Winnipeg's Downtown Aveda Spa Salon
Frequently Asked Questions - Makeup
Without messing up all my makeup, how can I get rid of the powder eye shadow that has fallen on my face during application?
Ever since Marilyn Monroe made blue eye shadow popular during the 40s and 50s, the problem of eye shadow fall-out has been a challenge. If you try and brush it away with your powder brush, you will end up making it look streaky and you may have to take off your foundation and blush from the cheek area and start over.
A trick that makeup artists use is to add a powder guard before applying eye shadow. To do this, take loose translucent powder and a large powder brush. (Or, if you can find a powder puff, that works even better.) Put a large deposit of powder on the brush or puff and heavily powder the tops of your cheeks, under the eyes, and on the bridge of your nose. It may look strange but after you put on your eye shadow and you see the debris from your eye shadow laying on top of the powder, all you have to do is flick the powder off with a large powder brush and "voila" - no eye shadow debris.
By doing the powder-guard trick you end up with subtle highlights in those areas that you powdered. It's actually quite a thrill, going from bad-looking to good-looking in two seconds and right before your eyes. It always makes me smile when I do this trick on a makeup client.
A word of caution, though: be sure to get the application order right. The order of makeup application is:
- concealer
- foundation
- blush
- powder guard
- eye colour
- remove powder guard
- mascara
Once you powder, the powder sets whatever is under it so if you have not put on your foundation and blush first, you will have a difficult time putting them on because they both will drag (due to the powder setting) and you can't blend them as well. At this point I like to put on the lipstick because I get a real wow effect when I brush off the powder but you may want to brush the powder guard off, then apply lipstick.
A parting note about Marilyn Monroe. Did you know that she was the first fashion icon to wear primary colours and not monochromatic colours? She had red lipstick, blue eye shadow and yellow blonde hair.
