Everything's Coming Up Golden

So the holidays might be done but we are now right in the midst of Award Season which has me continuing to think about festive, beautiful makeup. On Smash, we did a musical number involving angels and we gave them a gold wash of eyeshadow with a dot of highlight on the inner corner of the eye, glowing skin and pink gloss. It was very sweet and it reminded me of all the images of golden makeup I have been seeing around. Gold eyeshadow has a lot of pop but is neutral enough that you can still glam it up further with a bold red lip like Dolce & Gabbana in Devil or MAC in Ladybug for something sheerer and more moisturizing. The look is fresh and sophisticated. Or you can let the gold be the theme and combine a deep gold eyeshadow with a nude lipgloss like D&G in Glossy that is a nudey-tude lipgloss with flecks of gold in it, and some bright blush. MAC Gorgeous Gold and Goldrush are two fun, rich colors - Gorgeous Gold has a little hint of green and Goldrush is a little warmer - and the MAC pricepoint is not too high. The limited edition Silent Night by Nars looks pretty luxe too. Wear it as a sheer wash or put on a creamy primer and do a deep bling on the eye. I like the idea of pale skin with these looks but you could add bronzer if you want to really J. Lo it up. But for some reason that doesn't feel as contemporary.
This is the look that I'm pretty inspired by right now so give it a try and let me know what other ideas you come up with!

Btw, I just bought the tinted moisturizer from the new line No. 7 in Target to give it a whirl. It is the undercover discount line from Chanel, just FYI, which probably means that the formulas are the same but without all the bells and whistles. For that reason, the packaging for the line is uninspired and they were out of the lipstick collaborations with Poppy, the Lipstick Queen. But the formula for the tinted moisturizer is quite nice and for $12, a lovely alternative the La Mer Fluid Tint that I j'adore. However, in a mega makeup mishap, I combined it with my yam cream whilst rushing to get out of the house for a movie screening and some combo of the yams and the pigment in the No. 7 moisturizer combusted and turned a nice streaky orange all over my face! What a surprise! And of course these things always happen when you are in a rush. Luckily we sat in a dark room for the next two hours so if I had missed a spot in the removal, noone could tell...

Winter Skin Woes, Dry Skin Solutions

So, with the winter weather finally arriving, my skin is taking a turn for the worse. I already have dry skin but it's a constant battle trying to keep my face from falling off once the thermometer drops. And it got me thinking that maybe my Pigment readers might struggle with similar winter scales. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve both high end and shoestring that help keep skin fresh in the cold.

Let me start with lip balms. I have trouble getting excited about lip balm. They all seem to work. But people love the Jack Black brand because it is thick and rich but not shiny or sticky. It's very soothing and just a wee minty. But I'm a fan of cherry Chapstick too...

When it comes to face creams, obviously, Creme de La Mer is a gold standard for deep moisture. I mean, it was invented to help heal burns so our skin issues seem puny in comparison. But if the price tag has you giving me the stink eye, I found this amazingly emollient cream when I was in northern Michigan this summer made in Traverse City of all places (NY snob alert). Creation Pharm Skin Renewal Cream with Wild Yam is all natural, unprocessed ingredients with skin regenerating Evening Primrose, Borage OIl, Cherry Kernel Oil, and Wild Yam extract. When I put it on at night I come to bed and my husband says "mmmmm, yams". But in a good way. The best part is the price: $15 for a big yammy jam jar.

My newest obsession comes courtesy of Arthur's nanny, Angela who recommended NeoStrata Problem Dry Skin Cream. The website description makes it seem like it might be for knees and elbows but sometimes that's how dry my face feels. The cream isnt super pricey and it's got a 20% alpha hydroxy formula so it is not for the squeamish but it peels your skin off in the best way to reveal your baby skin underneath. But don't forget sunscreen with this puppy.

As far as cleansers go, I trust good old Pond's Cold Cream like Grandma used to use which makes my skin feel really well taken care of. And its like $4.50. But if you don't want all those parabens, which are anti-microbial preservatives that are getting called into question for their potential toxicity, you could use a cleanser like Epicuren Apricot Cream Cleanser.

