My Makeup Love Affair!

I’ve been asked a few times to share my daily make-up routine with all you gals so here we are. This however is the regimen when I go to work. I would be lying to say that I didn’t just throw on gloss and mascara on days off. So here goes nothing. All my favorite beauty secrets to date.

Step One: Cleanse and Moisturize

B.Right Radiant Skincare…this stuff is life changing. I always feel like a shiny clean glowing goddess!

Step Two: Prime

Dr. Feelgood is my husband. This balm regulates everything potentially abnormal about my skin so I have a nice even canvas to work on top of. BONUS it lasts forever.

Step Three: Conceal

Stay Don’t Stray. It speaks for itself its actually an eyeshadow primer that doubles as a concealer and I have yet to encounter a product that stays put longer.

Step Four: Cover

Rimmel 25+You Rebel Tinted Moisturizer. I love the combination of this thin inexpensive foundation and the protection and comfort of the tinted moisturizer. Love!

Step Five: Set

Cover Girl Loose Powder. Call me crazy but its all you need to absorb extra oils and set your coverage all day. This powder and I have been chums since 2000. Give her a shot. Ditch the puff use a brush.

Step Six: Bronze

Hoola. This is where its at for bronzers, if you use one all over like I do. It has a great pigment fighting undertone and contours naturally.

Step Seven: Blush and Highlight

MAC Peaches & Laura Mercier Gilded Garden. These are so beautiful together. I love the cheery pop that Peaches offers and the multiple colors that Gilded Garden infuses for a fresh bright face.

Step Eight: Eyes

Loreal Double Extend + Benefit They’re Real. I love the primer in Double Extend and Theyre Real speaks volume into lifeless lashes in a way that is unbelievable, hence the name. Its a nice glossy flexible finish that wears all day.

MAC Fluidline in Black track. I have lined so easily with the mid gloss finish that always makes a classy eye.

Step Nine: Brows

Benefit Brow Zings. This thing is a life saver for an alert full face look. Shaping is easy with the wax and powder formula. If you tweezed too much or are trying to conceal messy brows this is a great “fake it ‘til you make it” product.

High Brow is a brow highlight that is a life saver for the day you could have taken extra shot of espresso. Bing your awake!

Step Ten: Lip

Laura Mercier Lip Pencils & Lancome Juicy Tubes. The blend of these two gems is always beautiful with a great color infusion and a glassy lustre.

So my secrets are unveiled! Good luck finding your own magic formula. Products work differently for all of us so go get lost in a department store cosmetic area and find your new favorite things. Feel fancy gals and let me know all about your hero products!

Gimmicky Products You Never Needed!

Once upon a time a young woman sauntered into a store with no need in mind. She soon was convinced by the charming allure of the sales person or sign that this product would be her quick ticket to youth. Here she is today with a drawer full of unconvincing crap that never seemed to salvage that look she was guaranteed. 

Been there done that! Let me help you protect your wallet as well as your sweet hopes and dreams and inform you about a few things that will never do what we hope they would.

Let me first say this because I have been in the makeup industry for a minute or two. A lot of drugstore makeup and skincare has a great appeal because it is at a better price point, however, hear me out, most of those products are owned by a larger department store type lines and their drugstore products are infused with more water, soap, less pigment, etc. These products are most often designed to run out faster leaving you spending just as much as you would on a higher end more quality line. Take care of yourself the best you can. You only have one shot at you!

With that said…

1) Collagen Eye products. Do not use. Puffing up droopy eyes will only make them droopier when they finally deflate. Catch my drift. You are doing yourself a grand disservice using an inflating product on such a sensitive thin area.

2) Neck Creams. Use the same products that you use on your face. Its only a handful of inches more of work. You can figure it out Im sure. Dont go on buying a cream for your neck that looks the same as your daily moisturizers. Girls, I know you’re more intelligent than that!

3) Cellulite creams. Most of these products have some variation of caffeine in them and thats what causes the smoothness. You can achieve the same thing by wrapping bags of wet coffee grounds around your legs. Majority of the time these cost a fortune and have minimal short term results.

4) Sparkle Brushes. Pleeease! Anything without a cream or lotion attached its not going to stay long. So have fun spreading your sparkle about your house rather than your body. Sillyness.

5) Mosaic Powders. Its called find a powder that matches your desired tone and you’ll get the same look. Although the idea of the powder is cool you still end up with one color in the end.

6) Brow Stencils. Really? Because its as simple as picking a template we like for our eyebrows. Not! Its called find your start arch and end and then you’ll look great. Same thing as an older woman choosing a celebrity haircut out of a magazine, not going to turn out the same.

Hope you saved yourself a dollar or two. If not, have yourself a good laugh and think a little bit more critically next time youre out there. I know you’re smart girls, have fun!

