The "No Makeup" Makeup Look

Figured I'd do something different than just smile. Don't make fun.

We all know that girl, the one girl who never seems to wear any makeup but still looks so pretty. Seriously, no fair.

For me, that girl is in one of my business classes. She has a cute face and never looks like she's wearing any makeup... not even mascara! (gasp!) And yet she still looks so pretty. Okay, I may have a slight obsession with this girl but let's just keep that on the DL.

Anyway, here's my no makeup makeup look.

How to: Flawless skin

No makeup, avert eyes now please.

While I've never had many issues with my skin in terms of acne (I know I'm lucky!), I don't necessarily have flawless skin either. In fact I don't think anyone does. EVERYONE has imperfections on their skin, but with the help from God's gift to women (aka makeup) you can totally achieve fresh, dewy and flawless skin with some tips and hints of mine!
1. Make sure you're applying your makeup on freshly cleansed and MOISTURIZED skin. Always use an oil-free, non-comedogenic moisturizer with an SPF (Neutrogena does some great ones) before you apply any makeup on your skin. If you have oily skin like me, try to avoid applying the moisturizer to areas of oiliness (like your forehead).
2. You can either dot some foundation to areas of redness (if you have pretty clear skin) or you can use a tinted moisturizer (Laura Mercier does some amazing, but expensive ones) to use all over your face. It's up to you, at the moment I just use foundation in the areas that I need it. You can use either a brush, sponge or CLEAN (!!!) fingers to blend. If you think you need it, you can use foundation all over your face, just make sure you blend
3. If you have dark circles under your eyes, apply a concealer to your under eye and your eyelid to smooth everything out. L'oreal True Match concealer is a great option. I love this product, and will probably do a review a little later.
4. Depending on your skin, you can use either a translucent powder to set your makeup or a pressed powder foundation (MAC Studio Fix is amazing). Use a fluffy powder brush for your entire face and then if you want, use a little blending sponge to apply your translucent powder to your under eye concealer and foundation.
5. BRONZERRRRR IS KEY FOR NICE HEALTHY LOOKING SKIN!!!!! Apply to your temples, cheekbones, nose, and just under the jawline. If necessary, blend your bronzer down your neck and onto your chest.
6. Apply some blush to the apples of your cheek and blend onto your cheekbone.
7. Optional, you can apply either a shimmer eyeshadow or highlighter to your eyebrow bone and just above your cheekbone. This is what's gonna give that dewy look to your skin.
Et voila, you have gorgeous, flawless skin!!

Review: Neutrogena All-in-One Makeup Removing Cleansing Lotion

I bought this product a couple weeks ago and have been using it every night since to take off my makeup. I usually just buy an all-in-one cleanser like this one to remove my makeup. I've never really bothered buying a separate eye makeup remover just because if I can buy a product that does everything at once - cleanses my skin and removes all my eye makeup - then why would I spend anymore money on even MORE makeup removers?? I'd rather spend that money on makeup :)
SOOO anyway, I quite like this product. It's definitely not the best product I've ever used, but it gets the job done. It's a lotion that you can either rinse off or wipe off with a little cotton pad (but I just rinse it off) and claims to be non-comedegenic, oil-free, alcohol-free and great for sensitive skin. I can gladly say that this product meets all of its claims. It hasn't made my skin break out which is lovellyyy and doesn't irritate it. The only thing that I dislike is the fact that it can leave a greasy feeling residue on your skin, but once you dry your face off with a towel it just feels lovely and soft. While I still prefer my Philosophy Purity cleanser, this is a much cheaper product that I would definitely recommend.

Kristen Stewart... WHY aren't you a blonde?!

Stumbled across this photo of Kristen Stewart looking so beautiful with blonde hair:

This photo is from before Twilight and you'd think, with a little success and fame, she could afford to hire a decent makeup artist and hair stylist... but no. Apparently not.

Go back to being blonde Kristen!! You know you'll have more fun.