And my favorite trick of all is probably the cheapest. On the days when my skin is feeling desperate, I take a scoop of my least used/cheapest moisturizer - does everyone have like 5 leftover jars of moisturizer like I do?? No? Ok, then use olive or grapeseed oil - and a fist full of sugar and scrub your face with the mixture until the sugar dissolves and your skin is smooth and glowing. You will taste and look delicious!

Stay tuned next week I will have some insight into the fabulous and overwhelming world of Awards Show Makeup!

Drag!

So another day on the set of Smash, another fun makeup!
This one was a big challenge for me because I had never done drag makeup before. And my lovely subject was a performer used to drag (read: Broadway dancer starring in Priscilla Queen of the Desert) but not a professional drag queen so the eyebrows were a challenge. In fact, they were THE challenge aside from going against ALL of my instincts as a makeup artist and doing MORE MORE MORE! I took some tips from the beautiful Manila Luzon, a lovely and fierce DQ who is, according to her website, in a relationship with another DQ. I love it.
I first used a thick adhesive called pros-aide to glue down the eyebrows. My particular subject had particularly strong eyebrows so it took some doing. Then a quick blast with the blow drier on cool to speed up the glue drying process. Next we had to smooth out the glue which took a powder puff FULL of loose powder mashed into the eyebrows to really tamp those suckers down. Poor contact lenses! Then foundation all over and then contour up to where the eyebrows used to be and drawn on eyebrows daintily above that. Then more makeup and eyelashes than I had ever previously put on a person's face in my life. SO FUN.
My feeling is that this poor guy was my first attempt and if I could have had the chance to do it again or do another lady after him, I would be much less ham fisted. But isn't that just how the world works? Anyway, it was a delightful way to spend a morning and fun way to make a living!

Flapper Makeup for the Holidays? Why Not?

So I have been working 2 days a week (now that I am no longer able to pull 70 hour weeks, thank you, Arthur!) and have been frequently pitching in working for my friend Persefone over at the soon to air show Smash (debuting post-Superbowl, Feb 6 on NBC). Its a show about the real life drama in putting together a Broadway smash hit and it has SUCH fun makeup. Working there has been like a continuing education course in stylized makeup. Every week it is something fun and dramatic from Flapper makeups to Drag. This week I'll focus on the Flapper Look we achieved for the dancers in one of the show-within-the-show's musical numbers.

Persefone designed these makeups to look authentically of the period but they came out so beautifully that it got me thinking that they were the perfect starting point to think about holiday party looks as well. What is most stunning about this particular makeup is not only the use of dramatic color but the specificity of shape for the eyes and lips. The eyes were deep, plummy greys that had a soft glossiness (but not sparkle) and a super round eyebrow. The key to the look is the shape of the shadow. Instead of a contemporary smoky eye, we didn't follow the natural contour of the dancers lids but instead created an almost horizontal teardrop shape which imparts a sleepy, pouty look. Try Mac Carbon layered with Blackberry and then use a light shimmery grey like Crystal to smudge and blend it out. I pretty much did the whole look with one domed contour brush and my fingers. Then tons of mascara and a strip of lashes if you've got 'em. It screams "Damn Prohibition! Get me a gin cocktail!"

The skin is flawless and contoured (my latest favorite as discovered by my friend Dina, is the Kevin Aucoin Pure Powder in Natura) but without any serious blush and the lips are a deep, vampy plum or red. Try Mac Seeds of Desire Mattene Lipstick with Absolutely It liner. The key to these lips is that the line doesn't extend all the way out to the corners of the mouth but instead comes up in an almost heart shape to create that Clara Bow lip. The combo of the sweetness of the shape with the drama of the color is striking and easy to recreate. Add the wig, headpiece and costume and the result is a transportive, gorgeous 20's flapper.

Now, if you take the makeup apart and just do the eye with a glossy nude lip or the stylized lipline with just blush and mascara, throw on one of the MANY sequined tops or dresses I've been seeing around and forgo the feathered headdress, you can reinterpret the look for a modern update and just in time for all the holiday parties I'm sure Pigment readers are headed out to. Have fun and stick a flask in your garter for me!

