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Find Your Inspiration with TAAZ

Image from Taaz.com

I love a good makeup tutorial. It gets me all excited to do my makeup. They’re great inspiration. I just happened upon this tutorial from TAAZ about 40s starlet makeup, and I love it! It’s a great look for a holiday party too, which is why I wanted to feature it here on the blog. They even give fashion advice to complete the look.

Remember, I’m still collecting looks for the Holiday Lookbook. If you’re stuck on what to do, maybe try this out and see how it works for you. TAAZ has lots of other great tutorials and pictures to get your creative juices flowing.

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Gloss Menagerie 2009 Holiday Lookbook

As Thanksgiving (and Black Friday!!!) are fast approaching, I think we can safely say it is officially “The Holidays”. Therefore, I need something from all of you! ;)

Send me your favorite holiday party makeup looks! That means xmas, hanukkah, new year’s, etc. On you, or your friends, whatever! Just please make sure you have permission to send a photo if it’s not of your mug.

Please include:

– big, CLEAR photos
– a breakdown of what was used to achieve the look
– why you like it!
– if you have a blog, include the URL so I can show you some link love when your look is featured

Bonus: If anyone wants to do a video tutorial of a holiday party look to be featured on the blog, that would be great too. It would have to be one created specifically for The Gloss Menagerie though, and mention Gloss Menagerie in the video.

DEADLINE: Dec 31st

I will randomly select a few people who participate and submit looks or videos to receive free goodies as a thank-you.

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Face of the Day 10-20-09

Okay, I promised I was going to try to do this more since you guys want it…to post “face of the day” looks that show whatever makeup I wore that day. Truth is, I’m pretty self-conscious about getting my picture taken and even more self-conscious about posting it on my own blog! So be nice. :) haha.
(Click to View Larger)

Sooo there you have it. That’s what I wore today. This photo was taken after my makeup had been on for a good 7 hours already, so the blush and eyeliner aren’t quite as vibrant as when I applied, but it held up pretty darn well. Hm, my eyes are looking a little red though aren’t they? haha. Yes, I took this picture at work…what can I say, my office has tons of great natural lighting. ;) For your convenience I have linked to particular products I used in case you want to check them out.

To get this look…

For my face, I applied Makeup Forever High Definition Foundation in shade # 110. I love that it is pale enough to match me. I haven’t tried their new super light shade 107, but I’m afraid it would amplify the pinkness in my skin too much and make me look ruddy. I did not use any primer underneath. I usually don’t wear primer for every day. I then applied Makeup Forever Full Cover concealer in shade #2 Porcelain on spots, and set the whole thing with MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Light, buffed on gently with my E.L.F. Studio powder brush— see, I really use the things I rave about! ;) I didn’t use any brushes for my foundation or concealer. My foundation gets applied with a cheapo wedge sponge and I just do the concealer with my fingers (I clean them first!).

My blush is sort of faded, but it was never very dark to begin with. It was the limited edition MAC Beauty Powder Blush in On A Mission from Style Warriors with MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Perfect Topping from Sugar Sweet on top. I’ve been really loving this combination lately.

For my eyes, I first applied a base of Mad Minerals creme eyeshadow in Bare Necessity. I always use a base for eyeshadow! It’s essential if you want it to last. For my eyeshadow I used my NARS 9944 eyeshadow palette which is also known as the Best of NARS or NARS Best palette. That palette was limited edition but you can still get the eyeshadows separately– they are all available in NARS eyeshadow duos. On my eyelid I did a wash of All About Eve II. In the crease I put Kalahari I, which is a warm plummy taupey color. To blend out the Kalahari and highlight the eye I finished it with a light fluffing with Bellissima I. For eyeliner I did the inner upper rim (aka “tightlining”) with MAC Kohl Power in Feline and then I topped the whole look off with Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara. My eyebrows are filled in with Billion Dollar Brows brow powder in taupe, which is the freaking bomb. I’m doing an in-depth review on it soon.

My lipstick is MAC Hue, which is a Glaze formula and a permanent product in MAC’s line. I don’t like fussy lip looks with too much going on. I’ll only very rarely layer lip products, and rarely ever bother with a lip liner.

