Spring-Summer 2011 Makeup Trends
Ultra-natural, fresh-faced beauties are far from the only makeup looks gracing the runways this Spring. Spring 2011 is not about playing it safe—but about bold, saturated, untamed color!
With decadent colors like black, navy and red appearing on the runway alongside the typical Spring whites, pinks, and other pastels, it’s no wonder this season is perfect to rock a succulent burgundy-red or deep plum lipstick.
Large blocks of vivid color are also in vogue this season, such as orange, coral, turquoise, intense pinks, grass greens, and violets in clothing…and in makeup! No ”shrinking violets” here….go bold with one of the season’s hottest lip colors—orange! Or perk up your complexion with a flush of cool pink blush, and a similar cotton candy pink, matte lip color.
Makeup styles this Spring/Summer are bold, glam, and 70’s retro-inspired, yet not over-worked. A great look for eyes is to choose a beautiful bright color like yellow, turquoise, green or violet (you violet lovers will be in seventh heaven this season—it’s a hot color) metallic or iridescent shadow and apply it all over the lid, and blend into the eye crease. Bright colors such as these can enhance any eye color or complexion. Be sure to begin with an eye shadow primer to make your look last all day—I like Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer, or MAC Paintpots in mattes like Soft Ochre or Painterly. Add a highlight color in the inner, and finish with a black gel liner swept across the top lash line, “cat-eye style”. Don’t forget brows! Brow trends are thicker, bolder brows, brushed and natural.
If you’re comfortable going bold with both eyes and lips simultaneously, complete your perfect retro-glam look with a playful pink matte lipstick.
Or go virtually bare with the eyes, using the Photo Finish Lid Primer alone, with lots of mascara, and focus on your pout instead. Don’t be afraid to accessorize with makeup just as you would wardrobe, and try those bold lip colors—have fun with them!
A tip for helping lipsticks to wear longer is to begin with a touch of concealer over the lips to give a clean canvas. Then apply a lip liner to get a clean edge, and fill in the lips inside, particularly the outer halves of the lips. Apply the lipstick and blot with a tissue to rid the surface of some of the oils. Then re-apply the lipstick and set it with a touch of translucent powder.
For those of you who want the look, but are not as confident with a super saturated, bright lip color—go for a lip stain instead. You’ll get a more medium color coverage, and long wear. Or if that is still out of your comfort zone, try a light nude lip liner first, then a playful pink or coral lip gloss. You’ll get the look, but with a sheer coverage.
No matter how you choose to translate the Spring season’s glam looks to fit your personality, radiant, healthy, glowing skin is ALWAYS IN!! Start with a proper skincare regimen that includes a daily moisturizer with at least SPF 15 or higher, and an eye cream. A good foundation primer is also key to making foundations and powders apply smoother, look less like product sitting on top of the skin, and will last longer. I like the primers from Smashbox, and they have several types to choose from. Colorado is such a dry climate, that I find liquid foundations under powder is best for healthy, polished skin regardless of the coverage you desire. I love Face & Body foundation by MAC , or Face Fabric Radiance by Giorgio Armani Cosmetics for their sheer coverage and dewy look.
Highlighting skin is a huge trend this Spring, whether you choose to be a porcelain or bronze goddess. I am hooked on the Artificial Light Flash by Smashbox in either the bronze or fleshy tone for it’s opalescent, luminous glow it gives to skin. Just stipple it on with a brush or your fingers to the upper cheek bones, in a “C” shape around the eyes. You can also touch a bit to the forehead, nose, and chin. Set everything with a dusting of light-weight or buildable coverage powder like Halo Powder from Smashbox. If you prefer a powder bronzer, Giorgio Armani Cosmetics has several shades that compliment any skin-tone, and are not too “orange” based. If you go that route, make sure to use powder bronzer after you’ve set your liquid foundations with powder, or it will “grab” to the moisture and appear uneven or blotchy. Finally, add a romantic finish with flushed cheeks in a color like Pink Glow or Pinch ‘o’ Peach by MAC.
Voila’…picture perfect!
