A Family Affair: Holiday Makeup Looks

Remember a couple of weeks ago I told you about my cousin who was visiting from San Fransisco? The one that had the Major Fashion Emergency because stupid United Airlines misplaced her luggage and she only had one outfit to wear and hardly any makeup? (See? EMERGENCY!) Well Lisa just so happens to be a very talented makeup artist and I asked her if she would create a couple of holiday looks on me (once her luggage finally arrived) that I could share with you, my readers, and I was stoked when she said "of course!" I was so excited to spend some time with her because she's like a big sister to me and I don't get to see her that often now that she lives in California so I really miss her! Plus she always does such an amazing job and gives me great makeup tips ; ).

Lisa has been doing my makeup since I was fourteen, when she was first starting out as a make-up artist. She taught me everything I know about applying makeup and which products to use. For years I was her 'guinea pig', she'd always practice on me and try all these cool and different looks to add to her portfolio. I actually flew to San Fransisco almost ten years ago to work with her and a couple of photographers on some extremely creative (and fun) photo shoots. We had a mini photo shoot this time and Lisa created both of these looks in the same night, in about two hours. Did you notice we're wearing the same cardigans? We did NOT plan that at all! It was so funny, I walked in the door and we both burst out laughing. What are the chances???

Here's Look #1. Lisa wanted to create a glowing holiday look with the focus on my lips. She prepped my skin with a luminescent moisturizer, then concealed with a long-wearing concealer around eyes using a fluffy brush, and on smaller spots using a pencil brush. She buffed on a refining pressed powder using a large dual fibre brush in light, circular motions for a flawless yet polished look. To add contour and warmth to my skin, she swept a matte golden bronzing powder along my hairline, just under my cheekbones, under my jaw line and down onto my neck with a large, domed powder brush.

Lisa wanted to keep my eyes nude yet luminous, with super lush lashes. To begin, she buffed a cream eye shadow in a shimmery medium golden peach tone from my lash line to just above my crease using the same fluffy brush she used for concealer, then applied a metallic golden beige onto my lids with a flatter brush. She highlighted beneath my brow with a more matte yet bright white peach shade using the tip of the flatter brush, then swept the cream eye shadow beneath my lower lashes with the same brush for soft definition. Using an off-white metallic eye shadow, she created a gorgeous glow on the inner corner of my eyes to really make them pop. Then came mascara, false lashes, and a nude eye liner on the inner rim of my lower lash line to create bright, sparkling eyes.

Cheeks for this look were fresh and dewy, yet not overdone. Lisa chose a rich, light-medium pink cream blush to buff onto my cheeks with a dual fibre brush, then highlighted with a reflective, soft gold mineral powder with the same brush for a perfect glow. 

 For lips, Lisa chose a deep sheer wine lipstick defined with a black currant pencil and topped with a soft pink lip gloss. 

To switch up the holiday look, Lisa opted for smoky eyes and a subdued lip, perfect for New Year's Eve. She easily created this look by removing the lip colour, replacing it with a nude lip pencil, filled in with a soft pink beige lipstick and gloss.

Eyes were just as easy to change: using a larger, flat brush, Lisa patted a deep grayish brown metallic eye shadow onto my lids, blending upward just past the crease of my eye and onto my brow bone with a fluffier blending brush. She applied a soft bone colour to my brow bone with the flat brush, blending down to overlap with the deeper eye shadow to create a smooth diffusion of colour (this creates a perfectly blended look). Lisa then applied a mid-tone metallic olive gold shade onto the center of my lids for a gleaming, reflective look that added dimension. After sweeping the dark shade beneath my lower lashes for smoky definition, she lined my upper and lower inner lash line with an intense black liner. Presto – sexy, smoldering eyes!

Lisa used mostly all MAC products. If you'd like to know the name of a specific color or product please let me know in the comment section or email me. Also, if you have any questions for Lisa about makeup or about being a makeup artist you can leave those in the comments as well. I'll be doing a Q & A with her in a couple of posts.

Have a great weekend!