Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial for Women

 

Hey girls! Doing your own competitive ballroom makeup can seem scary! All that black eyeshadow, how much to blend your makeup into your tan, and false eyelashes! Luckily, Kora Stoynova is here to the rescue! Kora has been ballroom dancing since she was 5 years old and doing her own makeup since she was 12. She also does competition hair and makeup for other competitors! So no more fretting. Kora has created this Latin competition makeup tutorial to help you learn the ropes.

If you like, you can follow along with her on this YouTube video tutorial she created. Otherwise, you can just follow the steps she had laid out below. In this case, it might be a good idea to print out this page. Later, you’ll be able to refer back to this Latin competition makeup tutorial whenever you need to.

She also has an easy-to-follow makeup supply checklist that you can download absolutely for free!

Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial

Step One – Eyeshadow

• Always start with a clean face! Kora does her hair first, then cleans her face to get rid of any hairspray residue.
• She has already done her tanning on her neck, shoulders, and chest so she has an easier time blending her face into her neck when the time comes.
• Prime those eyes! Kora first dabs a liquid foundation over and under her eyelids, making sure to extend the foundation above her eyebrows and out to her temples.
• She then coats her eyes with an eyeshadow primer. Kora recommends Urban Decay Liquid Primer Potion.
• Using a soft black kohl eyeliner pencil, she draws out the basic shape she desires for the black eyeshadow. Then she fills in the space. Drawing with black pencil first will make sure the black eyeshadow will go on with a deep, rich color.
• With a small-to-medium sized eyeshadow brush, she goes over the black pencil liner with black eyeshadow. She uses soft strokes to blend the eyeshadow along the edge of the pencil liner, creating a feathered edge.

• Changing brushes, she now uses white eyeshadow. The white goes along the inner corner of the eye, following the line of the black up to the eyebrow. Sweep the white eyeshadow ABOVE AND BELOW the eyebrow. For this look, Kora puts the eyeshadow beneath the inner corner and the outer corner, but not the middle of her bottom eyelid
• Choose an accent color eyeshadow. For this tutorial, Kora used a bright fuscia pink powder. Using a very tiny brush, she placed the accent color along the border between the black and white. If you choose to go for a more subdued look, use burgundy red or a warm brown color.

• If any eyeshadow has drifted onto your cheeks, just take a large face brush and lightly sweep it away.

Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial

Step Two – Line It Out!

• Now it’s time to create your eyeliner. Use liquid liner for this step. Kora strongly recommends using a brush eyeliner instead of a marker. Brush liners are not as popular because they are more difficult to use, but the lines are better. Also, the brushes don’t dry out as quickly. It’s worth the extra time to learn how to use a brush. Kora recommends the NYX Liquid Vinyl Eyeliner in black.
• Using short sweeping motions, draw the line you wish to create along the upper eyelid. A pointed Egyptian eye is the most popular look for Latin competitions, and it’s the easiest to learn. You can’t go wrong with that choice.
• Do both upper eyelids first. This way you can make sure the lines look as symmetrical as possible.
• Next do your lower eyelids. Make the liner thick! You’re not trying to look natural here, you’re trying to make those eyes pop!
• Go back to your eyeshadow in order to smudge the bottom line a bit.
• Kora first used the white eyeshadow beneath the inner corner and the outer corner to highlight those areas.
• With her black eyeshadow, she smudged the line of the liner in the center of her inner eyelid.
• Again back to the white eyeshadow, blend the white into the black so the color is not so stark.
• Kora likes to add sparkles to her lower eyelid. It’s completely optional. In this case, the sparkles look good on her, so she uses them. They may not look good on you. Experiment, and then decide.

