This is an experiment in doing a complete make-over. Still not satisfied with the colors, so a little tweaking to do to get them all in harmony.

One new technique I figured out was noising your mask layers for a better blend with skin. Essentially once you've painted on the make up (using a layer and a layer mask), isolate the white areas of the mask with the lasso tool and then add noise, around 5% or so. This "stipples" the makeup onto the skin, making it slightly more real when you've zoomed in.

Anyways.

I like it! I think the makeup looks very realistic! I will have to give the noise trick a try! Question- what mode did you use on your makeup layers (color/overlay?) On the lips, did you change the hue/saturation or did you use a layer of makeup? I think it looks great, alittle smooth on the skin, but great!
Would love to hear the details!

~Amber~

Hate to be a fly in the ointment, but shouldn't the eyeshadow be confined to the eyes and not include the nose?

It's a fashion thing for the makeup to be all the way across like that, like a mask or something. I have seen it done in magazines and such.

~Amber~

its called Haute Couture ;)

Very nice makeup, very high fashion!
I love the way the lips really 'pop'.

One thing to look at is her eyes, the overlaying has made her irises very dark and the whites of her eyes are very blue compared to the original, try masking out the eyes so the original layer comes through.

Noise can be used for any kind of retouching where you airbrush the subject rather than clone/heal, not just on makeup. I use it to match the grain of the photograph and then either lower the opacity till the skin texture shows through or use the healing brush to add the texture back in over the painted parts (eg tattoo removal)
I generally add noise to the painted layer rather than the mask (obviously the painted layer doesnt have a mask heh)

I have added noise and grain to skin that has been smoothed, but never thought about doing it to makeup. Thanks Nancy, I couldn't think of what the style was called.

~Amber~

apologies for my ignorance, that's what having 6 kids does to you