Beauty ‘On the Go’

Professional makeup expert Eve Pearl fills us in on the cosmetic packages women most want to toss into their purse.

Written By: Eve Pearl

Author bio: Eve Pearl is a five-time Emmy Award winning celebrity makeup expert with over 18 years of experience in television, film, theater and print. She is both an on-air guest at NBC’s “Today” show and personal makeup artist to Meredith Vieira. She spent nine years as the key makeup artist and frequent on-air guest for “The View.” Eve is the author of Plastic Surgery without the Surgery, the Miracle of Makeup Techniques (Warner Books, 2004) and the upcoming Fearless Beauty. As an innovator in high definition beauty, Eve developed an exclusive luxury brand of multi-functional cosmetics called Eve Pearl. The Eve Pearl Makeup Experience Studio & Boutique is located in the heart of New York City. Eve’s short videos and tutorials featured on evepearl.com, YouTube, Facebook and other social media outlets have helped expand distribution of the brand into 58 countries and growing.

Working for the past 18 years in the beauty and entertainment industry, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many women. As a five-time Emmy award winning makeup expert and author of Plastic Surgery without the Surgery, The Miracle of Makeup Techniques, I’ve spent years listening and catering to the needs of celebrities, socialites, business women and those who aspire to look and feel their best—on any budget—myself included. In working for nine years on the daytime talk show “The View,” I had the pleasure of evaluating and featuring many products, both mass and luxury, during my on-air segments. The past four years I have spent time working on NBC’s “Today” show doing a variety of makeup and beauty segments.

Today’s multi-tasking woman demands products that are easy to use and go the distance with as few steps as possible. Product overload is so last year. Long gone are the days of reaching for a zillion different products to achieve flawless makeup. In any economic time, providing these women with easy, consumer-friendly makeup palettes that actually work is the way to go… "on the go."

To stay ahead of the game, both mass and luxury brands are developing innovative beauty products with today’s busy consumer in mind. We’ve all seen what’s inside some of our handbags. Between the laptops and planners, the BlackBerry, i-phone, newspapers, lunch, water and who knows what else, cosmetics need to be “on the go” as well. Packaging designed to be compact, easy-to-use and with a purpose—while still looking sleek, sharp and of course providing us the utmost in quality—will always be the “go-to” products. Makeup palettes that are sized for convenience; functionality and quality are ideal for today’s woman. From a packaging standpoint, appropriate size and useful features are critical.

For instance, why purchase one foundation or pressed powder shade, when you can have two shades in one compact? They will both work on your face, while adjusting to the changing needs of your face in winter and summer… and at the same time, provide you with the skin care and natural sun protection you need.

Why should concealers be any different? It seems the hunt of every woman is finding that perfect undereye concealer. Of course, I will always recommend a salmon concealer, which, in my opinion, is definitely the way to go with two shades in each component to play with, depending on the shade you might need and possibly the amount of sleep (or lack there of), alcohol or allergies.

Eye palettes containing four to six corresponding shades that help you achieve a variety of looks will win the day. Ideally it should be a small palette that snugly fits into the palm of the hand, with shades highly pigmented and depositing concentrated color with just one swipe—no need to waste time or precious space.

Blush combos with usable colors are sure winners. Every woman should have the option to use a little pink, peach and even a hint of bronzer or maybe even a highlighter. Why should we have to use single components or have a large palette with colors we will never use? Three to four is a good mixture; providing the necessary options in easy-to-use components seems to do the trick.

We can’t complete our look without the right lip colors or lipglosses. For this, we might want to try a dual-ended gloss or a lipstick pencil or even a dual-sided lipstick pencil with a gloss on the other side. Basically, your pencil, gloss and or lip color should all do more than just cover your lips—they should nourish them, have easy-to-use applicators and maybe even taste good.

Overall, in keeping up with today’s woman, it is clear that we have an emotional connection to our beauty products. We want our multifunctional and compact products to make us look good, feel good and to be good for us… all in a cute little package that we can throw into our bag “on the go!!”