I am a little obsessed with Dame Helen Mirren and her total badass, age positive attitude. She famously said:
"Anti-ageing pisses me off so much! Whether you're 25 or 45, you look great for who you are – not for how old you are."
We are singing the same song and who better to draw a little inspiration from?
I've not replicated Helen's classy but still fun, Golden Globes look exactly, rather I have taken inspiration from it to show you just how simple, easy and doable a red carpet worthy look can be - even without the Dolce & Gabbana gown!
If you've ever felt a little intimidated by special event makeup, this video tutorial and makeup look is for you! You just need the right products for flattering your skin.
Watch the VIDEO
Scroll down for the full video transcript.
Need some help with your makeup?
Over the course of my 21 year career as a makeup artist, I've developed a set of fundamental techniques that form the basis of every mature-skinned makeup I do, that flatter and enhance skin that shows signs of a life well lived that flatters, enhances, lifts and bring sparkle back to your face - and gives your confidence a good old kick in the pants too!
I will show you the way to prep your skin for makeup, how to perfect your complexion, how to bring it to life, and always choose the right shade foundation and brighten your under eye area without accentuating crinkles and wrinkles. I also spill the tea on my easy technique for lifting hooding eyes and elevating your eye makeup that is foolproof, and works on all eye shapes. This set of basics will allow you to dial up or down your look - depending on your mood and occasion. Each makeup step is broken down into short, easy to follow videos that you can pause practice, rewind, and rewatch as many times as you need to. There are 8 hours of video tutorials. It's 21 years of industry experience developed and created specifically for women aged 40, 50, 60, 70 and beyond.
Not only will you learn how to do your makeup to enhance your face now, you'll also save money as you'll stop buying products that dont suit you, and only buy products you need, because you'll have the skills and confidence to know what will suit you, and your skin type, plus you'll have access to me in fortnightly live Q&A events. Have a question, need a little more guidance, want to know more about specific products ... all of your questions are answered "live" in the members only private Facebook Group.
So what are you seriously waiting for? I talk to so many women aged 40 plus who have lost their way, lost their confidence, become dissatisfied with their makeup, unhappy with their changing faces overwhelmed by all the new innovations in the beauty industry that you just don't know where to start, women who are wasting endless hard earned dollars buying the wrong products, that it is my mission to help women just like you feel unstoppable at every age. I can help you.
Keep shining bright ladies.
Amanda Ramsay is a multi-award winning, over 40s makeup artist. You can find out more about her here.
FULL HELEN MIRREN EVENT MAKEUP VIDEO Transcript
This Lunch Lime live is a Helen Mirren inspired look yes we are recreating-ish Helen Mirren’s spectacular look from the Golden Globes. I just wanted to bring you all a little bit of red carpet glam, but show you how easy it can be as I know many of you get a little bit nervous-pants about black tie events special occasions and think am I going to be able to do my makeup. Yes you can!
This week we're doing Dame Helen Mirren at the Golden Globes I don't have the Dolce and Gabbana gown, but I do have this lovely lavender top from Leina & Fleur that my gorgeous friend Dan has loaned me for our inspiration.
OK are you with me? Are we gonna do this? It's gonna be fun. Isn’t Helen Mirren just glorious I read that Vogue described her hair as directional and androgynous which I found a little bit odd because this is very much a go to hairstyle for me when I have a special event to go because it is dead easy and you just don't have to worry about your hair.
Part 1 - Skin Prep (for Better Makeup)
OPTION 1. LED Mask
Right let's get started a couple of little things I showed you this last week I thought I won't freak everyone out again and wear it, but without a doubt to get the gorgeous radiant glow that our friend Dame Helen would have had on the red carpet, there would have been a fair amount of LED going on so this is the Omnilux Contour LED Mask. This is the LED Mask that I own and the OG of LED so I would say my fave. Now if that's not within your budget going to your local beauty therapists they may have an Omnilux in their salon and you could lay on to that and just have the 30 minute treatment for a little pick me up before a special event. It is amazing for creating that beautiful radiance.
Option 2 - Skin care
If you don't want to go down that road I'll do a quick skin prep which will show you another way of bringing gorgeous glorious radiance to your skin. Your makeup will only sit and look wonderful if you prep your skin really well. OK if you’re new here, welcome to hearing Amanda bang on about skin prep! if you've been following me for a while you know the drill it is!