Avon Calling...

So my sister Rachael has come up with a business idea for me and then made it happen. I have become the modern day Avon lady! The idea came when her friend Eugenie was saying that she didn't know what of her makeup she should keep and what she should toss and what she could add. She said to Rachael "What I REALLY want is for Rebecca to go through my makeup bag" and this got Rachael's wheels spinning. So she and Eugenie both organized parties and invited around 8 of their friends who attended for a (modest) fee. There was wine, there was cheese, I gave a schpiel and a demo, no big whoop. Then I sat with each woman individually and with a face chart, sorted their makeup bags, made suggestions as to what to add and was ruthless about what to toss. I had my whole kit with me so that I could give very specific product recommendations and the ladies could see for themselves if they liked them. And since I'm not selling anything beyond my service, there was no pressure although I'm pretty sure that there will be a bump in sales at the Westchester and Cold Springs Sephoras in Tarte products since I had a bag of their blushes/cheek stains/lip stains/ etc. that were all the rage. They even have some sparkly lip lusters that are perfect for holiday. I also brought catalogs for companies that are kind of under the makeup retail radar that are great values and not necessarily known outside of the industry. And while I was meeting with the individual ladies the rest of the gang was chatting it up party style. It was a really fun way to spend a Thursday evening for me and hopefully them too!

The one major thing I wanted to convey while I was talking and giving the demo was that I want to change the dialogue when it came to talking about makeup. Too many women said to me 'I want you to help HIDE...' or 'help me CAMOUFLAGE...' or 'I just get INTIMIDATED by makeup' and it bums me out! Makeup isn't chemo! Thank god. It's totally inessential and fun! Sure, makeup can sometimes look funky - so just wash it off! Instead of hiding, HIGHLIGHT! Instead of camouflage, ENHANCE! I once worked with a woman who was wearing neon orange mascara. Was it a look for everyone? Probably not. But was it striking and fun to look at? Yep. Concealer can help you cover a blemish but sometimes my bright pink lipstick simply brightens up my day. Makeup should make you feel better but not because it's covering you up. I think we should all think about what we look to makeup to help us with and then cheer those thoughts up.

Lace!

So I sat myself down after the baby went to sleep determined to figure out how to work those Sally Hansen Nail Effects and it turns out that you can do it all wrong and it will still look fabulous and last a week. I chose the lace effect and even though they kept getting mistaken for those digital widgets that are everywhere on magazines and windows, I thought they looked pretty cool.
All you do is clean your nails, fit the decals (there are 16 in a box so that you can get the ones that fit your nail bed best), peel off the plastic and stick them to your nails. You then pull them and they break off and then you file the ends away. The result is very smooth and, quite frankly, easier than polish because you don't even need to wait for them to dry! And I've never gotten more "whoa! Cool nails!" comments in my life. Even my nieces thought I looked cool.
Mission accomplished.

Magnets!

So, every once in a while Vogue does a piece on the latest in nail fashion. Usually its a little much for me - $300 for pieces of shed snakeskin glued on to a pedicure? Probably not gonna happen for me. And I hate the look of those little flowers drawn on to a manicure. But the latest is all about nail polish infused with...MAGNETS! Special effects nails with an edge! So exciting although I'm not sure why. I marched myself to Sephora and bought the badass gunmetal gray color and then went to my favorite ladies at Polish Nail Salon in Park Slope ($20 mani/pedi!) and we tried it out. It took some experimenting to get the effect right but, since I've been going to Polish for 8 years, they humored me and really got into it. You have to do one nail at a time, two coats per nail and then immediately hold the magnet that is built into the lid of the polish over the wet nail. But then voila! Voila what exactly? I'm not sure. But it looks cool and what's wrong with a little nail fun in these dreary news cycles.
Which got me thinking about those Salon Effects nail kits from Sally Hansen. I bought the Lace Effect one and will be experimenting with it tonight. Stay tuned.

Also, next week I will be working on the soon to air show Smash doing period 1920s and 50s makeups. Stay double tuned!

