Update Your Fall Look

Fall is such a beautiful time of year. In Texas, that’s when we start to hope that the thermometer is going to drop below 90 degrees. But for the short time I lived farther north, fall was truly magical. As the air crisps, night begins to beg for sweaters and the trees start to shed their leaves. One can feel the world sinking slowly into rest mode. We still have energy, but the earth is starting to wind down.

I don’t know what it is about fall, but I always feel like it calls for something classic. I like my classic coats, classic movies, classic books… so how fitting is it that classy is “in” on the runway this season?

Berry lips, nearly naked eyes, and contouring is the thing. While easy to achieve, it looks polished, classy, and sophisticated.

Get the Look:

Start off by applying foundation and concealer to your face. If you feel like filling in your brows lightly, go ahead and do so. This look has surprisingly natural brows, so if you already have pretty well shaped brows, feel free to skip that. Otherwise, fill in carefully and to a minimum.

1)

Start off with a wash of a pale, neutral, matte, skin-toned eyeshadow over your eye, from lash line to brows. You could technically even use foundation, but I personally prefer to go for a lighter shadow. This acts as a base for the crease, helps to keep oil shine to a minimum, and visually evens out the tone and texture of the lid.

2)

Take a light, neutral brown eyeshadow and brush it into your crease, starting at the outside and blending towards the inner corner. Blend thoroughly. The idea here is only to give the slightest definition to the crease. You still want a nearly “naked” look here. I actually used the same color brown on the crease that I used to fill in the brows, because it goes well with the skin tone and doesn’t look jarring.

3)

Line the outer two thirds of your top lash line with a brown pencil. Take a liner brush and blend it gently, taking it farther into your lashes and softening the upper line. You want some definition here, but again, we’re still thinking “naked.” With the leftover pencil on your brush, line the outer third of your lower lash line. This helps to finish the definition without looking harsh. Finish off with mascara on the top and bottom lashes.

4)

Fill in your lips with a rich berry liner. I used one of my favs, Red Apple Lipstick’s Roseberry. Be sure to fill in carefully, because this color is not only going to keep your lipstick on longer, it also lends a great deal to the overall color of the finished look.

5)

Go over the liner with a natural, moisturizing lipstick. I used Honeybee Gardens’ Bombshell. Using this combination of liner and lipstick, you can drop your lipstick in your purse and easily reapply it all day. Together they fade beautifully, but a quick reapplication of the lipstick will perk it right back up again. The liner keeps the color on well, while the lipstick keeps the look soft and finished.

6)

Now take a good look at your face. Here comes the contouring! This is contouring at its most basic, so relax and have fun with it. Take one of your darker shades of foundation and load up your brush. It should be your summer shade, or one that you accidentally snagged that is just a few shades too dark for you. Suck in your cheeks and stick out your lips—duck face, fish face, whatever you want to call it. The idea is not to make yourself laugh (feel free, though!), but to make your natural cheekbones stand out. Now take the brush with the darker foundation and trace the outside of your face, as indicated in the diagram. At the cheek flourish in the diagram, go just under your exposed cheekbone. Not on it or over it, but under the cheek bone. This helps create the illusion of a shadow under your cheekbone, which slims and defines your face.

And that does it! Pretty simple, huh? So much class for so little effort.

Thank you to my beautiful mother for modeling. It took some convincing to get her to do it, but the world could use a little more of this gorgeous face, don’t you think? 

Products used:
Foundation:
Everyday Minerals Jojoba Base (Natural Ivory, Cream, Alabaster), Everyday Minerals Carnauba Concealer (Fair, Sage), Afterglow Organic Triple Eye Treatment

Eyes:
Red Apple Lipstick Eyeshadow (Brownie Points), Everyday Minerals Matte Eyes (Rare Silk), Mirabella Eye Definer (Twig), Lemongrass Spa Sheer Minerals Organic Mascara (Matte Black)

Lips:
Red Apple Lipstick Retractable Lip Liner (Roseberry), Honeybee Gardens Lipstick (Bombshell)

Written by Afton Jones