Face of the Day: Sundressed

This is what I wore on my face today. Well, you won’t be reading it the day I wore it, but this is what I wore to work on 11/26. :) I work in a chic business casual office and just wanted enough color to perk up my face and look polished. Read on to see what I used…

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Editorial Experiment, Featuring Prestige Cosmetics

Sometimes when I’m getting to know a new makeup product I just want to play with it. I want to see what it does, how it moves on skin, how it responds to tools, its texture, etc. That’s what I was doing earlier today when I decided to turn this experiment into sort of an editorial artsy exercise. Yeah, these are edited pictures. But I had fun. All the products used will be listed.  [Read more…]

Obsessed – OCC Lip Tar in Radiate

image from occmakeup.com

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics is very aptly named. Because I’m obsessed with their new shade of lip tar, Radiate. I picked it up at The Makeup Show in Chicago without even swatching it. Just knew I had to have it. It’s a really pretty reddish coral. It looks scary in the tube but surprisingly wearable on. Best of all there’s also a matching neon nail polish. Woo! Anyway, here’s a bunch of dorky shots of me wearing Radiate today…

Apologies for the goofy face in that last one, but I included it because I felt that photo showed the color most true to life. OCC Lip Tars wear incredibly well; I got a good 6 hours. During that time I did have a snack and an icee (practically a requirement at Target in summer isn’t it?) but it didn’t move. Normally I’d be kind of self-conscious about needing to touch up such a bold lip color after a snack, but this needed none. Around hour 4 or 5 my lips started feeling a little dry so I put a few dabs of gloss on top. Problem solved.

I applied this over lips that had been lightly prepped/moisturized with just a dab of Aquaphor massaged in and mostly dabbed off. I used OCC’s Precision Lip Brush to apply the Lip Tar. I could have built up the lip to a brighter fuller coverage but I didn’t want to for this look as I was just running around doing errands. I cleaned up the edges with an ELF Studio angled liner brush and some foundation.

Not that I was wearing much else in these photos, but if you’re curious to know what else I was wearing, the full face is:

Foundation – Rain Cosmetics Conceal Reveal foundation in Baby Doll Bisque (a MUCH heavier amount than I would normally wear – I was testing layerability and buildability haha).

Blush – NARS Luster

Eyes – A quick swipe of Wet ‘n Wild shadow in Nutty with a MAC 217 over the lid/crease area. Brows ‘did with my usual Billion Dollar Brows brow powder. Quick swipe of Maybelline Great Lash (which I need to throw out. I bought a new tube today. yay.)

The lip tar is $14.50 and the brush is $18 from OCC’s website.

Got My Brows Done by Eugenia Weston

Hey! I’m blogging from my hotel room at IMATS LA (yes, I got a room – I ain’t driving back and forth between OC and Pasadena every day!!! HELL NO.) and I just haaaaad to share this with you all. I got my eyebrows done by Eugenia Weston!!!!!! For those of you who don’t know who she is, let me educate you!

Eugenia Weston is the founder of Senna Cosmetics! Senna has been around since ’76 and was the first line to ever launch a brow kit with stencils, their Form-a-Brow. They’re truly brow EXPERTS. Eugenia Weston herself is an Emmy-nominated makeup artist and all around eyebrow genius. Not to mention a truly delightful person! I met her last weekend in Chicago, and met up with her again here in LA where she did my eyebrows for me! YAY!! I needed it really bad. My eyebrows were a hot mess. In just minutes she transformed my scraggly brows to gorgeous, arched to perfection goodness! Weeeeeee! The amount of arch she was able to get out of my brows astounds me. I snapped the photo above on the show floor right after she was finished.

Wanna know what’s on the rest of my face? Okay, I’ll tell you.

Face – MAC Studio Fix powder in N3, TheBalm Time Balm concealer in Lighter Than Light

Cheeks – Senna Sheer Face Color powder blush in Clarity (this is from their latest collection -gorg!), Senna Sheer Face Color powder blush in Enlighten (a pale beige highlight)

Eyes – I know it’s hard to see, but I did a look with some shadows from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I used Bootycall, Chopper, YDK, Busted, and a tiny bit of Blackout. I think that’s all of it. Maybe. haha… Oh and I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow in 30E as a base. LOVE THOSE THINGS. The ridiculously amazing crayons coming out of the makeup world these days is so cool. On my lashes is Maybelline Great Lash (with the Lots of Lashes brush).

