Celebrity Makeup Inspiration

I think that one of the best ways to discover what your best colours are is to find a celebrity with the same colouring as you.  WHen you find your celebrity makeup inspiration, it becomes interesting to see what colours makeup artists use on that celebrity - you'll notice that certain looks are amazing and other times, you'll wonder - what was that makeup artist thinking - she looks washed out/ashy/grey etc etc - The key is to take your time finding a celebrity who you feel represents your skintone/hair and eye colouring combination etc etc.  I've always been inspired by Katie Holmes, Angelina Jolie and Miranda Kerr - I then realized that they both had the same colour combination as me - medium golden brown hair, a warm beige/golden skintone and lighter eye colour.  Miranda Kerr especially tends to wear colours that I am so drawn to naturally.  I decided to do a collage of makeup looks that I created that resemble looks that Miranda Kerr has also worn - I was shocked to see how well similar colours work on us both - I feel like I've come very close to finding my best celebrity makeup inspiration:

Hair and Makeup

I started thinking last night about the relationship between hair colour and makeup shades.  There are definitely certain looks that compliment certain hair colours.  I now have a hair colour base which I know is my best and most natural hair colour - a medium golden brown.  I decided to do a google image search for golden brown hair colour and pay attention to the makeup that is being used on the various models. celebs etc.  Here is what I noticed - that a lot of the best looks are consistent with a makeup look I recently created - check out the look here: http://renata-beautyandelegance.blogspot.ca/2012/06/mac-kinda-sexy-part-2.html - The look is soft, warm and pretty with natural warm browns on the eyes, a pop of peach as a blush shade and a warm peachy-inspired nude lip, with just a hint of pink (MAC's Kinda Sexy lipstick with Melba blush seem like the ideal shades to capture this look)

Here are some celebrities/photos that I felt represented this look the best:

THe warmth of the hair plays so well against Jessica Biel's peaches and cream complexion.  The pop of peach on her cheeks with a nude lip is so complimentary to the golden tones in her hair.  I also like how her eyes are defined every so slightly with a deeper eyeliner - making this look suitable for day and for an evening out!!!

Camilla Bella has such a rich Golden brown hair colour shade.  She can pull off so many makeup looks, but I think she looks very natural, feminine and classy with the makeup she is sporting in this photo.  Once again, a pop of warmth on the cheeks with a peachy or rose-nude lip seems to be a winning combination!

I have admired Katie Holmes hair colour for as long as I can remember - I always wanted to achieve her shade of perfect brunette!  Katie also seems to be wearing a more natural and classic makeup look with a natural/nude lip on the rosy or peach side.  Her makeup is so perfect for any brunette with a golden/chestnut undertone.  In this photo she is going for more of the peachier hues on her cheeks and lips and I love how elegant and warm it looks!!!

Miranda Kerr is one of my favourite models - she has such a unique look with a sensual appeal mixed with that cute 'girl next door' vibe.  She also has the most amazing golden brown locks and she knows how to play up the warmth in her hair with peachy, apricot and warm pink shades.  I love how well she works the peachy warm blush shades - they just look so natural against her skin and compliment the golden tones in her hair so well!!!

Here is the makeup look that I created in a previous post that is consistent with the look I'm talking about - I compared it with a photo of a model sporting a Medium Golden Brown Hair Colour Shade and was stunned to see how similar the looks were:

I think that I will be playing around with this look for a while - there is something so pretty about the peach, warm apricot and warm rose-nude shades.  A pop of peach on the cheeks is always so elegant and pretty and infusing my hair with a rich golden brown shade was definitely a great choice for me!!!

Medium Golden Brown

I recently had my hair coloured again, but this time I brought in a childhood photo of myself and asked the stylist to help me achieve that shade and describe the colour.  After some celeb comparisons and a mini-lesson about how hair colour works, it was clear that my natural hair colour is actually a medium golden brown.  I decided to put together a collage of medium golden bown hair colours - I used photos from my childhood, pictures of actual 'medium golden brown' hair colour swatches and a few photos of my favourite golden brunette - Katie Holmes.  Katie has that amazing chocolate/golden brown hair colour - i've always admired her colour and wanted to acheive it and now I feel like I finally can!!!

