Hot or Not Beauty

I came across this ultra cute little ‘Blushing Daisies’ compact (pictured), while I was in the Body Shop the other day. It’s a shimmery blush that has the cutest design. I have dubbed it my makeup art, because I think it kind of reminds me of a Van Gogh, but then I’m a little nutty about my beauty products. So far I haven’t actually been able to bring myself to use it – being a total beauty nut I’ve just been toting it around showing it off and boasting about how cute my new purchase is!

Well after my cute discovery at Body Shop I decided to make it my mission to uncover any other dinky little designs, and found a cute little option available from Yves Saint Laurent. The Palette Pop Collector Powder is an aptly named face powder that comes in a very pop art inspired design. Formulated to give a radiant glow to the complexion, much like my Body Shop powder I suspect I’ll end up buying for looks more than functionality! If the pop art era wasn’t your thing, then the Yves Saint Laurent ‘Opium’ palette (pictured here) may be more your style. This is an adorable compact with an oriental art inspired case, containing four complimentary powder shades for the face and eyes incorporated into a floral design.

Finally I discovered the ultimate in very girly makeup buys at Christian Dior. The Dior Princess Ring is about the cutest thing ever, and is available in a lip and an eye version. This makeup as jewellery product is a silver ring inlaid with turquoise (it’s a little bit Tiffany’s!) or in candy floss pink. It has a crystal surrounded mirror on top and eight crystals on the four sides. Both the lip and eye ring contain 2 shades and are the ultimate in cutesy makeup ideas. I love it and I’m sure all you other princesses at heart are going to love it too!

Dior launches yet another perfume in the Poison family, this time with a gorgeous midnight blue bottle and a seductive twist on the century-old Cinderella tale, along with the gorgeous Eva Green.

Composed of rose, patchouli and amber give body to the bewitching black rose imagined by Dior’s Perfumer-Creator François Demachy.

Wong Kar-Wai directed the film and John Galliano creative the dress for our modern heroine, I leave you the gorgeous promotional video.

Last, but certainly not least, we’ll go over key items to take with us in order to always look fresh. Once, while looking for a friend’s cellphone at a party, I found 4 lipglosses, three eyeliners, two blushes, two mascaras, two pressed powder compacts and wondered where was the need to bring all this with her. Usually accessories like handbags for more formal situations are of limited size and therefore don’t allow you such freedom of choice.

So here’s what I think you should bring and what you definitely shouldn’t.

Bring it on
Pressed powder or blotting paper - One or the other, if you don’t like to feel as if you’re caking on powder, then opt for blotting paper, the pressed powder should preferably be in the shade of your loose powder or make sure that it doesn’t alter your complexion. I like MAC’s blotting paper, as well as their blot powder compacts.
Lipstick and/or lipgloss - With sipping, eating and so on and so forth, lipstick and gloss (specially gloss) wears off and should be reapplied. Remember to fill in your lips with your lipliner in case you use it, so you don’t distract yourself and end up with just an outline of your lips. I’m not issuing any recommendation, as you should stick to what you applied at home.
Concealer/highlighter in pen format - I prefer Yves Saint-Laurent’s Le Touche D’Éclat or La Prairie’s Light Fantastic Cellular Concealing - Brightening Eye Treatment. You can also opt for Diorskin’s Skinflash, but I’m not crazy about the texture. These allow to bring an instant highlight to a darkened area without disturbing your makeup and without caking it.
Multi-Purpose Stick - If your skin can handle it, or if you have an oil-free version of it, I’m biased towards the NARS Multiples.

Leave at home
Foundation - Leave it at home and don’t cake it on, you won’t look better, you’ll look heavy
Mascara - I don’t think mascara should be reapplied, it will cake on your lashes and make them heavy and icky.
Eyeshadow - If you prime it well and use good products, you won’t need to reapply your eyeshadow, so leave it behind.
Eyeliner - Same as eyeshadow, if it has enough staying power, no need to clutter your purse or handbag

When touching up, always remember that less is more, it’s not a matter of how much you apply, it’s how you apply.