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Get The Look – Olivia Palermo

You may have heard (read) me mention KohGenDo on the blog before. KohGenDo is a relatively new brand to the US, but they specialize in flawless looking natural makeup suitable for High-Def. The foundations might seem limited, but they are designed to be mixed together for a true color match– perfect for makeup artists. You wouldn’t need to carry a billion different bottles. Just keep a few in your kit with a palette to mix them on. A tip I’m shamelessly stealing from Kim Kardashian’s makeup artist is to use a blank CD as a palette. Works great!

Recently makeup artist Dyana Aives used KohGenDo products for this lovely look on Olivia Palermo for the MTV VMAs.
Olivia looks fresh and elegant. I love the flush on her cheeks! Here’s what Dyana used…
Yellow Color Corrector Base
Moisture Concealer
Aqua Foundation in OC-2 mixed with a little bit of Moisture Foundation in PK23
Natural Lighting Powder
Fresh Face Cheek Color in Caramel Bronze (I have tried this personally and this is THE bronzer for pale girls who didn’t think they could use bronzer, seriously!)
Lipstick in Nude Beige BE04
Moisture Foundation has been newly reformulated to be paraben-free and now comes in 12 shades!
Visit KohGenDo’s website to get the items used for this look…
Maifanshi Moisture Concealer
Aqua FoundationMaifanshi Natural Lighting Powder 12gMaifanshi Moisture Foundation 20g
Also…if you’re new to the KohGenDo brand, you can now get a trial pack of products for $20. See the website for details. :) It comes with samples of foundation, powder, and 3 corrective primers.
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MAC + Rodarte = Amazing

WOW is all I have to say about this crazy-awesome tattoo body art seen at the Rodarte S/S ’10 runway show. It was designed by MAC Senior Artist Chantel Miller. I’m a fan of Chantel Miller; I saw her demo/lecture at IMATS and it was totally fascinating. Miller and a team of 40 artists worked feverishly to bring her designs to life on these models.
Feast thine eyes..!



MAC Products used:

PRO Micronized Airbrush in Black Black
252 & 242 brushes
PRO Mixing Medium/Alcohol Base (good for use on the body from the neck down)
Liquidlast liner in Point Black
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My Kohls Makeover!

I recently attended a Kohls beauty event thanks to the supersweet invite from Holly from Estee Lauder. I have been to Kohls before and I was sorta familiar with the brands but thanks to Holly and makeup artist Meghan Malloy I now know a lot more about the brands and all the great stuff they have to offer. If you are near a Kohls you really ought to shimmy on over there and check out the products– they are excellent. I recently overheard a girl point out the Flirt display and say “oh that’s just wannabe MAC…” and roll her eyes. I so badly wanted to correct her, “oh honey, no, this is MAC but cheaper–” but she’ll just have to learn that for herself someday.

Fortunately for all of you, I am telling you now! These brands are faaaaabulous. There’s truly something for everyone. I had a great time learning all of these lines and will definitely have fun posting about all I learned. For now, I am going to show you some pics of the awesome makeover Meghan gave me. :) Makeup by Meghan Malloy, scraggly brows by me.



You can view the pics larger by clicking on them. :) 

Breakdown of the look…
Foundation – American Beauty Perfectly Even Foundation in Fair Cool

Concealer – American Beauty Perfecting Concealer in Fair

Cheeks – American Beauty Beloved blush in Mocha Bloom

Lips – Flirt! Glamourazzi Extreme Lip Laquer in Popstar (this is totally a gloss version of MAC Cremesheen in Modesty, by the way– gorgeous color!)

Eyes – all Flirt! shadows. I know the highlight color is called Sugardaddy, and the outer-v (the darkest purple) is Magic Mist. The rest of it was done with the limited edition Boogie Brown (which has plums lol) palette that is being released next month.

Eyeliner – Flirt! pencil eyeliner in Purple Rain

Mascara – Flirt! Lashadelic mascara in Mod Black (released next month) – this mascara is beauty tube technology! WOOT! It’s so cool.

Brows were already done in advance by yours truly with a little shu uemura hard brow pencil in Seal Brown. They are badly in need of a wax though! oy!

