Is there a perfect red lipstick for every woman? - part 1

The holiday is coming and we see gorgeous red lipstick worn by celebrities and models everywhere we turn. The photos below show how these women just look so AMAZING with red lipstick. Red is a really strong color, so these stars of course knowing that, and choosing the right dresses, accessories, and the right hair style to go with their sexy red lipstick. When the whole look is done right, red lipstick should make a woman look more stylish, alluring, and confident.

However, more often than not, most of us Asians are very intimidated by red lipstick and tend to stay away from it. Maybe some of us would at least once try red, but then quickly wipe it away with a sigh..."I just can't wear red." How come red lipstick tends to look so harsh & not-right on us?

Reasons? There could be one or all of the reasons below for red lipstick to look not-right on Asian women:

1. If your eyes or brows aren't strong enough, it's really hard to handle red lipstick.
2. If you have problem skin, scarred, or redness/breakout, red will tend to highlight your flaws even more. Having porcelain, nice, glowy skin will be a big plus!
3. Good bone structure and a nice shape of lips will be your greatest weapons. Asians tend to have a flatter, rounder face, and when that combined with a small thin lips, you can't expect red lipstick to look great on you without some work... (we'll go there in next post)

But, DON'T GIVE UP. There's way :) In my next post, I'll go into details about how to find a good red lipstick and how to make it work.

Light Smoky Eyes & Glowy Skin for Emily

Defined & Elegant look for Jenny

Jenny was exceptionally kind, funny, quirky & beautiful inside/out. What a kind-hearted person! I felt so lucky to have met her. Making her look beautiful for the wedding day was the greatest joy!

Jenny's most beautiful features are her big double-lid eyes and nice bone structure, a photogenic and "good for makeup" face. She has a very youthful, almost naive & childish kind of beauty, so even though at first she kind of wants a smoky look (similar to another bride's hair & makeup I did) and a high all-up fancy do, I told her a light smoky eyes and a side-swept bang, low updo will work best for her face. The brows are also a key element, they need to look a bit thicker, darker & more defined in order to well frame her beautiful eyes.

So, here's what we did at the trial:

Here are some photos from her friend's camera on her wedding day:

Porcelain skin & natural makeup for Jean

Based on her quest for a very natural look, I didn't invest too much time with eye makeup (besides eyeliner & a pair of natural short falsies so it doesn't look fake), instead I focused on making her skin look as flawless as possible and subtlety contouring the face. Lastly, I chose a nice lip base & sheer pink gloss to highlight Jean's beautiful smile and using the rest of my time perfecting the updo. Note: Jean has a very short layered hair, only down to her chin so it wasn't easy to make it into an updo without using hair extension. I was very happy to be able to bring out her natural beauty (especially that smile) without making her look "made-up".

Defined & Elegant look for Christine

Christine is very pretty! She's one of the rare Asian clients who didn't tell me this common request "Please make my face look smaller". Told me she doesn't wear much makeup on a daily basis, so she wanted a natural but good enough for photography makeup look, and a very clean elegant updo (to go with her fancy dress). 

I love how her delicate features are framed by such a small lovely face, but she on the contrary said, "My face is too small, just do anything you can to not making it look smaller." Oh well, as you can guess, it's EASY!

So, all I did was enhancing her features using earth tones, making her brows more even, and carefully crafted an updo that would compliment her facial structure from all sides considered (front, back, and sides).

Smoky Eyes for Rosanna

Rosanna was one of the nicest person I've ever met, not to mention that she had such a sweet voice and a calm manner, carried through for the entire getting-ready time of her wedding day. What I like most about her was that when she smiles, her eyes brightens up and her face gives such a glow with sincerity and grace.

Because of that, I suggested semi-glam smoky eyes (using black, golden & bronzy brown shades) so that the eyes would be the center of her face, perfectly balanced out her forehead and strong jawline. To go with this look, I chose full medium-length false lashes and bronzy nude lip color. Oh, this doesn't mean the skin goes last on our list, I spent a lot of time making sure her skin is well hydrated, primed, and with airbrush foundation, we got her complexion looking flawless. For brides, when I do a smoky eye look, my #1 attention is the skin. Why? Think "opposite attract/compliment".  It's a bridal smoky eyes so smoky here means "glamorous", not the so-called sultry next morning smoky eyes.

Here's Rosanna's before & after (taken at the trial session, a week before her wedding day):

Wondering how glowing Rosanna look on her wedding day? See photos below - by W photography