Tip: Your best beauty products will be by testimony of your friends!

Your Spring Swing and Your Summer Sultryness…

Have you been itchin’ to get into you spring dresses and primp yourself for the sunshine? I know I have and there is no better way to pretend like its been summer all year long than to have your cosmetic swing intact. When the brighter seasons come along we all want to be dewy, bronze, and glowing, so lets find some products that will help us do just that.

Before you toss all your winter wear out the window lets be frugal and see what we can reuse. Lets begin with your coverage. If you tan progressively through the season always keep two foundations handy and mix them in different portion ratios to keep you from wearing your tannest shade too soon, or your fairest too long for that matter. Never a good look.

Next item of business, bronzers and blushes. There is no better time of year for these little gems to express all of their potential. Let me tune you in to some secrets here though…when shopping for bronzers look for something with little to no orange warmth, instead look for a  more blue or green undertones. This effect will trick the eye to counterbalance the pinkness we get in summer and warm us up with that tanned bronze effortlessly.

There are multiple options in the bronzing world and as far as I am concerned the less iridescence the more believable. Don’t get me wrong a little sparkle is every girls trick to feeling bright but too much with turn your Tinkerbell dreams to night club horrors very quickly.

On to blushes. You can either use winter shades or bright lipsticks for this next tip so get your palettes ready! Creme blushes are your quick ticket to a perky summer glow. Apply a bright lipstick directly to cheeks in a crosshatch pattern and blend in small circles or use the same technique with powder blush and day moisturizer mixed together. 

There are plenty of creme blushes and liquid cheek stains out there too if you just want to grab something quick and have your seasonal glow. Remember the more effortless your look is the more believable you’ll be. We want to make sure we are comfortable and confident at those sizzlin’ spring and summer cookouts! Let us gals worry about our margarita melting rather than our faces!

Get to it girls!

Your very own laboratory…

I originally fell in love with make-up because it fit into my niche of creativity. I could do whatever I wanted with it and not follow any rules if I didnt feel like it. And I rarely feel like it.

In my experience I have found the best solutions come out of experimentation. What I mean by this is…You are a scientist, a make-up guru. You are completely capable of making products from what you’ve got.

Examples:

1. The age old trick of a lipstick you do or don’t wear as a cream blush. Dress that up with some of that highlighter, sparkly stuff you never know what to do with, and you have pearly blush. (Fitting for all ages)

1b. Take your favorite powder/mineral blush and mix it with a little dab of lotion or primer for your all day wear summer jam.

(left: highlighter sparkle with lipstick; cream blush right: bold cream blush)

2. Dig out that powder you rarely use and mix it with a little spf and some bronzer and you got a tinted moisturizer. (Do so with a foundation brush.)

2b. Take that same tinted moisturizer mix and smooth your legs with it for a night on the town with a little fib of color

(left: bare hand vs. right: hand with home-made tinted moisturizer; boost of color!)

3. Layer eyeshadows with a concealer brush on top of eachother for brand new colors you dont feel like buying. (Follow a color wheel, same rules apply)

(left: mac RULE right: mac GORGEOUS GOLD bottom: GORGEOUS GOLD RULES!)

3b. Use these colors mixed with a clear gloss for new lip shades.

(GORGEOUS GOLD RULES lip gloss as worn below. Turned into a beautiful poppy colored perk me up!)

Some new ideas for your new looks! Have a blast in your brand new lab and make sure to destroy the evidence to your new found secrets and solutions. 

                                                                ’Til Next Time. 

Somethings you should know…

Girls, Gals, Ladies, Women, Queens. Whoever you want to be today, you may, but in order to venture out into the world as your put together selves I have some pointers for you.

At work (Benefit) I run into a lot of women who have an idea about the order and operations of make-up. Many times I am supportive and other times I question personal techniques. So, below is my row of interrogation followed by some answers and helpful hints for you. All delivered in love and gentleness.

So, Beautiful whats your skin type? (Dry, Oily, Combo, Sensitive, etc.)

Do you moisturize? How do you cleanse/exfoliate? How often?

What kind of makeup do you use? (mineral, liquid, powder, nothing)

How do you apply it? How long are you wearing it?

Hopefully you know some answers to these questions if not all of them. Here is a scenario of how they would ideally be answered.

“I’m typically dry. I cleanse six times a week and exfoliate once. I moisturize both day and night. I use liquid foundation, applied with a brush accompanied by a primer to be worn all day.”

There are obviously huge variations in answers to this question but you should have an answer.

Please Moisturize. You don’t need to pay $5546432 for a cream made of clouds and angel dust. Just do it. Exfoliate about once a week based on the dryness and sensitivity of your skin. We have oils and dead skin the needs to be removed for heath.