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MAC Lavender Whip Cremesheen Lipstick

Here are some silly pictures of me modeling MAC’s Lavender Whip cremesheen lipstick, which I got today. It’s *amazing*! I love the color and texture so much. This is going to be a staple in my makeup wardrobe for sure. :)


*MWAH*

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A Personal Triumph – Red Lips


I, like many women, have a bit of an “issue” with red lipstick. I always seem to feel overdone, or clownish, or *insert adjective that makes me self conscious here*. So I decided to just go for it and rock a red lipstick to work the other day. And a really big ugly fleece coat. Seriously though, my office is freezing and sometimes you have to sacrafice fashion in order to be…well, not freezing your ta-tas off.

I half-assed my eyebrows that day and my hair was gross and needed a wash, so I cropped most of that out. :P The lighting in my office washed out the rest of my makeup, but you’ll just have to suspend your disbelief and trust me that I’m wearing MAC Warm Soul blush and an eyelook with the Dior Goldfever quint. God only knows what mascara that was. I have a few open tubes right now.

ANYWAY. And of course, the red. It’s MAC Queen’s Sin which was limited edition during Holiday ’07. I can’t believe Holiday ’08 is already here, since it seems like this lipstick came out yesterday.

Go out and wear red, ladies.
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Halloween Makeup – Corpse


Here is my halloween makeup I did yesterday to look like the living dead. I used:

Primer: MAC Prep + Prime, Meow Cosmetics Primp ‘n Preen

Concealer: Everyday Minerals Mint (a lot of it. If I hadn’t put a little foundation I would’ve been greenish. Instead I was just very washed out.)

Foundation: Meow Cosmetics Mineral Foundation.

Contour: MAC French Grey eyeshadow to give my face that sunken look.

Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion, NYX Black eyeshadow (a ton of it), Stila Cassis, Stila Chinois (mostly to blend the edges), and a pale green from the Flirt limited edition 40-eyeshadow palette. I did my waterline with Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner in Zero, and my lashes are Prescriptives False Eyelashes mascara. Brows are Shu Uemura brow pencil in seal brown.

Lips: MAC Myth lipstick, Cargo Reverse Lip Liner, and a dusting of MAC French Grey eyeshadow. To get the deathly cracked effect, I just puckered my lips together very tightly and patted them a tiny bit with my thumb. When I relaxed my lips the lines appeared.

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Sick Face!

Whew!
Sorry about no updates over the weekend, readers. And I hope all of my Houston area readers are safe and sound!
I caught an icky but brief cold over the last few days and have not had anything to write about, haha. I didn’t even really have the energy to think about it.

There is a new poll for you to vote in, by the way. :) It’s about work makeup!

I also added a button to bookmark this blog on Delicious. Bookmark me! :)

I got some beauty tips about how to look more awake and fresh when you’re feeling icky, and it works like a charm so I am going to share them with you and tell you how they work for me. Here’s how to do your face when you feel horrible.

– First of all, foundation and concealer are your friend. When I am sick, I get all blotchy-faced. A little green powder concealer from Everyday Minerals goes a long way! I apply this after my primer but before my foundation. Then comes foundation, and loads of concealer whereever I need it. Depending on how sick you are, you might need a little extra in the undereye area to brighten up your eyes.

– Blush! Blush is key to not looking dead. I like to use a peachy pink for this “fresh-faced” effect I’m going for. My blush of choice is Milani Luminous. This blush has been reformulated and is no longer the same, so suggestions for other peachy pinks are NARS Orgasm, Flirt! Heartthrob, and mark. After Glo.

– On the eye, I did a shimmery neutral wash all over the lid. The shadow I chose for this was Stila Kitten. From crease to brow I just used a very matte neutral wash. The shadow I used was Stila Chinois. The effect was really brightening of my whole eye area.

– Finishing touch and crucial step is curl those lashes. It really opens up your eyes and makes you look more awake! Slap on some mascara and you’re good to go. Have trouble keeping lashes curled? Try waterproof mascara!

My lips were left pretty boring. I just used a moisturizing pink gloss from NYX.

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