I cannot believe that another prom season is upon us! When I was in high school, I didn't care a lot about dances, let alone proms. I ended up going to my senior prom with some friends. A couple of us went stag but it was no biggie. We were alone together! It was a fun hang with my friends, but I wouldn't consider it life changing.
I did love my dress, though. It was an A-line strappy knee-length dress with gold underneath and a black lace overlay. It had a very vintage vibe.
I did my own makeup for prom. I remember using L'Oreal Bare Naturale Mineral Foundation, gold CoverGirl eyeshadow, tightlined black eyeliner, some kind of blush, and lots of waterproof Revlon mascara. I can't even remember wearing anything on my lips. I was very much ignoring that part of my face when I was in high school. I wouldn't be surprised if I went with a plain lip balm. Now I love lipstick and I get really excited about it. I also used to tightline my eyes everyday and I don't anymore. You grow up and your tastes change. Back then, I already loved playing up my eyelashes and I still do. So some things do stay the same.
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| My original prom dress resembled the one I'm wearing here. |
It occurred to me that there may be some people out there wanting to do their own makeup but don't know what to use. If you have the budget for it, I would highly recommend purchasing one of the Urban Decay Naked palettes. If you pick the right one for you, it can become such a versatile tool to have in your beauty arsenal. You can continue to use a given palette long after prom is over: for graduation, attending lectures, interviews, work, etc. That's the thing I really love about these neutral palettes. You can use them to create really simple and pretty daytime looks, but you can also create gorgeous dramatic ones--all in the same palette! Admittedly, I went a little crazy and bought all three (Side note: I was planning on doing my own makeup for my wedding and I had a really hard time deciding which palette to go with and eventually ended up with all of them!). If you can find the one that suits you the most, that should suffice. Feel free to ask the sales associates at Sephora, Ulta, Macy's, or Nordstrom to help you out if you're feeling overwhelmed with your choices.
If you like my makeup look want to take the DIY approach for your prom/formal event, then read on for my tutorial!
If you're like me and have demilids/monolids and hooded eyes, it's very difficult to find looks that translate well from what we see in magazines and online. To top it all off, my eyes are also uneven! Oh, and don't forget about my stick-straight lashes! A very important tip is to always look straight ahead into the mirror to check your progress every now and then. I cannot tell you how many times I've put so much effort into doing beautiful shading on my eyelids only to have it all disappear when I opened my eyes. It's so frustrating because I
love eyeshadows!
I can only tell you what works for me as someone who has demilids and hooded eyes, so you may need to make some adaptations to suit your eye shape.
Whenever you're using a dark or very glittery eyeshadow, hold a bit of
tissue right under your eye and rest it on your cheek. This will catch
any fallout that occurs and it won't mess up your foundation. Speaking of foundation, use one WITHOUT SPF. The SPF will cause flashback in your photos. There are lots of affordable non-SPF options at drugstores.
My products list:
Revlon ColorStay Whipped Foundation 200 Sand Beige (Long-wearing & looks great in photos. I used this when I did my own makeup for my engagement photos and Chinese wedding banquet.)
Stila Stay All Day Concealer 05 Hue
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Urban Decay Naked Palette
CoverGirl LashBlast 24hr Mascara Black (I think this may soon be discontinued)
Milani Anti-feathering Lipliner Pencil
Jordana Modern Matte Lipstick Matte It Girl (Available in-store at Walgreens and Kmart)
Essence Silky Touch Blush Babydoll
Smashbox Baked Fusion Softlights
e.l.f. Makeup Brushes
Once you have curled your eyelashes and applied eyeshadow primer, apply the shade Naked all over your lid stopping just at the socket. You can see here I'm not fully monolid nor am I double-lid.
Use a black eyeliner pencil to line your upper lid as close to your lash line as possible. Stop right when you're able to see the top edge of the black eyeliner with your eyes open. Extend the line just past the length of your upper lash line for a slight wing. My wings point a little downward due to my hooded eyes. Otherwise, the hoods cause a break in the continuity of the wing.
You don't need to be 100% perfect with this step. This eyeliner is acting as part of a base and it will create more depth in the look.
Take a dense C-brush or small flat eyeshadow brush and pat the shade Creep right over the black eyeliner. Gently blend the eyeliner and Creep together to bring the dark shade up a little higher on your eyelid. Just enough so that the dark eyeshadow can show up while your eyes are open.
I love this trick especially for hooded eyelids that tend to get oily. It's like a symbiotic relationship: the eyeliner acts as a base for the eyeshadow, and the eyeshadow sets the eyeliner and minimizes creasing. Win-win!
Take a small blending brush and apply Buck right at the outer edge of Creep and carefully blend. This will smooth out the harsh black edge. For the inner portion of the eye, apply a bit of Half Baked for more dimension.
Take a little bit of Darkhorse and apply it right over where Buck and Creep meet. Again, this is for added dimension.
Finally, use Virgin as a brown bone highlight and make sure it's blended well with Buck.
Take a step back and see how all the colors are working together. Is
everything blended smoothly? If you have small eyelids like I do, use
caution when blending because doing it too widely can cause everything
to look muddy. I found myself using smaller brushes to accomplish this.
Use a small slanted brush and use Creep to line the outer 2/3 of your lower lash line. If Creep looks too dark and harsh, you can substitute it for Hustle instead.
Unlike my former high school self, I didn't tightline here. It actually gives the illusion of smaller eyes and that's the opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish!
Use Virgin again with a small brush or applicator and highlight the inner corner of your eye. I like to bring the shade about 1/3 of the way on my lower lid to meet the darker shade.
Apply generous coats of waterproof mascara. Nothing else can help build volume and hold a curl for straight lashes more than waterproof mascara. The best kind allows you to build up your volume while holding the curl and not allowing your lashes to droop. Also, you're going to want your mascara to be waterproof if you're going to be dancing and having fun with your friends. This would not be a good time for raccoon eyes, speaking from someone who is very experienced with smudgy mascara!
Since this is a neutral eyelook, you can keep your lipcolor very tame or bold. Either way, find a lip color formula that's low-maintenance. If you're planning on taking photos, that's one less thing to worry about!
For this look, I used Jordana Modern Matte lipstick in Matte It Girl. Since matte lipsticks are not as emollient as their creme counterparts, they have a bit more staying power. If I was on auto-pilot, I would've slapped on a classic red lipstick because of my curled hair. I wanted this look to be "modern vintage" and it's Springtime, so why not?
After applying Stila Stay All Day Concealer in Hue for my undereye circles and set with some translucent powder, it's time for the final touches! I used my new favorite Essence Silky Touch Blush in Babydoll on the apples of my cheeks. Then I
lightly swept Smashbox Baked Fusion Softlights across the tops of my cheeks, nose, forehead, and chin. Start off with a little bit and you can always build it up since you don't want to look too shiny.
Apply a few spritzes of makeup setting spray and you're good to go! This will keep your makeup from inevitably melting and smearing across your face if you're going to be working up a sweat on the dance floor! I like to use Make Up Forever Mist & Fix.
Here's the final look (again)!
I hope this tutorial was helpful for someone out there. It was a bit of a process to take all the steps down but it was fun! The hardest part was probably dealing with lighting and getting decent shots of my own eye. Constructive criticism is welcome!
Do you have prom or any formal events coming up? Are you going to be doing your own makeup? Let me know in the comments below!
