Glitter Queen

Glitter Queen

Photography: Natasha Booth (http://www.Facebook.com/people/Natasha-Booth/836275421),

Hair: Styled by the model,

  Model: Natalie from "Britain's Next Top Model - Series Three" TV programme (http://www.Facebook.com/people/Natalie-Bntm/534587869).

Here are the step-by-step instructions for how to create the look I created in this photo:-

Cleanse and moisturise the face.

Apply foundation the same colour as the skin on the face. Start by applying little dots of foundation to different areas of the face (i.e. the forehead, the nose, the cheeks, and the chin), and then blend them in all over the face for a perfectly even and hardly noticeable thin coverage, using either your fingers or a cosmetic sponge to blend.

Apply concealer to any blemishes and/or under-eye dark circles, using a thin-tipped concealer brush, and pat it in lightly with a finger. Use concealer the same colour as your skin on your face to cover blemishes, and use concealer one shade lighter than your skin to cover under-eye dark circles. Under-eye concealer needs to be applied quite heavily to really lighten up dark circles, to eliminate a tired appearance.

Fix the foundation and concealer in place, and mattify the face by applying loose powder all over the face using a powder puff. Make sure you blend the under-eye concealer with a finger to get it out of any creases or wrinkles under the eyes before setting it with powder. Then brush off the excess powder with a powder brush using downward strokes.

(MAC and Fashion Fair make good foundations, concealers and powders for black and dark olive skins. Clarins, Nars and MAC make good foundations, concealers and powders for fair and light olive skins).

Apply some loose powder heavily to the under-eye area and tops of the cheeks before doing the eye make-up. (Any falling glitter from the eyelids will fall on top of this powder, and can be easily brushed away with the powder after you've finished doing the eye make-up, without any of the fallen glitter marking the skin below the eyes).

Get an eyebrow pencil or eyebrow shadow the same colour as your eyebrows, or slightly darker if you have very fair eyebrows, (for very fair eyebrows use a taupe colour); and using light feathery strokes, gently fill in your eyebrows all the way along their line, to give them better definition. Then brush them in an upwards and outwards direction using an eyebrow brush.

Select two different colours of loose glitter for your eyes (e.g. colour combinations such as gold and blue as in the photo, which look striking on black skin; or copper and green which look striking on redheads; or silver and lilac which look striking on blondes; or purple and midnight blue which look striking on brunettes; or bronze and deep green which look striking on olive skin). (MAC make nice loose glitters in small pots).  Squeeze a bit of a gentle sticking liquid from MAC called Mixing Medium onto a thin-tipped eyeshadow brush, and then dip the brush into the lighter colour of the two glitters. Then apply the lighter colour glitter to the inside halves of your top eyelids, taking it up as high as your socket lines. Then apply a line of it along the inner halves of below your lower lash lines of your lower eyelids. Be sure to get the glitter right up to your lash lines.  Next take another thin-tipped eyeshadow brush, squeeze some MAC Mixing Medium onto the brush, and then dip the brush into the darker colour of the two glitters. Apply it to the outer halves of your eyelids, top and bottom, but this time extend it slightly past the outer corners of your eyes, to points, to form triangle shapes, or "cat-eyes", as shown in the picture.

Blend the two glitters together on your eyelids, and make sure there is some overlap between where the two colours meet halfway across your eyelids, so that there isn't any definite dividing line between the two colours.

If any bits of glitter are out of line, use a cotton bud to gently remove them.

Apply a couple of coats of mascara to both top and bottom eyelashes. Use black if you're dark haired, or brown or brown-black if you're fair haired or redheaded. Lancome makes good mascaras. Start the mascara right from the roots of your eyelashes, so that they look the same all the way along (particularly important if you have fair eyelashes). Comb through your eyelashes after applying mascara using an eyelash comb, to separate the eyelashes and get rid of any clumps of mascara.  Then apply some false eyelashes if you like.

Using a large powder brush, gently brush the loose powder (which any fallen glitter from your eyelids will have accumulated on) away from under your eyes and tops of your cheeks, starting from the inside corners of your under eyes and brushing outwards towards your ears. But be careful to only brush below where the line of glitter is under your eyes, so that you don't displace it. Make sure that the skin is looking free of fallen glitter, apart from on your eyelids where it should be.

Select a pink loose glitter for your lips. (Fuchsia pink looks good on black and olive skin, and baby pink looks good on fair skin).  Squeeze a bit of MAC Mixing Medium onto a lip brush, and then dip the brush into the glitter. Then apply the glitter accurately all over your lips keeping within your lip line, instead of applying lipstick. 

If any bits of glitter are out of line, use a cotton bud to gently remove them.

Et voila! That's how to create the "Glitter Queen" look. I hope you enjoy creating it and/or wearing it! It's good for wearing to parties or going out at night.