Red Carpet to Real Life

If there's something we can rely on when it comes to red carpet beauty, it's that someone will go for the "classic Hollywood" look – flawless skin, minimal eye, siren red lips. It's makeup that allows you to look dolled up without seeming like you are wearing too much, most recently demonstrated by Skylar Grey at the Grammys:

Since everything else is relatively bare, the emphasis of this particular look is the skin. I always believed that blemish-free skin is the best indicator of health and beauty, and since participating backstage in NYFW, I now believe foundation and concealer can do anything, no matter what condition your skin is in.

That said, have an established skincare routine and take good care of your skin! It makes life simpler (and no doubt makes you happier). For this look, I patted on foundation with a flat synthetic brush then applied loose powder with a fluffy powder brush.

I shaded in my eyebrows then applied an eyeshadow color that's close to my skin tone on my eyelids and inner corners. I applied liquid eyeliner to the bottom of my lashes so it barely peeks through, curled my lashes, then coated them with mascara. I swept a light pink blush on the apples of my cheeks.

To finish, I applied red lipstick and gently blotted it with a tissue to minimize slipping and sliding. When I look at celebrity red carpet pictures I always think their lips look matte-ish, but I guess it's a natural side effect of having lipstick on for a few hours. It's shocking how none of them get their teeth red too. I mean, even if you have publicists and assistants galore to check on you, where on the red carpet are you supposed to dignifiedly (yes, it's a word) swipe a finger at your teeth?

Also, I'm a little odd about these things. When applying it on myself, I deliberately made it a little less "perfect" so it's closer to what I believe women look like in "real life." Not to say that women can't look impeccable when they want to, it's just a quirk of mine; I believe it makes me look more natural. For example, I shade in my eyebrows but don't draw it in precisely – I blur out the line with a spoolie so while my eyebrows look fuller, they don't look too shaded in.

Otherwise, while understated, I can understand the appeal for celebrities to default to this look. After all, just because they walk on the red carpet doesn't mean they should look any different from usual (though as a beauty journalist I wish for anything but just so I have something to write about). It's almost wedding-y in how classic this looks, which I guess if I had to be scrutinized while gliding down a long red carpet, I'd opt for something safe too.

This post is part of BlogHer's Celebrity Beauty Trends editorial series, made possible by Olay.