Birth of Venus

Bringing out the soft side of an American beauty is an exciting prospect for a makeup artist. The temptation to rely on a spectrum of browns when presented with a face like Margaret Pridgen is strong. Her strong cheekbones, flowing curls, and blue blood coloring evoke barn jackets, feisty mares, and open country sides; all of which almost require liberal use of shades from chocolate to hay. With spring clothing that ranged from easy whites to eye catching metallics we knew we had to bring out the inner pale goddess in Margaret. And indeed, with the theme of birth and the sacrifices of spring in our shoot, it seemed only appropriate that we captured the emotion from an original birth. Our summoning of the goddess of beauty brought us an evocation of Botticelli's Birth of Venus. But unlike Botticelli, our Venus was just a little bit more misty thanks to liberal applications of shimmers, some pearlised colors, and naturally the silver clothing.

After cleansing Margaret’s face with hot water and olive oil (our favorite tip for nourishing all skin types, particularly oily ones that are not responding to other treatments) we applied a few dabs of Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in SC-1 for fair skin on a few trouble spots. Our Venus was on spring break from school in Massachusetts so the stress of finals had led to a few minor blemishes but nothing that secret camouflage couldn’t handle thanks to its two shade system that allowed us to match Margaret’s natural color and undertones. We swabbed her cheekbones, nose, and eye brow arches with MAC Strobe Liquid Lotion. The iridescent pigments gave us just the misty soft focus sheen we wanted. We then applied a light dusting of Therapy Systems Loose Mineral Foundation to even out the color. The final touch on her face was MAC Beauty Powder Blush in Joyous. The silky smooth texture combined with pearly particles gave us just the subtle color required. The pink of Joyous was a natural complement to the shimmer on her cheekbones and the metallics of her garments. We applied it lightly for a sheer look but it can easily be applied in layers for a more dramatic color.

To open her eyes we used Tarte Rest Assured Brightening Wand nude pink liner pencil around her tear ducts and to the inner rim of her eyelids. We then swiped its pink highlighter across her lids and under her eyebrows. We then layered in MAC’s Fascinating Eye Kohl in White (sadly sold out but if you want to experiment on the cheap try Rimmel Soft Kohl in Pure White) and MAC’s Eye Kohl in Mac Eye Kohl in Smolder to get a gray effect. The combination of the eye opener and various kohl gave us a dove gray that we couldn’t find easily anywhere else to match the coloring of the clothing. Finally we used our favorite Maybelline Great Lash in Very Black.