Andrea Samuels Makeup: Make Up Artist

You ever have those days where you want to look pretty, but you don't feel like putting in the time to get super glam? I have those days all the time! I never have the time to contour my face like crazy, try on a new lipstick and look like a drag queen, so I keep it very, very simple to save time. Here is what you will need to look like you are naturally flawless with only five products.

Here is what you will need:

1.) Vaseline

2.) Foundation

3.) Mascara Wand

4.) Concealer

5.) Powder

No Brushes Necessary! Watch and See :-)

Step 1: Cleanse, Tone & Moisturize your skin:
My skin is super sensitive, so I use things that are all natural and contain very little to no fragrance. This is my current regimen. I switch up my products every few months, but this is what I have been using for the past 6 months and it has worked the best for me.

I have been using Aveeno face scrub to cleanse my skin lately. Aveeno is one of the few face scrubs I have used that doesn't irritate my skin. The last time my skin was this even, I was in 8th grade! I use Aveeno every other day and it has given me great results.

In high school, I used astringents or sometimes rubbing alcohol as my toner. At the time, strong astringents definitely helped with my acne. Now that I am getting older, I need to keep as much moisture in my skin as possible, so I use an all natural oil to lightly tone my skin.

Benefits of Almond Oil

I usually use almond oil at night time, but for colder weather I use it day and night. I really love almond oil because it's not greasy, it's actually a very light weight oil and it naturally has vitamin E: Vitamin E helps keep the elasticity in the skin for a LONG time. I use almond oil as a toner because it lightly cleanses, refreshes and makes my skin feel really soft after I washed my face. I use a few drops on a cotton ball and it lasts all day. I noticed a lot of expensive eye creams and face moisturizers had almond oil, so I figure I could save money and use straight almond oil for my skin. Almond Oil has amazing benefits for hair, skin and nails.
Here are a few websites that explain:

- www.buzzle.com
- www.naturalremediescenter.com

I finish off with a light weight moisturizer from Simple. I found this product from CVS and I really, really like it. It doesn't make my skin feel tight or heavy, just leaves a balanced moisture to my skin.

This is my skin after my daily regimen. This is normally how I look on set for work: No makeup, no photoshop, straight from my camera phone.

There are times when I am up super late at night and the next day you can clearly see the fatigue in my face. For days like these, I only need a few products to hide a few things. Let me show you how.

Step 2: Vaseline & Mascara Wand

These two products are the perfect combination for two situations: Your brows & your lashes.
This is what I use to groom my brows in one direction as well as creating a little shine to my lashes.
It's a lot less harmful than mascara and looks just as good. If you are blonde and prefer darker lashes, definitely go for a brown mascara to darken them up.

Step 3: Foundation

I LOVE Make Up For Ever Liquid Foundation for photo shoots and runway! On myself, I currently use Inglot Creme Foundation #36

It is $18 USD and I LOVE the way it smells!! It smells like a garden, or greenery, or lettuce... it's hard to describe, but it's very fresh and clean. The creme is water based and very lightweight; and this is literally the only foundation I have found that matches me perfectly. I only need a dime size amount to cover my face and I am good for the day. I use my ring finger and apply all over.

Step 4: Concealer
I switch back and fourth between MAC NW45 Concealer and NYX Concealer. For today's look, I used NYX "Nutmeg" Concealer.

I used my ring finger to apply the concealer in areas of hyper pigmentation, such as: under my eyes, around the nose, around the mouth, on scars and my chin.

Step 5: Powder

I use MAC "Deep Peach" Loose Powder. Apply your powder in the same place you applied concealer to set it in and keep it in place. You can use a sponge or flat brush if you feel it is necessary, but I use my finger once again and lightly tap the powder in place.

To wrap it up: I personally love a little highlighter on my cheekbones, so I use Vaseline again as my highlighter on my nose, my cheekbones, my lips and my collar bones. Guess what I used to apply the Vaseline? My fingers only!

The one question people ask me when they watch me do makeup is:

Why Use Fingers?

The reason why I use my fingers is because the texture and warmth from your fingers can do what no other brush on the market can do to create a natural look: your fingers literally melt the makeup into your skin to make the makeup look like skin and not makeup sitting on your face. The Beauty Blender is very similar to fingers, but it absorbs makeup. Your fingers can glide and melt the makeup into skin which is great for hd cameras, so I personally prefer using my fingers while on set of a photo shoot.

This is the final look:

Here's a before and after (with a flash) and no photo shop was used:

The makeup is SO subtle that you really cannot tell too much of a difference.
BUT what you can notice is:
- the skin looks more even
- there is no darkness nor bags under the eyes
- your skin will look more fresh and

This is the exact same method I use with models for test shoots. For some models, I do fill in their brows, or contour their nose, but I usually only use very few or no brushes for the first look, then build from there. A lot of people think I am not applying makeup for these natural looking photo shoots, but believe it or not, I am! Very little to no photo shop was used.

For Example:

Arlynn | The Rock Agency

Photography | Escalante

Natalie | Factor Women

Photographer | Jennifer Avello

Samantha | Ford Models

Photographer | Jennifer Avello

And there you have it!! You will easily be done with your makeup within 5-10 minutes AND look naturally flawless with just 5 products. I hope this helps!

So there was this crazy makeup & hair competition created by Clif Ellis of Lakrem' that happened this past Sunday at Estate Club in Chicago, IL. At the last minute, literally, a few days before the competition I decided to join it with hair/mua and friend Iris Guevara. I love to challenge myself, I love to work under pressure, I love to try new things, and I love to work with a strong team to create a beautiful project, so we proceeded.

After 10 minutes, we decided to call our team: Timeless
Battle of The Blush consisted of three categories to show our creativity.
Iris and myself went over what to do for each model and our ideas came along smoothly and beautifully.

Sunday comes; I'm SOOOOOOO excited and just a wee bit nervous. I was trying a few new techniques that I have never done before but I had faith that every thing would turn out well. Here are a few photos of the process from hour to hour. Photography by the always awesome and always nice Mr. Jon Recana, Dean Reid, and a few random camera phones.
Enjoy!

There were ten teams total participating in the competition. It felt like a reunion seeing so many familiar faces. There was a beautiful array of talented people in the room. I felt proud that myself and all the artists participating got to represent our ideas and our passion by bringing it to life.

Team Timeless with artist Kat DeJesus

Group Shot :-)

Close up shots of my kit.

First category was 'Naked Beauty.'

In the guidelines, it states 'less is more' and 'create a natural look that could be seen walking down a runway.' We chose model Savannah Thomas to be our 'natural beauty' model. We chose to stick with gold and bronze tones to create a 'golden goddess walking down the runway." I used Gold Leaf & Gold Pigment to create her eyebrows. Iris applied Gold pigment in Savannah's hair to give her a golden glow.

We were talking in code getting ready for the next category ;-)

Second Category was 'Texture.'

The judges wanted to have the feeling of touch from each model, so we chose Megan Graveline to fill this role. I was inspired by two amazing makeup artist's to create this face: Kabuki & Pat McGrath. I am in LOVE with the hairstyle Iris chose to create on our model. Megan ended up looking like an anime character! Megan was KILLIN' IT walking down the runway!

Third Category was 'Time Machine.'

The judges wanted to see how well we can move forward or go backward in time. We chose Alejandra Rodriguez to play the part. We went with a 1960's Barbie theme: pastel pink lips, bright pink cheeks, bright blue eyeshadow, twiggy lashes, and a bee hive bouffaint. With all the drama on her precious face, Alejandra pulled it off!