Jamie Gordon on Skin Care and Makeup

The Perfect Brow Shape

The shape of your eyebrow is quite unique. There is no "one perfect shape".  Having said that, what is the perfect shape for you?  It starts with measuring. To determine where the eyebrow should start you draw a line about the tear duct of each eye.  The distance between the brows should be one eye length. Adjust your marks so that you create this measurement. Note that if your eyes are more than one length apart you can create the illusion of the correct length by leaving more hair in this area. In other words, don't take away the hair even if it is directly in line with the tear duct.

Next, look for the ending postition of the brow. It is a straight line from the edge of the nose to the outer edge of the eye. Hair below this point is removed.

Finally, to find the arch, looking straight ahead hold a pencil at the outer edge of the iris, if you have a natural lift here then this is where your arch should occur. If this is not the highest point you will have to shift inward to find it.  Some people hold a pencil from the bulb of the nose or midpoint to the brow should approximately point to the arch. 

I use stencils in various widths and dimensions to help find the perfect brow shape for my clients.  I look for the stencil that most closely matches what the hair pattern is and then pencil that shape onto the skin and remove the hair outside of the marks.  This process takes about thirty minutes and yields a wonderful result!

Top Ten Makeup Tips for Photographers

I have been asked by a new photographer to share some of the makeup tips I have accumulated over the course of my twenty four years as a licensed makeup artist. So here you are, my top ten tips.
1.  If you are trying to determine the undertones of the skin of your model try this, test her with a strong pink and a strong orange eyeshadow on her forearm. The color that blends with her skin is her type. So, if she has cool (blue/Pink) undertones the test color pink will blend to her skin. If she has warm (yellow/olive) undertones the test color orange will blend to her skin. This is helpful to know if you are choosing a colored backdrop, clothes, or makeup for your model.
2.  Balanced makeup. This is the application technique in which all of the features are balanced and make a cohesive total makeup look.
3.  Dramatic emphasis. Determine the one feature you are going to focus on by making it dramatic. It can be the eyes, as in the "smoky eye "look  or the "pouty" lip. This is in contrast to the balanced makeup approach.
4.  If the skin is not perfect, use camouflage makeup to correct it. Yellow corrects purple, as in circles under the eye. Green corrects red. Apply foundation matched to the skin tones over the corrective work.
5.  Allow 75-90 minutes for makeup, especially if you have never worked with the model before.
6.  Have a "look" in mind. Whether you are shooting for a client or doing editorial work know what the look of the model is going to be before you begin applying makeup. Some examples: Innocent, Vixen, Natural, Sophisticated, Trendy, etc.
7.  Use disposable brushes, q-tips, wipes to avoid spreading bacteria. In other words, work clean.
8.  Keep sanitizing hand creme available and use it.
9.  Clean non-disposible brushes with alcohol after use on each model.
10.  A  well stocked makeup kit should  include: a wide selection of foundations which provide sheer to opaque coverage and come in cool to warm colors.  Eye shadows in natural and dramatic colors. Blushes in powder and creme bases. Lip colors ranging from sheer, opaque, glossy, and transfer-proof. Translucent setting powders.  Mascara in black, black-brown, brown, in both  non water-proof and water-proof formulations. Hypo-allergenic (fragrance-free) formulations.

How to Subscribe to a Blog (like this one)

How to 'Subscribe' to a Blog (like this one) from IE - Internet Explorer

People have been asking me 'How do I subscribe to your Blog' with IE (seems Firefox is easy enough to get running on their own). I've worked through this and have some notes for you.

There are two parts to subscribing - mine and yours. I've taken care of mine by adding the "Subscribe to this blog's feed".  It is on the left side bar.

On your side, you have to click on that Subscribe link. BUT, you first must have a browser that is set up to handle Blog subscriptions. There are numerous sites listed in search engines on this but I found it hard to locate instructions for setting up Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), so I wrote some! Here you go -

Setting up a Blog Reader in Internet Explorer

1 - For Internet Explorer 7.x, from the menubar near the top of the window, select the item "Tools". [As an aside, you can usually discover the version of a program you're running by accessing the "About" item from the "Help" menu.]

2 - From the bottom of the drop-down menu that appears, select the entry "Internet Options".

3 - Along the top of the resulting "Internet Options" Dialog Box will be tabs - click on the tab labeled "Content".

4 - At the bottom of the Content pane in the Dialog Box, click the button in the bottom section labeled "Feeds". The button title is "Settings" but it is not the only "Settings" button (!) - be sure to get the one in the "Feeds" section.

5 - There are several choices to make on the resulting "Feed Settings" Dialog Box that appears. I chose to check feeds every 30 minutes because it doesn't take much computing power if you have broadband. There are other choices like 'Play a sound when you find a feed update', etc. Make your picks and click OK.

6 - Now that those steps have been taken, go to http://jamiegordon.typepad.com. You'll hear a little beep (if you have sound on) and your IE toolbar's orange 'Feeds' icon will light up. It has a little black down-arrow to its right - click that.

7 - Choose one of the drop-down selections (I suggest RSS 2 for this blog).

Now, you can access the latest posts you're subscribing to by going to the IE 'Favorites Center'. You reach this by clicking the gold star icon on the IE tool bar. It looks like this:






Let me know how that works out for you.

Jamie