What a magical difference a little brightening makes when applied to just the right areas on the face. When it comes to brighteners there are a few important details to keep in mind.:
- The texture should not cake into fine lines and still look fresh at the end of the day.
- There needs to be both concealing and brightening properties.
- The ingredients should have skincare and natural SPF properties.
It’s a tall order, I know. I realized as a makeup artist that it is not easy to find a product that ticks off all these boxes. That is why I decided I had to roll up my sleeves and create my own brighteners for my clients. The BRIGHTENERS were one of my first products because as a makeup artist the right BRIGHTENER gives me superpowers.
“Which brightener should I be wearing to banish my under-eye darkness?”
For almost all light to medium skin tones, from Vanilla to Burnt Almond, our PINK BRIGHTENER is your best choice. We have combined just the right undertones to cancel out darkness. Even though the naked eye only sees the area as being darker than the rest of the face, it is actually a blue-toned or purple-toned darkness. So it calls for just the right tones to conceal and brighten without giving skin a pasty grey effect. If you have a lot of freckles around the eye area, you may find that a mix of the PINK and BEIGE create the best result.
If you are Raw Agave to Cocoa or medium to dark in color and need brightening, our HE’S THE ONE ALOE CREAM TINT mixed with your HDD CREAM SHADE will work like a dream.
The WHITE BRIGHTENER is a must-have for all! Applying just a hint to the inner corners of eyes makes the eyes pop by making the white part of your eye look whiter, clearer and larger. If you are running on very little sleep and have bloodshot eyes in the morning, this one step makes all the difference. You can also add a touch of WHITE to the center of the mobile part of your eyelid, right above lashes, to make eyes sparkle and your upper lashes look longer and darker. With the NEED A LIFT BRUSH, sweep a thin line on the underside of brows after filling them in to create a clean and high brow arch. This gives a natural ‘eye lift’.
Prime Property
The brighteners can have a dramatic effect when applied to the upper eyelid too. Being that darkness in the under eye area is usually much darker, most of my clients miss that they have darkness on their entire eyelid that needs brightening. Once you apply a brightener like WHITE or BEIGE to the upper eyelid, it makes eyes look larger and you look instantly look more awake. It also gives our ALOE CREAM TINTS a truer color when applied over top of our BRIGHTENERS and very little blending is needed. Personally I could not live without my BEIGE as a primer for my favorite ALOE CREAM TINT shades. Even by itself, it gives a pretty ‘champagne’ color to light to medium skin. You may want to use a BRIGHTENER shade that will match the tint you are going to use on the eye lids. For example, If you are wanting to go with VINTAGE ALOE CREAM TINT or AGATE RAW PIGMENT, BEIGE is the best match.
Highlight & Contour brightening
Have you heard of the ‘Banana Highlighter‘ Kim Kardashian’s artist uses to highlight her face? Our YELLOW BRIGHTENER creates the same results but with toxin-free, vegan ingredients. To highlight the cheekbones and brighten on either side of the nose and mouth, the YELLOW BRIGHTENER can equal the ‘Banana Powder’s’ transforming abilities. If you have cool undertones and are extra-fair, A MIX OF WHITE AND YELLOW may be a better option. These areas usually tend to have a bit of redness so the yellow cancels that out and gives a lift to the face at the same time.
Editorial or Stage Makeup Brightening
There is a term among makeup artists called ‘cooking your makeup‘ which is beneficial if you need more dramatic brightening for the camera. We try to keep our ingredients as raw as possible so I like to refer to this term as ‘warming up your makeup’! Try applying your brightener first with your NEED A LIFT and SMOOTH THINGS OVER BRUSH and let your skin warm it up before applying your HDD, BIO-FOUNDATION, and eye makeup. Apply your brightener and then do your hair or answer some emails, then come back to your makeup. This gives an airbrushed look to your brightening. Like this makeup look Jennifer Lopez sported in Maid in Manhattan, this step makes such a dramatic difference that it is essential when doing theatrical-style makeup to enhance the brow bones, cheek bones, nose and chin. Be sure to set your brightening with our BIO-FOUNDATION formula. It is moisturizing, anti-caking, and yet you do not get that midday shine.
Fuller Lips Brightening
You can create the illusion of fuller lips by applying a thin line of YELLOW BRIGHTENER, ever so lightly just outside of your lip line, with your NEED A LIFT BRUSH. Feather out softly. I call this my ‘inside-out lip liner’ because it enhances your lip gloss or balm color, prevents it from going outside of the lip line, and looks 100% natural. To further enhance the size of your lips, add a little more YELLOW BRIGHTENER OR HDD CREAM on both corners of your mouth, almost like you are trying to shorten the length of them. This gives you more of a smiley look, it pulls the face up, and makes your lip line look shorter and fuller. You will be amazed at the results. Again, feather out towards your ears so it is blended naturally into your skin tone.
EXPERIMENT
As much as I enjoy being a teacher, I will always be a student. I never stop learning. I love hearing about others’ makeup tricks and some of the best ones I have learned come from my clients who are not professional makeup artists. Aren’t we all makeup artists though if we practice this little ritual every day? Give yourself the freedom to be creative. Experiment with different makeup brushes for different effects. The key is not to take yourself too seriously and have fun with your makeup.
jo xo
