For many years now, the beauty industry has slowly shifted by ultra-dense products to lighter and more natural. There are fewer chemicals in products used for beauty purposes now than ever before. It’s because the increase in women wanting to look more natural has risen sharply. Whether this has to do with the celebrity culture or the value in looking more realistic is anyone’s guess. This has a lot of benefits in many other ways than just beauty. If you look more realistic and not some model cut out from a magazine or a Hollywood movie, there’s less pressure on how you look. You don’t have to use multiple makeup products in order to look your best, and in fact, because of this cultural shift, fewer products do more of the job anyway. Products are now far more comprehensive than before, with one product doing two or three jobs at once. You feel less stressed out and you can feel more confident as a result. But, every woman wants to achieve a portrait worthy level of beauty. Mona Lisa is a timeless classic of this example and there are modern ways to achieve something similar.
Shoulders up and chin down
Far too often women don’t pay attention to what is shoulders up and chin down. This is, of course, referencing, the neck. The skin on our necks is very stretchy and goes through a lot. The amount of times we move our necks in a twisting fashion, compressing and stretching in one day, is equivalent to all the activity we do for our facial skin. Dryness can be quite apparent on our necks but we either don’t see it or don’t feel it. This is because the skin on our neck is thicker than our face and hands. Natural wrinkles can form on our necks and be permanent if we had them since we were young. These look like rings around your neck and can often be a much lighter tone than the rest of your skin.
Dry skin can form in and around these wrinkles and this can cause itchiness to set in. To care for your neck skin, be generous with moisturizers and make sure you are going with and against the grain of the rings. Make sure to smooth out the moisturizing products you’re using both horizontally and vertically. It’s a good idea to wash your neck the same time you wash your face in the morning when brushing your teeth. Scrub your neck like you would other tougher parts of your body such as toes, to get rid of the jammed dead skin cells in the thick neck skin.
Know your lines
Knowing your lines is incredibly important to shaping your face with whatever kind of products you have elected to use. No, it’s not about acting or repeating dialogue at the drop of a hat, but rather the contours of your face. Every single face ever is unique and even though some might be similar and or deemed identical, there is no exact double of anyone’s face. This is why learning about your chin, nose, eyes, forehead, lips, cheeks and more is so important if you want that portrait style beauty. But you might be asking, How to contour and highlight? There are a number of ways you can do this but keep it simple and keep it clear cut.
Start off by framing your forehead, so you can see where the largest undisturbed surface area of skin is on your face. Undisturbed simply means, where features don’t interact with each other. For example, your lips and nose share some of the same lines but the forehead is completely separate. Using a product like True Color you can use the dark shade along your hairline and use the lighter shade in the middle of your forehead. Using your fingertips, find where your cheekbones are and again, using the same method of the darker shade around the outside and the lighter shade on the inside, mark the natural curves. Using both the shades, you can mark your nose also, with the aim of finding the central narrowing point. Define your chin and soft jawline to create double lines dancing side by side.
Too complex hairstyles
Study the portraits of the art world and you’ll see a trend that is from all over the world. Complex hairstyles are not often worn by the subject. They simply take away too much focus from the face. However, it’s hard to not wear modern complex hairstyles as part of your fashion and outfits. Yet, if you do want to have a classical beauty look, then simplifying your hairstyle and keeping it away from your face would be the desired option. Straight and long hair is often the popular choice because it’s feminine, and beautiful without much preparation needed. It’s also a hairstyle that doesn’t boast or take away a lot of the attention from the facial features. It makes sense to have this kind of hairstyle when you want to look naturally beautiful.
If you don’t want a long hairstyle then something in the way of short but traditional would be great. French braids are particularly gorgeous when it comes to the traditional and natural beauty look. They move the hair out of the way and give the observer clear focus on the face. However, from different angles, the braids are nice to behold. They add to the beauty of your face but they never steal the limelight away. They are also able to be styled in different manners. You can have the braids in a pigtail style, braids that go across over the top of your head with the length of being above the neckline, or perhaps the single ponytail. All of these different styles are using the same braid but they never take away different angles that your face can be fully seen from.
The less the better
Natural beauty is quite difficult to attain and layering on makeup every day does not help. What makeup does is, clog your pores and stop the natural oils in your skin from working as they should. This can cause the makeup on your face to cake up and feel a lot more solid and patchy. This can, in turn, make your skin feel irritable and itchy. Wearing less makeup every day is a good thing for your skin. Of course, you can wear makeup for special occasions such as work events but just in your daily life, it’s better to wear fewer layers to help your skin to breathe naturally.
Instead of wearing makeup, you could wear moisturizers instead, and serums that help your skin retain water and smooth out any bumps and spots. There’s no substitute for clear healthy skin and if you have a choice, then choosing this way instead of a social norm is what you should consider.
Portrait beauty is something that is highly regarded by both sexes. It’s something that takes a lot of time to attain because getting your skin to be clear, glowing, healthy and springy is not easy. Start off with knowing how to contour your own face. Study the lines of your features and begin to bring them out a little more. Using light and dark shades to help guide you is the best way to begin. Then you can also begin to change your hairstyle so more of your face can be seen. French braids are a great option as they look sexy but they don’t allow your hair to cover your face. Straight hairstyles are also a good option too.