KEY POINTS:
Rae Morris has been described as one of the world's most creative artists, but her work is not hanging in museums. Instead, it's seen on the faces and bodies of top models and actors.
The Australian makeup artist reveals her golden rules for finding the right lip shade and doing rock chick eyes.
FINDING THE RIGHT LIP SHADE
Here's the trick. If you have absolutely no idea, picture two lipsticks sitting in front of you. You have to choose one, like it or not. One is fuchsia pink, the other is tangerine orange. Even if you detest both of them, you will find yourself detesting one less than the other.
If you pick fuchsia pink, in most cases you suit and wear cool colours, as pink is cool.
So you should always tend to look for cool or blue undertone shades, cool reds (verging on wine shades or even burgundy), all pink shades, pink-based nudes if you like the paler shades, and pink-based browns. And, of course, absolutely nothing with orange or warm brown because the cool colours clash badly with warm tones.
If you picked the tangerine orange, the opposite is true. You would tend to wear gold jewellery if you're colour-coordinated, earthy clothing colours, creams instead of whites, burnt orange, caramels and even bright yellows. So go for all orange brick-based reds, anything warm in general, warm browns, peachy nudes, all bronze shades, and you can even pump up your lips with golds.
If you can wear both the pink and the orange (and get away with it), you may fit into a very small category of women who can wear cool and warm. Lucky you! (Please, just not at the same time.)
If you are still confused and have no idea, then stick with anything in the wine shade, such as mahogany or plum. These colours are the only ones in the colour spectrum that are both cool and warm. This also goes for hair and wardrobe colours.
Another basic rule is that all cool-coloured lip shades, such as cool reds, all pinks and wine colours, will make your teeth look whiter, whereas all brown shades can make your teeth slightly yellow. Guess which is better.
Never use lip liner that's a completely different colour to your lipstick. If you want to use lip liner, make sure you pencil in the whole lip. This is just for when your lipstick fades, so you're not left with an 80s lip line.
If your lips are naturally lined (or wrinkled), don't overuse lip gloss. If you do this, your lips won't just bleed, they will haemorrhage!
Go for velvety or more matt-textured lipsticks instead. You can always apply a little gloss to the very centre of your lips.
Never use too much lip gloss, otherwise you will look like you're drooling; particularly in side light.
If you have lip hair, remove it. Don't bleach it. Even if the hair is blonde, it still grows down into the lip line, making it impossible to create a sharp edge.
Many is the time I have had to pull out the tweezers on models and rip out the hair so I can perfect their lip line.
In my opinion, hair-removing machines are the best, because unlike wax, theydon't remove any skin. I don't like hair-removal creams because of what they do to the skin. You can't take a product that removes and dissolves "hard keratin" (such as hair) without affecting the more sensitive "soft keratin" (skin) beneath.
Don't apply foundation on your lips or under lipstick.
Yes, we do sometimes use foundation as lipstick to create a nude effect, but putting it under a lipstick can get you into trouble. You end up with a white cakey line around your lips because foundation and lipstick can be made of opposite components (e.g. water vs grease), so they won't blend together. Not a great look, believe me.
If you want nude-looking lips, buy a nude lipstick.
ROCK CHICK EYES
1 Apply an intense black kohl pencil or cream eyeliner to the inner rim and cover the entire eyelid; smudge with your finger. When lining the lower outer corner of the eye, smudge the pencil into and just below the lash line. The colour must be jet-black, otherwise it'll look dirty.
2 Apply translucent powder that matches your skin tone to the rest of the eye socket up to the brow bone. This will make the next stage much easier to blend.
3 Dab some Sorbolene cream under the eye to make removing any dropped shadow easier (and avoid rubbing the skin). Using a small brush, apply dark metallic midnight-blue pigment to blend the black and lift the shape higher to just under the brow bone.
4 Apply the blue metallic pigment to the inner corner of the eye and underneath the lower lash line. Finish by applying lots of black mascara to the top and bottom lashes.
TIPS
Black fallout is hard to remove, even with the best of makeup removers. As well as Sorbolene, you can also use a water-based moisturiser under the eye to prevent staining. Clumpy black mascara is hot with this look.
A high-shine luminescent foundation complements this look. Use a translucent powder under the eye, below the black.
* Extracted from Makeup: The Ultimate Guide by Rae Morris, Arena Books.
We have 10 prize packs to give away, each with of a copy of the book and a L'Oreal Telescopic Clean Definition Mascara - Morris' favourite. To enter, write your name, address and phone number on the back of an envelope and send to: Rae Morris Book Giveaway, Viva, NZ Herald, PO Box 3290, Auckland. Entries close on April 9, winners will be announced April 16.
