Mettre En Valeur

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Beauty Icons of the 1950's

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner - these names ring a bell?
I bet they do.
Beauty, grace, elegance, sophistication and sex appeal - they had it all.
The men are back from war and the 'pin-ups' are no longer required.
Their wives are sporting shorter hairdos and longer skirts but are just as stunning.

Dressed to the nines, complete with white gloves, fashion hats and the "doe-eyed look" that becomes the signature look of this decade, these women became our beauty icons and, let's face it - the fantasy of men for decades to come.

Ava Gardner

Elizabeth Taylor

Jayne Mansfield

Audrey Hepburn

Hmm... anyone thinking Dita Von Tease? Yea, so am I.

Dita Von Tease

As mentioned in my first post, when a client books you and says: I want a Jayne Mansfield look, you have to know who Jayne Mansfield was and know that this chick really wants to look like Pamela Anderson but is too shy to say so. ;) Just kidding, but is it just me or did you also get a Pam Anderson vibe from Jayne Mansfield? I'm just saying.
But i digress, in short: you need to know what these beauty icons looked like so you can recreate the look.

There are some great make-up tutorials on www.youtube.com, one make-up artist duo in particular that i absolutely love are named: Pixiwoo.

Here's their Elizabeth Taylor make-up tutorial:

Blog to you soon,

Sahar

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Warm colours vs. Cold colours

I’ve been procrastinating, I know.
But it’s only because I am finding this warm colour vs. cold colour thing very vague.
Almost like learning French grammar: tons of ‘rules’ but then tons of “exceptions” to the said rule. So what was the purpose of the rule? Anyway, moving on - I give you:

Cold colours vs. Warm colours:

The Chromatic circle can be divided in half separating the cold colours from the warm colours.

As you can see, the yellow and purple play for both sides. They are neutral in that way.

I guess we could call them the bi’s of the colour spectrum ;)

(Sigh) Here’s where it gets interesting {read: where it becomes a bitch}
Even though blue is a "cold" colour it can also be considered "warm" if in its composition there is a high concentration of red or yellow.

Another example is brown - normally a warm colour, but when composed with a high concentration of blue or purple hues, it becomes a cold colour.

It gets better, wait till we get into skin tones, then you’ll really love this.

But the general idea is this:

Warm colours are typically composed of red and yellow derivatives.

Cold colours are typically composed of blue and yellow derivatives.

The more observant of you might have picked up on the fact that our aforementioned complimentary colours (described in previous posts) are a combination of one warm colour and one cold colour. With the exception of yellow and purple of course but that's only because, as mentioned above, yellow and purple are the neutral colours of the spectrum. Generally though, yellow warms up a colour and purple cools it off.

And voila! We're done with the lesson! Unless you want me to get into the psychology of warm and cold colours. It's simple enough, psychologically red reminds us of fire thus making it a warm colour and blue of course reminds us of ice therefore making it a cold color. Get the jest? Thought so. ;)

Blog to you soon,

Sahar

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Chromatic circle

The Chromatic Circle:

The Chromatic circle of colours is a theory based on the mixture of colour substances.
For a Makeup Artist, the comprehension of this theory is KEY in order to create simple mixtures.
The better you understand this theory, the better the makeup artist you are.

The centre of this circle is composed of our three "primary colours". These are the purest of colours - pure because they have not gone through any mixes. Blue,  yellow and red.
(I know i'm repeating myself here but bare with me, this is the important stuff)

Right outside the triangle of the three primary colours you will find the "secondary colours": green, orange and purple. These colours are the result of an equal mix of two primary colours.

Green, which is composed of the blue and the yellow.
Purple, which is composed of the red and blue.
Orange, which is composed of the red and the yellow

And finally outside the secondary colours of the circle, you will find the "tertiary colours" (yes tertiary is a word, i double checked.)

These colours are the direct result of the mix between (in equal parts again) of one primary colour and one secondary colour.

Turquoise:   mix of blue and green.
Indigo:   mix of blue and purple.
Plum:     mix of red and purple.
Vermilion:   mix of red and orange.
Copper:   mix of yellow &  orange.
Lime green: mix of yellow and green.

Ok, one more category and then we're done! Phew.

The Complementary Colours:

In the Chromatic Circle the "complementary colours" are pairs of colours that are of opposite hue.
Because they oppose each other, once placed alongside one another, the contrast will compliment the opposing colour - hence the name "complimentary colour".
Perfect example: the red Christmas ornament which will appear all the more red once placed on the green Christmas tree.

Here's the interesting part, we just said that when they're placed alongside one another they compliment each other but what happens when mixed together? Well guess what, they NEUTRALIZE each other.
Hairdressers (colour technicians rather) use this trick all the time. For example, if you're a red head and you want to go blonde, the colour technician will mix in a little dollop of concentrated green pigment into the hair colour in order to cut the red.

So how can you tell what is a colour's complimenting opposite?
Easy, you just use the logic behind the theory.

If you're thinking "what logic?" then i'm doing a terrible job of explaining - my bad.
(in which case i would suggest looking at the image of the Chromatic Circle to spot the opposing colour.

Here are some examples that will hopefully make it more clear.

