brush and the tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in unstoppable. I apply to the apples of my cheeks then blend back. Finally I apply highlighter. Highlighter exaggerates the high points of your face by using a shimmery color glow the high points of your face. This includes the cheekbones, nose and browbone. That concludes my face routine!

Thank you for reading! What are your favorite face products and how do you use them?


Brown, Bobbi, et al. Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: for Everyone from Beginner to Pro.
Springboard Press, 2011.

Drawing a Side View Face with a Four Square Method

By Lauren Davis 

One of the more difficult techniques when it comes to female portrait drawing is a side view face. Getting the eyes nose and mouth just right can be near impossible. Jack Hamm recommends this four square method for beginners. Hamm said, “You can use it to get the proportions correct.” (Hamm, 30) This the picture I ended up though using this trick and how I got there.  

Step 1 - The Setup 

The first step is drawing a square with a cross through the middle of it. This is how you achieve the "four squares." I used a ruler because I can't draw a straight line to save my life. Then you use cue lines to add in facile features. The author said, "Watch out for how the bridge of the nose may run into the eye if the face is in semi-profile." (Hamm, 26) He warned the artist to keep the bridge consistent with the position based on the face. (Hamm, 26) After drawing the basic shapes you can continue to shading and detail work. Make sure to have the pupil of the eye facing the correct direction and the eyelashes pointing out. Also, remember that the lips go outside the square.

                                                Step 2- Hair and Shading 

After you finish the setup, the next step is very similar to the first drawing. A simple shading process should suffice. By adding places of light and shadow you give your picture life and the illusion of depth. The jawline contour is especially important with the side view. Changing the placement and the darkness of it and the cheekbones will drastically change the shape and feel of the face. Cheekbones and jawline are the focal points of the makeups shading. The nose and lips are less important. I chose a very odd hairstyle for this one based off an example from the book. I was very disappointed with how it turned out but it's not terrible.

                      Step 3 - Final thoughts and Finishing Touches 

For finishing touches, I completed the hair, fixed some of the rough edges and evened out the hairline. Overall, I didn't thank this method was very helpful. I tried very hard to understand the forms that could be helped by the box and struggled to see the use. But I liked the help in getting the eye placement correct and I like the eyebrows better in this piece. I think overall it's not bad and I'll appreciate any help I can get on profile sketches. What do you think? Have you tried this and found it helpful or do you have a better method? Leave it in the comments below. 🔹

                                                     Citation

Hamm, Jack. Drawing the Head and Figure. Time Warner International, 1963.

Drawing a Front View Face With the Double Circle Method

By Lauren Davis 

      One of the most important parts of drawing people is being able to portray a realistic face looking straight ahead. Wile being a valuable skill, it can also be very difficult. Getting a correct head shape, well-proportioned eyes and textured hair can be tricky and require a lot of practice and effort. In the book Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm, he outlines many tricks and methods on how to achieve this task. One is the double circle. He said, "This is a  mechanical method of setting down proportions of the ideal female head." (Hamm, 2) I followed his instructions and drew a basic front view head using example features from the book. 

Step 1- The Head shape and Features

      The book shows an interesting method of getting the proportions and head shape correct. The author recommends drawing two circles and then placing the eyes nose and mouth in marked spaces.

This will give more obvious areas to put the other parts of the face, as seen on the left. After this, I used features from example lists shown in the book. Please note this book was published in 1963 so the style then included large curly hair and very thin eyebrows. The image to the right shows the features added, but the placement marks still there. 

            Step 2- The Chin, Cheeks, and Shading  

      The next step, of course, is erasing the guidelines but afterward, you have to fix and shape of the chin and cheeks. Hamm explains how the cheeks and chin will always vary in shape and size. Some might be flatter or rounder.  (Hamm, 3) While shading the picture you have to add dimension to the face by adding more or less pigment to an area. More pigment gives the illusion of a lower place and less makes the place look higher. The bridge of the nose, chin, and cheekbones are generally the highest, and therefore lightest, areas on a face.

                       Step 3- Hair and Finishing Touches   

      In my opinion, the hair is the hardest part of a face. Getting the highlights and shadows just right can be near impossible. Hamm said, "One of the objectives of drawing hair is to make it look fluffy and weightless." (Hamm, 18) It was the peak of fashion in the 60's. He recommends starting with the shape and the hairline and building out from there. After that, all that is left are the final touches to perfect your picture. 

                                                              

                                                    Final Thoughts 

      I am happy with the way the sketch turned out but some of the shading is off. I think the method works well with getting the features in the right place, but I wish it helped more with the chin and cheekbones. So what do you think? Is this method helpful to you or do you have a different one that works better? Leave it in the comments below and thanks for reading. 🔹

                                                          Citation 

Hamm, Jack. Drawing the Head and Figure. Time Warner International, 1963.