Thursday, November 20, 2014

Flamboyant Natural from head to toes: hair and makeup

HAIR should be loose, relaxed and free.
A tousled effect is best, so layering is always called for.
If your hair is ultrafine, thin, and wispy, you look best with a shortish cut that is layered around the face to create the illusion of volume. The outline is geometric, but the edges are softened by the layering.
If your hair is thick, you can opt for a wilder, "lion's mane" effect if you wish, but layering is still important.

Avoid:
All severe geometrics.
Blunt-edged symmetrical cuts.
Boyishly cropped cuts.
Overly ornate, teased or coiffed hair.
Smooth sleek styles.












HAIRCOLOR: 

Your haircolor should be rich and vibrant, in keeping with your free-spirited freshness!
If you choose artificial coloring, keep the base of your hair very close to your original shade.
Streaks and highlights are generally best, for they give you more of that outdoorsy glow.

If you are extremely bold, you could opt for bold, dramatic streaks, giving you a lynx cat look. This is very extreme, however, don't do it unless you are prepared to carry off the flamboyant theatricality in your everyday life!

Avoid:

Extremely artificial shades (blue-black, platinum, or brassy yellow-blonde, fiery red, etc).
Be careful with lightening the hair. Anything designed to "soften" the color is going to be very dull and aging on you.

About makeup

I don't wear makeup. If the my natural lines and colors are supposed to be perfect, then the natural colors and contrast of my natural face are perfect as well. Besides, it's a lot of fuss and I'm very sensitive... so I figure it's better to wear just my smile as makeup, than have a perfect makeup and watery, red eyes :-D

Anyway, this is what I think Kibbe meant Flamboyant Naturals should wear:
Natural, fresh makeup, strong, bold lips.

"Makeup should be strongly contoured in shape, emphasizing strong eyes, strong lips, strong cheekbones, but not overly colorful. An exotic eye makeup is a nice touch, but avoid colors that are too artificial-looking and excess glitz.
On the other hand, makeup that is too minimal in effect is very unsophisticated on you. Your head-to-toe look-- bold and sweeping, uncluttered with exotic accessories-- requires the extra effort here to be completed in the most polished and sophisticated manner."


What I think is more important are the key words and sentences mentioned in the makeup section:
Strong, deep, bold, blunt

Exotic (bold and fresh)

Exciting and warm

"the hint of drama that spells elegance on you"

"the slightly exotic air for which you are famous."


Kibbe uses the word "exotic" quite often. I would like to know what he thinks when he says exotic.
The dictionary gives this as one of the suggestions: "strikingly unusual or strange in effect or appearance". I think of Arabic, Middle-Eastern, Indian women.

These are faces most people would classify as exotic... so - orientalism, the dream of the innocent beauty on a tropical island... with dark hair, dark eyebrows and lashes, soft, not too dark, but not light skin, small chin, high cheekbones, lush lips, large cat eyes and a feminine nose in the middle. Not sharp, not round, but short and straight, perhaps a bit wide... with a touch of wildness and danger...

1 comment:

  1. I find most things that Kibbe has said to be confusing, at best. I don't read his book. I did read part of it, and, I found it is easier to read what someone else has interpreted him to mean and then compare it to what I know I was like back when I didn't mind being attractive, and, was, enormously. What I wore for clothing that really affected people, what my makeup was like, the sort of jewelry I was drawn to, etc.

    For instance, I remember these giant golden earrings.Shaped like a flower in full bloom, all metal. Giant. Not at all dangly. Then, there was the rhinestone bracelet I wore as a cuff on my upper arm.

    I think he means the eye to be bolder than the makeup you have shown, going by what you say he said.

    Exotic is definitely not orientalism. Why? Because, Asians like exoitc persons too and for them the exotics are not Asian. Or, at least, not the same kind of Asian they are.

    An Irishman once told me about an exotic girl he spent time with. Turned out she was from Scotland. But, to him, she was terribly different than the girls he was used to. Made me laugh, because, at the time, I mostly couldn't tell the difference between Irish and Scottish, unless a person was very boldly one or the other. But, Russians are exotic. All of them? No. But, some of them.

    Marc Bolan was exotic, at least in the way he portrayed himself in photos and in his singing. Not a touch of orientalism.

    Prince, not oriental, full on exotic. And, he was just an American dude from an American place doing American things. In a full on exotic manner.

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