Back In Business

So sorry pigment readers. I solemnly swear not to let this happen again. A year ago I got my world rocked when I discovered I was pregnant and the accompanying morning sickness/exhaustion whittled down my ability to multi-task. Tisa, my former teammate over at SVU can attest that in between scenes I was passed out. So I dropped the blog ball but now I'm back! I left SVU in the capable hands of my friends Tisa and Dina and am now galavanting in the wide world of tv/movie makeup freelancing part time so I can still bring home some bacon but be the one raising my baby, a particularly fat little angel named Arthur.
Some things I discovered in pregnancy as it relates to makeup:

- That 'glow' that people told me I had was really achieved with makeup and moisturizer (thank you La Mer). I actually found that pregnancy sapped all of my skin's moisture so I had to light that glow myself. But people just want to tell you you're glowing so just say thank you.

- Tarte came out with these new Amazonian clay 12 hour blushes and they are for REAL. I put some on, never took it off after work (see above re: exhaustion) and had a super glamorous night sweat (TMI, sorry) and I woke up and STILL had the blush on. If there is a better endurance test for blush, I can't think of it. And the blushes come in all sorts of fresh great colors from neutral to really cute and bright.

- Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Bio Oil, Bag Balm, Belly Gel...they don't work to prevent stretchmarks. Even when applied religiously. Sigh. However, I have an appointment with my Derm tomorrow and besides my annual skin cancer check, we will be discussing LASERS! So ill keep you posted. Btw, my derm, Dr. Julie Karen, is featured in this month's Vogue. No wonder its so hard to get an appointment!

I'll be posting every week from now on with new Tales from the Trenches, product reviews, and updates about the new makeup parties I am starting to throw! Please keep tuning in!

Gore Galore!

Halloween looming has me thinking about gruesome gore.

I honestly don't know how I would do my job without one very specific makeup product: 3rd Degree. Its not glamorous or gorgeous but it is indispensable. Two jars are filled with different components of a silicone material that, when mixed together, gives a couple of minutes of working time before it sets up. You can apply it directly to skin to sculpt a wound, wart or whatever. Or you can put it in a mold to create a quick prosthetic appliance.

Want a scar like Frankenstein? Just mix equal parts of jars A and B with a small spatula and sculpt it onto the skin until it looks like what you want it to look like. Once its dry, powder it and then color it up with whatever color best suits your Franken-hue. Going as Phantom? Smear it on to half of your face with a spatula as you would cake batter, let it dry and then powder it with blush. Almost instant burn! Need a gash? Apply the 3rd degree as you would for a scar and then slice it open with your spatula or sculpting tool. Fill the gash with some fresh scab and some liquid blood and you are ready to gross out small children!

Which reminds me: there are also a plethora of different blood colors and textures out there on the market. There are bright red liquid bloods which are great on the show when we want the blood to look fresh and vibrant in a shadowy set. Dark liquid blood is great for a slightly less cartoony look, especially if the light on set is bright or our SVU victim is slightly less fresh. There is also a great great product from K.D. called Drying Blood Jelly that goes on and drips like liquid blood but then dries to that crusty, crackly dark brown red. There are eye bloods and mouth bloods and the gooeyest of all are the thick gel bloods called scab blood. The brighter one is great for adding texture to fresh wounds and a darker version can be applied and then powdered over with a brownish powder to give that "healed scab" look. Gross!

Alcone Cosmetics in NYC and Frends Beauty Supply in Lala have all the above and more to add gore to your holiday. Happy tricks and treats!

Halloween!

In this gloomy October weather, I feel the impending specter of Halloween. People constantly say "You must be so popular on Halloween" or ask "is Halloween your favorite holiday?". It has me thinking how much my job is like Halloween every day. (BTW, people find me more useful at weddings and children's birthday parties and my favorite holiday is my birthday.)
Every day that I work I see people in weird costumes eating candy (from the craft service snack table). Some days I come in and do beauty makeups, corpses in various states of disrepair, tattoos and bruises, a clown and a mime.