Look of the Day: Smokey blue

If you're still deciding on what to do with your makeup tonight, try doing a smokey blue instead of your normal smokey black eyes. It's super cute and a little bit different without being too crazy. While I wish I could say that I'll be wearing this makeup out tonight... unfortunately I am not. Because I will be at home in bed instead. What a fab Saturday night haha
And ew, I need to do my eyebrows. Sorry about that!

A great makeup tutorial big and small eyes

This tutorial is one of my favourites for doing makeup specifically for people with big or small eyes. Sam demonstrates how to do makeup for big eyes on one eye and then makeup for small eyes on the other and you can really see the difference. Enjoy!

OMG I NEED THIS!!!!

This is a life or death situation right now. Since the release of Urban Decay's Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows, I have been DYING to get my paws on this palette. The colours look absolutely gorgeous, they have adorable names, the packaging is super cute AND it's Alice in Wonderland themed (and I cannot wait to see the movie!)
Urban Decay does some great eyeshadow palettes, and what I love the most is that they give you a little sample of their cult favourite Urban Decay Primer Potion (which I absolutely love) AND two of their 24/7 eyeliner pencils (in black and a bright bright blue). The palette has been getting some great reviews, and just LOOK at those colours. Gotta have it... seriously.

Note: While this palette is limited edition, the eyeshadows are just renamed eyeshadows from the Urban Decay eyeshadow collection. This kind of loses the excitement seeing as you can just buy the same colours as individuals, but as of right now, I don't own any Urban Decay eyeshadows and would love to try them out.

Gaga on the new Cosmo!!

So I'm pretty excited that Lady Gaga is on the cover of Cosmopolitan's April issue. Definitely gonna have to buy it to a) support Gaga, b) check out what they did with her makeup... it better be Gagalicious! and c) support Cosmo for putting Gaga on the cover! Haha I feel like Perez Hilton right now with my Lady Gaga obsession but I'm pretty pumped. Lady Gaga hasn't really been on the cover of a girly magazine like Cosmo before and I wonder what her take is on such cosmo topics like sex, relationships, men, etc. Here's some snippets from the interview that I found off of dailystab.com:

On an ex-boyfriend:
"I had a boyfriend who told me I’d never succeed, never be nominated for a Grammy, never have a hit song, and that he hoped I’d fail. I said to him, ‘Someday, when we’re not together, you won’t be able to order a cup of coffee at the fucking deli without hearing or seeing me."

On her career:
"I ate shit for so long, being told I didn’t fit the mold and that I was ‘too pop’ or ‘too theater’ … I’ve always been delusionally ambitious to the point where people don’t understand me."

Gaga turned down a cocktail because she had a sold-out show to do just a few hours after the interview. She ordered riceless sushi and dressingless salad and said:
“My friends joke that I’m dead until I get onstage. I’m dead right now as you’re speaking to me.”

EXCITINGGGGG! Okay, I need to calm down...

Tip: Setting Concealer

If you're a girl who can't live without under eye concealer everyday, here's a tip: after applying your concealer, set it with a translucent (key word here) powder! Use a little blending sponge and pat it over top of the concealer. It keeps your concealer in place all day and mattes everything out. I've been using Lancome's Photogenic Sheer Pressed powder and it has such a great texture. I used to use my MAC Studio Fix Powder foundation to set my concealer but after switching to a translucent powder, it makes such a difference. My skin looks so much more smooth and less cake-y. If you don't want to buy a whole other pressed powder just for setting your concealer and foundation, just use your regular powder but use a powder brush to apply the powder under your eyes. You can also do this to set your foundation as well. Your skin is gonna look gorgeous, smooth and beautifully matte. :)

Star Spotlight: Olivia Wilde

I have always thought that Olivie Wilde is gorgeous and has the most perfect eyes for the dark, sultry, smokey look. However, I stumbled across a photo of her wearing really pretty, natural makeup and I absolutely love it as well!! She can work both looks and look stunning... lucky girl.

Steph's Makeup!

