Date Night Beauty | Janelle Monae

Did you just get that call over the holidays that family is in town and they would love to watch the children? Hubby finally has time off and you can't wait to take advantage? Now ideas of date night come flooding through your head and you are wondering exactly how you're going to jazz up your look? Well you've come to the right place! Tonight's post is all about creating a celebrity-inspired date night look. Here, we have the beautiful singer/actress Janelle Monae rocking a sultry red lip and matching crimson cheeks. Under the jump, I have a list of tried and true beauty favorites from the MAC counter along with steps that will help you pull off this glamorous look with ease.

beauty for women of color

Prepare for your beauty look with a clean, moisturized, and primed face.
  1. Eyebrows frame the face and are usually the first thing people notice about you--so I always start by taming them. If they are already tamed but need a little defining, begin by filling in your brows in light strokes with MAC  Eye Brow Pencil in Spiked. With a gentle hand, this brow pencil can give shape to the sparsest of brows while still appearing natural.
  2. Next, I like to give a little dimension to the eyes. The MAC Mineralized Eye Shadow Duo shown above can give you shimmer on your lid to make your eyes pop, a matte taupe in your crease to give your eyes definition, and a bit of glow under the brow bone for a fresh, radiant overall look. These rich, long-lasting shades will have bae staring in your eyes all through your date night dinner! 
  3. To further define your eyes, line the upper lash line with MAC Eye Kohl Liner in Black. I usually line the outer rim of my bottom lash line (instead of the entire bottom lash line) as well. 
  4. To give your lashes a boost without adding falsies, apply MAC False Lashes Extreme. This mascara's formula gives the illusion of full, false lashes!
  5. Now moving along to the face, the first product I apply is the MAC Prep n Prime Highlighter in Peach Luster. I brush a small dab of it on my dark spots (and the under eye area if needed) to cancel out the dark area before applying concealer. (NOTE: If you have no areas to conceal, you can actually skip a couple of steps and move right along to number 7).
  6. Then we continue our concealing by blending a light touch of MAC Mineralize Concealer over the places you applied the highlighter in the last step.  
  7. After allowing the concealer time to set, apply MAC Face and Body Foundation by buffing it into your skin with your favorite stippling brush. (Learn more about this favorite by checking out my "Every Day Makeup For Women on the Go" Post.)
  8. Set your foundation with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural, my holy grail setting powder. It gives such a flawless, yet natural finish to your face. 
  9. To give your face a boost of "flush and glow," add the beautiful MAC Blush in A Little Lusty to the apples of your cheeks, and MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Gold Deposit above the cheekbones + down the bridge of your nose. A Little Lusty's warm undertones look so beautiful on brown skin and you already know how I feel about the beauty that is Gold Deposit
  10. To finish up the look,  add an application of MAC Matte Lipstick in Russian Red to the lips. To make sure your red lipstick really POPS, be sure to clean up around the perimeter of your lipstick application with concealer. 
Now you have a simple celebrity-inspired look
that has you date night ready with one quick run to the MAC store!

WOULD YOU ROCK THIS LOOK?

Stay tuned to the drugstore beauty version of this look coming soon!

Be sure to check out Janelle Monae along with cast mates Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in their upcoming film, Hidden Figures, releasing on Christmas Day!
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