Social Question

SuperMouse's avatar

I have the dress, now can we talk make-up?

Asked by SuperMouse (30853points) October 10th, 2012

So I found a dress (which I love and ended up pairing with light gray shoes and nude hose), now I need some ideas for make-up. I rarely wear make-up and when I do it consists of blush on my cheeks and eyes with a little mascara. I really want to do it up right for the big night but I am not sure where to start. Vitals: I am over 40 with gray hair, blue eyes, and fair skin, the dress is light gray with darker and lighter accents. Any help – down to brands, colors, and application – is appreciated!

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35 Answers

Earthgirl's avatar

I love this look!! It’s glamourous and natural. The tips seem right on target. I recommend Trish McEvoy cosmetics as much for their makeup artists as their products. They aim for a natural look and their brushes are the best! Go for a makeup consultation just for fun. The makeup is expensive so if you, like me, feel obligated to buy something, get the blush and a brush to apply it. I love my Trish blush/powder brush, I will never use one of those skimpy comes with the compact brushes again! I am so spoiled!
You will want your makeup to stay looking good as long as possible so use eye makeup base like this one. It is really great and helps even out your skin tone and hides the dark circles without looking pasty. I love it.
If you cry a lot make sure you wear waterproof mascara!

Kayak8's avatar

@SuperMouse We have VERY similar coloring and find that eye shadow with lavender to purple works amazingly well. I would go to an upscale department store that sells higher end cosmetics and have them do your makeup (teach you how and how you the latest style in eye shadow, etc.). They will have a number of choices in color and appropriate products for your skin tone and texture. They also have throw-away tools for each client to use so you don’t get pink-eye or other infection from sharing a friend’s makeup and having them help you.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

I’d help, but you’d end up painted like a drag queen. :-P

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@Hawaii_Jake I’m big on less is more.

Imadethisupwithnoforethought's avatar

This is all guys so far so I will jump in.

Nude hose are blah. A woman is wasting a dress if she wears nude hose. It screams “I AM A GRAMOM!” Black with a raised texture pattern, or a tight fishnet. Otherwise use your feminine instinct to pick a color that coordinates.

Nude hose attract guys with mommy issues.

chyna's avatar

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought @SuperMouse is married. She isn’t trying to hook up.
And depending on the color of grey, black hose may not look good with the dress.

Earthgirl's avatar

Besides that, @Imadethisupwithnoforethought , @SuperMouse is asking for makeup advice not hosiery advice.

Imadethisupwithnoforethought's avatar

@chyna ok. I accept that she is not looking to hook up.
@Earthgirl and @chyna she is asking for advice, post dress selection. And if she is looking for honest opinions, I will tell her honestly wearing nude hosiery is aging like a comb over on a guy.

chyna's avatar

Pfft. Nude hose is not for grannies.
Do you have any makeup advice or not?

Kayak8's avatar

@SuperMouse is the mother of the groom, NOT looking to hook-up at her step-son’s wedding I would venture. Nude hose ARE appropriate for the mother of the groom at a semi-formal wedding.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

Accent the eyes, very lightly, a little blush, and a coral lipstick. And a really nice scent, subtle, but rich.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

I found this good video tutorial that might be of assistance.

augustlan's avatar

Ooh, I do like the look that @Earthgirl posted. Nice! Not too overdone, but still glamorous.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought We’ve already been down the ‘hose advice’ path. ALL of the women, young and old, advised nude with the particular dress that has been purchased. Trust us.

Imadethisupwithnoforethought's avatar

@augustlan, lady, It’s the redhead thing. I want to argue, but I just give in.

augustlan's avatar

Also, since you don’t wear makeup often, I wouldn’t worry about spending a lot. A good primer will go a long way to make even less-than-top-quality makeup look good and last. I mean, don’t go with Wet ‘n Wild eye shadow, but Cover Girl or any regular drug store brand will probably do.

JLeslie's avatar

I think you might have told us on the other Q, what month is the wedding? With the grey if you want to glam it up a little you can wear some plums. Especially if the wedding is in winter months. Plumish blush, natural, close to skin color below the eyebrow, some shear plum and silver on the eyelids. Line your eyes so they show up well in the photos, and mascara of course. Lipstick also can be in the plum/silverish family.

If you really shy away from having too much makeup on you can go with a more natural look of brownish-reds.

In my opinion corals are not for winter, although you can do a sheer peachish blush, but lipstick more brown-peach.