After evening out and perfecting your complexion, you have created the canvas for the next stages of makeup application.

Before applying your eyeshadow, apply a primer (like Urban Decay’s Primer Potion) and after it’s completely dry, use a large brush and apply a neutral eyeshadow the color of your skin tone to ensure that whatever colors you use afterwards will not stain.

Favorite eyeshadows:

MAC - Eyeshadow
Chanel - Le Quatre Ombres de Chanel
Shu Uemura

There are no rules regarding whatever eye-makeup should be for these types of occasions. You should consider the time of day and what kind of outfit you will be wearing and leave the more heavy and dramatic looks for evening rather than daytime. However there are no set rules, if you want to wear smoky black and deep red lips by all means do so.

Prefer a more holding eyeliner like a gel eyeliner rather than pencil (if you prefer pencil, then opt for a waterproof one) to assure that it will hold throughout the day.

Bobbi Brown’s Gel Liner
MAC’s Fluidline
MAC’s Powerpoint
Guerlain’s Loose Eye Kohl
Make Up For Ever’s Aqua Cream Liner
Make Up For Ever’s Cake Liner

I prefer waterproof mascara for these occasions, even if you’re not emotional you never know when an unexpected tear might appear, so be ready and bullet-proof.

I recommend one of Helena Rubinstein’s mascaras, they’re my personal favorites and allow all type of desired effects, my Holy Grail is Lash Queen. For a mascara primer, use the Shiseido one without a doubt. If you’re more daring then opt for false lashes.

Do your eyebrows with a dark pigmented matte powder, using brow brush that has hard bristles making sure that you don’t overdue the application to avoid the eyebrows ending up too dark and artificial.

Only consider contouring if it’s an afternoon/evening wedding, contouring in the daytime looks extremely artificial and you’ll be drawing attention to areas that you would prefer to keep minimized. You can add a touch of bronzer to the areas where the sun naturally hits your face, but avoid orange pigmented ones or those with too much glitter.

Unless your skin is dry/normal (allowing the use of a cream blush), opt for pressed or loose powder blush, applying it with a light hand to ensure a careful and controlled application (invest in a good blush brush as well) and while a bit of shimmer is perfectly acceptable avoid colors with too much glittery look to them, a softer, more formal look is quite often preferred and photographs a lot better.

Where blushes are concerned, my preferences go to MAC, Chanel and NARS.

There are no definite rules where lips are concerned, try to keep lip-lining as natural as possible and fill in your lips with your liner so you won’t end up with lined lips and nothing else underneath, keep your liner as closest to your lipstick color as possible and usually a creamier lip liner is easier to apply and blend. To avoid harsh lines, blend the liner with your lip brush.

My favorites are Chanel’s Le Crayon Levres and MAC’s Cremestick liner.

Add a touch of gloss for a pouty lip or lay it on for a more lacquered vinyl-ish look with:

Lancome’s Juicy Tubes
MAC’s Tinted Lipglass
Chanel’s Glossimer
Yves Saint-Laurent’s Le Touche de Brilliance
Dior’s Gloss Show
NARS‘ Lip Lacquer

After looking your most gorgeous, the next article will focus on what to bring in your purse to always look your freshest.

Welcome back to part two of makeup for weddings (when I say weddings, it can apply to any sort of special event or cerimony that demands that you look your best and usually will have you photographed or videotaped for posterity), when we review the best type of makeup products to use.

First and foremost, a primer is mandatory! You want to ensure that your makeup holds all day long with the least bit of touching up necessary that will make you look always fabulous and prevent the “Oh dear, is it six AM already?” look.