Take our secondary colours for instance:
Green is composed of blue and yellow so the colour that hasn't entered its composition is red, therefore making red its complimentary colour.
Purple is composed of blue and red and the colour not engaged in its composition is yellow, thus making yellow its complimentary colour.
Orange, being composed of red and yellow, having blue play no part in its composition, makes blue its complimentary colour.

Capisci? ;)

So knowing what we know, the following will now make total sense.
As a Makeup artist you will obviously come across faces with imperfections.
How will we correct them? By determining the colour of the imperfection and using its complimentary colour to neutralize it.
(How refreshing to actual learn something you will apply in real life @ all the b.s. classes i had to take along the years)

Red pimple/scar: green corrector
Blue circles under the eyes: peachy or orangish corrector
Purple circle under the eyes: yellow or golden corrector ...umm isn't a purple circle a black eye? :s :/
Green circle under they eyes: peachy or pinkish corrector.

Now, how do we highlight a colour. Comment le mettre en valeur?

Blue eyes :golden or orangish eye shadow hues.
Green eyes : pinkish or mauve eye shadow hues.
Brown eyes: turquoise or blueish eyeshadow hues.

Now that we have the knowledge, it is essential to mix our own colours in order to adapt to each client. Don't forget - the client's hair colour, skin tone, outfit and even personal preference will also influence the choices you make as an artist. So don't be shy, it's your canvas.

Tomorrow i will cover the warm colours vs. the cold colours. Can't wait :/

Blog to you soon,

Sahar

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Get to know your colours

Sunlight passing through a prism generating all the existing colours of the sunlight.

So here's what I've understood of this lesson.

Sunlight passing through a prism of pure crystal separates the colours that the human eye cannot separate on its own.

The sum of these seven colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple) seen through the human eye is what gives us the impression of white light.

Umm... so wait a minute - does that mean if it wasn't for our eyes then the world would be rainbow coloured ALL the time? Damn you eyeballs, damn you!

So yea, moving on.

Light is principally composed of three colours: red, yellow and blue.

These dominating colours are referred to as the primary colours.

All objects that have light reflected upon them, absorb a certain amount of light radiations and diffuse the rest, which is the colour our eyes will perceive:

A red object, will absorb the yellow and blue radiations and diffuse the red, which is why it will appear to us as red.

A blue object, will absorb the yellow and red radiations and diffuse the blue, making it appear to us as blue.

A yellow object, (and i'm sure you've figured it out by now, but i'll continue (no, not to annoy you) but for consistency's sake) will absorb the red and blue radiations and diffuse the yellow, which will make it appear to us as purple :D just checking if you were paying attention, you guessed it - as yellow.

So where do the colours white, black and grey fit into all of this? Apparently, they simply, don't.

They're called: the "non colours" due to them not reacting to light in the same way the others do.

Here's how they DO react:

White: The colour white has the distinction of not absorbing any light radiation.

Instead, this bad boy rejects all the colours, and by doing so, sends off the colour white (the sum of all the colours resulting in white, eyeballs ripping us off, remember?)

Black: The colour black, being the opposite of white, will do just that - the opposite.

It will absorb all the light and reject none of it. This is where the absence of colour happens.

That's why they say not to wear black in summer. It absorbs all the light hence the heat making it even hotter. A white t-shirt however, will absorb no light, thus no added heat.

Grey: Wanting to be fair, grey will go in 50/50. Meaning it will take in half the light and reject the other half, making it appear as grey.

So far, i'm liking the white but it's not gonna make me look any thinner. :/

Colour in the form of light vs. colour in the form of substance.

To resume, simply know this: if you were to mix three beams of colour each reflecting one of the primary colours (red, yellow and blue) it will indeed result as a beam of white but if you did so by using a tangible substance such as paint, it will result in a greyish/brownish/taupe-ish colour, or as my teacher puts it: caca brown. :)

I don't want to overwhelm you with info (read: bore you to death) so "to be continued" tomorrow with the Chromatic Circle. Yay! right? ;)

Blog to you soon,

Sahar

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Get to know your Beauty Icons

First assignment as Make-up Artists-to-be (as per my teacher) is to get to know the
beauty icons of past and present so that when used as reference points, you don't fall into panic mode and excuse yourself to the nearest bathroom stall to secretly google/wiki said reference on your smartphone-du-jour.
Makes sense right? But, like everything else of great value, easier said than done.
At first i thought to myself: piece of cake. I mean, there can't be that many icons I don't know about and plus, time flies when you learn interesting things. But then I opened the book and guess where it begins?

- The 1950s you say?
- Try again.
- The 20s?
- Nope.
- The Medieval times?
- You're getting warmer
- Eve?
- The same Eve that took a bite out of the apple? I'm impressed you would go that far back but NO!
- You are now thinking to yourself: "Surely not B.C."?
- As in BEFORE CHRIST? And right you would be! In fact, try 4000 years B.C..

Eh oui, that's how far my teacher wants us to venture out and venture we will.
I promise I'll cover them all in more detail but here's a sneak peak in case you wanted to search for them yourself:

Egypt 4000 B.C
Cleopatra