Lips – Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle

Oh and loads of Skindinavia makeup finishing spray. Loads. Tons. Take my word for it. ;) How can I say no to hair spray for my face? More fun IMATS stuff will be coming soon…and also fun stuff from The Makeup Show Chicago! lol I haven’t even had a chance to blog that yet because I have been so dang busy this week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all INSANE days at work.  :)

Lazy Girl Makeup Look

I promised I would try to do more FOTD posts. The problem is I haven’t been wearing much makeup lately because I just want to get out the door quickly in the morning! This is what I wore on my face to work today and I thought I’d share it as an example of a typical ‘me’ makeup look lately. I basically do enough to look better than a zombie and avoid comments of “you look tired” or “are you feeling okay?” – you all know what I mean. Aren’t those awesome? So here’s what’s on mah face —

Face: Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse BB Cream, set with MAC Studio Fix Powder in N3 – this was a new combo…lately I’ve been using just Studio Fix, but I wanted to try this out. I thought maybe I could get the coverage I wanted without as much powder on my face. I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the combo yet. It’s not holy grail but it’s pretty good. The coverage was so good that I didn’t need any concealer, but that’s partially because my skin has cleared up really nicely since my previous breakout issues earlier this spring! More on how that happened later. ;)

Cheeks: NARS blush in Luster – this has become my go-to blush lately. It’s described as “golden apricot” and that’s exactly what it is. I wear a light application for a quick neutral cheek that just adds color without being all “HEY I’M WEARING BLUSH!!!!”. I didn’t contour this morning but sometimes I use my MAC beauty powder blush in Personal Style (this was LE with the All Races collection I believe, but I have a backup because it’s my favorite contour ever in the history of life!).

Eyes: Today I just swiped some of the NARS Luster blush over the entire eye area very lightly. When I had my makeup done by Napoleon Perdis once, he swiped some bronzer over my eyes before the eye shadows, and I thought he was nuts. However, he explained that bringing warmth to the eye area draws attention to your eyes, so when I am going more or less bare, I still swipe some bronzer (or in today’s case a neutral blush – other times I use my contour) over my eyes. And you know what? He’s freaking brilliant. I love this tip! It’s not even necessarily noticeable, it just adds a little “je ne sais quois” that keeps me from looking as tired as I feel at 7:45. I forgot to do my mascara until after this photo, but I use Great Lash Lots of Lashes in black. My eyebrows are filled in with the Senna Sketch-a-Brow I use so often.

In this photo my lips just have Aquaphor, but I keep a supply of lip colors in my purse that I can add later. Right now these live in my purse and I use them all at various times depending on what I’m in the mood for that day–

NARS Bolero velvet matte lip pencil
Tarte LipSurgence lip stain in Achiote
Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait
Revlon Lip Butter in Pink Truffle

Also in my purse is Make Up For Ever Aqua Shadow in 20E, taupe. These crayons are magnificent for on the go. I probably shouldn’t admit this but I have applied this in the car many times on my way to work. It’s so fast that at a red light I can scribble on my eyelid and smear it out with a finger, and then do the other eye at another red light – bam, eye look, done.

What’s your go-to quick makeup look?

Face of the Day 4/26/12

Today I’m experiencing the rare combination of feeling photogenic and actually having time and lighting to take pics for a face of the day post! Today’s face of the day is…

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Revlon Lip Butter in Tutti Fruity

Guys I’m obsessed with this lip color. LOOK AT IT. It’s coral-orange smooth buttery goodness! I’m quite cool-toned, and uber pale, and it still works! I have been rocking the hell outta this bad boy lately. It has taken up residence in my purse.  [Read more…]

Everyday Makeup Look

I told myself I’d share more makeup looks with you guys when I started blogging again, so here’s what I wore out on Tuesday afternoon! I was going to meet with a college counselor…how exciting! :)

I apologize for the “artsy” angle here but the light wasn’t quite right any other way lol. The other pictures made my face look really dark for some reason. You can click to enlarge if you want.
Breakdown…
Face: Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay Illuminating Serum, MAC Studio Fix Powder in N3, and Make Up For Ever Full Cover concealer in shade 2 (this shade of concealer has been discontinued)

Cheek: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush in Blushing Bride (applied very lightly) and TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer to highlight 

Eyes: MAC Painterly Paint Pot (just to neutralize the color of my lids) and Josie Maran GOGO Mascara. Brows were simply filled in with Billion Dollar Brows eye brow powder in Taupe.

Lips: NARS Lip Gloss in Bougainville, sheerly applied (this was limited edition and has been discontinued, but for a similar color try NYX Mega Shine Gloss in Garnet, shown here on the lovely bloggess at Rocaille Writes)

Fun Office Makeup Look

Now that I’m working again, I have an excuse to do my makeup every day! Hooray! And this is what I came up with today. It’s a super quick, easy look that still looks pulled together and polished. All photos can be clicked to see larger. I purposefully took these photos in my office because I think we have all been in the situation where we do our face at home and it looks fabulous and then in office lighting it looks EWWW. So I wanted to show you that this look does in fact look alright under fluorescent evil lights.

