Cruelty Free Beauty

62180008 copy62160006 copy

For this natural look with a painterly twist, I used cool silver highlights to offset Simone’s gorgeous olive complexion. It is a common misconception that warm skin tones cannot wear cool colors, when in fact, the contrast gives a really nice relief and adds the element of surprise to a makeup look.

For the highlights, I painted a silver cream from a Le Maquillage Professionnel palette into the eyes’ inner corners (tear duct) and onto the Cupid’s bow of the mouth.

I topped the cream with the ultra violet amethyst tone from Kat Von D’s Alchemist Palette.

In the outer corner and at the lash line, I applied rose gold tones by Kryolan for soft definition.

I gave the face subtle contour with a mix of Bite Beauty Multi Sticks (the shades Anise, Coco, and Cerise).

The lips got a mix of cool and warm tones (Burt’s Bees tinted lip balm in Sweet Violet mixed with Glossier Generation G in Leo)

This look is all about a show-stopping metallic lip. I kept the base of the first look (skin with silvery violet highlights) and built a multi-dimensional, layered lip as the focal point.

I began by lining and filling in the lips with the OCC Cosmetics pencil in Black Dahlia. I went over the pencil with Kosas weightless lip color in Darkroom, a beautiful blackberry with lots of depth that provided a great backdrop for the metallic cream layer to come. I applied BITE Beauty Prismatic Pearl Crème Lip Gloss in a mix of 3 shades: Oyster Pearl, Peacock Pearl, and Rose Pearl). I love the dynamic result.

I love the combination of tan, robin’s’ egg blue, and burgundy so when I saw this top I knew I wanted to play with those colors in the makeup. I used white and sky blue from my Maq Pro palette and mixed in a deep aquamarine from the Viseart Editorial Brights palette to get the color payoff I wanted. I love throwing out the rules and mixing powders on top of creams- it may take a little more elbow grease to get it to the right consistency, but they’re all pigments in the end.

I amped up the highlight near the tear duct with white powder shadow from the same Viseart palette and added a reddish purple from that same palette at the eyes’ outer corners to encircle the blue. For more contrast I did a thin line of Surratt Beauty Autographique black liquid liner in the top lashes.

The lip is Glossier Cake with a little bit of a mustard yellow tone from a Maq Pro palette mixed in to get that perfect camel color.I added a fine incandescent effect to the face with the RMS Master Mixer.

62180004 copy

I kept the eye from the previous look, adding a pop of clementine to lips and cheeks with RMS Lip2Cheek in Curious. This was punctuated with a mix of Glossier Zip and Kosas Fringe in the center of lips for that popsicle stain effect. I also added weight to the brow to balance the girly lip and cheek with Glossier Boy Brow in Black.

62180008 copy

I removed the poppy lip and cheek with my favorite anti-highlighter – Rituel de Fille Eclipse Inner Glow Crème Pigment. I applied it to the outer corners of the eyes, used it for contouring the cheekbones, and pat a bit onto the lip. I love that it initially goes on as black but blends out to a beautiful and ultra flattering aubergine. I broke up the blue on the eyes with a flash of gold applied quickly with my fingers (Kryolan).

62150001 copy62150009

This look was about showing the purity of color and intensity of pigment that can be achieved in cruelty free products. I wanted the viewer to experience the excitement and sense of limitless possibility I do when I browse the shelves at my favorite professional makeup shop, Alcone Cosmetics in NYC. I used a mix of pigments from Le Maq, RMS beauty (magnetic), Ben Nye, BITE Beauty and Surratt Beauty. I removed all traces of color from the lip, keeping just the subtle sculpting I did earlier with the BITE Beauty Multi Sticks so that you could really feel the colors on the eye and understand their different textures and tones.

Throughout the story:

Powder / Honest Beauty

Mascara / it Cosmetics (Tightline)

Foundation / RMS Beauty “Un” Cover-up 55

Earrings by Meadowlark Jewellry.

Clothing is secondhand from Beacon’s Closet.

Photographer: Matthew Priestley

Style: Rachel Gilman 

Makeup: Suzy Gerstein 

Hair: Kiri Yoshiki

Model: Simone Carvalho @ Muse NYC