But in the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to give out treats of tips! Want to look like Marie Antoinette but can't figure out how to get the paleness/mole right? Thinking of going as Heidi Montag post-op and need some believeable bruising? Need a horrible looking wound and don't know how to make it look gory in 3-D? Send me your ideas/questions and we can come up with fabulous creative ideas together!

Expert Reviews

I am late on the band wagon for a great resource guide to the world of makeup and skin care product reviews.

Paula Begoun has a book that I have constantly passed by at the book store called Don't Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me. It always seemed like a losing proposition - a huge tome proposing to catalog the virtues and sins of every cosmetic on the market. With the speed that companies develop new product, the book is out of date before it goes to press!

WELL, last season Sharon Stone started reciting all these very informative insider facts she said she had learned them from Paula's book. E.g. Eye Cream is JUST regular cream in a smaller, more expensive jar. So I finally rushed to Amazon.com for the 8th edition of DGTTCCWOM.
It arrived and I pored over it. Her introduction and methods for testing are very interesting and honest. She is not wowed by packaging or marketing. Its: Does this product work or not?
Personally, I don't need as much help deciphering high and low quality makeup. I work with different products all day long and I can tell immediately if I like how an eyeshadow, foundation or lipstick applies and holds. What often does stymie me is skin care. The effect of a skin care product rather than a cosmetic is more often apparent after long term use.

Will the expensive eye cream fend off wrinkles 10 years down the road if I am consistent? Is it worth it to "invest" in your skin with an expensive night cream? Do the latest "it" ingredients really work better than Ponds Cold Cream or Noxema? Paula gets into the nitty gritty answering these types of questions. Often citing brands like Olay and Clinique as All-Stars and ripping skin care like Dior's for being overpriced, over fragranced and under ingrediented (that's now a word).

As I predicted, the book didn't have half of the product lines I use on a daily basis. However, this is the genius of her website. For an annual subscription fee, her website is continuously updated with pretty much every makeup and skin care line on the market. So if you are at the department store being tempted by a Dior creme for $275 that touts the rejuvenating effect of the whispers of fetal kittens, you can log on to her website, read the review, and then save yourself $275.

So, while I don't think the book is such a great investment, the website is something worth looking into if you, like me, find yourself susceptible to a shiny new jar of expensive miracle nothing.

Inner-Eye Concealer

So I've been thinking about how and why we use concealer. One of the deep issues of the ages.

Specifically what got me thinking was the phrase "under-eye concealer". When dealing with darkness, I would venture that 90% of the time we don't need concealer "under" the eye so much as in the outer and inner corner down into the orbital socket (the area created where your bone ends and your eye socket begins). That is where most darkness peeks through the thin, delicate skin.

The problem with the idea of "under eye" concealer, especially if you are using a concealer that is slightly lighter than your foundation, is that you get left with the dreaded Reverse Raccoon Effect. No one wants this!

I think using a brightening concealer is great, don't get me wrong. But ideally, you want to bring the fresh brightness to the center of your face. Not just UNDER your eyes. Highlight down below your orbital socket into the naso-labial folds. Add a dab between your eyebrows and in the middle of your chin. This creates a diamond of brightness to make your whole face sparkle! And maybe we should start a revolution to change "under eye concealer" to "inner eye concealer".

It could happen, right?

New Flavor Combo: Rosy Bronze

In honor of the end of summer, I am clinging to what minimal color I have attained. I would never go so far as to call myself "tan" but more of a "pale-but-less-so-than-in-February" sort of hue. When I get color, however, I don't go bronze. More of a rosy freckling occurs. So, while applying a bronzer can give that warm, beachy glow, a more natural look on a fair complexion is actually a combination of pink and bronze. Sometimes you want to look like a day at the beach, not J-Lo.
Enter my new favorite flavor combination: pink blush combined with a bronzer. My skin is very fair and very dry so a liquid blush/bronzer combo works better for me. I love the dewy effect that the revlon face illuminator in Gold Light gives. And the combination with Benefit Posie Tint gives a natural sunkissed flush. Or you could use Tarte Bronze Goddess cheek stain with Benetint. Or if you want a powder instead, Benefit Dallas is a great beige/pink/bronze all in one, which is hard to find.
The combo is also a great look on lips. Stick with a pink stain and layer a bronze-y gloss on top. So mix away, slick on some mascara and don't you look ready for Labor Day!