I highly recommend practicing a few looks and having someone take a flash photo of you, camera not to close to your face, but zoomed in, so you can see how the makeup looks in photos. My face dissappears without heavy make-up, especially around my eyes. For my wedding I piled it on thicker than usual.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought I was very happy she bought nude hose. She will be very very happy when she looks back at the photos of the wedding, trust me. I cannot believe what you said. You are not talking about fashion, you are talking hook-up. My husband likes to know women are wearing thong underwear, to him it means that woman likes to, wants to, have sex. He is not to be consulted on these matters either.

Imadethisupwithnoforethought's avatar

@JLeslie I have been outvoted. I am not even saying hookup however. @Kayak8 made my point for me. Nude hose are appropriate for “THE MOTHER OF THE BRIDE AT A TRADITIONAL WEDDING”. So, if you want to look like a mother, or age yourself prematurely, by all means wear nude hose. I imagine there are a number of men telling a guy right now that his combover really looks distinguished.

JLeslie's avatar

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Ok, that made me laugh. Black hose would look ridiculous with a medium grey dress of that type in my opinion. From what I gather you are not looking at the total fashion look, just what do her legs say? Women are not always worried about projecting sex. There are many many women out there wearing nude house who are young with knock ‘em dead bodies. I just think you are wrong. However, I am sure you are correct according to men who think like you. They zero in on one thing, ass, breasts, legs, etc. You’re entitled to your opinion.

Imadethisupwithnoforethought's avatar

@JLeslie I have already argued longer against @Augustlan than I want to

ragingloli's avatar

White face paint, overdrawn red lipstick, a red plastic nose and a red wig.
Or nothing at all. Your choice.

Bellatrix's avatar

I agree with @Kayak8, if you aren’t feeling confident about your make-up go to a department store and pick a sales person whose make-up looks natural. Some of them are way too over made up. Get them to show you some tips. Otherwise, if you can afford it, what about seeing if you can get someone to come and do your make-up for you? If you feel like spoiling yourself.

Seek's avatar

On the makeup side, I love @Earthgirl ‘s video. Perfect.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought When I saw the dress and thought “black hose and gray shoes”, my brain immediately went to Laura Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.

And that’s coming from someone in a deep love affair with black opaque tights.

SuperMouse's avatar

Thanks all! I am heading to the Sephora counter this afternoon to get some tips and have my make-up done. Tonight is the rehearsal dinner so I will be all made up for it! Until this thread I never knew there was such a thing as make-up primer! How cool is that? When I start teaching in a couple of months I am going to need to wear make-up daily so this is probably a good introduction. @Earthgirl, I love the video.

@JLeslie the wedding is tomorrow!

@Seek_Kolinahr OMG! I can totally see where you thought LHotP when you saw the pictures, in person it doesn’t give that impression. Geez, I hope I don’t look like Ma Ingalls in all of the pictures! I might have to go @Imadethisupwithnoforethought‘s fish nets or @ragingloli clown nose to keep that from happening!

@Adirondackwannabe I like the male opinion and @Hawaii_Jake drag queen can’t be much worse then what I would end up looking like if left to my own devices!

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@SuperMouse All the luck in the world.:)

Seek's avatar

@SuperMouse No no no! The dress is gorgeous! Matching that dress with black hose would give that impression – that of a little girl playing dress-up.

SuperMouse's avatar

@Seek_Kolinahr LOL, thanks! It makes sense that black stockings would make the legs stand out and look goofy. Now I can’t help picturing the dress with black stockings, old fashioned tie up boots like Laura used to wear, and a bonnet. I’ll draw more attention than the bride!

JLeslie's avatar

Tomorrow! Which is now today. So, you might not see this. Just wear basically your usual make-up so you look like yourself, and add a little more color, use a slightly darker lipstick if you usually wear very light ones, you can acheive this by lining your entire lips with your lipliner and then lipstick on top if you don’t have time to go to the store, and a little more eyeliner.

Have fun at the wedding! Let us know how it goes.

SuperMouse's avatar

@JLeslie it is actually Friday (the 12th), this evening is the rehearsal dinner.

JLeslie's avatar

Ok, so you have a little bit of a chance to practice the make-up. Some blush colors if you put it on thick you can look too streaky or clowny, so you will want to be careful about that.

janbb's avatar

@SuperMouse Mazel Tov and have a great time. You will look gorgeous – especially with all the Jellatinous advice you have gotten!

Earthgirl's avatar

@SuperMouse Have a great time! You’re going to look beautiful!

augustlan's avatar

Have a wonderful time at the wedding, Mouse! You’re going to be stunning.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@SuperMouse Show them what class is all about. :) You’ll be a great example for the bride.

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