The Berkeley Rose Garden. Soft, overhead outdoor lighting. Beautiful, but challenging when it comes to doing make-up. Denise and Matt posed for engagement photos among the trees and rose bushes throughout the garden. This easy-going couple was great to work with, took suggestion well and had a fun time throughout the shoot. Photographer Paul Bothwell is quite the visionary, capturing graphic details, texture and lighting in each of his pictures. I definitely learned a lot from his perspective on just what photographs best outdoors.

Not wanting to take away from the simplicity of the shoot, I decided to create a very natural face. The look we designed was very everyday and un-glamorous to compliment the outdoor space, greenery, and Denise's personal style which is unfussy, yet pretty. What was most important to me was to highlight the eyes knowing Paul would be focusing on the intimate looks they gave each other. Whereas wedding photography is fancy, clean and colorful and really makes the bride stand out, engagement photos are a little more relaxed and casual with more emphasis on the couple. I would save the glamor for the big day and keep the engagement photo make-up more low key, but still polished.

We used a cocoa eyeshadow in the crease and a pop of white matte on the brow bone. What kept the look simple was the use of neutral eyeshadow and more emphasis on the eyeliner, which is lifting and brightening without having to contour anything on the lid. Using an eyeshadow (not pencil) throughout the brow gave a soft look yet still gave frame to the eye. Then I added individual lashes on just the outer third of the eyes to help them pop.

I cannot stress the importance of lashes for photo shoots where everything needs to be just a touch more emphasized. Asian shaped eyes that are creased are especially challenging (trust me, I can sympathize) as they can look closed in or small when smiling. To make sure the liner will show in pictures, line the eyes first, smile into a mirror and note whether or not the liner disappears when the eyes are open. If not enough liner is showing, go a touch thicker. The lashes and liner really help to open up an Asian eye and can get otherwise blunt tipped and short lashes to stand out. Line just beyond the natural lash line and taper off towards the temples. To get false lashes to look most natural, line the eyes, curl the lashes, glue the individual lashes on, allow the glue to dry and set, touch up the liner to blend the base of the lashes in, and finally coat and blend real and false lashes together with a thickening mascara. Sounds like a lot of work but the results are well worth it!

And of course I couldn't post without a snapshot of the beautiful mom and her newest little nugget, Ryan.

I can't wait to see the rest of the photos and I look so forward to working with Paul again. Stay tuned for more of our collaborations!