• There are different ways to apply the sparkles. The first is by using a bit of water on a fine brush and dipping it into loose sparkles. This works to give a defined line, but sometimes the sparkles can be a bit messy. Kora prefers using a liquid sparkle liner. There are two brands she recommends. In this tutorial, she used the Photo Ready Color Art by Revlon. They have a great selection of colors and the colors really pop.
• Just take the sparkly brush end of the pen and follow along the line of your bottom eyeliner. Easy!
• That takes a bit to dry, so use the time to draw on your eyebrows. Even if you have black hair, draw them on. Beneath all that white dusty eyeshadow, your eyebrows will look grey and undefined.
• BUT REMEMBER! No amount of drawing can hide badly shaped eyebrows! Thick messy eyebrows might be on the runway, but they’re certainly not on the dance floor. Bushy eyebrows are a huge NO-NO! Pluck them, shape them, and then you’ll have a chance for defining those brows for a competition.
• Kora uses two eyebrow pencils. The first is a dark brown, soft pencil that she uses to create the bottom arc of her eyebrows. The second is a medium brown, harder pencil that draws on a softer look. She uses this to create the top arc and to fill. Then she blends the two together with an eyebrow brush.
• Now that the sparklies are dry, she takes a pencil eyeliner and tightlines her bottom eyeline. Tightlining means taking the pencil to the ledge of your eyelid and applying color there. Because Kora has big eyes, she does this with dark colors. If you have small eyes or if you are Asian, Kora recommends tightlining with a white pencil, as you will want to make your eyes look bigger.

Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial

Step Three – Eyelashes

• False eyelashes are a must! Don’t skip this step! Who cares if they’re uncomfortable? You dance in high heels, for goodness sake! Nothing about this sport is comfortable. Get over it!
• You need three things for applying false eyelashes: false eyelashes, eyelash glue, and black mascara.
• Apply the black mascara first. Sweep the brush of the mascara along the top and bottom of your top eyelashes, then along your bottom eyelashes.

• False eyelashes do have a right and a left. The easy way to tell is by looking at the lash line. For example, the inner corner of the eyelashes is also the shorter corner. Therefore, longer lashes go on the outer corner of the eye.
• Hold the lashes gently by the lash ends, between your middle finger and thumb.
• Place a quinoa-sized dab of glue in the center of the lash edge and carefully spread the glue evenly from end to end
• Blow on the glue to make the glue a bit more tacky.
• Place the lash edge against the edge of your top eyelid, just where your natural lashes meet your eyelid.
• Using your fingertip, gently press the lash edge down to adhere.
• Fan the glue with your hands in order to encourage the glue to dry.
• While the glue is drying, take the time to wash your face around your eyes of any makeup residue.
• Once the glue has dried, take your black mascara and sweep from the base of your real eyelashes to the tips of your false eyelashes, lightly pressing them together so that your real and fake eyelashes blend seamlessly together.

Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial

Step Four – Foundation

• If you have oily skin or you choose to use a makeup primer, apply this now. Kora uses Loreal’s Magic Perfecting Base and smooths it all over her face like a lotion.

• For foundation, Kora uses two different colors. She has one color for her contours and another for her all over color. It’s not recommended to match the all over color to your tan. Kora matches the contour with her tan, while the all over color is a few shades lighter.
• Start by placing dots of the dark color under your cheekbones, along the edge of your nose, and the outline of your forehead.
• As soon as you’ve don that, take your all over color and places dots everywhere else.
• With a makeup sponge, blend the two colors by dabbing.

Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial

Step Five – Powder

• Now it’s time for powder contouring and highlighting! Take out your contouring palette and your makeup brushes.

• Using your small brush, first contour the edge of your nose.
• Now with a medium sized bronzing brush, contour beneath your cheekbones, along the outer edge of your forehead, and especially under your jawline. You can use the number 3 as a guide.
• Make sure you have a special brush you use only for highlighting. With this brush, highlight along the ridge of your cheekbones, down the center of your nose, and on the peak of your chin. Kora also highlights along the V of her lips, but that is entirely up to you.
• Take your biggest brush and use your bronzing powder to blend everything together. Now is the time to blend your face in with your tan.

Latin Competition Makeup Tutorial

Step Six – Set and Go!

• Kora recommends using a setting spray to set everything in place. This is certainly necessary if you have oily skin like Kora. The setting spray is by Urban Decay and it’s called All Nighter.
• As you spray, sweep the spray bottle from forehead to chin in three long lines.
• All done, congratulations! Now, fix up that tan and get out there and dance your heart out!

Was this Latin competition makeup tutorial helpful?

Just in case you haven’t already signed up for your FREE downloadable makeup supply checklist, you do that by clicking here. Was the tutorial helpful for you? Let Kora know by leaving a comment  or a question below. She would love to hear your feedback and answer any questions you might have!

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