Questions From You!

5:28 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Hey guys,

I asked and you answered. Thanks to all of you who asked me beauty-related questions :) 

This post is going to be a little different because I'm going to be answering your questions via podcast and blog post. It's so much easier to answer questions through talking, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. 

Please listen and follow along the post for answers to all your questions. 

Download this episode (right click and save)
Download this episode (right click and save)                

Q: What is a good bronzer/powder to wear in the winter-to add a little color?
A: In the winter, your skin probably becomes lighter and so you may want to 1. Get a lighter bronzer or 2. Use a very light hand with the bronzer you have. If you want something to look like a very natural shadow, try going down a couple shades in pressed powder.
For example, if you use L’Oreal true match powder and you are in the shade W2, try looking at the shades and maybe get a W4 powder to use to bronze up your face. If you have trouble picking out bronzers, pick out the bronzer that is one step lighter than you think. 

Some great bronzers to try: 
Check out this website for more great bronzers!
Check out this YouTube video - http://youtu.be/CFDXc3-Cwy8 
Some inspiration from Charlotte Tilbury: In winter your complexion tends to be paler, so make sure you choose the right shade for your skin tone, which should be one or two shades darker than your skin tone. Too dark a shade will just look harsh against your skin and will be difficult to blend. I would choose a shade with subtle sparkle to illuminate and warm up your skin. Before applying your bronzer, sweep a translucent powder on the areas you want to contour and bronze—cheekbones, temples, and jawline—to avoid any blotches and allow the product to blend into your skin. For the best results and a subtle finish, use a natural-hair big brush to apply the color gradually, and blend it well. To [fix] dull skin, use a highlighter on the tops of your cheekbones. 

Q:What do you think of bottom-lid eyeliner? Does it age older women more?
A: Unless you're doing a dramatic smokey eye where you are using super dark colors, I would stay away from a dark color on the waterline and bottom lid. Eyeliner is really harsh and by adding it to the bottom of the eye, it makes that area look harsh as well. Having a blended look is much more beautiful and I always put eyeshadow on my lower lash line.
What a lot of people do to make their eyes look wider, brighter, and more awake is add a nude-colored or white eyeliner to the waterline (which is what she did in the right eye of this picture).
As you age, you should make your eyes look bigger and brighter, so my answer is yes, I think bottom-lid eyeliner can definitely age women. Stick to eyeliner on the top lid (rich browns are great) to define the lashes. Also, the dark colors of eyeliner can really bring out any dark circles or wrinkles that may be under the eyes.

This website has great anti-aging eye tricks!


Q: What are some awesome eye shadows and eyeliners I could find at a drugstore, like target or walmart?

Check out the website this picture came from  

A: There's a lot of great eye shadows from the drugstore, and I think it's really about trial and error since eye shadows sometimes wear differently on different people. First, with any eye shadows, you'll only get a great, true result when you use a primer underneath. Primers make shadows look more true to color and last much longer. Since I don't own any primers from the drugstore, I can't recommend on from personal use, however I've heard of a few that are supposed to be great and would be worth checking out. 

  • ELF Eyelid Primer - $1 
  • L’Oreal De-Crease Eyeshadow Base - $5
  • NYX Eyeshadow Base - $4
  • Milani Eyeshadow Primer - $6.49 
  • Maybelline Color Tattoo Cream Eyeshadow - $4 (although these are technically cream eyeshadows, they are great to put down as a primer before other shadows. I've used these before and they are really good!) 

Okay, rant over, on to the actual eye shadows :) 

  1. Everyone and their mom rants and raves about Wet N Wild's Walking on Eggshells eyeshadow trio (pictured), and I've been wanting to check it out myself, especially since it's super cheap. 
  2. L'Oreal Paris Infallible 24 HR Eye Shadow - These are kind of like mac pigments, they're loose eye shadows that work really well when used wet (try using this with eye drops. put an eye drop on your brush and then dip into the shadows for great pigmentation). 
  3. Although Makeup Geek shadows aren't sold in a drugstore, they're definitely drugstore price and have really cheap shipping online. If I could recommend any eyeshadows, drugstore or even high end, these would be it!!! Not even kidding, people, these eyeshadows are really great and super affordable at $5.99 each. 
  4. MAYBELLINE Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner - Really great gel eyeliner! 
  5. MAYBELLINE Eye Studio Color Plush Silk Eyeshadow (pictured on the right) - I have a couple of these and they are seriously some of the best drugstore eye shadows out there. Definitely grab some of these because the colors are beautiful and the pigmentation is great too. 
  6. L'ORÉAL Color Riche Eyeshadow Quads - I've also heard that these are great. 
  7. MAYBELLINE Expert Wear Eyeshadow Quad
  8. Milani Bella Eyes - These are probably some of the newest drugstore eye shadows and the most raved about recently. I definitely want to pick some of these up because of all the great reviews so far! 


