David Harel Makeup Artist

Washing your makeup brushes

What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without washing your hair? A week? A month? If you’re a makeup brush, the likelihood is that you’ve never been washed at all. I often do private makeup applications for people, and they love to get my advice about their makeup bags. It is always shocking to me when people will tell me that they’ve never washed their brushes before. Your brushes are likely made out of natural animal hair. And just like your hair, your brushes will get really dirty and nasty if you never wash them. Makeup, oils from your face, and dirt from your bag collect on your brushes and can make you break out.

The good news is that washing your brushes is incredibly quick and easy to do. It takes a couple of minutes, and there are many benefits. First, your skin will appreciate the clean brush and reward you with fewer breakouts. Your makeup will look better when you apply it; more like I did it for you! Your brushes will feel brand new and luxurious against your skin, and who doesn’t like that? And finally, it will extend the life of your brushes, which is usually the most expensive part of a makeup bag.

So go ahead and give it a try! Then put on some makeup, and go show off your hot self at happy hour.

DIY Salt Scrub

Ever since we got back from Israel I’ve been thinking about the Dead Sea and its effects. After just one visit my skin felt clearer and softer than ever. It got me thinking: how come I don’t use salt more often? I decided to experiment with making a skin scrub. After using it for a few days, I am completely hooked! It’s ridiculously easy, and I highly recommend trying this out for yourself.

Pour a tablespoon of regular salt into a small bowl, then squeeze the juice of a lemon on top of it. Mix the salt to dissolve it into the lemon juice. That’s it! I took mine into the shower (it’s neater) and scooped some into the palm of my hand. Without any pressure, I massaged the mixture onto my face for a minute and rinsed it off. After moisturizing, my skin glowed! This scrub can be tailored for your whole body by adding some olive oil to the salt and lemon juice.

In this economy, many people cut back on luxuries like skincare. This is an extremely easy way to pamper your skin with items you already have in your kitchen!

Glittah!

On Friday I did some makeup for a charity event called Friends of the Family, which was a lot of fun! It’s organized by TV therapist Stacy Kaiser, and benefits families who are in trouble both financially and emotionally. Some of the kids in the program were performing, and I was putting glitter and lip gloss on them beforehand. They were so excited about their makeup, it was really sweet!

On the topic of glitter, one of my absolute favorites is called Reflects Antique Gold by MAC. The glitter is very finely ground, and looks flattering on adults (not just teens). It comes in a loose tub, and when applied on the skin it catches so much light and looks really glamorous. It’s like you have built-in paparazzi!

Of course glitter is not for every day. But if you’re in the mood to sparkle, here are few ways to apply this gorgeous product:

1. Apply a bit to your eyelids over cream eyeshadow or clear mascara. You can also just put a small amount of eye cream onto your lids before applying. The idea is to make your lids moist so the glitter sticks.

2. Mix a small amount of the glitter into your lipgloss before applying.

3. Squeeze some body cream into your hand, and mix a bit of glitter into it before applying to your body.

Makeup Artist Trick: Make sure you have some scotch tape nearby, as it will help you remove any glitter that will inevitably go astray. I know this sounds odd, but it is extremely effective! Just take a few inches of tape and lightly press onto the areas that need to be cleaned up (usually under the eyes). It will look more polished and less like you are headed to a rave.

The Dead Sea

I just got back from an amazing trip to Israel! While I am jet lagged to the point of feeling narcoleptic, I had to tell you about my experience at the Dead Sea. My partner and I joined my parents for a one night stay at a hotel, and we spent most of our time floating in the mineral-rich water. It is nothing like swimming in a regular ocean. First of all, it is bathwater temperature and feels incredibly oily. Second, the salt content of the water is so high that I floated like a styrofoam cup. It feels kind of goofy and incredibly relaxing at the same time.

It is recommended to take a break after floating for 15 minutes (which is not hard to remember; let’s just say that several body parts start stinging noticeably). After a quick rinse and sea mud application (thus the photo; that’s me on the right!), the mud dries and draws out impurities in the skin. It get so tight, it feels really nice to wash it off in the water and float again. Just one day of “salting” myself left my skin feeling amazing! Not only was it smooth and moisturized, but the flakiness on my knees and elbows disappeared. It’s no wonder that people from all over the world visit the Dead Sea to correct many skin ailments (seborrhea, psoriasis, dandruff).

The experience reminded me of a job that I worked on not long ago. I had been hired to do makeup for a major motion picture’s press junket. The actor I groomed is a well-known movie star, and when I showed up to do his makeup I was shocked to see the state of his skin. He had gotten sunburned while golfing a few days earlier, and his whole face was peeling. I was annoyed that he neglected his skin the week before such an important appearance (sunblock people!). My regular exfoliant was not working on him, so I politely excused myself and ran over to the studio caterer to grab a packet of sea salt. After mixing some salt with a dollop of rich moisturizer, I applied it to his face and tissued it off. Bingo! The dissolved salt immediately sloughed off the remains of his dead skin, and the cream helped replenish the moisture he had lost.

So just in case you can’t make it to the Dead Sea anytime soon, you can still reap the benefits by using the same technique I described above. Make sure that you dissolve the salt really well with plenty of moisturizer before applying, and use almost no pressure (otherwise it could scratch and irritate your skin).

Getting your face to glow

One of my favorite ways to exfoliate is also the cheapest. Use a washcloth! I’m surprised that more people don’t know about this. Take any clean soft towel, wet it with warm water, and just gently massage your face with it. The towel will help to scrub off dead skin and leave you glowing! This is called manual exfoliation. The other kind is chemical exfoliation, which includes Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA’s). You can use an AHA lotion every day (such as Neutrogena Healthy Skin Lotion) and it exfoliates your skin for you. However, if you’re trying to save money, I say go for the towel. It’s easy, it’s effective, and who doesn’t own a towel? Ideally, you should use a microfiber towel, which is softer than a regular terrycloth towel. When I first moved from NYC to Los Angeles, my skin was so dry and flaky, it looked rough. This got my skin glowing in a snap. Try it and let me know!

MAC Naked Lunch Eyeshadow

So I’ve been going through my kit today, trying to narrow down my list of favorite products. This is not easy for a makeup artist, you should know. However, there was one eyeshadow that I immediately reach for more often than not with clients. It’s called Naked Lunch, and it’s a powder eyeshadow from MAC. It’s a shimmery, nude-pink. This is an absolute must for achieving that ethereal, glamorous glow. Take a bit of this shadow with your pinky, and smudge it in the inner corners of your eyes, and right under your eyebrows. Bang! You look more polished. You can use this all over your eyelid to get a soft, natural shine (As seen on Heidi Klum, above). Take a little on a blush brush and apply it to the tops of your cheeks to add some radiance to your skin. This is my favorite kind of makeup product, because it’s subtle, which means that people won’t notice your makeup, but they will notice how pretty you look!