Once again my friends and I did not make it to the bar last night... why does this always happen? It was WAY too snowy and there was a long line up for this place so we were all like "eff that" and turned around to get pizza and then go home. Story of my life. The saddest part is that I did my beautiful friend Steph's makeup last night and she didn't even get to go out and show it off :( Nevertheless, I managed to take some photos of her to document it and even though she told me I wasn't allowed to post the photo of her face on here... I DID IT!!! HA
Steph has great eyes for doing the dark and smokey look because she has such defined creases. Some false lashes would have been the cherry on top but unfortunately I didn't have any extra pairs. Next time I definitely will though. Hope you like!

Look of the Day: Nicole Richie inspired

After blogging about how much I love Nicole Richie's winged liner, I decided to do the look for myself. My roommates and I are going to a karaoke bar tonight so I decided not to go for an overly dramatic look. I'm wearing my new Quo lashes that I bought last week but they are unfortunately a little too natural looking... however, they do make my lashes look lovely and voluminous which is always a plus!

Star Spotlight: Nicole Richie

As you all know, I am a huge fan of winged eyeliner. I especially love the way Nicole Richie wears winged eyeliner. She has a very dramatic, thick line, with lots of mascara and fake eyelashes, and then keeps the rest of her face very clean and bronzed. It doesn't look like she's wearing any kind of eyeliner or shadow along her bottom lash line, and she usually just goes for a nude lip colour. Love it!

Ke$ha - A Lady GaGa rip off?

I dunno about you guys but I am really not a fan of Kesha's style. She's too grunge-y for my liking and it just makes her look like she hasn't showered in weeks. While I like that her makeup is a little bit different I feel like she's too much of a Lady GaGa rip off. All that eye makeup is just too much for me. I love all the glitter but it just looks too messy and looks like she fell asleep in her makeup from the night before. She could probably be really attractive and yet still be different and edgy if it wasn't for all that junk on her face... she just needs a new makeup artist. Kesha, call me!

Phil's Night!! Blue and purple makeup

So I agreed to going out with Christina to Phil's (it's a dirty bar that smells SO bad) tonight... and yes, it's a WEDNESDAY! I'm never usually down to go out on school nights but seeing as I'm going home this weekend I'll be missing out on all the crazy partying my roommates will be doing, so I decided I'd get crazy and go out tonight. Scandalous, I know. We're going to a dance club so I went for pretty dramatic, bright makeup. Unfortunately the camera doesn't really capture the colours as well as I'd like it to, the blue is a LOT more blue. Hope you guys like!
Oh and yes, those are my real eyelashes... HAHA just kidding, they're falsies :)

Feather Eyelashes... really?

I haven't yet decided what I think of feather eyelashes. I think they are completely and utterly ridiculous and would probably never wear them myself (unless it was for a Halloween costume maybe), but in a way they're kind of cool just because they're so wild and different. I was browsing the NYX website the other day, and they have a pretty big collection of theatrical eyelashes. I just wonder who actually buys them, and what kind of people they are. Do people wear them for drag makeup? At high fashion parties? What are they for?!

They only kind of feather eyelashes I think I would ever consider wearing would be something like this:

They're a little wild but still look (somewhat) like eyelashes.
What do you guys think? Would you ever wear them out? And what kind of makeup look would you wear if you decided to sport a pair of these?

Purple

I LOVE dramatic purple makeup for a night out. I think it looks especially great when I'm wearing a pretty simple black dress and the focus is on my dramatic makeup. This photo was taken a while ago but I thought I'd share. :)

One of my favourite daytime looks

I often do this look but switch up the bottom lash line colour. I've done blue, green and purple, but like the blue especially because I have a matching eyeliner pencil that I can line my waterline with! The look is just some winged eyeliner with a bright colour along the lower lash line. Hope you like!
Oh and also, this photo was taken with a Blackberry. Pretty good quality, eh?

Pink Lips... cute or tacky?

While I don't think pink lipstick is going to be a huge trend for this upcoming Spring season, it's definitely a look that I think is super cute and girly. I especially love the way Alexis Bledel (far left) pulls off the pink lipstick. Her ivory skin and bright blue eyes look absolutely gorgeous with that lip colour. What do you guys think?? Cute or tacky?

