It’s that time of year again. Prom season. And as a makeup artist, I get a chance to relive the excitement of this high school rite of passage all over again through the young ladies I get to work with.
{6 of the 7 Seniors I worked with. I wish I sparkled like them!}
{Fanny packs are cool again. Only if they carry makeup brushes though.}
The preparation that goes into this fancy night in a high schoolers life, is almost like a practice round for a wedding day – from the hair appointments, the makeup, picking the perfect dress (I heard a local boutique keeps a log of which dress girls from each high school have bought so that you can make sure you don’t show up in the same exact dress – brilliant!), and to grown up restaurant reservations before the big dance, it’s become quite an event.
I had exactly 30 minutes per face to work with each of the young women for this night and thought I would share a couple of examples of what you can do in that amount of time. And if you’ve read my blog before, when I work with faces, NOTHING ever happens in 30 minutes – I’m an hour to an hour and half when I do a makeover!
Luckily, they were teens, so there’s no reason I should be applying makeup longer than that! In their everyday makeup routine, it should take 5 minutes, tops. But this was a special occasion…
{Low key smokey eye for Jessica.}
Lesson 1:
Yes you can sport a smokey eye for prom as long as you keep your shadow and liner colors SOFT. I used a taupe shimmer shadow, MAC “Satin Taupe,” and a grey eyeliner combination.
NO blacks, too harsh.
{Katie completely pulled off her red lipstick!}
Lesson 2:
Since she already had her bold lip color picked out (I think it was a Clinique Chubby Stick Intense like one I reviewed here – of course a different shade but still intense!) I kept the rest of the makeup subtle so as not to compete with that lipstick. My favorite gold shadow, MAC “Woodwinked“was just the right neutral compliment to a red lip.
I posted the remainder of the other before/afters on my Facebook page HERE. Overall, the biggest things I learned while working in a bathroom with these 7 young ladies were:
- Keep all of this handy work from fading with Urban Decay’s DeSlick setting spray. Prom does last into the wee hours of the night!
- Concealer is key for spot treating any teen breakouts and creating a flawless complexion. I like MAC Studio Finish concealers for spot treating – best to use a tiny concealer brush or a pointed end cotton swab to apply so as not to get too much product on the spot.
- Getting ready together with your female friends before your date arrives, makes the night even more special and exciting!
This group of girls could not have been more supportive and encouraging to one another throughout the night as I worked with each of them. Not at all the cattiness you expect from teen girls (maybe that’s just what the movies show about prom night for dramatic purposes!). Compliments and giggles were flying around the room – the energy was too much fun and that’s all these Seniors cared about having the rest of the night, FUN.
I wish every day of getting ready could feel like prom night!
Follow along with me!
