Cream of the Crop: Cream Makeup for Dummies

One of the best perks of this job is getting personalized beauty advice from pros who normally only cater to the glitterati.

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking to celebrity makeup artist Ashunta Sheriff, who tends to the likes of Alicia Keys. Loving the effect of cream eye shadows, blush, and lip colors, I wanted some pointers on how to apply these products on my own without looking like an extra in an old David Bowie music video. Here's what she said:

Eye Shadows

"Layering powder shadow over a cream shadow will give your makeup extra staying power while still appearing natural," she noted. "And creaseless formulas are essential because they don't move as much as the others."

Lip Color Pots

"Always use a lip brush to apply creamy lip colors," she added. "It gives you more precision, it's more hygienic, and it actually saves you money in the long run because your finger picks up twice the amount of product that you really need to use."

Blush

"You can try out some really fun shades of cream blush — Mary Kay has a few great ones coming out this fall — as long as you blend, blend, blend!" said Sheriff. "Blend twice as much as you think you need to and don't rub the color in using circular motions. This will leave you with two red dots on the apples of your cheeks instead of well-sculpted blush." Instead, she recommends pulling the color out over your cheekbones in short streaks with you index finger. This way, you can rock the perfectly flushed look without looking like Raggedy Ann — or David Bowie.