MAC Starviolet look

Thought I'd grace you with another look. I'm trying to use different colors to create a variety of looks. So, I dipped into my MAC palette and found some shades I had yet to use. I decided to do something with pink and teal. The camera didn't pick up the teal like I wanted it too but it's there.

How to do it:
1. Eyeshadow/Brows: Urban decay primer potion all over, MAC paint pot in 'fresco rose' to the lid. MAC's 'pink venus' to the inner eye lid and MAC's 'star violet' to the outer lid. MAC's 'plumage' to the crease and blended. Hightlight to the brow bone is MAC's 'lightfall'. Finally, MAC's 'carbon' to the outer 'V'. I also applied a little bit of MAC's 'phloof!' to the tear duct area.
MAC's 'espresso' goes on the brows with a liner brush to define.

2. Eye Liner/Lashes: The top lashline gets a black, gel eyeliner. I don't have MAC's 'blacktrack' so I used maybelline's gel liner in 'blackest black'. I applied MAC's 'carbon' on top of the gel to set it and smoke it out a bit. Physician's formula shimmer strips pencil liner (the purple one) goes on to the waterline and L'oreal's HIP color chome eyeliner in 'black shock' to the actual lashline, again, with carbon applied on top with a liner brush for some smoke and depth. My eyelashes are culed and then I apply both a volumizing and lengthening mascara to the top and the lengthening mascara solo to the bottom.

3. Face: Revlon photoread foundation in 'vanilla', Revlon's photoready concealer in 'fair', and Revlon's photoready translucent powder to finsih.

4. Blush: I used 'giggly' by MAC to the cheeckbones and contoured with Too Faced's 'sunbunny' to the hollows. I blended all this out with a bronzer brush.

5. Lips: MAC 'mile' lipstick + MAC's lip gelee in 'Fashion flower'

I do want to note for anyone interested, that the Fashion Flower colors I used are out with the current collection and are most likely limited editions. Freso Rose paintpot isn't permanent from what I understand but all other shadows I used should be permanent.

"what do you do to your skin?" - My reccomendations for facial care

So, I get this alot.....
"your skin is so pretty! what do you do?"

Now, I'm not complaining about the compliments, I love hearing this. But, I wanted to share my experience to let you all know how you can have the skin you always wanted.

1.) Get thee to a dermatologist!!!
*I claim no fame to my complexion, at all! I have what I would describe as finicky skin.....skin that is prone to breakouts and dryness at the same time. I finally wisened up and went to the dermatologist when I started really struggling with acne in college. I have been a loyal patient ever since. My skin has long cleared since 2001, but I still go to my derm. Why? He keeps my skin regimen appropriate for me and that keeps my skin performing at its best. So, please consider going to get professional help if you feel you just can't get a handle on your skin issues.

2.) Makeup works wonders
Again, I always credit not only my derm but my current foundation to my skin looking nice. I do have a red-undertoned complexion and I have broken capillaries on my face, so foundation is a must. You can certainly wear foundation without looking like you're wearing anything at all. Go to a department store and get color matched. After that you can try to conquer the drugstore foundation aisles with your matching color in hand for comparisson. My foundation routine varies by season, and mood but I always wear it. It doesn't take me but 5 minutes to apply and it evens everything out and makes me look not so scary.

3.) Moisturize and protect
I use a moisturizer everyday prior to foundation. I started doing this to give a more even canvas for foundation application but I found that the moisture was much needed. Also, a moist face looks younger - this we know. I say protect because SPF is the one thing you can do to prevent aging (among the other things SPF does for us) and most moisturizers have an SPF built in. Right now though, I'm using the Neutrogena Baby SPF 60 under my foundation. Since it's made with natural sunscreens (also important - titanium and zinc), it can give a whitish cast to the skin. But, with foundation it's not noticeable and I feel comfortable knowing my skin is well protected in the summers here.

4.) Maintain
Treat your skin nicely. Make sure you nuture it. And make sure to keep up whatever works for you. In my experience with my skin, if I stop doing what works, it quickly goes back to being finicky.


So, that's about it. So that everyone knows what I use, I'll list my skincare routine below. I do reccomend the Over the counter products I use as I wouldn't use them if I didn't like them. But, again, the core of my routine is the derm prescibed regimen.