Q: What colors do you recommend for blue eyes? 
A: I think greys, browns, golds, and silvers are especially beautiful on blue eyes. Warm browns, golds, and coppers really bring out the blue color. Neutral colors always look really great on blue eyes. I also think dusty purples and lavender is great for blue eyes.  Check out this awesome website - this website really breaks it down and gives good options. 

Q: How do you do a smoky eye... and not look like you have a black eye.
A: Practice makes perfect and smokey eyes aren't easy to master! For me, it's about making sure that I put a lighter color towards the inner portion of my eye, not dragging out the color to far up or out, and creating a crisp line at the edge. 
Put your darker colors on the outside or on the lid. Don't bring them up to high and make sure you highlight the inner corner of your eye and the brow bone. Be careful when using colors like purple and black because they can easily look like a bruised eye. Avoid this by putting a lighter color in the inner portion of the eye (picture on the right). I also like to take a makeup wipe when I'm done and create an edge on the outer portion on the eye to create a crisp line. Also, make sure you really blend out your shadows, but don't take them up too high. There should definitely be a lid color, crease color, and a highlight color. To make the eyes smokey, make sure you put a color on the lower lid of the eyes and blend. 

Great eye shadow hacks!
Simple, smokey eye video


Q: What is the perfect way to put red lipstick on without it running? 
A: Lip liner and concealer! No matter your age or type of red lipstick, you should always begin with some type of lip liner, whether it be clear, nude, or red. This is so the lipstick doesn't end up all over your face and gives the lips a crisp line. 

When I apply red lipstick, I first exfoliate my lips, put on my lip liner, use a lip brush to add my lipstick on the rest of my lips, and then clean up the edges with concealer. I know some people apply a thin layer of foundation on the lips before to make the lipstick last longer. Sorry for the huge picture, but it does a great job of showing how to properly apply a red lip. 
Vintage-Inspired Red Lips | 22 Beauty Tutorials For Dramatic Holiday Looks 

Thanks so much for everyone's questions. This was a really fun blog post to do, and I always welcome any beauty-related questions you may have.

This super long post is over :)




Ask me questions!!

7:22 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Attention beauty blog readers! 


I'm hoping to do some kind of a blog post dedicated to answering questions from my readers. Please comment with any questions you have for me! Feel free to post these questions on my blog, Facebook  Twitter, or through a Facebook message. 

Thanks  Please submit your questions by this Friday.



Fall Makeup Tutorial

2:12 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Hey guys! I wanted to create a warm, fall inspired look and this is what I came up with.

Please thumbs up and subscribe on YouTube :)


 




Christmas Gift Guide for Beauty Lovers - Part One

4:40 PM Anonymous 0 Comments

                        
Sephora and Ulta have been tempting me with all their holiday emails and new product releases. But, I must resist! I'm on a college budget, you know. ;) (but when has that ever stopped me?) But, I have to wait until Christmas and anxiously add things onto my wish lists. Sigh. So in light of that, I thought I would share some wish list excitement with you all.

With all the limited-edition holiday sets being released, I thought I would do some beauty research and put together the ultimate wishlist. Yay for early Christmas shopping (or treat yourself shopping)!

These are my personal opinions about what I think would make great gifts for the make up/beauty lovers in your life. However, I tried to make this list versatile so that everyone could find something that they would enjoy.

To make things easier, Let's break these gifts up into categories!

Quick Tip: Always ask if your gift receiver has a Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, etc. online wishlist - it'll take all the guessing out of it. I know I have a wishlist on almost every beauty website, but that's probably just me.

