The most love filled day of the year is coming up and whether you are feeling flirty and romantic or a bit adventurous, what a great excuse to make that extra special effort with some gorgeous makeup!!

 

 

Like every makeup artist will tell you, before putting any makeup products on to your face, you you need to have a good even surface for it to sit on.. sort of like building a house.. so make sure you start with clean, fresh, exfoliated skin and lips.  No primer or foundation, as good or expensive, will work to their full potential if they aren’t given the right conditions.

So, onto the makeup…

 

For me, the keyword for a Valentines day skin is, ‘glow' - not shine, but a beautiful healthy ‘glow from within’ feel.  My favourite way to achieve this is by using a cream highlighter like the Nars all purpose stick in Copacabana (before I apply the foundation) on the cheekbones, cupids bow and highs of the brow. When applying the foundation, my tip is to use a buffing brush to really warm the highlighter and the foundation together.  If you have very dry or dehydrated looking skin, try mixing a little bit of MAC’s strobe cream into your foundation and if your skin is oily, take away any unwanted shine using a loose translucent finishing powder in the key T-zone areas with a medium fluffy brush.

 

For the cheeks, a bronzer like Liz Earle’s ‘Radiant glow bronzer' is so beautiful swept over the cheeks and highs of the forehead to bring back some definition into the face - When I was working for Bare Minerals years ago, I was taught a tip of applying bronzer in the shape of a ‘3’. To do this you start at the top of your forehead, sweep around and down past your temples, along the bottom round of your cheekbone, then sweep back up along your cheekbones towards your ear and then down along the jawline - it’s a lovely subtle contouring technique that it so easy to do! 

Blusher is up for opinion after the lips have been done. If you’re going for a strong red lip then I would skip the blush all together and use a little extra bronze on the cheeks if needed. But if you’d like a soft pretty vibe and are going for peachy pinks or nudes on the lips I’d suggest using a nice peachy blusher to match like MAC’s ‘Margin'.

 

Start by sweeping a shimmery champagne shadow all across the lid and into the inner corner of the eye - I love using Bobbi Brown's long-wear cream shadow stick in truffle for this (as it means I can skip the primer!)  Instead of lots of shading for this look just stick to a classic black flick using your favourite liquid/gel liner.. I find that HD Brows Duo Gel Liner just does. not. budge.

When it comes to the mascara really pack on a good few coats to add power to the top lashes making sure to comb in between the layers to avoid it getting clogged and spidery.  Then use a slightly lighter touch on the bottom. If you feel like you need to define your lower lash line a bit more, a great technique without clumping, is to do tiny little dots with your eyeliner right at the roots as this gives the illusion of more eyelashes! 

 

Eyes for the pink lipped girl:  

For this flirty look, buff some of MAC’s 'Groundwork' all over the eye lid and underneath the lower lash line for a lovely effortlessness. Bring it out at the corners a little too (like on my brunette model below) to really elongate your eyes. Remember you don’t have to be too perfect with it.  An alternative to ‘ground work’ would be Maybelline's Colour Tattoo in Creamy beige which is also brilliant. Eyeliner can be kept soft and smudgy using a brown kohl like GOSH's 'truly brown' pencil or HD Brows, in the outer halves of the eyes, top and bottom, for extra definition. Then... for the prettiness, dab some shimmery bronze shadow like Urban Decays YDK all over the top of the lid. A tip for the mascara on this look, is to build up focus on the outer half of your lashes by pulling the mascara wand out towards your temple to get that extra volume and flutter at the corners, or another way to achieve this would be to add a few individual lashes to the outer half like I did on this particular shoot - Ardell do these in a variety of lengths to suit everybody.

 

Finally, when you’re finished with either look, add some extra highlighter to the inner corner of your eyes and to your cupids bow so your Valentine really can’t take their eyes off you!