Make Up Through the Decades - in Details

Hi Blushers,

Some asked me how is it possible that I transformed 1 face into 7 different looks. Well, here are the tricks:

Presenting the model for the day. All ready to be made up. Here goes:

1940 is known for its simplicity in make up, letting the natural beauty shines thru. It's still very groomed though, from the heavy groomed eyebrows to the stylised hairdo. Here, we were channeling Veronica Lake, with her famous peek a bo hairstyle. I reckon Dita Von Teese does a very very good 1940 impression. Good on you Dita! To achieve this look, you need to let the lips do the talking, but not any red lipstick, a reddish brown matte red lipstick is recommended. no visible blush or heavy contouring, simple eye makeup, a bit of mascara and clean complexion.

The 1950s is very well known for its sexy marylin monroe-ish make up, with downturn eyeliner and lashes and pointy eyebrow shapes. and don't forget the all important RED LIPSTICK! *beauty spot is optional..

here I changed the shape of her eyebrows and making it curvier and thicker. The eyeliner although heavy, was not in the shape of an obvious cat eye. Demure and sexy almond shape eyeliner was drawn while false lashes was glued on the outer part of her eyes, and slightly pressed down to add more drama to that sultry look. Red Glossy lipstick was overdrawn from her real lips to make it more supple and full. Black liner was used to draw the beauty mark.

1960.. who can forget the sultry look of smoky eyes and cat eyes? i would have to thank Brigitte Bardot to pave the way for us sexy females out there. Heavy smoky eyes technique is carefully drawn and blended to both her eyes. I think I layered around triple false lashes to her already long lashes! To open up the eyes even more to make it more innocent, false lashes was used on her lower lashes with heavy mascara. I contoured her cheekbones and found the palest colour of nude lipstick. In fact, I mixed a little bit of concealer to make it paler. Her eyebrows was thinned using concealer pencil.

the 1970s iconic figure here is (picture her with a red bikini)... Farah Fawcetttt.. bronze, healthy and really happy happy sporty woman. To achieve that bronze healthy glow, I used lots of shimmery products, powders and blush. Her eyes are made simple because the focus here is on the glowing skin.

1980. lace. too much colours. over the top accessories. and curly wurly big hairdo. but late 1980 was the comeback of our most iconic woman to date; Madonna and her famous Jean Paul Gaultier pointy bra. Seriously, i even had nightmares relating to those bras (LOL). Anywho, to recreate the famous Madonna look, you need a heavy dose of mascara and eyebrow pencil. Yes, thick, roundish eyebrows was the trend at that moment. Heavy blush, heavy contour and of course, don't forget that loud Red Lipstick!

1990 was the era of the supermodels.. linda, cindy, elle, naomi and .. Claudia. With her bleached brows, heavy mascara, smoky eyes and pale pale lips, she really was the brigitte of that era. I used concealer and slowly brush her eyebrows to 'bleach' them. The smoky eyes was in, but unlike the 1960, the eyes was less garrish, less heavy, less 'racoon-ish'. It was the modern version of smoky eyes, with just the right amount of blending and heavy heavy mascara to complete the look. Nude lipstick with a hint of gloss was used to personify the word 'sexy modern'.

and finally our millenium.. the make up is endless, uncategorised and free spirited.

Agyness Deyn is someone who has that new, modern look, with her straight eyebrows, androgynous hair and fashion.Make up for 2000 and above? the best (and the shocking) is yet to come.. we haven't even touched Lady Gaga yet.. :D

Carefully brush and draw the eyebrows to be straight with no obvious curve. The eyeshadows are drawn with a slightly cat eye, pointy edge, because after all, it's supposed to be edgy. Bronze, silver and gold was the colour I chose and mix together. Contour the face with highlight and shading, very little blush and find the softest colour of pink for her lips. Edgy meets Feminine :)

All the makeup used are from Make Up For Ever.

False Lashes are mostly Elisse and Bilqis.

Any question just drop a line!

Love,

A

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Bat your lashes, and lash out

Dear blushers,

I'd like to fill you in on a little secret I have. I have this obsession that I don't think my husband even knows!
I am obsessed with....

Fake Eyelashes

Really. When I say obsessed, I really mean obsessed. Instead of having just enough, my idea of false eyelashes is pretty much the same as having a pair of shoes. You can NEVER have enough of it!

Here's something that will make you agree how obsessed I am with the lashes. Those are just SOME of my lashes. I still have boxes of lashes safely stacked in my secret compartments. :D  Anyway, now let's talk more about the lashes and less about my obsession...! We're definitely blessed to be living in this time. There are so many kinds of lashes out there:

There are interesting fashion lashes...

'normal' pretty lashes...

must-have bridal lashes and many more..

Did you know, false eyelashes was first invented by the American film director D.W. Griffith while he was making his 1916 epic, "Intolerance"? Griffith wanted his actress Seena Owen to have lashes that graced her cheeks, to make her eyes shine larger than life. A wigmaker wove human hair through fine gauze, which was then gummed to Owen's eyelids. As the procedure was rather expensive (and tedious), only famous people could afford it. So not much awareness there then.

And then, in 2004, a breakthrough in material production. False lashes owed its current popularity status to several Asian countries known to the world by their search for beauty. Those countries are none other than Korea and Japan, who introduced the single lash application technique, and individual lashes technique, hence creating an easier application. Not only that, because of the technique, we can now afford to have a more natural, fuller, thicker (and SEXIER) lashes.