The Beginner 

For all those people in your life that like their makeup to be simple or may be just starting to build their makeup collection. These gifts are appropriate for everyone. 

For beginning beauty junkies, sets with a lot of variety are key. If someone is just beginning to play around with products, then it's great to get them samples of different things to try out. 

1. Check out the Sephora Favorites types of sets because they have mini-versions of a lot of best-selling items. 
  • My pick: Sephora Favorites Draw the Line - $30 : This set includes great smaller sizes of some of my favorite eyeliners, making finding your favorite super easy. 
2. Neutral Eye Shadow Palettes 
  • Too Faced Sugar & Spice - $39 : This palette (pictured) has the beautiful holiday packaging, but includes 12 neutral toned eye shadows that would look great on everyone. This palette looks beautiful and has enough colors to create many eye looks. Also, Too Faced shadows are really great quality. Check out some of their other palettes if this one doesn't work for you.  
  •  
  • It Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Palette - $42 : There are now two versions of this palette - The Holiday Edition and the First, Volume I Palette. I own the first palette and it is so incredibly easy to use and beautiful. Both palettes look pretty similar, however it looks like the first palette features warmer colors. Whatever version you choose, you won't be disappointed - these eye shadows are super creamy and blendable, anyone can use them! 
3. Lip Sets

  • Fresh Sugar Cravings Lip Trio  - $28 : This little trio (pictured) has three awesome tinted lip balms that are great for that person who enjoys a great chapstick (Hah!), but not the full coverage effect of a lipstick. These are the nicest lip balms you'll probably ever own and are such a fun little gift to give. They also smell amazing - kind of a fresh, lemon smell - and are great for dry, winter lips. 


  • Want a more affordable option? Check out the Burt's Bees chapstick trios - $9.99 - They are still really nice tinted lip balms. However, know that they have a strong mint scent and tingling feel on lips, unlike the Fresh Trio. 



  • Bite Beauty Best Bite Remix - $25 : I have actually purchased this gift set for myself and I absolutely love it! It has such great colors that are perfect for this season and I love that you get so many different options, and the sample sizes are pretty darn big. This would be perfect for the lip lover in your life because these lip pencils are really creamy, great quality, and provide a lot of options so everyone could find a color they like. The nude/pink color in this set is beautiful! 


  • Quick Tip: Don't buy those EOS (circle lip balms) gift sets - they're a total rip off and those lip balms are super waxy and aren't very moisturizing. Splurge and get a good lip balm during the winter time. 

    4. All-In-One Sets
    • Tart Rainforest After Dark Palette - $38: Although this isn't technically a holiday release, it's still a limited edition palette that's been recently released. I don't own this palette personally, but I've heard great things and I've enjoyed many Tarte products. That being said, this palette has almost everything you need to create a look. Eyeshadows, one of their awesome blushes, a bronzer,  and a highlighter. These colors look very neutral and versatile. 
    • Laura Geller Sweet Sensations - $39 : All of the Laura Geller holiday kits look wonderful, but this one is my personal favorite for one big reason; the highlighter in this kit is too die for!! It's such a beautiful, gold color that looks great on any skin tone. The other items in this kit are great as well, and the baked blushes are really nice and pigmented. This kit has a beautiful eye shadow quad (pink/brown color), the amazing highlighter, a pinky baked blush, and a pinkish  brown lipstick. 
    5. Tools and Essentials for a makeup kit 
    • It Cosmetics for Ulta Brushes - Having great quality brushes make makeup application so much easier, and much more fun. The holidays are the perfect time to pick up limited edition sets of brushes. They are the perfect gift for any beauty lover! My new obsession are the It Cosmetic brushes that are exclusive to Ulta - they are so soft and great. My favorites are the Live beautifully blush brush and the Airbrush blending eye shadow brush 105. The eye shadow brush is perfect for blending out the crease and makes such a difference in application. 
    • Beauty Blender - $20 : I have owned this cute, little pink sponge for a couple of months and I don't know what I did without it. There's just something about using this to put foundation on that puts brushes to shame (and that's a big deal for me to say). For someone who's wanting to expand their makeup collection, this product is a must have. For Christmas, you can get the beauty blender and the cleanser for $25, which is great. 
    Stay tuned for the next part of my Holiday Gift Guide... 

    What's on your wishlist?