I've been doing this gig for 21 years and any experienced makeup artist will say exactly the same thing. It's all in the prep ladies and then of course having few tips and tricks up your sleeve which you learn from yours truly. Alright let's get started.
Step 1. Tone
So first of all my skin is already clean and I am just going to use the Tone and Hydrate by Clemence Organics to rehydrate my dehydrated skin kill off any bacteria that might be there. It's a beautiful cooling soothing antibacterial mist that also gives you a lovely drink of hydration and moisture and also acts is like what I call, or what Vanessa actually taught me, is called an osmotic pump so think about damp skin and a beautiful mist as being the thing that accelerates the absorbency of what comes next.
Step 2. Tackle sun damage
So next I'm going to use the Metamorphosis Genenis by Vanessa Megan. This is a pigmentation age spot serum this is a 100% natural. Most people might prefer to wear it at night. I like to wear it during the day to add that vitamin C antioxidant protection because although I'm not going to the Golden Globes, I do want to work on the radiance of my skin because my skin is quite frankly sun damaged and I, like many of you, need all the help I can get in that area, so that's a lovely really quite intense vitamin C serum for pigmentation and age spots.
OK so this is Glow Ritual this is like a key part of this whole makeup look, it's actually a key part of all makeup looks because it is a beautiful plant based hyaluronic acid and it has some Kakadu plum that adds a little bit of vitamin C as well, but see this golden sort of fleck that it has through it. So you get the dose of vitamin C you get the dose of hyaluronic acid and he just get this lovely glow to your skin so that she Antipodes Glow Ritual Vitamin C Serum. It's fast becoming a non-negotiable with every makeup that I do because it just gives all skin types a big juicy drink of water. It's not water, but think about it that way. Think about it as plumping up your skin cells giving skin that's thirsty a bit of a drink, because thirsty skin will drink you makeup - it will make makeup go a little cakey and crazy. So we want it nice and quenched.
STEP 3. Eye Serum
So next, we are going to focus on the eye area. You know Dame Helen has definitely got creases and crinkles and what I love about her is that she's just fully embracing them. But no doubt she's using (or her makeup artist is using) some sort of eye serum to really hydrate that delicate eye zone.
So, this is Diamond Rush by Edible Beauty it is the brightening eye serum but it will also plump up or just give those that area under the eyes and nice big again drink of water. It's full of peptides so it's pumping and hydrating and really prepping for makeup. But even if you're not wearing makeup this is a great product if you're someone that has trouble with the under eye area, I highly recommend a serum over a cream for your under makeup. I don't like creams under makeup. Serums are better.
Step 4. Moisturise where you need it
Next is just a bit more moisture. I'm feeling like I need it, but I receommend just applying the moisturiser where you feel you really need it. The Moringa All Beauty Creme by Ere Perez is a staple in my makeup prep, because it's brilliant for all skin types, so whether you are combination all the way through to dry, it will hydrate renew and balance your skin. It has a natural lactic acid in it as well, so it leaves the skin lovely and smooth which is great for your makeup application. So just get that on. It really cheers up my skin.
TIP: Create a good skin care habit
I think skin prep is a really important habit for ladies over 40 to get into. Unless you are going for really regular lasers and various treatments. I'll pretty much guarantee your skin is dehydrated. Skin care or skin prep is adding good nutrients to your skin. You’ll see the difference. And you know glowing skin is always in right ladies? And we do tend to get a little dull with age.
Part 2 - The Makeup LOOK
Step 1. Primer
OK so we're ready to apply some makeup! So, I'm going to use the Runway Room First Base Primer. This is just a great all-rounder. A hydrating, primer for luminous glowing skin. Now if you have oily skin, you would want to choose the Kylie's Professional Mineral Primer instead this is a really lovely hydrating primer that's great for your combination all the way through to your dry skin types.
Lots of skin loving ingredients. So while it is a primer that primes your skin to give the make up a little more stickability, it's the first step of your makeup, but you could also use it as a final step for your skin care if you’re going makeup free.
OK if I was walking the red carpet, it's unlikely I would have sunscreen on because that creates flashback so let's just imagine I put sunscreen on if your event is a daytime event. OK so just massaging this primer. What I love about it, is that it's quite thin. It's not too shiny and it doesn't have that velvet silicony, slippery feeling, it really just feels like a lovely lightweight moisturiser and it performs brilliantly. I’ll just show you on the back of my hand what the effect is. It gives this lovely pearlized, reflectiveness to the skin. So anyone that's feeling like their skin is a bit flat or lacklustre, primer is a great addition to your makeup routine.
