Breiðholt: Make-up tips for "Elderly Gothicorwhatever Lolita".

Before the start, I'd like to stress a couple of things:

#1. This tutorial will not help people look younger. I have no idea how that would even be done, so I'll leave that for the real professionals. I'm simply listing a couple of mistakes, things that will make you look older your age, which is not a desirable thing for 30+ lolitas. The younger ones can freely disregard everything written here.

#2. Indeed I'm no professional, and there may be glaring mistakes in the text. Feel absolutely free to correct me if I get something totally wrong.

#3. I made the example images a bit on the extreme side to better illustrate my points, by both make-up colour choices and photoediting.

#4. This little do-not-do tuto was put together with the lolita style in mind first and foremost. In other styles I might have no problem painting my face with a heavy hand.

#5. Bah. Humbug!

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Ho hoo, my sans make-up face! I'm sure every make-up tutorial you've seen makes the importance of applying lotion etc. clear so I'm going to skip that and just say that you ought to prepare your skin well in advance in the manner that suits it best. Number one reason to do this is that it helps keep your skin in good condition, number two is that if you don't you'll risk that the end result enhances the lines and other signs of age in your face, which in turn will make you look older.

Lol stuff on my face.

The first signs I've noticed in my face are that I'm getting lines from the sides of my nose, and my eyes have taken on a slightly sunken look. They were always deep-set though so I may be just seeing things here, but anyway. I also have some lines on my forehead and at the corners of my eyes.

When applying foundation, remember not to add too much of it! Even slight discoloration looks better than caked-up face, especially as extra foundation tends to get moved into the wrinkles during the day, drawing them out in pale greasy-looking gunk! Apply only a thin layer and if need be, hide the red spots with concealer.

Beware powder too. Don't use cake powder and never apply it on your face with anything but a brush. Loose mineral powder works the best for me, and I try to only apply it on my forehead, eyelids, nose and the sides of my nose - the greasy areas of my face.

Personally I've found the ideal product for masking the sunken look and the small wrinkles is lightening liquid or "valokynä", whatever it is called in English. I dab it on like the photo above and then blend it in using my finger. Note I do that thing with my chin because I've a fierce jaw and I always try to hide it.

Always remember to use foundation that is slightly lighter than your skin, or at least never use any that's darker than your skin.

One of the worst mistakes women tend to do with their make-up is that they never update their style. They learn one thing and keep doing it for the rest of their lives. On the upside, when you know your strong points showing them off becomes easier with experience, on the downside the looks that were awesome on you at age 20 may not be that flattering at 30 anymore...

Egaads my face is so asymmetrical.

On the right side of my face I did my eye make-up in the same way I used to do it ten years ago, on the left side I'm updating the look. I used red eyeshadow because it easily stands out in the pictures, but rest assured I would create the same effect on myself no matter which colour I chose. Except if I chose light & nude colours, which I did on the left side, so in these photos both my eyes have the exact same eyeshadow pattern, only in different colours.

Here's an illustration of how I like to put on eye shadow, but note it's just something I've come to think looks good on my own eyes. I tend to use fairly light, natural colours, but as they aren't as easy to see I opted for something brighter here.

First pic: white, beige or light rose all over.

Second pic: adding a darker shade to the corner of the eye and blending it along the crease of the eyelid.

Third pic: adding some beige or khaki under the eyebrow.

Take a good look at my eyes now: that thing I keep talking about as "sunken look" is just that. My eyelid seems to disappear, and the heavy use of eyeliner accentuates the droopiness, making my right eye look older than the other one.

The left side has eyeliner too, but only on the top lid and right below/among the eyelashes.

Here with added mascara. The right side has way more of it. I also did something I wouldn't necessarily have to do at all, darkened my right eyebrow. As you see if you compare the right to the left, they're plenty dark as is, and adding more colour to them makes me look stern and unforgiving, not to mention overpainted like whoah.

The bright eyeshadow and the pattern I put it on is making the lines in the corners of my eyes pop... note to self: don't use it so far towards the side of the face, not even in nude colours.

Then for the blush. You've been told to apply it directly under your cheekbones, right? It would probably look good on me too, except that I used wayyyy too much of it (and then GIMP-shopped the effect to the moon and back) and the fact that my cheekbones are already very high. I've an "axe-cut face" as my mum would put it in that loving way of hers, and accentuating any sharp corner of it is generally a bad idea. In this case using blush under my cheekbone makes me look gaunt, and gaunt is not fetching in lolita.

Those red dots are trying to illustrate the pattern in which I put the blush on.

I'm still working on the assumption that the reader learned their make-up skills in the 90's like I did. Back then everyone was supposed to draw over their natural lips to make them look fuller. Pamela The Baywatch even lined hers in brown... oh and you were supposed to pluck your eyebrows away and draw new ones in the middle of your forehead, oh the nightmares that used to roam the streets of our little village! But I digress.

However, doing that to my lips makes me look sour. IDK why this is, but the lesson to be learned here is: just because you always thought it's supposed to be done in way X does not mean it works for you. Also know your face. Take a photo of yourself after doing the make-up and have a good look.