Day to Dinner to Party!

While we were in the final throes of the HP Designer Matchup last week, I started thinking about other important stuff. Namely how best not to embarrass myself at New York Fashion Week. I’m a graphic designer and blogger who works out of a home office. Sure I like to think I can clean up well enough when out in public, but how could I make it better? And more important still – easier.

That’s when I got in touch with Engage OKC and they put me in cahoots with The Makeup Bar. I was familiar with the boutique and its owner, Alex Mendez-Kelley, but hadn’t ever used any services. After talking a little about what I was looking for we decided on a three part look than can be built upon in stages. Brilliant!

During the day I’m drawn towards a natural look, and I wanted to keep it that way. So what we worked on was a polished look that could be used as a base-builder for something more dramatic later on.

First, Shelly primed my face and my eyelids. The Makeup Bar has their own line called MUB Beauty, and one of their best products is Sha-liner. A one-step base/eye shadow/eye liner that’s crease-proof, smudge-proof, and tear-proof. For the Day look No Brainer was used, it’s a flat nude color. My top lids were then lined with the Sha-liner in Mindless and a nice little wing was added to the outside corners. Alex also engineered a brilliant dual-ended brush, one for using the Sha-liner as shadow the other for liner. (Even this clumsy girl can use it! The key is short strokes.) My eyes were topped off with a few coats of mascara and done.

Next, any and all blemishes were concealed and foundation evened out my skin. (I normally do these steps first thing, but the ladies swear by this order saying it’s easier to correct any mistakes.) A shade lighter than my skin was used under my eyes to lighten and brighten. A bronzer was used to contour my cheeks and introduce some warm tones, then blush was added for a pop of color and to cool things down. (Fun fact, our skin is comprised of both warm and cool tones, so you need to wear a little of both to appear neutral.)

To finish up, Shelly lined my lips in MUB Beauty‘s Heather which a neutral mauve-ish lip tone and glossed me over with a similar color.

Now it’s time to kick things up a notch from where we were to head off for dinner! Most seasons makeup trends are focused on either a bold eye or bold lip. This year, for the first time in ages, both looks being worn at once are showing up on the runways.

Adding to the Day look, Shelly added another Sha-liner called Moondance (a pretty beigey-grey) to the middle of my eyelids and followed up with some powder shadow in the crease for some depth. A little bit of cream blush was added to my cheeks for more color and my lips were darkened with Berrylicious gloss from MUB Beauty that I instantly fell in love with.

Now it’s on to party time! Sparkles and color are where it’s at.

Shelly used Sha-liner in Shalicious to highlight my brow bone and the inner corners of my eyes. She then used a super-secret MUB Beauty highlighting product that’s not available to the public yet, so I don’t even have any information to share on it! Another pop of cream blush on just the apples of my cheeks was added and the underside of my top lashes were lined for extra oomph. My bottom lids were lined with Sha-liner in Spring Break, a killer teal that I can’t get enough of. A dusting of sparkles on my bowline and I’m ready to hit the NYFW party scene!

This Thursday, September 6th is the annual event Fashion’s Night Out. If you’re in the OKC area and interested in seeing what The Makeup Bar can do for you that’s the night! Why, you ask? Because Alex has gathered the best of the best makeup artists to do FREE makeovers! That’s right, people who I could never ever afford to do my makeup are going to do yours for nada. Head over to have them gussy you up send you out for a fabulous evening!

All photos © Caroline Cohenour