Step 2. Eye Shadow
Ok, I'm going to start with eyes. Like I said I'm not completely recreating Dame Helen’s look, I'm making this super easy and doable for you girls at home. OK, so she has got like a pinkish almost slightly lilac but is definitely more pink through her eyes if you were to go to shimmery and shiny in these inner corners and you have a lot of crinkling and hooding, you might not like the effect so much, so I'm doing just a little tweak to that and we're going to use the Mii Cosmetic Forever Eye Crayon in the colour Sorbet, it is a lovely pale sort of golden pink and we're going to put that all over the lid and this might be enough for you. You might stop at just wearing the eye crayon because you totally can. It's an eyelid primer and eye shadow in one and it's a set and forget product so once that is on, you and your Helen Mirren can go party at all the fabulous events ‘till the wee hours and your eye shadow will look fabulous. It won't budge, it won't move, so we love these eye shadow crayons. The reason that I choose the Mii Cosmetics is the texture of these is very velvety and soft, the colour palette is brilliant. I've used many others you know they're all right, there are plenty of great ones, but what makes this one really special and unique and in alignment with us here at Amanda Ramsey Makeup is that it doesn't have any forever chemicals.
Step 3. Eyeliner
OK next we're going to line, because it looks like she's got almost like a Navy blue liner on. It could be a charcoal grey because she's so silver the charcoal grey would look quite nice, but it definitely has a blue tinge to it so I'm going to use a Navy eyeliner – The Eye of Horus Goddess Eye Pencil in Sapphire- and just do tiny bit of lining. Now, I'm sure Dame Helen wouldn't mind me saying this, but she has got smallish eyes. So, when you have smallish eyes you don't want your liner to come up too high as it’s kind of robbing a bit of real estate. So we're just gonna do a very thin line. To add a hint of colour. Just gotta get my mirror to hand because as you all know, I have trouble seeing these days!
We're just going to run a little bit of this Navy blue, see how far along she's come, it's actually going all the way down into that in a corner but I'm gonna stop at 2/3 of the way across and then I'm going to take my little pointed little pointed brush here and just use that to buff the colour in and bring it further across.
So there we have it! That is the basis of her fabulous Golden Globes look. Not hard. Ladies you can totally do this.
Step 4. CRANK IT!
OK so now I will come in and build up this look. I feel like her makeup artist has added a few extra party tricks so I'm going add those extra party tricks but know that you don't have to. Not everyone has purple eye shadow in their makeup purse, so I'm going to use just a hint of ash with a little bit of this sort of silvery pink. You never know though, you might actually have something in your makeup collection. You know when you buy an eye shadow palette there's always a couple of colours you never use - you may have a purple or a nice pink!
So I'm just brushing a little bit of that through this inner part of the eye so I'm just mixing like a pale icy pink with a tiny bit of that lilac. I just popped that through that inner corner. Pinks are super flattering and a really nice way to modernise your makeup and a lovely alternative to your Browns. Obviously I'm not as silver as Dame Helen, and her hair colouring is quite different to mine, but this will really flatter and enhance almost all of you, which is why I chose it. You know whether you have chocolate brown hair, silver hair, it doesn't matter, these lavender and pinky tones will make green eyes and blue eyes really pop, and if you've got brown eyes that is the perfect neutral! It’s a matter what colour eye shadow you choose as your eyes are always going to look fabulous! Ok that’s it. I just wanted to show you that's how we can just crank it up a little bit.
Step 5. Foundation
Now I'm just going to quickly do my complexion. I'm gonna mix two colours. This is the Runway Room Face Base Foundation. It is a lovely lightweight, light reflecting liquid foundation that doesn't feel heavy on the skin. You can wear it super sheer, but you can also build it up to have a more medium coverage. It photographs beautifully. It's like the Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk foundation but it's Australian owned, Australian made and less than half the price! So I've mixed shade B & C on the back of my hand and now we're going to buff that onto my skin, focusing on the centre of the face.
With a nice lightweight liquid luminous foundation, the less we apply to our skin when we have the creases and crinkles the less likely it is to sit in those crinkles and wrinkles. And getting that foundation texture right, hydrating your skin, prepping your skin is the key to your foundation looking fabulous. And foundation is where less is more comes into play. It's about applying less product so there's less that amplifies the fine lines and crinkles.
