I approached this challenge with more than just the obligation of completion, but also the challenge of pulling this look off on my own. I challenged myself to emulate this look through my own skill. The goal that I wanted to accomplish was coming one step closer to mastering the smokey eye.
During the challenges I always find that I take a life lesson away with me to keep in my heart‘s treasure chest. This week’s challenge involved a lot of pressure for me. Not necessarily because of the requirements, but because of the external pressures and distractions of life and sick family members during the competition. This week involved a constant state of running from place to place .
When we were given this challenge, I really had to do some thinking because I wanted to create a look that would make any woman feel like they could be a Super Model or Cover Girl. I wanted to approach it in a way that would not come off looking too difficult, yet still look like you took time on it.
I feel every woman deserves to feel good about herself, especially in a society that puts extra emphasis on having the perfect body, having long straight hair or the perfect skin. I wanted to create a look that a woman could do and look in the mirror and say “I am Sexy, I am Beautiful and most of all I am ME!”!
I approached this challenge with some trepidation since Iman is a world-renowned beauty and I’m just an average woman. So I know my photos could not compare to hers. But I faced up to the challenge and decided to just go for it. The look I wanted to accomplish was one of easy beauty with subtle accessories to hint at the cheetah look.
The thought that came to my mind when I read that we were doing a cheetah look for this challenge was that all women are predators and we use our wiles to capture our prey. Though we treat our captives in a much pleasanter fashion than the wild animal. So I discarded the thought of photographing like a wild animal with fangs and talons and decided instead to emphasize the ability of Iman cosmetics to enhance our natural beauty.
When I saw Iman’s headshot, I noticed that it was very calm, but striking at the same time. Although her lips were slightly extended to create a smile, she smiled intensely with her eyes. This allured me to look at her elegant eye shadow and the glow of her structured face that Iman’s cosmetics created. I used this observation to approach my challenge by keeping the viewer fixed on the makeup.
Iman is timeless, so it wasn’t difficult to draw my inspiration from her. I approached the challenge by channelling the aura Iman exudes in the photo. Starting on well moisturized skin, I applied the Luxury Radiance Liquid Makeup in Earth 1.
I knew the gold shimmer in the foundation would complement the sun rays on my skin. Next, I applied the Perfect Eye Pencil in Jet Black to my top and lower lid to create the base for the smokey eye look. Then I applied Eyeshadow #4 from the St. Tropez kit on my upper lid to blend into the eyeliner.
With this look I was going for chic with an edge……
I began by priming my face with moisturizer. I then put on the Iman Luxury Radiance Foundation and the trace of gold shimmer throughout gave my skin the glow it needs for this time of the year.
Then commenced to making the “cheetah” come out in my eyes by using the St. Tropez kit. I used eye shadow #4 at the bottom of the lid and eye shadow #1 on top as a highlight under the brow. I accentuated the inner corners of my eyes with eye shadow# 2 and lined the eyes with the Iman Perfect Eye pencil in black and topped off my lashes with Iman Perfect mascara in black.
Using IMAN Cosmetics, we had to draw inspiration from a photo of Iman and create a unique makeup look.