—Heathyrre Kautz
Heathyrre Kautz Couture Pro Makeup Artistry
Voted Best Makeup Artist 2010, Denver's 7 A-List
Matthew Christopher Bridal Show
Wedding season is fast approaching, and the planning is in full-swing for 2011! I always enjoy this time of seeing new requests coming in everyday, and meeting my new 2011 brides!
There are always many bridal shows during the first few months of the year, and continuing into the Summer. These shows are great ways to meet vendors, taste-test wonderful foods and confections, and see gorgeous new bridal fashions! One such bridal fashion show I was asked to do makeup for was the Cocktails & Couture Bridal Fashion Event, showcasing Matthew Christopher couture designs at Cielo of Castle Pines.
Matthew Christopher is Chief Designer and Creative Director of Matthew Christopher, Inc., a bridal fashion house and manufacturer with headquarters in New York City and Iowa. His gowns are now available in over 70 boutiques including “The Little White Dress Shop” in Denver. He is regularly featured in publications such as The Knot, The Knot.com, Brides Magazine, Inside Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Modern Bride. He is known for creating unique and “stunning dimensional embroidery, cut-out windowpanes, precise pin-tucks, hand-knotted bows, flowing flowers, sweeping trains, and elegant draping.”
Each of his gowns are also carefully constructed to give a perfect, and comfortable fit.
Meeting and working with Matthew was such a pleasure, and he is a very handsome and charismatic man! I provided the makeup artistry for all 6 models who walked the catwalk showcasing Matthew Christopher’s unique designs. Here are a few behind the scenes shots before the show.
The beginning stages...just starting the eye makeup.
Brushed to perfection...the finished makeup.
Another finished beauty for the show.
Here a few action photos from my makeup demos with the real brides-to-be attending the show, as well as a short video clip of the fashion show and Matthew Christopher himself.
A bride-to-be enjoying her eye-makeup demo. Photo by Jenni Maroney Photography.
Blending the eye colors. Photo by Jenny Maroney Photography.
Perfecting the look. Photo by Jenni Maroney Photography.
Claudia, my apprentice, and myself before the fashion show. Photo by Jenni Maroney Photography.
Here’s the runway video clip: Matthew Christopher Bridal Fashion Show
Bridal makeup should always reflect your personal style, the overall style of your wedding, and be a look that will still be beautiful 25 years or longer from now. That doesn’t mean you can’t go for a little splash of color, or a non-traditional look –as long as it fits your personality, and you can wear it comfortably. It’s definitely recommended to have a professional makeup artist for your wedding, which will not only make certain your look is photography-friendly, but also take the stress out of having to do your own makeup on such an important day! For the most photographed day of your life, why wouldn’t you want to look your absolute best?
Matthew Christopher and I behind the scenes at the Cocktails & Couture bridal fashion show.
As Matthew would say,”The excitement in a bride’s eyes the moment she sees herself dressed in the dress of her dreams is matched by my own.”
I concur, Matthew, and feel the same way when a bride sees her face in the mirror, smiles with a sparkle in her eyes, and says,”Wow, I love it!” That’s why I do what I do.
Voted Best Makeup 2010, Denver 7′s A-List
It’s been some time now that I’ve been among the blogging world! With numerous weddings, fashion shoots, modeling comp cards, acting head shots, as well as charity events and fashion shows– including the Apocalyptic Ball in June at the Denver Merchandise Mart– Heathyrre Kautz Couture has had a busy summer season! I am thrilled to announce that I have been voted Best Makeup 2010 on the Denver 7′s A-List just last weekend!! It is quite an honor to be considered the best among the 29 talented nominees who competed in the “hair & makeup” category this year! Many, many thanks to all of you out there who voted for me; I couldn’t have won without each and every one of you!!
Voted Best Makeup Artist 2010, Denver's 7 A-List
I have gathered a few images from the various weddings I have had the pleasure of being part of this summer. There are several gorgeous brides featured, and varying venues and talented photographers. I have had great fun meeting these brides, and their families and friends! Check out these shots, and as always, please feel free to send me your comments and questions!