Sunscreen Update!

A word about sunscreen...again.

So you all know what an SPF nut I am. Protecting my face and Leather Bib from further sun damage is a daily task I began too late. And I have my fave sunscreens that I have told you about already. I even remember looking askance at a particularly leathery older actor whose response when I offered him sunscreen was "I don't put that poison on my face. It gives you cancer." This was several weeks after I had just had a pre-cancerous freckle-gone-awry removed from my very un-tan lower back.

But I have been catching wind of research that calls out some nefarious ingredients in the vast majority of sunscreens on the market. Namely oxybenzone, a possible hormone disrupting compound that enters your bloodstream, and a form of Vitamin A called retinyl palmitate that the FDA is testing as a photocarcinogen. SCARY. Something to do with "they protect you from sun-burning UVB rays but allow or even aid UVA radiation".

There might also be some SPF # shenanigans going on as well. Specifically that companies are lulling us into a false sense of sun-protection with their uber-high SPF numbers but what they don't say is that you need to apply a quarter of the bottle to achieve SPF 100. The amount we are probably putting on is giving us an SPF of about 3.2. My rule of thumb is that nothing protects past 15 anyway if you are out in the sun.

So, as I am neither scientist nor doctor, I will not attest to the supreme legitimacy of this info. But CLICK HERE for the link to the Environmental Working Group website that scared the pants off me. There are also some very legitimate rebuttals from scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering and reported in the Huffington Post. I say look at both sides of the story and decide for yourself.

Back to work: Full Time

Back to work!
So I'm back! SVU has started production back up for Season 12. I can't believe it. I started at this show as the temporary make-up assistant Season 7. It is such a gift in this business to have a job with a little steadiness but its also crazy to think that this'll be my 6th season!
So even though I have been doing these character makeups for years, as I've said before, its important not to get stuck in a rut. I am constantly changing products, techniques and strategies so that I don't become complacent and start to lose sight of what I am trying to achieve with their look.
That being said, here are the items that I have tried to switch up and have never been able to get away from when doing "Benson Makeup". Call them the Cher items in my makeup bag, because they will never go away:

YSL touche eclat #3 in combo with Cle du Peau concealer in ocher. If someone knows of a better concealer duo for olive skin, I'd like them to tell me. Its bright and radiant and covers anything. It is a combo established by my predecessors and is not to be forsaken.

La Mer Eye Concentrate. I once ran out of this for a day and tried to use something else with out admitting my delinquency. Oh no. Never again.

Benefit F.Y.Eye. My big fear right now is that I think they have discontinued this. I ran out of my last jar and tried another eyeshadow primer. My eye makeups have to last for 14 hours people! Through rain, sleet and snow! (Or in this month's case: Heat!) It was immediately apparent that the new primer wasn't up to the task. LUCKILY Mariska had a jar stashed away and I raided her supply. I am in a panic about running out. F.Y.Eye, please don't leave me! I can't do it without you!

So those are my immortal beloveds. Nothing else will do.