Secondly, apply make-up with clean brushes. I know the cost is not ideal but neither is the cost of purchasing product twice as often because you use a sponge or your fingers. Girls both of those are huge sources of bacteria. Brushes, Brushes, Brushes.

Above are a couple of brush suggestions I have on opposite ends of the price spectrum. The first one is EcoTools. I particularly love their blush brush. Such a soft reliable product. Mac of course has great tools that most love, at a higher price point and varying levels of professionalism. And lastly a little gem that I have found practical for the young miss who cant afford a brush splurge, there is a brush out there by e.l.f (eyes, lips, face) that are only $3 a piece, sold at drugstores. 

So now you have no excuse not to properly apply your essentials. 

When using brushes please wash them twice to three times a week with a gentle cleanser or hand soap. Leave them over the sink to dry over night. DO NOT set them upright when wet. This will cause you to lose brush hair and longevity.

Other item of business moisturizers, cleansers, exfoliaters, one cannot work best without the other. Identify what your skin needs and find what fits.

This will happen by mostly trial and error and a bit of help. Remember our skin and tendencies are always changing. Be sensitive to this and dont be afraid to mix it up.

Last item of business, if you are an all day make-up wearer use use use a primer. This allows the moisturizer to stay put and not conversate with coverage, and forces coverage to stay put. There are a ton out there all purposed for different needs. Oil, radiance, pores, the whole nine yards. Find one. They are gladly worn with nothing else as a protectant for your skins health.

I know it seems like a lot but as long as we are women and as long as we want to have skin like the movie stars we need to take care of it. 

Chat with friends and share your tips and tricks so we can keep faking out all those boys with our breathtaking beauty!

Fussy Finicky Woman!

I could have sworn the world was going to end today. Why you ask? I got my haircut. I don’t know if this is a nerve wracking experience for anybody else, but my stomach was quite literally in knots. 

The poor guy that I sat down with must have had me perceived as a complete nut case and I did nothing to allow him to assume otherwise.

All this to say that pampering or opportunities of luxury are more obligations or a duty to maintain my lack lustre do. We all have hang-ups with our locks and there are plenty of ways for us to pamper ourselves without the professional help of others.

With that said I learned a few things today and was reminded of others. These I shall share with you…

1. During shampoo apply suds after lathered in your hand to your mid-lengths and move upward to scrub your scalp. Condition mid-length to ends,

2. When blow drying your hair…do so with a paddle brush, brushing in all directions to get maximum dryness, movement, and health. Doing this will stimulate natural oils in your scalp and make hair shinier. 

3. When using a flat iron always use a comb below the iron to guide the tool through, not crimping or bending tangled hair. 

4. Post styling serums are no joke. They will nurture and moisturize hair all day.

5. Most hairsprays and styling agents have very specific instructions. FOLLOW THEM. If your hairspray says to spray 10-12 inches from head, do so. Alcohols in hairspray dry the hair and scalp if contact or intensity is too close. (If you need a good hold, spray into hands and style directly.)

Helpful? I hope so. Now whip that wig into shape and get out on the town!

Misconceptions and Mishaps in MakeUp

Ladies listen up…

I have been in the make-up industry for awhile and more and more I see repeat offences and techniques that need to be untrained. Think about your morning or where the mirror fits in for your daily makeup routine. We all imagine the order of operations what products we use when and how the world would come crashing down should someone tell us what we were doing was all wrong. 

I know that I adopted my process from watching my mom and aunt when I was little and thought that is how it should go. No problem. But, what products are we using?Same stuff that was created twenty years ago. I surely hope not.

I would say the mature woman is harder to fix. However, you twenties and thirties out there, lets figure this out. Forties, fifties, and sixties stop what you’re doing there is help out there for you too if you are willing to drop the blue eyeshadow and muddy concealer. 

Lets bring in some examples.

Who has a foundation colored concealer? Something similar color to your coverage.

Against all that you have been told please DO NOT use this on your under eye.

Instead, use these or something similar…

Pink or green is your go-to to cover up under eye darkness. The greater majority have a purple-y brown under eye. Counter acting with pink or green will brighten and allow you to start evenly. Also use these to cover blemishes that are dark (i.e. pimples and sunspots)

Now don’t misunderstand me and throw your other concealer away…

New purposes include:

Bridge of your nose, cat whiskering before applying coverage, Scars and stretch marks!

Next item of business, matching mascara shadow and liner with eye or hair color. I have been running into this “rule” a lot this week with women. Follow it if you shall but women, hear me, these are not your only options…DONT GET STUCK!

Blonde: silver, blues, greys

Brunette: plums, browns, golds

Ginger:  browns, greens, golds

These are great ideas to accentuate your features but break the rules that’s what makes make-up fun!

Have fun and send me questions if you have ‘em! Hope this helped. 

All my love to you and your lovely faces.