"Finishing Jacie's lipstick", Modern Image Studios
"Stacy", Jenni Maroney Photography
Bridal party, Jenni Maroney Photography
"Lindsay", All Digital Photo & Video
"Lindsay", All Digital Photo & Video
"TIna", Fototails Photography
"Serenity", Fototails Photography
"Tina", Fototails Photography
"Rosalee", Fototails Photography
"Rosalee", Fototails Photography
"Rosalee", Fototails Photography
I hope you all enjoyed these images as much as I enjoyed creating their bridal looks! The onset of Fall is here, and with it the slowing down of the wedding season.
October has always been my favorite month of the year for many reasons, and one of those is my favorite holiday: Halloween!! For an artist, especially a makeup artist, Halloween is candy for my creative soul!! I am beyond excited to create some fantastic costume makeup, from fantasy creatures such as vampires and creepy zombies, to beautiful fairies, a Navi’ from Avatar, or the Mad Hatter!! The more challenging, the better I say…bring it on!!! And anyone who books a makeup appointment for Halloween with me before October 13th will receive 10% off their total fee. Fantasy makeup applications start at $150. Impress all of your family and friends with a professional makeup application to complete your costume, and make your Halloween 2010 a night to remember!!
Makeup for Black Lights
Heathyrre Kautz
Recently, I was given a makeup project that proved to be one of the most difficult, and baffling artistic challenges I have encountered in my nearly 15 year career! That challenge was a photo shoot for black lights. Just to clarify, for those who may be unfamiliar, black light is invisible ultraviolet or infrared light–the kind of crazy lighting you find in many night/dance clubs that make our features look strange, our teeth neon white, and our skin as blue as a Navi’ from Avatar. So of course, there is makeup out there on the market that is created specifically to glow brightly under black lighting. This was all new to me, and new to my photographer and friend Bogdan Morozovskiy, so we both had a lot of work and testing ahead of us before the final photo shoot took place at Suite 200, in downtown Denver. We were to shoot live in the VIP room of Suite 200, with each shot tethered from Bogdan’s camera, direct to his laptop, then immediately onto every large screen TV through out the club! In other words, the work on all sides needed to be perfect.
Did I mention…no mistakes here?
The adventure began with practice. Much practice–two complete test runs well before the night at Suite 200. Of course, however the makeup look I create appears in normal lighting—how it looks under black lighting is a complete surprise. Not only did the two 75 watt black lights we purchased for this project not work well with any other lights/strobes used in normal studio photography, but were also very weak. In the first test, the model, Poison, had to hold the lights right next to her face to have any noticeable effect! I had created a look on the eyes with two loose, matte powder pigments for black light in a neon pink, and a neon coral/red color–mixed and added regualar eyeshadows/eyeliners in black and a bluish, opalescent white in a very vertically blended look. The Black Light Pigments are oddly not that rich in color payoff, and highly difficult to blend. Since teeth usually look extremely bright, we went with a white metallic, glossy lip, assuming it would also reflect very brightly. Foundation was a medium coverage, applied lightly and powdered, and contouring done afterward. The process took around 2 hours just for makeup. The look was bright, yet also smokey and intense– beautiful in normal lights. In black light….a completely different story!
Makeup Test 1--Black Light
As you can see in the photo of makeup-test 1, the white lips utterly disappeared! The smokey black tones I used on the inner and outer-most thirds of her eyelids, and black eyeliner were totally wiped out by the black light as well. The smallest amount of the Black Light Pigments showed enormously well–but overtook everything else. In normal lighting, the black light colors barely showed up on top of the smokey black eyeliner I used on the lower eyelash line–but under the black light it popped like crazy! And the foundation, which should have looked smooth, was blotchy and grainy. Any exposed skin not covered with foundation looks more pink rather than blue. Obviously, black light being UV, any product with an SPF looks grainy and terrible on the skin. What to do now?
Bogdan and I both went back to our respective drawing boards, then set up a second makeup test. Neither of us had any idea how much work this project would be! Test 2 took us about 4 hours.