So Dame Helen is , as you know, on a red carpet for the Golden Globes so she's probably wearing a bit more foundation than I've just put on, but know that you can come back and lay a little more coverage down in the areas you feel like you might want or need a little more coverage.
Step 6. Concealer under the eyes
For most of you this will be a great tip. I really like a bright under the eye area to bounce and reflect that light out from this darkness that we tend to have, so I'm going to use the Runway Room Mineral Concealer. This is a pure mineral concealer. This is a pink flesh colour and is really great brightening up those inner corners which can just be enough to give the illusion of more brightness, more lightness but also of well rested version of you! Start with the outer corner. So I'm just applying that with my finger and spreading it under that under eye zone you can see the difference between the two eyes. Bright and lifted, not so bad, but could do with a little bit of extra help. I often use a fluffy brush, but I thought let's do fingers to show you. I do love fingers because when you're especially crinkled under this area, that warmth from your body would just help to melt that product into the skin and stop it from sitting in the crinkles.
Step 7. Lower lash line
OK so there definitely blended a little bit of liner underneath. There may be a little bit of like a bluey coloured eye shadow, but let's just use the liner under the eye to create a little bit of drama. Also while I'm here just gonna pop a little bit of this white into the inner water line of my eyes to really brighten my eyes up and then we'll blend that liner in so that's the Runway Room Eyeliner in White and the Eye of Horus Goddess Eye Pencil in Sapphire a really wearable shade. You can take this look to whatever level you want. That might be too much for you, or you might wanna go more on the lower lash line. Just giving you some ideas!
Now, I’m going to grab my favourite little brush, with a little bit of the from my Runway Room Concealer - this can just give you that beautiful glow. I don't know what the magic is in this product, but it kind of gives this airbrushed finish to your skin.
Step 8. Mascara
OK let's just get some mascara on. I'm just going to use the waterproof option this is the Ere Perez Avocado Waterproof Mascara. It is the only waterproof mascara that I sell in my online store, because it is 100% natural, so it's not gonna compromise the health of your lashes. In fact it's going to support the health of your lashes. So we'll get that on.
You know makeup has such power to enable you to be playful. Don't take it too seriously. Have fun with it it. It’s a wonderful creative outlet and something that we should celebrate and have fun with like Dame Helen does!
Step 9. Brows
Now and I'm ready to sort these brows out 'cause Amanda still hasn't had them sorted out where does the time go ladies where does the time go! OK s he's got quite a defined brow look there. It isn't my usual, so let's just brush them up I'm using the Mii Cosmetics Beautifying Brow Wand in the shade medium because she has got a bit more of a brow going on.
So I like a pretty natural looking brows so I don't get too pedantic about them looking perfect we're just creating better shape here and a bit of depth with this deeper shade this is medium which is a little dark for me. I am using medium to create a bit more drama. So the trick here ladies is to keep brushing them through so that you brows don't look too drawn on.
Step 10. Cheeks & Lips
So let's just finish with cheeks and lips. Dame Helen has got a pretty cute rosy cheek and they've really applied it quite in the centre of her face and I'm guessing that's 'cause she's quite crinkled in the out outer areas there so that's why I've chosen to stain because it won't add any texture at all so this is a really great. Plus it's great for longevity.
We're just going to add a bit of a stain first, so if you've got a lot of texture in your skin a stain is great. If it’s really hot a stain is really great as well. This is the Ere Perez Beetroot Stain in the shade Fun for cheeks and lips. OK so we're just creating a lovely pink flash. Blending that into the skin OK while I'm at it , I'm gonna stain my lips for longer lasting lippy. It great as your base and then you can put lipstick over the top, or if you like the idea of her more vibrant lip but you don't like to wear a bold lipstick.
Right finishing touches we're nearly there ladies were nearly there! Now lip gloss. This is Rageism Beauty Lip Gloss, the shade is a your lips but better kind of shade, it’s a really pretty colour and makes your lips look nice and plump. Final finishing touches are the Eye of Horus Complexion Duo this is such a versatile palette ladies – you’ll see me use it in lots of different ways. Helen’s definitely got a little bit of a soft pink in her cheeks there so let's just pop a dusting of that on - little finishing touches with the bronzer colour, just to create a bit of shape through my jawline.
Am I ready for the red carpet? There is your Helen Mirren Inspired Tutorial.