Impromtattoo

As any of my fellow makeup artists in TV will attest, sometimes we don't always get time to prepare as thoroughly as we'd like. For example, I often get the shooting script the day before we begin filming the episode. The lack of lead-time means we often have to be creative and crafty. Before the first episode of the season, I have to load my equipment into my camper, set up the makeup room, make sure our supplies are stocked and...oh yeah, the script calls for specialty contact lenses and extensive tattoos. And I have one day to get it all ready because they all play first thing on the first day!
For the lenses, I take the actor to Studio Optics at Rockefeller Center. They can make anything from a standard colored contact to a full eyeball burst capillary lens. And luckily, they make it snappy.
The tattoos, however, were trickier. There are several ways to go about tattoos and ideally you have the time and budget to plan, design and test an SFX makeup like that. If they play frequently or if the tattoo is just a single image, a transfer or a stencil is the easiest, fastest way to go. Slap it on, spend a minute or two refining the image, and you're done! But, as I mentioned, that takes time to find/buy or design the transfer or stencil. While I keep a stash of tattoo transfers around for emergencies, the director specifically requested sleeve-style tats - and those have to be custom designed. Because I didn't have lead-time for that, my options were limited to free-hand drawing if I wanted it to look legit. So off to Google I went to find inspirational designs. Free-hand drawing is not my gift, however, so this is a much more difficult option for me. And since it played on two separate days, I had to do it twice! In the end, I used a combination of K.D. 151 Tattoo Pens and Skin Illustrator palettes - both alcohol based paints which don't smudge once they dry, and it seems to have turned out well. After the first day, I mapped the design of the tattoos on her arms on tracing paper, aligning it with certain freckles and moles so I had landmarks for the next time. But I was sweating bullets before each time I had to do it. So hopefully next time I'll have more of a chance to prepare. But where's the fun in that?

Luggage

So the issue I am possibly most frequently confronted with has to do with the situation going on under our eyes. It's either darkness or puffiness. Sometimes both! What to do?
My mother-in-law recently asked me to write a blog about this and it made me nervous. It is an age old issue. "How do I get rid of my under eye bags?" It is trickier than dealing with under eye darkness because that is easily remedied with a good highlighter (YSL Touche Eclat, Armani Master Corrector). Bags are a whole different conundrum because the issue is more 3-D than color correction. And solving it often takes more than a swipe of eye cream and a sweep of concealer. The old cool cucumber trick does actually help reduce puffiness from crying/waking up too early/too much salt. But you have to sit there like a diva for minutes. Likewise, there are several patches on the market that you put on under your eyes and let the magic potions on them work their, um, magic. The one that Catherine Keener introduced me to is called Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels. I don't know if its the hydrolyzed elastin, acetyl hexapeptide, or the ginko biloba, but it really does seem to help in the mornings when I have someone sitting in my chair that needs that help. (And if you think I know what any of those ingredients actually do, you are sweet and kind.) The patches, however, are $45 for 6 pairs so you have to really want those bags away sooner than later.
My sister-in-law asked me how I felt Preparation-H works, and I had to say "I dunno!". So that is something I am going to have to road test. Warning: she did mention that she HAD tried the Prep-H Gel and that most certainly did NOT decrease puffiness and only left a film of hemorrhoid cream under her eyes. The Glamour Quotient there is exactly O.O
The one thing I will say is that these treatments only help temporary puffiness. If you watched The Notebook and fell asleep crying or ate dinner at a certain fabulous sushi restaurant in TriBeCa and the next morning couldn't even get your engagement ring on let alone fully open your lids due to sodium intake (that might've been me), these methods will help.
But if you are permanently carrying around a piece of luggage under your eyeballs, then it might be fatty deposits that no cosmetic or skin care item will really solve. It IS solvable, however, and is something you can talk to your dermatologist about.
Now come on. Someone must have some hemorrhoid cream stories!

Back to work: Commercial Style

Two days last week I did a commercial with my friends Dina, a fellow makeup artist and my boss for those 2 days, and Sherry, a lovely and talented hair stylist. I hadn't woken up at 5am for work in 2 months! I also haven't worked on a commercial in about 4 years.
Commercials are a very different vibe from tv/film production. If movies sometimes feel like high school with money, commercials feel more like a corporate board meeting. I'm not sure why. What I like about the picture above is that all the guys are wearing the same exact thing! Like a corporate uniform of brim hats, plaid shirts and cargo shorts.
But it was fun to get back to doing faces! The look on this particular commercial is, as the director put it "Stealth Makeup". The makeup had to look so natural, it couldn't be detected. It can't just look good on camera, it had to look like nothing to the naked eye. So that was a fun challenge - do skin-perfecting makeup that looks like you didn't do anything.
After about an hour and a half of putting the actors through hair and makeup, the three of us from HMU (Hair & Makeup) sat in the sunshine on location in suburban Long Island for the next 10 hours. Occasionally we made sure that people's brows weren't sweaty and that they had enough sunscreen. (Sometimes, during the summer, that is what being a makeup artist becomes: professional sweat mopper/sunscreen applicator. It makes my dad feel very happy he spent a lot of money on my private liberal arts college degree.) It was rough, people. Rough and glamorous.

