Common Makeup Mistakes

Eileen attained her International Makeup Association (IMA) diploma at the London School of Beauty & Makeup and completed numerous courses and training from M-A-C Pro, Tobi Britton's Makeup Studio, Cle de Peau Beaute, GloMinerals and others. She regularly spends her time fielding beauty questions during training sessions, introducing new products and techniques, leading teams for fashion shows and events, and helping others understand the importance of personal branding inside and out. "I am endlessly surprised how universal wanting to look our best crosses ethnic, gender and professional barriers. In an era where personal branding has increasingly become a critical differentiator in careers and love due to lack of jobs and choice of candidates, we are the custodians of our own images. I enjoy uncovering the different sides of people's unique personalities and then translating that into something tangible," she reveals. In 2006, she took her beauty experience one step further after meeting with London's celebrity makeup maven Jemma Kidd to become one of Jemma's elite professional makeup educators. After working backstage for several fashion seasons in NY, London, and Dubai, Eileen has become adept at multi-tasking at events like the Dubai Fashion Week Fall '08 season during which she was hand picked to be the L'Oreal makeup director collaborating with over 30 local designers, managing a team of nearly 20 makeup artists, coordinating hairstyles with the Jacques Dessange team. "Makeup artists contribute more than simply applying colour to the face; from setting the mood or tone for the shoot as the first person to begin working with the talent or bride, to bringing ideas to the pre-production meetings, to sourcing all kinds of items in order to solve a problem and keep the production rolling smoothly. I once used Oreo cookies to fake an authentic pirate smile! Yes, beauty can be grotesque too..." she smiles.

Eileen's artistic flair has been associated with celebrities like supermodel Agyness Deyn, Strokes drummer Albert Hammond Jr, boyband singer Duncan James, actor Gerard Butler, designer Vivienne Tam and many others. "Makeup artists learn quickly to keep generic fragrance-free skin care in our kits since you never know who will be allergic to something. I once put expensive La Mer eye cream on a bride just before the ceremony and she freaked out which made here eyes tear until we could calm the irritation down. I try all kinds of skin products on myself, but I either use the clients own or simple effective products in my kit to avoid disasters," she says about coping with last minute problems. The best makeup trend is putting colour back into the face using brighter colours for a change like pinks and corals. "The worst trend is patterned or crackled nail colours which is fun but not classy so should be reserved for teens, Katy Perry or Lady Gaga," she says, adding, "I love to accentuate women's cheeks since this simple emphasis takes years, if not decades, off a lady and balances her facial features. This is especially important if you have a smoky eye and a nude lip that is too often the look in the Middle East. I also like to sculpt the temples and chin for a more complete beauty look so women don't just look like a pretty head on a different body."

So how does she define beauty? "That's like defining what love is! I am a student of beauty and will be for the rest of my life because I see it in so many people and things," she answers. So what's a really quick way to change a day look to a special occasion? She advises, "Besides re-powdering the t-zone area, add a pencil eye liner to the top and inner lid (you can also try lining your black or brown liner with another brighter colour on top), and deepen your lips with a stronger colour lip liner before applying more gloss to take you from day to night." There is a big difference between making up models and making up a "personality," the real women, she says. "For fashion shows, we normally spend time in pre-production and agree between ourselves what the overall look and feel will be so when the time comes to shoot or execute, we just get to it. It's easy to repeat the same makeup on several models than it is to do a variety of looks per individual," she says, adding, "For celebrities, personalities, or 'real women', it takes time to establish a makeup comfort zone before I can execute a look so it's more of a process. It's still exciting since it's really about merging your skill and expertise with someone's image of themselves. Since the person in my chair is placing their image in my hands, it is not only an honour but my duty to get them to a place of comfort and beauty."

Does Eileen have fun with makeup? "Of course and I always avoid the clown look! I love experimenting with colours and textures for a different take on what my features can morph into. I spend hours perusing fashion and lifestyle magazines as well as watching makeup tutorials on Youtube to get new ideas or simply refresh my memory of products I have but haven't used in a while. This is one of the reasons I realised that makeup was my calling because I spent so much of my downtime doing this research without it feeling like work!" says the makeup artist who was nominated for the Miss New York/USA pageant as a sophomore in college (but ultimately didn't win the title). Beauty and makeup are much like languages and cooking; we are constantly reinventing how we communicate beauty and the more you practice with the many ingredients the easier it gets. She says, "Makeup is so fleeting that even when you get it right, you have to do it all again within a day so I encourage people not to be afraid! This 'no fear' attitude can be applied to so many bigger ideas once you get the ball rolling. It's the people that get stuck in a rut via makeup, fashion, career, or something else that keep themselves from enjoying their potential. Makeup is just the most obvious."

Three common makeup mistakes are: -- Using light diffusers as concealers to create a reverse raccoon-eye (light circles instead of dark circles). -- Applying the same makeup techniques and colours learned during your teenage years (otherwise known as a 'makeup rut'), and overusing bronzer everywhere (you know who you are!). -- You've heard this before, but the worst thing a women can do to her skin is not protect it from the sun and not wash her face before bed. Come on people! Effective skin care tips: If you use an eye cream, keep it in the refrigerator so the cool cream will de-puff tired eyes and then smooth whatever is left on your fingers on your lips. Both areas are extremely delicate so will benefit from the ingredients normally used in eye creams. Obviously cleanse, tone, and moisturise your face everyday and use a non-greasy 30+ SPF before adding any makeup to prevent sun damage no matter what part of the world you are in besides the desert. Don't forget to protect your ears, neck, decollete and hands with whatever you are using too. The youthful look: A typical day look would look soft but refined and goes something like this: -- First thing I would do is even out the skin by concealing imperfections, colour-correcting and brightening the areas under the eyes, around the nose and the corners of the mouth. Then I would go back and add colour depending on the occasion and look I was trying to achieve like a soft taupey brown in the crease and slightly underneath the eye complimented with a dark colour wedged into the upper and lower lashes.

-- I would then contour the bone structure with a dark bronzer or contouring powder (no additional ingredients like shimmer or red for this) and add a touch of peachy or pinky blush on the top of the cheeks. -- I always use the blackest mascara to the top and lower lashes concentrating on the outer corners sweeping upwards for a mini face-lift appeal. I like to define the lips with a pinky/brown neutral lipliner like MAC's iconic Spice and feathering the colour inwards towards the opening of the mouth to avoid any harsh lines once it wears thin and applying a sheer sherbet pink lipstick and gloss over this. -- Lastly, I would add what I refer to as 'candlelight' which is a pearlised shimmer onto the tip of the cupid's bow under the nose, inner tear ducts of the eyes, and on the tops of the cheeks where the light should look like it's hitting. Stunning often comes to mind! Lip gloss or Lipstick? -- If you want to create a lip that is precise and stands out, using a lipliner is a must to create the shape and for staying power. -- Lipsticks come in all variations of texture starting with a matte fortified with rich pigment onwards towards a sheer gloss with only a touch of colour. Then of course, you can mix any and all of these together to create something unique like a shiny ombre lip å la Kim Kardashian.

Eyeliners: -- Pencils are easy to work with and can smoke out an eye really well even when you are on the run (or at a stop light). Nothing compares to liquid eyeliners when creating a glamorous retro look or cat eye. -- Gel eyeliners are the easiest to manage since brushes hold the product more easily allowing you to create precise lines and shapes. Gels have staying power so are also great for people to use who have runny eyes or sweat a lot and don't like the look of eye colour running down their face. A little goes a long way with gels.