False lashes are now produced using either with human hair, sythetic materials or a combination of both, and is applied with eyelash glue. There are even permament lashes, also known as eyelash extensions, that are available for those who would like to wear the lashes for a longer period of time (although, after experiencing what it felt like, I wouldn't recommend it. The glue stings! And when your real lashes naturally fall out, it carries a whole lot of the fake lashes too, leaving you with bald spots. Not pretty.)

Some of the beautiful false lashes that I often used on my models are the ones that are proudly produced right here in Indonesia. (Did you also know that Indonesia is one of the largest manufacturers of false lashes, supplying its lashes all across the world? *clap clap*)

However, there are some lashes that really just took my breath away..

Paperself lashes are designed and produced by PAPERSELF, who was launched in 2009 by London based designer Chunwei Liao. It sole purpose was to unite artists, designers and manufacturers from East to West, challenging conventions of product design.. and beauty. Their lashes are simply beautiful.

Inspired by the art of Chinese paper-cutting, Paperself eyelashes blend an element of traditional culture with contemporary design. Intricately cut and delicately pretty, they are now available in 11 styles.

Another one that I have to give my wholesome credit to is Koji  - Dolly Wink false lashes. It is designed by the very famous Japanese gyaru doll-faced Tsubasa Masuwaka. I was pretty skeptical at first. I mean, any celebrities can just lend their name to any products and claimed to be super nice right? Oh man was I wrong.. the lashes are soo sooo gorgeous, and really, you can pretty much stop any taxi with those lashes. It doesn't make you look like a drag queen too.. that's a plus point there.

I promise to make a special review on these lashes, but just in case you're curious to get your hands on these Dolly Wink lashes, make your way to Sogo or Debenham, or Guardian (not all Guardian stocked them though..) Highly recommended!

 Here are some illustrations on how eyelashes (when done properly) can enhance your eyes even more:

 This model, like many Asians, has monolids. With proper use of false lashes, it helped create double eyelid for both of her eyes, making her eyes appear larger.

This beautiful model is my every supportive mom. Volunteering (forced actually :D) herself to become one of my victims, she wore a stagerring 4 layer of false lashes, one on top of the other in each eye. What a trooper. Can you see how it helped to 'lift' sagging eyelids? Love you mom!

Promise to keep my promise for the eyelashes review..!

Till then, Love,
A

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Indonesian style VS 'Bule' style

Whoa! This is an all different thing to talk about here. We can even dissect the topic into a more focused discussion, and in the end we can talk about this for days, weeks, months, years.. who's counting?

With no offense to my western friends, I use the term 'bule' because I think it's easier for us to generalise the Western style, even though it may originate from different countries. So 'bule' here is a term we use to speak on behalf of American, French, Australian, Italian, English etc etc. Oh, btw, bule means Westerners in Indonesian. :)

In terms of make up, I believe without a doubt there's a HUGE difference of styles between these two. Let's just take a couple of random examples. We'll start this interesting analysis by showing a couple of famous bule icons:

And now, let's bring out a couple of well known Indonesian celebrities:

Okay then, where shall we begin? I'm sure all of you can see the 'subtle' difference of make up styles between the two?

I'm an Indonesian, and I live here, and quite honestly, seeing this thick make up, applied super generously on the faces of the women here doesn't even make me raise my eyebrow anymore. How do you say it? It's just their cup of tea, and slowly I've come to accept it too. Not to me, personally, but I understand it's what they mostly look for when they go to a make up artist to get their make up done.

Here's a quick recipe on how to get the Indonesian celebrity make up look. You need:

- Thick foundation (even better in cream), 1 to even 2 tones lighter than your skin.

- Even thicker powder. Acne scars? Zits? Moles? Gone!

- Really sharp, defined eyebrows. Not a hair out of place, if there is, pluck it!

- SHADING. I have this joke with my students. You're not a true Indonesian if you haven't shade your cheekbones AND the most important thing of all; NOSE. Your nose have to look super straight, super sharp and super curiously will make people ask themselves whether it's cosmetically enhanced.

- Fake Eyelashes. This is it. The secret. The motherload of all makeup ship. Without fake eyelashes, I doubt anyone of the Indonesian celebrities would dare walk out their door. I'm not talking just a pair. We're being modest with 2 pairs. Yes my dear obssesionistas, we're in a different league here. We're talking 3 pairs and above. Rumour has it that Syahrini wore 5 pairs of fake eyelashes every single time. Hence, the famous 'bulu mata anti badai' (anti storm lashes).

Here I'm demonstrating what I meant on how the same style of makeup, but with different intensities can look like (have your finger close one side when comparing to appreciate the full change):

left: typican Indonesian makeup (here I only used 3 fake lashes)

right: same style, but softer look (i use 1 fake lashes)

Okay, I'm not being critical on this. Like I said, living here and seeing this type of makeup on a daily basis, I've come to accept it that this is what the public wants. I'm not saying it's horrible, but it sure is different. Anyone who would like to step out in a different style is welcome to try this look. I guarantee, it will make heads turn. Finish it off with the famous blowdried bouncy hair wave, and I'm sure no one would question whether you are truly an Indonesian :)

Until our next analysis,

Love,

A



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