Here’s a couple of options that (to me) have always been bullet proof:

Make Up For Ever’s Corrective Make Up Base - Available in several shades to correct skin discoloration/rosacea
Make Up For Ever’s All-Mat - Formulated for oily Skin and to ensure a matte look throughout the day.
Smashbox’s Photo Finish Foundation Primer - Also available in light, color corrector and anti-aging versions to suit your skin’s needs.
Laura Mercier’s Foundation Primer - Regular or Oil-Free

Blot the skin with a soft tissue to remove excess product (if needed) and follow with your usual makeup to even out the complexion. As always, regarding dark circle concealers opt for moisturizing formulas that avoid creasing and don’t enhance whatever lines you might have in that area like:

Estee Lauder’s Re-Nutriv Duo Concealer
Chanel’s Vitalumiere Creme Concealer
Dior’s Anticerne Perfecteur Concealer
Laura Mercier’s Secret Concealer

Where foundation is concerned, although we like to appear as natural as possible, more damaged skin (either sun damage or scarring) will require foundation with deeper coverage, also if you have oily skin avoid shimmery/dewy types of foundations, as the day progresses it will make you look greasy and that’s a definite no-no. Also, avoid shimmery powder and highlighters if you have uneven skin in terms of texture, the shimmer will atract light and make painfully obvious whatever you’re trying to conceal.

If it’s a afternoon/evening wedding, prefer matte or semi-matte foundation formulas so that the flash won’t reflect and wash out your complexion and avoid foundations with SPF, specially Titanium Dioxide. Opt for SPF in your primer or day cream.

Laura Mercier’s Tinted Moisturizer (sheer coverage with a fresh glowy finish) - For those who need sheer coverage and slight adjustment to their complexion, this is a consumer and artist favourite.
Make Up For Ever’s Face & Body Foundation (gel type, all skin types, dewy) - Sheer to Medium Coverage, water resistant and can be used on body
Make Up For Ever’s Lift Foundation (fluid, with powder for deeper in formula for deeper coverage, semi-matte) - Formulated for mature/dry skin with medium to full coverage.
Make Up For Ever’s Mat-Velvet + (Fluid, combination/oily skin) - Photographs gorgeously and medium to full.
Dior’s Diorskin Air Flash - (Spray Formula, matte finish) - Velvet finish with a lightweight formula

Use loose powder to set your foundation and to ensure a flawless application of other products that will follow, apply with a velvet puff for more coverage or a brush for a more natural finish.

MAC’s Loose Blot Powder - For oil-control and makeup hold, specially for combination/oily skin.
Make Up For Ever’s Super Matte Loose Powder - Impecable hold and extraordinary finish
Chanel’s Le Poudre Universel Libre - A gentle loose powder for more sensitive skin
Dior’s Diorskin Poudre Libre - Gentle loose powder completely oil-free

If your under-eye area has a lot of fine lines, avoid using loose powder in that area so you won’t accentuate them even further, also avoid heavy pigmented powders in that area it won’t darken the area that you’re trying to lighten.

Next follows the application of color products to the face…

As you might have noticed from my many ramblings, I am obsessed about concealers and constantly try new ones, ones however perform their functions better than other, specially considering that I have very dark circles.

Having worn glasses for many years and being a contact lens user, I have a few fine lines in my under-eye that are barely visible. However, the wrong type of formula equals disaster and ends up adding 15 more years that I don’t have.

So, although I am constantly trying new things (specially to separate good products from bad that I can later on apply on a customer) because I’m quite the consumer and am never satisfied for long with the same thing. I do have, however, those personal favorites that I always keep in backup and usually the ones that I will go back to, after my affair with a new product.

My favorite concealer is, without a doubt, Dior’s Anticernes Perfecteur: it combines several key factors that I find essential in my day-to-day wear and that make it (so far) my HG concealer of the moment.

Anticernes Perfecteur is a fluid concealer that comes conveniently in tube format and can be applied with your ring finger quite easily while still maintaining control, therefore it is ideal to transport and carry around on vacation, business travels or or for the occasional touch up if the day goes over the normal routine and a dinner pops up unexpectedly.

Also, this formula is highly moisturizing and doesn’t enhance the fine lines in the eye area and also doesn’t migrate and is water resistant. One of the few flaws of this product is that is very limited where color selection is concerned, which is a shame.

Although the price can be a bit disappointing, with this concealer a little goes a long way, so whenever you have the chance and if you have a skin tone in this makeup brand’s range do try it out.

