Opposites Attractive

 By B. Lee Cash

We all want what we don't have. Ask any friend what she would change about her looks and she just might hand you a list. While she may think she's in need of a makeover, she's probably just due for little sprucing. The easiest solution is to accentuate the positive and make the most of what you've got.

"I love how transformational hair and makeup can be, and it's not difficult to do," says Gabriella Francis, a Los Angeles based makeup artist who works for television and DVD special features, and has a style show in development.

She's here, along with Francesca Windsor of the Lloyd-Windsor Salon in Beverly Hills, to identify the most common things about our looks that girls wish we could change. Then they tell you how to change them!

Beauty Illusion 1: Make thin hair look thick
It's not uncommon for girls who are born with fine, straight hair to forever coveting the long luxurious curly hair of others. Francesca Windsor says that achieving this look is actually easier than you would think.

The Tools: Mousse, volumizing daily conditioner, and a fine-tooth comb.

The How-to: "Apply a golf-ball sized amount of mouse to root area through mid-shaft of blow-dried hair. Tousle hair with fingers. Blow dry the product into the hair on a low setting," Windsor says. Then, take a small dime-sized amount of volumizing daily conditioner in the palm of your hand and rub your hands together. "Work the conditioner into only the ends of the hair. This won't weigh the hair down and will keep it conditioned."

The Tip: "Back-comb the crown area of the head to give the illusion of more hair." 

Beauty Illusion 2: Make big hair look tame
"Full, curly hair needs conditioning too! Beautifully conditioned hair can look luxurious and shiny," Windsor says.

The Tools: Deep conditioning treatments, silicone-based shine product, and a sparkling finishing spray, which is a spray with shine crystals or a shine-enhancing ingredient.

The How-to: "Do a deep conditioning treatment every week," says Windsor. After washing, thoroughly comb hair, blow dry, and then flat iron the hair. "Apply your silicone-based product throughout the hair to protect it and to lock in moisture." Next, take two-inch sections of hair and curl hair with a one-inch barrel curling iron, beginning at the bottom of the hair shafts. "Spray with a sparkling spray for hold and shine."

The Tip: You can turn curls into loose tendrils by not holding the hair in the curling iron for more than a few seconds.

Beauty Illusion 3: Make thin lips look fuller
Love Angelina's lips? Read on. "The biggest misconception for women who want fuller lips is drawing a line outside lip line," says Francis. "Some clients are obsessed with that Pamela Anderson dark lip line, and it does nothing but make lips look smaller."

The Tools: Lip pencil, lipstick, and gloss.

The How-to: "To create fuller lips, choose a lip pencil that's neutral but a shade darker than your natural lip color, and draw the line just next to the outer edge of your lip line on your top lip only," says Francis. "For the bottom lip, draw the line exactly on the natural lip line. Follow with a lighter shade lipstick so you get that light-reflective quality. Finish with a shiny gloss."

The Tip: Lip plumper products contain a heat ingredient, such as chili powder, which warms up and draws blood to the lip. If you go there, be careful not to apply the product all the way to your lip line -- it can cause temporary redness and irritation around the mouth, which totally defeats the purpose of a beautiful kisser.

Beauty Illusion 4: Make close-set eyes look bigger
Get that wide-eyed look by concentrating on the outer corners of the eyes, which Francis says is the key to achieving this illusion. "When you make eyes look more almond-shaped and wider, you bring attention to the eyes."

The Tools: Light-colored eye shadow, color eye shadow, eye liner, and mascara

The How-to: Start by applying your eyeliner pencil (in your desired shade), beginning from the inner corner to the outer corner. "You don't have to do this in one motion -- draw to the mid point and stop, then come from the outer corner and meet that line in the middle," says Francis. This way the line is more confident. Next, apply the lighter shade -- used as a highlighting shadow -- on the inner corner of your eyelid and the brow bone. Then take your darker shade focusing on the outer corner and the crease of the eyelid. Rub the brush on a tissue to remove the excess color then sweep that clean brush over the entire lid. This blends lined edges so it's your eye and not obvious makeup." Finally, apply two coats of mascara.

The Tip: Extend your eyebrows by taking a brow shadow and, with a stiff-bristled angled brow brush, extend the line about an eighth of an inch. "It's just a slight extension," says Francis. "You don't want to draw a whole new brow."