Thursday March 24, 2016 - Ulta Beauty Makover

I made an appointment for a makeover at Ulta Beauty at 2:30 pm. I arrived on time after leaving Payless Shoes quickly. The makeover consultant was finishing up with a previous client and was running late.

I sat in the salon area reading a copy of Allure magazine until my consultant, Monica was ready. By 2:50 pm, we moved to a front seating location to begin my makeover.

Quickly, I realized this makeover would be different than my makeover at Clinque. First she asked me what type of look did I want. I told her I wanted to develop  my everyday look. Then she asked me about my daily facial routine.

Found this consultant not only very friendly and knowledgeable but she cared about what I wanted. The Clinque consultant was good and I liked her work. As a matter of fact, her use of a darker lipstick is now my norm. But Monica was much better. She was younger and had some better ideas.

One idea which Stana of Femulate fame discussed in a post earlier this week. included doing your eyes BEFORE putting on foundation. This saves time because putting on foundation first and then doing your eyes, creates a situation in which your eye makeup can mess up your foundation and therefore you have to revisit your foundation.  

So when we started, she suggested a new order of applying my makeup.

My old way:

1. Primer
2. Foundation
3. Contour and Highlighting
4. Eyebrows
5. Eye shadow
6. Eye liner
7. Eye lashes
8. Blush
9. Lipstick

Monica's Recommendation 

1. Primer
2. Eyebrows
3. Eye Shadow
4. Eye Liner
5. Eye lashes
6. Highlight
7. Foundation
8. Contour
9. Blush
10. Lipstick 

The difference as I said earlier was when to put on foundation after completing your eyes. Monica stated that she had reservations at first but now believes is reduces the time to put on your makeup with better results. Also, notice that she puts on highlighter (#6) before putting on foundation. Monica stated that putting on foundation first over your whole face and the adding highlighter under your eyes, is a waste of foundation. She added highlight from my nose up under my eyes to my temples. Then she added foundation along my forehead.. Finally she added foundation under the highlighted area down over my neck. Then comes the contouring.

She used her fingers to place it instead of a sponge. She stated that a sponge soaks up too much foundation and your fingers give you a better control over placement.

Finally she used a brush to blend it all together.

I kind of jumped ahead of myself. So let me go back to the beginning.

Eyebrows:
Monica started here and added gel to frame my eyebrows and color them in. She added a concealer under my eyebrows and blended it in a downward direction. It slightly brought out the eyebrows. I have seen women with too much concealer and the eyebrows stand out too much (see picture). Monica stated that its about blending and not adding light concealer to the top of the eyebrows.

Eye Shadow:
Here, I agree that eye shadowing is used to add color and depth to the area between the eyebrows and eyes. She stated that shadowing can be used to frame your eye area.

Both the color and how that color is placed can widen, narrow and heighten your eye area.

Eyeliner:
She used gel. I use pencil but I like the way the gel worked. She did a good job placing the gel eyeliner on my bottom water line and she created a wing look from the liner along my top lashes.

Eye Lashes
Monica introduced me to very expensive mascara. I really liked how the quality of the mascara darkened my lashes without clumping and keeping my lashes separated.

My Eye Area Before Foundation

1. Framed Eyebrows
2. Eye liner with wings
3. Neutral eye shadow
4. Eye lashed not curled in this pic

Lipstick
We both agreed that the darker lipstick with a dark liner that matches the lipstick color looked best on me. Also, my lip shape is a very feminizing attribute.

Foundation
Above, I talked about Monica's unique system for mixing foundation with highlighting and contouring. I am going to practice her system. I think it will be faster and look better. The key is blending.

Here is how I looked after my makeover. I like it.

I had fun and learned a lot from this makeover. It cost me $40 and I did purchase a contour/highlighting kit. I did give Monica a nice tip and she wrote down everything she did and the products she used.

During the makeover, I had woman come up to me, watch and comment how well the makeover looked and asked questions. I felt like another woman talking and enjoying makeup tips.

I left around 4:30 and headed for my 5:00 pm appointment with a friend for dinner and a movie. I was running late and called to move the time back to 5:30 pm.

I will talk about my dinner and movie tomorrow.