Pictured here is Alexis Bledel, Lauren Conrad and Drew Barrymore.

Super easy, simple daytime look

Now this isn't my favourite makeup look ever. I do this whenever I'm feeling lazy, in a rush or have no inspiration for my makeup that day. It's a really easy look though and is perfect for daytime if you're not big on wearing crazy dramatic makeup.
Here's how you do it:

1. Prime your eyelids with any eyeshadow base. I used MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly, but Benefit's F.Y.Eye and Urban Decay's Primer Potion are even better options.
2. Apply a shimmery/frosty nude colour to your entire lid. I used MAC's Jest. Naked Lunch would be a better option but unfortunately I don't own that baby :(. Apply this colour to your lower lash line as well, especially in the inner corner.
3. Apply a matte medium brown colour to your crease. I used Symmetry by MAC, but Wedge and Cork would be good too. Apply to lower lash line but focus most of the colour on the outer corner.
4. Use either a liquid liner or a black pencil eyeliner (use a pencil eyeliner if you're a n00b) to line your upper lash line. Use an angled eyeliner brush with some black eyeshadow to blend out the pencil so that it's all nice and smooth.
5. If you want, you can apply some brown or grey eyeliner on your waterline, but I wouldn't go for black... it can be a bit too harsh for daytime (but that's just my opinion, so go wild if you like it!)
6. Mascara and you're done! Now wasn't that easy? Finish off with maybe some bronzer (if you're pale and paste-y like me) and/or blush and ta da! Beautiful.

My First Guinea Pig!

So on Saturday evening, after my lovely friends and I enjoyed a nice dinner out, I got to experiment on my beautiful model Sam Buck and do her makeup for the evening. I decided to go for a simple look, just a thin line of liquid eyeliner and some eyeshadow (I used Naked Lunch and Symmetry by MAC and a darker brown from my Coastal Scents palette). It turned out quite nicely, and despite her complaining on how long it was taking me (yes, I can be quite the perfectionist) I managed to finish and was pleased with the result. Next time I'll definitely do a more dramatic look on her though, something that brings out the colour of those gorgeous blue eyes! Hope you like!

Look of the Day: Smokey eye for a Saturday night dinner

So I'm going out to dinner tonight with my lovely friends and settled on a simple, smoky eye look for my Saturday evening. It's a little bit of a Taylor Swift inspired look, because she often wears her smokey eye shadow with a bit of a wing to it (haha can you tell I love winged eyeshadow and eyeliner??)
Hope you likey!

Three Ways to Wear Winged Eyeshadow

So I am bored as hell tonight (and it's Friday... how sad) and while I could be doing something productive, like study for my midterm on Monday, I decided to update my blog instead. Aren't you lucky? Featured here are three ways to wear winged eyeshadow... an extreme way (ugly, I don't like this look at all. Nice try Leighton), a dramatic way (cute, I'd probably try it out myself) and a safe way (this kinda just looks like a normal smokey eye but you can kind of see a wing. I quite like it and would definitely try it out). One thing you should notice in all three photos is that each girl (woman?) is wearing a neutral/nude lip colour. Any dramatic eye makeup look should always be paired with nude lip.
Just remember: Dramatic eye + Dramatic lip = Drag queen. Not cute... unless you're a drag queen.
Featured in the photos is Leighton Meester, Posh Spice (aka Victoria Beckham) and Olivia Wilde.

Trend Spotted

And yet ANOTHER celebrity is sporting the thick brows trend. Not sure if I like it on Hayden. I don't really like her as a brunette and I thinks her brows are a little too close together. It could have worked but... it didn't. Sorry Hayden!

Rihanna's Blue Eyeliner

Rihanna has been known to wear some crazy (but not Lady GaGa crazy, that's a whole other level) and colourful makeup looks, but I must say, my absolute favourite is when she wears blue eyeshadow and eyeliner. It's gorgeous and she totally pulls it off. LOVE!