Just being silly. ;)

Breakdown of the look…
FACE: MAC Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation in shade N3, applied with an ELF Studio Powder Brush. My skin’s behaving and I was in a hurry, so I skipped concealer. I have heard some people complain that this powder foundation is cakey, but I haven’t found that to be the case. Nor do I find that it oxidizes on me. 
CHEEKS: No bronzer or fancy contouring necessary. I just tapped on some Rock ‘n Republic blush in Spank with a duo fibre brush. This blush is the perfect pink. And I’ve tried a lot of them! 
EYES: Brows are filled in with my trusty Billion Dollar Brows powder (and really need some grooming… oops). I applied MUFE Aqua Cream in shade #2 to my lids. It’s the most beautiful taupey pewter. I love Aqua Creams because they can be applied with your fingers and they do not crease. Pretty enough to wear alone but great bases as well. Finally, my favorite mascara lately is Hourglass Film Noir mascara in Onyx. I neglected to curl my lashes this time.
LIPS: Okay, you’ll be wowed. This lip is a tinted lip balm. Seriously. It’s Vasanti Cosmetics‘ Tinted Lip Balm in Tahiti. It may just be one of my favorite lip products ever. Not only does it really pack a punch in the color department, the color doesn’t fade right away like other tinted balms (-ahem- Labello), and it’s so moisturizing. 
By the way, do you like my glasses? I got them from Zenni Optical, which is a site I’ve also run ads for on my Twitter account. I just wanted to let you guys know that I run ads by Zenni because I really do like them! Not only am I a happy customer, so is my mom! :) We both paid for our glasses, and nobody asked me to post this on my blog.

Light & Bright Eye Look with Urban Decay

This is a look I created with my Urban Decay Book of Shadows III palette. Since some of the shadows are exclusive only to that palette, if you know of any dupes for the colors, please feel free to pipe up in the comments! 
Since this was just a running around day look, I skipped mascara on the bottom lashes, and also did not add any eyeliner. I have large eyes, so I can get away with doing this often and not risk losing definition of my eyes. However if you are not so lucky, you may find adding a little liner to the look will help. I’d suggest a plum (like Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in 1999) or taupe (Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Underground) to keep the look light and bright. :)
To get the look:

“Base Shade”: First I took a fluffy eyeshadow brush (I used the MAC 217, but the Sigma E35 or any similar brush would be fine) and used Urban Decay shadow in Midnight Cowboy Rides Again. I made sure to tap the excess off of the brush. This helps greatly in reducing the glitteryness of the shadow, which is the one complaint I ever hear about it. I applied that with a sweeping, almost buffing motion all over the lid all the way up to the brow. I took my time to really buff the shadow and work with the color. This also helped reduce chunky glitteryness. I did experience some fallout, but it was minimal compared to past times I’ve used this particular shadow.
Note: If you are not quite as pale as I am, and MCRA is quite a bit lighter than your skin tone, you probably want to limit the color to the lid, crease, and maybe slightly above the crease.
“Lid Shade”: Using eyeshadow brush #7 from Stila (any small shader will do, such as the Sigma E55) I applied Urban Decay shadow in Bordello to just the middle of my lid. I just wanted to create a little interest/depth to the color that was already on there. Bordello is a pinky mauve shade. For the purposes of the look I was trying to create, any sort of mauve shade will do. I didn’t use very much and used a light hand. Something tells me there’s a Fyrinnae color that is a good substitute for Bordello, but I don’t remember which one. Help me out guys which is it?
“Contour Shade”: After wiping off my Stila #7 brush I took a small amount of Urban Decay shadow in Rockstar just on the tip of the brush and applied it to my outer V/crease. Now here’s where I’ve switched up my technique lately and I want to be clear to share that with you. Most of us learn to blend with a back and forth or windshield wiper motion. When I had my makeup lesson with MUFE, MUA Cat taught me to just place the color where I wanted it and blend in one direction only. If any of you have ever sketched something, it’s kinda like how you shade. In fact, it’s pretty much exactly like shading a sketch. This small tip was like a total “a-ha” moment for me. It really saves your color saturation from being blended to oblivion, and if you’ve ever had trouble with colors getting too muddied when blending, try it this way. See if maybe it will help. 
Would anyone be interested in a quick little video demo of this technique? Please leave a comment!

Here’s the finished face and the complete breakdown…

My brows are sort of haggard and in dire need of some clean-up on the outer edges, so please forgive me if you click these to view full size and are aghast. :P Here’s some pictures taken in brighter light:
Complete breakdown…
Eyes:
– Urban Decay Primer Potion
– Urban Decay Eye Shadows in Midnight Cowboy Rides Again, Bordello, and Rockstar
– Billion Dollar Brows brow powder in Taupe
– Shu Uemura eyelash curler
– Maybelline The Falsies mascara (top lashes only)
Face:
– Make Up For Ever HD foundation in shade #110
– Purely Cosmetics Diamond Perfect Finish Powder
– TooFaced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer
– Rock & Republic blush in Spank 
Note… the camera makes it look like my blush is way brighter than it really was in the last 2 photos. It’s much more like the first one. The light in my house is odd. When the blush looks true to life the eye shadow looks dark and murky, but when the eye shadow looks true to life my blush looks neon. <3 Cameras.
Lips:
– MAC Dazzleglass in Date Night