"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!

How to Wear Red Eyshadow Right!

So, it's no secret that I love bold, bright ey color. So, red is fitting, right? The problem with red eyeshadow is that it can make you look sick or weird if you use it wrong. I feel as though I pulled it off pretty well if I don't say so myself. Here's the key -> don't use a lot and keep it grounded with neutrals. You can see from the picture below that I put the red eyshadow only on the inner parts of the eyelid and used darker colors on the majority of the lid and the outside of the lid. Also, picking a good red will help. I used the red chrome pigment from NYX. To darken the red a little further, I applied a dark eyebase to the entire eyelid. I used NYX's jumbo eye pencil in slate as the base and applied the red chrome pigment over that to the inner lid and NYX's black chrome pigment to the rest of the lid. Blend. Then, I used a taupe transition color over the entire crease before applying a matte black to the outer crease and a black glitter powder shadow (WNW's dupe for MAC's black tied)to the outer 'V'. ^^just the eyes

^^Finished look. See, I still look normal. :-)

Products used:

Eyes:

E.L.F. eyelid primer, NYX jumbo eye pencil in slate (base), NYX Dramatic Chromatic Pigment in Red, NYX Dramatic Chromatic Pigment in Black, Wet N' Wild's 8 pan palettes in Petal Pusher (browbone highlight and deep purple 'crease' shade) and Blue Had Me At Hello (black tied dupe), NYX single eyeshadow in black -matte, Milani eyetech liquid liner in black, milani easyliner glitter liner in black rocks (waterline), maybelline lash stiletto, l'oreal voluminous million lashes

FAce:

MAC mineralize skinfinish in Pink Power, Cover Girl lip perfection lipstick in Sweetheart.

Essie: Cute as a button Swatch and Review

More Essie! I don't think that Essie has the same range of colors that OPI or China Glaze has but the colors that they do have seem very unique to me. I always end up in the Essie section of Target determining my next purchase. This time, it's Essie's Cute as A Button. This is evidently from a 2009 summer collection, but I'm just discovering it. Corals are going to be huge this year - nails, lips, etc... So I figured this is the perfect coral shade for me to start the season with. I found no problems with application or otherwise. It did take me three coats to get the color you see below but that's nothing abnormal as lighter colors usually take me about three. I used a fast dry topcoat after application which gave it more shine. ^^The bottle itself

^^Label and color name

^^ Picture taken without flash, indoors.

^^ Picture taken with flash indoors.

Sucker Punch Hair and Makeup Tutorial: Baby Doll

Sucker Punch! I love Zack Snyder movies (300, Watchmen) so I went to see this on Friday. Unfortunately, we had to leave mid movie because I had a migraine but I really liked the 1.5 hours I did watch and would love to see the rest. The main character in the movie is Baby Doll and is named as such because she looks like a baby doll. I loved her 'look' in the movie and tried to emulate the makeup and hair. This is my attempt. For this tutorial, I will cross reference the product used by referring to the number I assigned them in the product picture. Let me know if you have any questions about where you can buy the products.

The picture below is the finished look. I will start with the hair. You can see from the picture of baby doll above, she has pigtails with a headband and bangs. So....

HAIR

1. Part hair in the center to create pigtails. Secure more towards the back of the head than the front. Straighten bangs and pin back.

2. Spray pigtails with hairspray to hold curls. Take a smaller barrelled curling iron OR a straightening iron (if you know how to use a straightening iron to curl). I used my CHI straightening iron to create the curls. 3. Place a headband BEHIND the bangs. Baby doll uses a stretchy all around headband. I used this type also because it doesn't give me a headband headache.

MAKEUP:

A.) FACE

1.) You want your skin to look creamy and pale with a touch of pink blush. This is easy for me as I'm already really pale. So, apply foundation with concealer. I used a highlighter to bring more light to the center of my face. I used E.L.F.'s shimmering facial whip in spotlight (product number 4 below). I applied this cream highlighter to the bridge of my nose, my forehead, chin, and cupid's bow. Then, I applied my powder to set this and the foundation.

2.) Blush: This needs to be pink and rosy. Baby doll's do not wear bronzer!! I used l'oreal's True Match Blush in c3-4, tender rose (product 10). I applied this sort of liberally to the apples of my cheeks.

