Friday, July 22, 2011

What is an "American face"? - Ranzuki 8/11

I was flipping through my newest issue of Ranzuki and found this interesting article that included face shading for different sized heads. This article features Natsumi Saito and she shows how she tries to achieve an "American face". From shading her face to make it look small, shading her nose, doing her eye makeup/lenses and even massaging her face to make it appear smaller. Definitely a must read/see for people who are having a hard time with knowing how to contour their face!




What Natsumi's idea of an "American face" includes:
- Eyes and Eyebrows are close together
- Eye color is anything but black
- Eyes are big
- Nose is thin and high
- Face is small

Step 1 is making her face smaller by contouring her face with the products that she uses (MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Natural Dark) and recommends Canmake Shading Powder in Honey Rusk Brown. My favorite contour product is NYX's Liquid Contour that is applied on with a foundation brush.
Step 2 is about contouring your nose. In the red diagram she shows an additional tip for girls with big noses and how to make it smaller. She uses Diamond Beauty's Nose Makeup palette, but I personally just recommend using eyebrow powder and highlighter. Saves you money!
Step 3 focuses on how to do eye makeup using neutral tones that will make your eyes pop! She also highlights under her eyes as well to enhance it.
Step 4 is changing your eye color with the use of circle lenses. She likes the Bambi series in Chocolate Brown and Almond, but she's wearing Ash Wing for this tutorial.
Step 5 is on using lashes to enhance your eyes, and filling your eyebrows to match your hair and make it close to your eye. She recommends not making an arch with your eyebrows.
Here are some additional tips that Natsumi recommends to get an 'American face'.
- She likes to dye her eyebrows to match her hair color, but also recommends using eyebrow mascara to get the same result.
- She emphasizes the power of beauty goods, including face rollers and clips to make your face smaller. She also always uses eye tape as well (but doesn't need to apply to you if you have a double eyelid).
- She believes in the power of doing massage to make her face smaller. You can watch her videos on Ranzuki's official YouTube page.

8 comments:

  1. Wow it;s funnt because Japanese girls are trying to look more American and American girls are trying to look more Japanese haha how ironic!

    xox

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  2. Am I the only one that noticed that Natsumi Saito's neck is like darker x3 the shade on her face? LOL :D

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  3. XDD I love this!! I really enjoy most of the japanese fashin mags and their advice, but this is like.... helpful and funny, both in one! XD I agree about the eyebrows, I always draw a more less straight line. ^^*

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  4. Wow! This is very helpful! Thanks for posting!

    I always think it's funny when ppl talk about "American" looks. Even Americans do it sometimes! I think that for all it's faults, one cool thing about the U.S. is how diverse we are.

    Whenever someone describes the "All American" look as tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, I'm like, "Uh, no, that's Swedish!" :P Although, I'm sure there is some diversity in Sweden as well!

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  5. @ Emy
    Yeah it's definitely funny!

    @ Juri
    I do see that her face shade is lighter, but I think she does it on purpose to enhance her contouring, so that her face gives off a "highlighted" look ^^

    @ Magdalena
    I agree that some of it is funny and helpful! Definitely I think the massages are the weirdest thing lol
    I don't draw a straight line with my brows because I worked so hard to create an arch in my lashes and have it grow that way T_T It'll take me awhile to grow out of it haha

    @ bouncybrown
    No problem! I do think it's funny when people tend to stereotype as well despite all the diversity like you said~

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  6. Wow this was really interesting to read ! Thanks for sharing ^^

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  7. @D~tan

    I haven't been able to seen the August Ranzuki because I can't find the download. Thank you for this! Also, could you upload the scans of this Ranzuki issue?

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  8. Ahhh it's so hard to find ranzuki scans online! Could you please scan this one????? *0*

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