Lipstains Continued: Josie Maran & Returning to Work

Just an update after yesterday's blog on lip stains:
Full Disclosure...I am a lip-licker. I have been accused of this by my friend Liz who can put on lipstick and it is still on 4 hours later. That is never gonna happen for me. I bite and lick my lips on an unconciously regular basis. So that is another reason, in addition to being a bright, sheer summery look, why stains work for me. But my habits have been known to take down even the most sincere attempts at tinting my lips. If a lipcolor can last the length of a subway ride, it gets a C+. If it lasts the whole commute and an extra hour, B+. If it can last past a cocktail, A.
Yesterday, I wore Josie Maran's Magic Marker lip stain in Mambo to my sister in law's apartment. It indeed lasted the entire commute and after checking on it post-glass-of-wine, there was still a little bit left although much faded. So I give it an A- for effort. The color was beautiful and it wasn't sticky or drying.

On a completely different note, I am getting ready to head back into work at SVU. It seems that we will be moving stages from our 11-year home base in glamorous North Bergen, NJ to the old Mothership Law & Order stages at Chelsea Piers. It should be different and interesting to shake it up, so we'll see! And it will for sure save on bridge and tunnel tolls - for me at least!
It is interesting, however, how used to having down time I can get. When you do movies for a living, as opposed to TV, they tend to be shorter periods of work and then shorter periods of downtime. That downtime, however, is fraught with the anxiety of "finding the next job!". Our show crew works 10 months straight of 15 hour days and then we get a substantial break. Because we have the show to go back to (for now) it decreases the anxiety of losing one job and having to go find another every few months. Especially in this economy, that is a real gift. But going from being able to see family, friends, movies, and museums to work work work is an adjustment! So I am trying to get into a work frame of mind...I'm even doing a commercial with my friend Dina this week to get my head back in the game. I'll keep you posted.

Ok, anyone reading have some lip stain advice for the rest of us?

Summer Swelter

So I was asked recently what a girl is to do, makeup-wise, in this heat! It is humid and sticky and, while I personally believe that it gives you that dewey glow that we are always trying to achieve, sometimes I understand, you want glow and makeup to not melt off your face.
My main two ideas to beat this heat are:
1.) Use less! Instead of my winter routine of rich creme, sunblock and foundation, I put those on the shelf and bust out the tinted moisturizer with spf. I have praised the La Mer SPF 18 Fluid Tint
but if you want a less costly option, buy a squeeze tube from Duane Reade, put a little bit of whatever L'Oreal True Match base matches you, and mix it with Oil of Olay Complete Defense Daily UV Lotion with SPF 30. (Olay has some of the absolute best bang for your buck and this particular version is a light, daily summer style lotion.) By cutting back on your products, you will feel cleaner and the makeup has more room to absorb.

2.) Stains! Makeup does not mean foundation alone. If you want color but want it to stay where you put it, consider a stain. I am a big fan because it makes bright colors wearable but because they are sheer, they don't make your cheeks or lips look like they are SCREAMING for attention. I love love love love love the Tarte cheekstains, as I am sure I have written. The colors are great and they really do last on the cheeks. And I likewise love Benetint and Poseytint. Especially in combination. Now I am on the hunt for the best lip stains. While the colors in the new Covergirl Outlast Lipstains are fun (and those ads with Drew are gorgeous), they do not outlast anything. Soooooo, I recently invested in a slew of new lipstains and I will be reporting back to you about which do what best.
The ones I bought are:
Josie Maran Magic Marker in Mambo
Tokidoki Fantastico Lip Ink (I had never heard of it but love the silliness, so lets see!) in Cactus Friends
Tarte (I know, I know, why don't I just marry Tarte) Lipstain Pencil in Joy
Benetint PocketPal

So I will wear one every day this week and see how they do. Ill keep you posted. Stay Fresh!