I chose to go with a much more linear, geometric look for the eyes, since fine, delicate blending did not translate well in the black light. I applied a pure black lipstick with black eyeliner to line the lips, and experimented with mixing the special Black Light Pigment with clear lip gloss for a shiny– and I hoped– neon coral, bright effect. Well….it was neon all right. A rather sick-looking neon yellow!! Although the eyes turned out great this time, and each area was well defined and nothing lost in translation–the lips were something out of Night of the Living Dead! I substituted the neon lip idea for the basic black lipstick again, but this time with a ton of silver-multi colored glitter packed heavily on top with clear lip gloss to finish the look. Finally success—yet the lips only look glossy in black light, not like a disco-ball as one would think. Unbelievable!!
Now that the look was designed, I just had to plan my steps carefully to ensure a very CLEAN application. Any slight particles of dropped Black Light Pigments result in mistakes being highlighted like a strobe!! No fluorescent freckles here!! So in a nutshell, here was my makeup process in photos.
Step 1: To keep the application as clean as possible, I start with the eyes first. I used a water-resistant, cream eye shadow primer in a light skintone shade to the model’s eyes from lashline to brow. Then with a small angled brush, I carefully sketched in the delicate lines of the eye crease and eyeliner with a black eye liner pencil, swiping the color from the pencil tip onto my brush. This makes a basic outline that I can correct if I need to before applying the waterproof eyeliner there later on. With linear/geometric designs such as this, symmetry and precision is key.
Step 1
Step 2
Once I was satisfied with the placement and symmetry of the lines, in step 2 I went over them with a gel cream waterproof eyeliner, and my angled brush again. I am only working with the eyelid and upper liner at this point, as once we get to step 3, things can get a bit messy. Applying anything to the lower lash line at this point would be wasting time.
Step 3
In step 3, I applied the Black Light Pigment in the pink-coral mixture I made to the lids, packing it on heavily with a firm, flat eye shadow brush. I also applied a light amount just above the black line in the eye crease as part of the eye contour. Particles of the neon pigments will inevitably fall onto the under-eye area and cheeks, so this is why I suggest not bothering to apply anything in those areas until the upper eye is done. The final addition to the eye at this point is the brow highlight, which was a color I had in my kit (an old favorite) an opalescent bluish-white shadow that was, without being so labeled, a Black Light Color too. Only the previous makeup tests made me realize this–no wonder that brow bone was so bright in photo one!!
Step 4
In step 4 for the eyes, I used eye makeup remover to clean up any dropped pigment particles from the skin, applied a full-coverage creamy under-eye concealer, and powdered it slightly to set. I used a flat, square shaped precision eyeliner brush to create the eyeliner on the bottom, angling it out at both inner and outer corners. I used a smudging brush to smoke the liner out a bit thicker, then added a light amount of the coral Black Light Pigment on top of the gel-cream waterproof eyeliner so that light would catch under the eyes also. I used a black kohl eyeliner pencil to line the waterline of the eyes, and mascara and false lashes to finish the look.
Finished eye makeup
Now that they eyes were done, I applied a water resistant, sheer foundation that gives a natural glow to the skin. I set this with mineral powders in varying shades to begin the contouring process. None of these products have an SPF, so the skin will look smooth under those crazy lights. I added a taupe colored blush to deepen the contouring around the edges of the hairline, temples, under the cheekbones and the jawline. I added blush in a scarlet red shade, sparingly. Last, I applied the black lip color with the silver-multi colored glitter and clear gloss on top. Finally, after around 3 hours–Voila’–a perfect makeup for Black Light Photos, or just a fun night out! Here is the result in regular lights.
Final Makeup in normal lighting.
And now the final makeup under Black Lights at Suite 200, photographed by the phenomenally talented Bogdan Morozovskiy. The awesome black light coat was designed and created by Lynne Bruning.
Final Makeup in Black Lights. Photo by Bogdan.
Images from the TV screens at Suite 200.
Shots of our talented model and photographer Poison, and Bogdan Morozovskiy in front of the TV screens –the fruits of our labor–in Suite 200.
Poison and Bogdan. Photo by Jesse Hodge.
