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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Makeup Quick Tips Series #2

1)  Curl your lashes before putting on mascara.  You can hit your lash curler quickly with your hair dryer, but be careful!  Curl very close to the base of your lashes holding for 5 seconds, then move the curler half way up your lashes and hold for another 5 seconds.

2)  Before wearing a matte lipstick give your lips a scrub.  Matte lipsticks show every imperfection and dry skin on the lips-not pretty.  Use a drop of olive oil and a pinch of sugar to rub over your lips.  This will leave your lips in perfect condition for matte lipstick!

3)  Try using a concealer or matte highlight powder 2 shades lighter than your skin down the centre of your nose.  This will straighten your nose and make it appear thinner!

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Please Tweeze!!!

This is my plea to get all women to pay closer attention to their eyebrows (or less attention in some cases!!).  There are those "over tweezers" or the "brow pencil worshipers" and sadly there are women that don't do a thing to their brows! Please, please, please if you are the later, tweeze and trim please!  Cleaning up your eyebrows can add dimension to your face, make your eyes look more open and increase your lid space!
I go to get mine threaded every 6 months or so and then maintain in between by tweezing and trimming.  You can go to a salon or do it all yourself, either way something is most often better than nothing.
Here are some tips to brow shaping;

1.  Use a baby teething gel to numb the skin before you tweeze.  This is helpful if you are very sensitive to tweezing and/or if your going in for a major overhaul!

2.  DO NOT use a magnifying mirror!  This is probably opposite to what you would have assumed.  Using a magnifying mirror increases the chance you will over tweeze.  If you need 10x magnification to see the hair, then it's not noticeable.

3.  Using the picture below as a guide, use a makeup brush, rat-tail comb or a pencil to determine where to start, arch and finish your brows.  Rest your pencil beside your nose vertically up to your brow, that is where your brows should start.  Tweeze between the eyes between those points to avoid the dreaded "uni-brow"!
Next, from the same position tilt the pencil so that it runs through your pupil up to the brow.  This should be the highest part of your brows (the arch).  Tweeze any hair under that area to make it thinner and arched.
Finally tilt the pencil more to just inside the corner of your eye, this is where your brows should stop.

4.  Trimming your brow hair is a step most often ignored.  This is so important!  Sometimes you can get a crazy unruly brow hair that wants to do it's own thing and can completely ruin your look.  Comb your brow hairs straight up with a brow brush or clean mascara spoolie and trim the hairs with a pair of brow scissors.  You will be amazed at your transformation!

Good luck and please don't over tweeze, brow hair seem to grow in painfully slow.  If you feel overwhelmed tackling your brows for the first time, go to a professional.  Get them shaped and then all you have to do is maintain them with the odd tweeze and trim here and there.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

June Favourites!

Wow I can't believe it's that time again already! Favourites time! I love doing these posts.  I take a look at all of my beauty products and see what I have been favouring over the last month.  It is a great opportunity to reflect on what I've been enjoying or retire some products that are not working so well.
My Favourites:

Bath & Body Works Signature Vanillas Triple Moisture Body Cream in Coconut Coco
I love the Triple Moisture Body Creams! They are fantastic at keeping my legs and feet soft and ready for summer sandals and shorts/skirts/dresses!  The smell of this particular one is so yummy!  Even my husband commented on this.  I use it every night before bed and add a little extra on my heels as needed.






Maybelline FIT me! Liquid Foundation
I have this in shade 220 and it is a perfect match!  I ran out of my Makeup Forever Mat Velvet + foundation and thought I would try this out until I can get out to Sephora.  I am pleasantly surprised!  This is a medium to full coverage and lasts all day, even on hot days.  I tried a few different application methods but found using my traditional foundation brush gave me the best finish.  I will definitely repurchase this foundation!  I joined Maybelline online and was able to print off a $5 off coupon!



Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer
I tried this product years ago but my legs did not like it.  I ended up getting small bumps on my legs after using this moisturizer so I ended up giving it away at the time.  I have been hearing people talk about this a lot lately and decided to give it another shot.  I have used it about 5-7 times in the month of June and I am shocked at the amount it actually coloured my legs.  I got the medium to dark formula as my skin is naturally a little darker.  I could see how much it worked due to the fact I didn't rub it in as well as I should have.  I didn't put too much care into blending it in as I thought that it would be such a gradual self tanner, but I was wrong, it didn't take long at all for my skin to start turning tan and glow!  I now blend carefully and use it about twice per week.

Coastal Scents Silica Powder Spheres
This product is quite the find! It is a dupe for the Makeup Forever HD powder but for a fraction of the cost.  I got this for $4.95US and it's going to last me a long time.  A little goes a long way with this powder.  Using too much can leave a white cast.  This powder sets foundation beautifully and leaves your face with a soft focus appearance.  I use it on it's own for the most part, but have also mixed it with my skin toned loose powder as well!




LUSH "Buffy" Body Butter
Buffy is a large body butter bar that you use on wet skin in the shower.  It has shea butters and cocoa to moisturize and it has ground rice, almonds and beans to exfoliate.  There is no need for moisturizer following this treatment as Buffy leaves your skin soft and moisturized.  The smell is incredible!  I do find that it exfoliates well and is quite abrasive so I use this only 1-2 times per week.  The other days I just used a moisturizing body wash, which leads me to my next favourite...

St. Ives Oatmeal & Shea Butter Moisturizing Body Wash
I could just smell this body wash all day long!  It does exactly what it is supposed to do; washes well, moisturizes and smells fantastic!  I use this with a large shower puff and it really lathers!  It is very inexpensive--BONUS!!








Estee Lauder Artist's Eye Pencil in "Softsmudge Brown"
This has been my go-to pencil for the past month.  I generally use a brown rather than a black liner in summer for an everyday look.  This pencil glides on well, lasts well in the heat and stays put.  I tightline with it everyday and it makes my lashes look fuller and yet it is a soft no makeup, makeup look!