Find a new you with a new look
LAUREN Luke’s life was not going anywhere when she decided to ditch her job as a taxi dispatcher in a town near Newcastle and begin selling makeup on eBay. To accompany the products, she took photos of herself wearing the makeup to show how it could be used. Her buyers started asking more about how she achieved the looks she was creating than about the products themselves. So Luke filmed herself doing a makeup tutorial and posted it on YouTube. That video spiralled, ending up with a million views, prompting her to create a makeup tutorial channel.
Luke soon became a phenomenon, beloved of women from teens just learning to 70-year-olds stuck in a rut, to businesswomen who want to try something new. For her, makeup’s not just a daily chore or something that’s just for going out. It’s the essence of female self-expression and a way to bolster the spirit. “With makeup, the main message is this: start with how you feel inside. There’s such a diversity of looks out here, you can do anything to suit your mood. It changes how you feel on the outside, too.” Think greens, blues, pale pastels, powders, glitter, shimmer, layers, bright, bold, dark, subtle, smokey – the choice really is almost endless. So if you’re one of the millions of women out there who wears the same makeup every day for work and you fancy injecting some new life into your look, Luke has offered some tips. Read on.
1. “To start with, try using a different colour eye shadow every day of the week. On Monday, go for brown. On Tuesday, tell yourself it’s time for blue whether you like it or not. Then see how you feel at the end of the week. Chances are you’ll feel incredibly liberated and get so many compliments. The following week, keep experimenting.”
2.“For the office, the palest effect is most appropriate. Go for two browns, a matte and a shiny. There’s no need to limit colour, though– try pale baby blue on the lid, or a pale peach. And remember, rules about colour matching are there to be broken – ignore those rules that say, if you’ve got blue eyes, you shouldn’t wear purple, and so on.”
3.“If you want to vamp up your smokey eye look, remember that it doesn’t have to be about black. You can do it with any colour you like, by dusting it on the upper eyelid, and blending upwards. Then take some eye pencil and run it along the upper eyelid, close to the lashes. Next, take a smudge brush and rub it back and forth over the line. Underneath the eye, take an eyeshadow and use it instead of eyeliner, applying with a thin brush.”
4. “Liberate the inner liquid liner queen in you. If you’re unsure about how to use it, it’s just about practice in order to develop a steady hand so that both eyes match. To steady your hand, rest your little finger on your cheek, and use your eyelashes as a guideline. Run it into your lashes, so you don’t get a thick line, and do it in one swipe. Steady your hand with your little finger all the time and before you know it you’ll be doing cat wings. Black or brown liquid liner is good for the office, with black mascara.”
5. “If you have rounded cheeks and want to trim them down a bit, and give yourself more jawline, apply bronzer in the shape of a 3: start at the temples, sweep along outer corner of face, then onto the cheekbones, then the jawbone. You’ll see a massive improvement to the shape of your face.”
6. “If you have thin lips, brush some of your foundation on your lips to make them look light, then put the lipstick on top with no liner. It will plumpen lips and stop bleeding of colour. And always use gloss on your lower lip because it catches the light and makes them look plump and cute. I often wear little more than lip gloss, mascara and liquid liner. It’s also a perfect look for the office.” A full range of Lauren Luke’s products are available on www.qvcuk.com.