MAC Auburn Lipliner with Ravishing Lipstick

Auburn lipliner is one of my favourite MAC lip liners!  It looks great with red, terracotta, peach and netural shades.  Its a liner I use to mix with many different lipsticks.  Recently, I've been using Auburn with Ravishing lipstick by MAC - the combination is just so lovely and perfect for both a day and evening look.  Ravishing is in the warm coral family and Auburn is a reddish-orange-brown shade, so the mixture of these two shades is perfection on anyone with a warmer skintone.  Its also a great 'coral-red' for summer!!!

For this look I started with my basic face (tinted moisturizer, concealer, powder).  I then used Bobbi Brown's Tawny blush as a contour, Makeup FOr Ever #10 gold shadow as a highlight (and eyeshadow base shade) and MAC's Melba blush.  I then applied MAC's Soba shadow from lid to crease and lined the top lasline with Make Up for Ever 5L eyeliner (an olive shade) and smudged NARS glapagos into the lashline. I applied Laura Mercier's Brown Copper to the lower lashline before finishing with mascara.  I then lined my lips with Auburn lipliner and topped it off with Ravishing Lipstick (both MAC)!!!

Canadian Beauty College - Photo Shoot

Today I had an opportunity to participate in a photo shoot to help build my makeup artistry portfolio.  I originally had a photo shoot scheduled back in March, but because of a few photoshopping issues on the part of the photographer, today I was able to do a 're-shoot' - I had a blast.  I had no idea what my model looked like in advance, so I came prepared with a lot of ideas, but for some reason I kept on thinking 'exotic meets romantic', so I decided to do a subtle egyptian goddess meets the girl next door - here are some pics from the photo shoot:

To bring out that exotic charm, I used a lot of warm/spicy colours: golds, bronzes, amber, olive green, rust/orange.  I really wanted the photo to have a bit of an action component, so we used a fan to make the models hair look wind-blown, as if she had been out in the sun, being active and simply enjoying life. 

MAC Nice 'N' Spicy Lipliner

Nice 'N' Spicy' is such a lovely lipliner shade.  To me it seems like a softer, more 'nude' version of 'Spice'!  I've developed a love affair with MAC's Kinda Sexy lipstick and have been playing around with various lip-liner shades.  WHen I first got it, the makeup artist at MAC suggested Boldly Bare lipliner, which I love, but I also wanted to find a way to add a tad more warmth to the colour, so I decided to try Nice 'N' Spicy and I love how it looks in combination with Kinda Sexy - check it out:

For this look I started with my basic face (tinted moisturizer, concealer, powder).  I then used Bobbi Brown's Tawny blush as a contour, Makeup FOr Ever #10 gold shadow as a highlight (and eyeshadow base shade) and MAC's Melba blush.  I then applied MAC's Soba shadow from lid to crease and lined the top lasline with Make Up for Ever 5L eyeliner (an olive shade) and smudged NARS glapagos into the lashline. I applied Laura Mercier's Brown Copper to the lower lashline before finishing with mascara.  I then lined my lips with Nice N Spice and topped it off with Kinda Sexy Lipstick!!!

Warm Muted Apricot

Ever since I've discovered MAC's Kinda Sexy lipstick, I've been drawn back to the soft, warm shades of blush, apricot, cream and gold.  I've always loved these colours and think they are so rich and elegant!  I decided to create a little tribute to the various shades of warm apricot:

I always get such a good, warm feeling inside when I look at this type of colour palette - to me, these warm apricot shades with a hint of natural blush, cream, gold etc, evoke that feeling of comfort and classic charm.  I plan on playing a lot more with this colour palette in the future!