My Skincare:
Cleansing: l'oreal go 360 clean exfoliating scrub
Treating: derm prescribed topical antibiotic and topical acid based acne preventative
**I do not want to reveal the exact names on this forum as I don't want to endorse/fail to endorse any particular prescription product.**
Makeup remover:Neutrogena eye makeup remover for eye products
SPF: neutrogena pure and free baby SPF 60
Moisturizer: Oil of Olay complete moisture cream
Foundation: Revlon Colorstay in Buff

MAC Kitschmas and Shadowy Lady look/tutorial

This is a look I did a while ago, but I'm just now uploading. This is one of my favorite looks and I do it frequently. I am a big fan of pigments and MAC pigments are some of my favorites. This is using a shimmery pigment, kitschmas, as the base for everything. Hope you enjoy!! First off, the product listing. I have each product labeled with their corresponding name/shade in the picture above. 1. E.L.F. eyeshadow primer 2. Maybelline eye studio creme shadows in 'purple possibilities' - I used the pink shade on the right. IF you have MAC products, their paint pot in 'fresco rose' is also an awesome base. 3. NYX jumbo eye pencil in 'milk' 4. MAC pigment in Kitschmas 5. MAC four shade palette in 'shadowy lady' - colors used are 'shadowy lady' and 'smudged violet'. I know shadowy lady is permanent but I'm not sure about 'smudged violet' 6. Wet N' Wild Palette in 'lust' - I used the cream colored top right shade 7. NYX single eye shadow in 'matte black' 8. Milani eyetech liquid liner in 'black' 9. Milani easy liner for eyes glitter in 'black rocks' 10. NOT PICTURED - NYX studio liquid liner in 'extreme purple' 11. NOT PICTURED - mascara: l'oreal voluminous million lashes and maybellinee lash stiletto Lets go though how to do this! I really love this look because for brown eyed girls like me, the purples really bring out the color of your eyes. I love the shimmer in the pimgment and I like how this is more 'toned down' than my normal looks so I don't feel like I'm grabbing quite so much attention but still have a really pretty look. 1. prep eyes with primer, I used e.l.f. primer. Also, apply the eyeshadow bases. I used the maybelline purple possibilities as a drug store product and have also used the MAC paint pot in fresco rose and has pretty results. I prefer the MAC paint pot but the maybelline works almost as well for a lot less money. Put the pink color all over the lid. I used the NYX jumbo eye pencil in milk for the brow area and the inner corners of my eyes. 2. Apply the MAC kitschmas pigment wet over the entire lid. Use a flat shader type brush. I use the E.L.F. eyeshadow brush. 3. Apply the MAC shade, 'smudged violet' through the entire crease area for transition. 4. Apply MAC's 'shadowy lady' to the outer crease only. Put this on kinda heavy and then blend it out with a clean blending brush. 5. Apply NYX single eye shadow in 'matte black' (or any matte black, you can find these everywhere) to the outer 'V' of the eye and then blend that in with a clean blending brush. 6. Apply the Wet N Wild Lust palette shade (top right shade) to the brow bone and inner crease over where the NYX 'milk' shade lies. 7. Apply the milani eyetech liquid liner (or any other black liquid/gel eyeliner) to the top lash line. Place the NYX liquid liner in extreme purple to the outer half of the top lashes. Other good purple liquid liners are LASplash liquid liners, and Hard Candy Walk the Line liners. 8. Apply the milani easyliner for eyes glitter in 'black rocks' to the lower waterline. Other good water line pencils are physician's formula shimmer strips, Urban Decay 24/7 liner pencils, and revlon colorstay liner. 9. Curl lashes and apply mascara. I am still loving l'oreal voluminous million lashes for the first coat and maybelline lash stiletto for the second. And the finished lood with eyes closed....

My Fast Face! Using MAC products.

So, this post is intended to deliver a more realistic makeup look. Most days, we don't have time to spend 20 minutes on awesome looking, glittered-out, smokin' eyes. This is how I look when I don't have time or plan to reapply more makeup later. You don't need a lot of products to do this and most of what I used is MAC. All the products I used are pictured below - that's pretty much all I used (except my foundation/powder/blush). I think this whole look took 15 minutes for the whole face, tops.

Pictured are all the products AND brushes used. And they are....

1. Sephora eyeliner brush

2. Eco Tools concealer brush

3. NYX eyeliner pencil in 'white pearl'

4. MAC paint pot in 'bare study' (permanent line)

5. MAC fluidline in 'waveline' (permanent line)

6. eyelash curler

7. NYX round lipstick in 'galaxy' -> LOVE this color!!!

8. l'oreal voluminous million lashes mascara

9. Maybelline lash stiletto mascara

** Also used on face: Stila convertible color in 'lilium'; revlon colorstay in buff foundation; revlon photoread concealer in fair; revlon colorstay powder in fair.

So, for the eyes, all I did was use the MAC paintpot in bare study to the entire eye and brow area (using the eco tools concealer brush). This color is awesome. It's a shimmery champagne color and since it's a paintpot (doubles as base and cream base), it stays on forever. That's all for the eye color. Now, to line my eyes, I used the MAC fluidline to create a winged toplash line (using the sephora brush). I realize my wings aren't even and I'm working on that!!!! However, the uneven wings are not very noticeable with closed eyes. For the bottom lashline, I used the NYX pencil to line the water line. Since this is a white color, it gives you a more awake look. Curl lashes and apply mascara - you're done!! For the lips, I used just the NYX lipstick in galaxy. I only applied a little blush to the apples of my cheeks and that was using the stila convertible color. That's it!