3.) Lips: You want your lips to be nude/neutral. I used revlon colorstay lip liner in natural (product 15) to line my lips and applied maybelline's color sensational lip stick in sugared almond (product 12). For gloss, I used NYX's mega shine lipgloss in baby rose (product 13).

B.) EYES

1.) Prime your eyes with any primer. I used E.L.F.'s primer (product 1).

2.) Apply cream bases. I used NYX's jumbo eye pencil in milk (product 2) to the browbone and Wet N' Wild's Idol Eyes creme shadow in 130 Pixie (product 3) for the entire lid. Blend those out with a finger or creme shadow brush.

3.) Apply a light, shimmery shade to the entire lid. I am using E.L.F.'s mineral eyeshadow in Angelic (product 5). I applied this wet to the entire eyelid and brow.

4.) Apply a taupe color to the crease in a defined manner. It's not an exact cut crease but, it's not a very blended look. I used Wet N' Wild's single eyeshadow in Nutty (product 9). I applied this with a flat shader brush so that it would be more precise.

5) Now, to add some definition to the crease, I took a darker brown and went over the line I just created, working from the outside in. I do this to make sure the darkest colors are in the outside of the lid. I also applied this with a flat shader brush to ensure precision. For this, I used the Wet N Wild 8 pan shadow palette in comfort zone. I used the bottom left shade (product 11).

6) I took a small blending brush and blended the two colors together and blended them out a tad, but not too much as I still want to keep precision in the color.

7.) Baby doll uses a lot of eyeliner on the top lashes with a cat eye. I realize my cat eye is not even here, but I'm working on that. I used a gel liner for this. Using maybelline's blackest black (product 6) and and eyeliner brush, I applied it thicker at the outer eye and winged it.

8.) For the lower lashline, I didn't see very much if any liner, so I used a golden eyeliner pencil to give some reflection but not depth. I used Urban Decays 24/7 pencil in el dorado (product 14). I applied to this to entire lower lashline very close to the lashes.

9.) Curl lashes and apply mascara. I'm using my tried and true everyday combo, l'oreal voluminous million lashes (product 8) first and then maybelline's lash stiletto (product 7) as a second coat. This helps both create volume and length.

Just the eyes picture above ^^

Products used ^^

Product Review: Matrix Biolage Colortherapie Shielding Shine Mist

Another review! But, this one is for hair stuff! My obcession isn't limited to just makeup, I love anything beauty-ish. Hair is no exception. I bought this as I already love biolage color care shampoo and conditioner to extend the life of my red color.

Claims: This claims to provide some UV protection to your hair as well as making it smooth and shiny (even reducing frizz).

Price/Where to buy: I bought mine at Ulta and unfortunately, Ulta doesn't list biolage online. It seems to go for about 15.77 at wal-mart online. I am not sure if you would find it at your local wal mart, though. Any store that carries salon products like Ulta or Trade Secret should have it.

Packaging: It comes in a pump that is similar to one that you would use for hairspray and you get a lot for your money as you only need a pump or two per use.

Smell: It smells like a Pina Colada! It has that typical sunblock coconut type smell, which I love. But, if you're not into that, you may want to stay away. I will say that once you spray it on your hair, the scent dissipates. So, if you want to try but don't want your hair smelling like a tropical bar, I can tell you, it won't.

Review of the Claims/General Impression: I love this stuff! I can't believe I just re-discovered it. I recently found that the ends of my hair were looking kinda frayed, and it's most likely do to all the color I put in it. I needed something that would smooth the ends out. I had originally bought this with the intention of only using it when I'm out in the sun for long periods of time (which rarely happens), thinking the UV protection would be nice. I started using it again recently when I discovered that the ends of my hair were looking ragged.

This product smooths out those rough ends, gives my hair shine, and also gives me some comfort knowing my hair is protected from the sun when I'm outside. I would recomend this to anyone with color treated hair who is worried about fading. I would also reccomend it if you suffer with minor frizz or want something to make your hair shiny.

The only downside is that this will make your hair oilier at a faster rate. I wouldn't say using for the past two days has made my hair super oily but that it has made it slightly more oily than usual. I think the best thing to combat this is by using it sparingly. You don't need a ton! Just a spray or two.

LOVE!