Styling the Francesca lace dress by Igigi

I picked the Francesca Lace Dress in Garnet, because it reminded me of a dress my mother wore when she was around 20 years old. It's one of my favourite photos of my mom. I'll try and scan a copy of it for a later post.

The colour of this dress on the website, really doesn't look true to the actual dress colour, which is much darker, almost a merlot. I have to say the darker colour is more dramatic and thinning...it really spoke to me. Here's a side-by-side...see the colour variation? Big difference!

The Make-up

I realize my hair isn't fab, I just pulled it back to show you the make-up I plan to wear with this dress when I attend a wedding in August.

PREP FACE

Before I get started ..I exfoliate all of the dead layers of skin off of my face and generously rub skin cream into the skin. I'm using an anti-age cream I bought Ryan at Sephora..the stuff really tighens the frown lines and lasts for half the day. If my "saggy dog" frown lines are really bad..I have a tube of Preperation H (that I just use for my face) I rub it into the wrinkles, and it makes them look less noticeable and it also works really great for the puffyness under my eyes and the frown mark on my forehead. I recommend giving your face a full massage before applying the creams, and wait a few minutes for it to absorb. I usually blot the Prep H off, because it adds a greasy film.

I contoured my face using my go-to products, the Kat Von D contouring pallette and my Becca Moonstone highlighter. I kept the eye make-up fresh, just a swipe of brown eye shadow in the crease. brown eyeliner smoked out on the up and lower lash line. I lined the water line of my eyes with a creamy white eye pencil to make my eyes look bigger and pop. I finished the eye make-up with a couple of coats of black mascara.

i conceal the eyes after I finish the eye shadow to clean the area up. I apply a colour a few shades lighter then my skin tone. Here's the secret...bake that concealer. Why? It stops the make up from creasing in your wrinkles. It will hide your bags! Miracle!

Apply the concealer, and before it gets a chance to crease, load the area up with a light matte powder, I just use the lightest highlight shade from my Kat Von D set. Then let it sit on there for about 5 minutes. Yes, for 5 minutes you will look odd. Check out make-up artist Heidi Hamoud on Youtube for a tutorial.

Here's a pic of Heidi baking her face.... she bakes all of the areas she wants highlighted. It will keep your face fresh for the entire party, and those wrinkles will stay hidden.

tip: again make sure the powder is matte and make sure you apply it as soon as you swipe the concealer on, if you're like me, the concealer will start to wrinkle in the creases almost immediately..if you apply the power too late, you'l bake in the wrinkle..egad!

After you've left the power on for around 5 minutes, take a big fluffy brush and dust off the excess.

For my lips, I lined my lips with a lip liner in a neutral shade, lip liner with help the lipstick stay put. I then applied a thin layer Kat Von D Studded Kiss Lipstick $20 in Vampira with a lip brush, then blotted it out to form a dark stain. i applied the same brand of lipstick in the colour La Femme over the center of my lips ( a bright coral pink) blotted again.. then dabbed a little white shimmer in the centre.

I wouldn't go too light on the lips..or you'll looked washed out, especially if you're blonde. Blush is also a must.

Accessories:

The colour of the lace is so dramatic, I wanted to keep my accessories simple. I chose a very pretty pink stoned drop necklace for cheap at Walmart. (it only cost me $10 and a pair of golden drop earrings from Le Chateau, I think they were around $20.00.

Shoes

I really liked the way the caged pumps by Le Chateau seemed to compliment the lace in my dress. I'm going to wear these bad boys, I love the drama.