While SK-II’s Air Touch Foundation might be a bit too “rich” for some pockets, I would like to dedicate this posting to another great spray foundation.

After a disastrous reaction with MAC’s Studio Mist foundation I decided to look for a similar product because I enjoyed the sheerness of the MAC formulation and fresh and non made up it resulted and I decided to give a try to Dior.

Diorskin Airflash gives an even finish to your skin with a matte/velvet feel to your skin. You can apply it directly onto to your skin or if you want more coverage spray it onto a dish and apply it with a foundation brush or a sponge to build up the coverage.

This foundation allows you to create a very 40s Hollywood look of perfect skin without making it look cakey or as if you were wearing a pan cake foundation mask.

For a fresher look I will pass on applying loose powder to let even more of the skin shine through unless it’s a very oily complexion, on the other hand it doesn’t oxidize easily even on oily complexions so that should be a plus.

The only downside is that it’s slightly scented so it might cause irritation on those of more sensitive skin and as usual it doesn’t caterer to darker toned skins which really bums me out.

All cosmetic consumers try all sorts of new products and colors, it’s just like candy, all the constant innovations of formulas, colors, textures, finishes, they’re meant for us to buy and try and try and try. But what are our favorites?

Still, there is “the” item that we constantly repurchase and can’t seem to find a replacement for, whether it’s that unique color that always suits us, that fragrance that is almost a part of our identity. Or just something we wore at a very special occasion that cannot help but evoke special memories.

Mine? I’m quite plain actually, besides Christian Dior’s Fahrenheit who remains my signature scent since the age of 16 (I’ve worn other colognes but keep coming back to it and it’s a scent that friends and co-workers immediately identify with me), other than that I always have either Shiseido’s Translucent Stick Gloss that moisturizes my lips and gives it a natural gloss finish without looking overdone or Chanel’s Cristalle Gloss in “Ice” when I want the extra shine.

So here’s my question for today? What are your cherished beauty items? What are those products that you always have no matter what and as soon as you wear it, it makes you feel special.

Did you ever dream that cruises dictated a makeup trend? Well they do. Most major deisgners produce a cruise collection each year. You know, for those ladies who can afford to buy a complete new designer collection of cruisewear just for the occasion. While most of use get a new swimsuit, a pair of capris, a couple pair of shorts and a dressy gown for that special dinner night, cruise collections are extremely popular.

This brings us to makeup. Designers spend time in perfecting the makeup looks for their collection along with their makeup artist. Backstage at the Christian Dior Cruise 2008 Fashion Show, held May 14, 2007 showed the perfect looks to accompany cruise wear. Now a couple things to remember. One — maybe you aren’t going on a cruise, but cruise wear is in effect a type of spring clothing, so you may want to check out the spring trend in makeup as presented. Two– runway makeup or makeup done for fashion shows is exaggerated. Just look at what the focal point is in the makeup and then you can have an idea of what to emphasize in your makeup to step up to the trend.

Let’s look backstage at Dior:

Notice the bold brow. Do you want to wear a thick dark brow that brings back images of the beautiful Audrey Hepburn? Maybe that’s your style. Be careful, you could easily do the Groucho Marx look. But, the designer is trying to tell us to pay attention to our brows. Fill them in with a pencil or powder. Take to to acheive a beautiful full brow. Your eyebrows should be full, not necessarily thick, sculpted and frame your face. Check out how the eyes stand out even more prominently when eyebrows are defined.

In this next set of photos, look at how cheekbones are highlighted. What’s the message here? Well, a soft highlight on top of your cheeks is flattering and soft. Even if you think you don’t have cheekbones, they are there. Take a soft shimmer powder of a cream luminizer and dot on top of your cheek to achieve this look. I love NARS Multiples, try Cococabana. Laura Geller’s Beauty Dews which contains 3 luminizers to create a luminous highlight.