And finally a photo of myself with Poison…
Heathyrre Kautz and Poison.
After long hours, many makeup tests, and more logistic problems than I listed here–our labor paid off and the photo shoot was successful! As the limitations of this kind of lighting made getting a really close facial image impossible, our crew of talents may be planning a future repeat of this for an in-studio shoot where we may see if we can get super-close beauty shots. Of course, doing all that again might just finish ME this time!
So if you’re up for a real challenge, I encourage you to try a makeup look with special Black Light Makeup–and give it a whirl. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the journey with me!
Welcome to My World
Heathyrre Kautz
Hi everyone! My name is Heathyrre Kautz, and I am a professional freelance makeup artist. I recently began my own business, Heathyrre Kautz Couture, which is a mobile makeup artistry service specializing in beauty, bridal, and high fashion makeup styles, including makeup for print, TV, film, video, runway, costume/body painting, as well as private lessons and classes.
Although I have been doing makeup for over 14 years now, I am however, very new to blogging! I welcome your comments, makeup how-to questions, and ideas for future topics. Please feel free to check out my website at www.HeathyrreKautzCouture.com, and see my work.
The Art of Makeup has held a life long fascination for me beginning in my early childhood, watching my elder sisters making up their faces before work. I was hooked even then! I am having a flashback now to pre-teen years, recalling wildly colored, vertically striped eyeshadows, and other freakish looks otherwise known as “experimentation.” Like everyone does when they are learning, I made my share of makeup “hot -messes.” After much practice, and mimicking different styles I saw in teen magazines growing up, it is no surprise life would eventually take me to a career as a makeup artist. For me, having an educational background in Fine Art, specifically drawing, oil painting, and metalwork, makeup is simply another medium to create beautiful art and endless possibilities for transformation. Makeup may not be able to change the world, but I believe it can be a step toward learning more about yourself, feeling more beautiful and self-confident, and celebrating your own individuality.
My career in the makeup industry began as a representative for Lancome Cosmetics in 1995. After learning how to assess clients skin care and basic beauty needs, I became eager to learn more about color theory, tools, technique, and more advanced makeup application. This took me to becoming an artist for M.A.C. Cosmetics, one of the beauty industry’s leading pro- artistry brands. Having received among the best artistic training offered within the cosmetic industry, I was able to truly hone my skills during my 10 years with M.A.C. I had the pleasure of working with celebrities such as the cast of the Broadway musical “Wicked,” Emmy Award winning actress Linda Dano, and the band Jane’s Addiction.
After leaving M.A.C, I founded Heathyrre Kautz Couture, Professional Makeup Artistry LLC in 2009. I have since been able to further explore my passion for edgy, creative artistry by working with some of Denver’s best photographers, such as Bogdan Morozovskiy, Dana Pennington, Carl Snider, Kim Nodurft, Don Hales, James Morales, and Darrell & Sherry Pierson of Body Photage Inc., as well as director/ writer/ actor Junior Ray. I have earned an IMDB credit, a feature on the cover of Fashion Models Magazine (FMM), and had editorial spreads in FMM, Plus Model Magazine, and Venus Diva magazines. With my technical skill and painter’s eye for color, texture and detail, creating a work of art customized to every unique client is my trademark.
Now that I have introduced myself, and given you an idea of “My World”, with much more to come in the near future–I would like to take a moment to thank a few special people I have yet to mention. A sincere thank you to Kathleen Krucoff of www.Krucoffstudios.com, who was the brains behind my website. She has been an emormous help to me in all things “cyber”, as I had much to learn, and still do! I would also like to say a sincere thank you to two of my closest friends: Lexi Erickson (www.LexiEricksonDesigns.com)–long-time friend, mentor, and guide in all things called “LIFE”, and Marissa Cyrus– great friend, makeup artist, and source of unending support. You both mean the world to me!
This week I am trekking to Santa Fe for a bit of artistic inspiration, and fabulous Mexican food! The journey through “Heathyrre’s World” has ended for now. So until the next time…have a wonderful March, and thank you all for taking a moment to read my blog!