Last but not least, keep lips nude or neutral so that all eyes are on your eyes.

makeup, cosmetics, fashion, cruise wear, dior fashion, makeup trends, how to wear makeup trends, beauty, womens makeup, eyebrows, nude lips, luminizers, highlights, nars, laura geller, beauty blogs

Spring makeup trends encompass several key looks. Metallics, bold lip, flushed pink cheeks and strong brows. Remember, the key to a trend, is interpreting it so that it fits your personal style. Let’s look at bold lips today.

At the designers shows, bold lips were shown in a variety of ways. Geisha style, with a nude face, and in all colors. What can we lay people take away from this? That you can wear your bright bold lip with different makeup looks. A fresh clean face with a bold lip will be quite refreshing for Spring. Sophisticated makeup, (think Geisha) works well with a bright red lip for spring.

Dior Couture interprets the bold lip Geisha style. Lacoste, aware of their clean sporty image, interprets the bold lip real world style. Tuleh also showed the bright lip with a clean face. A trend we will definitely be seing this spring. It looks like desgners and makeup artist were on the same page. Diesel also showed a clean face with bright lips.

The bold lip look can be easily worn for day and night. For the conservative career woman, the college girl or for a night out on the town. It’s definitely a club look and it’s for the ladies who lunch.

Sephora interpreted the look with a Cargo PlantLove™ Botanical Lipstick in Maria, $20, a sheer-but-bold red shade.

Other bold lip choices:
Gloss: Stila Lip Glze Cranberry (sheer brick red)
Sheer Lipstick: LOLA Ali (medium violet red)
Lipstick: Vincent Longo Gel-X Lipsticks Enhanced With Lip Plumping Moisturizers — Coast (berry plum cream)
Stain: Nars Lipgloss Stain Rage (rose coral)

Here to bold lips — HOT!

lips, lipstick, lipgloss, red lipstick, lipstick review, spring trends, makeup trends, stila lip glaze, lola sheer lipstick, vincent longo gel lipsticks, lip plumping lipstick, nars lipgloss stain, beauty, women, fashion, comsetics, makeup, fashion shows, beauty blog, hot or not

Spring is almost here and it’s time to update the face! As much as I hate to admit it, fashion decidedly influences the makeup styles for each season. Spring 2007 fashion is all about sporty or romantic looks. Metallics and throw back inspiration from the ‘8o’s. Colors are limited to Black and White or your basic nude. The fashion trend, dictates the makeup. In makeup we will be seeing pink flushed cheeks, metallic eyes, bold lips and strong brows.

Let’s start with a fun trend for Spring 2007 — metallics.
Granted the way a trend is presented on the runway is not the way we everyday girls wear it. Trends are exaggerated on the runway. Sort of hyperbole in fashion — so we get the point. Models at CHANEL Spring 2007 sported bold gold and silver shadows rimming their eyes. While most of us wouldn’t wear that much shadow or in such a fashion for everyday, it does give us some insight into how to interpret the trend for everyday wear.

How to wear the trend:

Metallic shadows run the gammut from light sheens with a slight glimmer of metallic, to full on heavy metal. Your choice depends strictly on preference. I wouldn’t recommend a corporate lawyer wearing Urban Decay shadows with super shine and glitter, someone conservative certainly could wear a color wash (soft sweep of color over entire lid) of a soft sheen like Stila in Kitten or Nude. Pump up the metallic with Urban Decay in Baked, El Dorado or Vapor — the best of their metallic bronzes, golds and silvers. These metallics double as liners when wet and used with an angle brush.

Other sure fire metallics:
Dior 1-Couleur Powder Mono Eyeshadow in 065 Silver Dust
Bourjois Metallic Eyeliner — Try any color
Make Up For Ever Flash Color — Gold 20 and Copper 752
Becca Jewel Dust

Metallic eyes — HOT!

Check back for tomorrow for Trend #2.

makeup, cosmetics, makeup trends, spring makeup2007, women, fashion, beauty, dior, bourjois, make up for ever, becca, eyeshadow, metallic makeup, how to wear eyeshadow, makeup recommendations, chanel spring, hot makeup, trendy makeup