Everday Summer Eye Looks

Summer is ending soon, so I wanted to post 3 easy summer looks that I created using Smashbox Photo Op Eye Enhancing Palette and Urban Decay's eyeliners. This small palette is great for everyday looks or to pack away for a vacation getaway. Smashbox Photo Op Eye Enhancing Palette is specifically designed for brown eyed girls, so you are guaranteed a pretty look! But don't worry my blue and green eyed babes, Smashbox covered you girls too!

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3 palettes designed for Brown, Blue and Green eyes

Summer Look: 1

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Summer Look: 2 

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Summer Look: 3

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Sephora presents Presents Smashbox Photo Op Enhancing Palette for Brown Eyes 

 

**By Eleni**

Product Review: Benefit's New Mascara "They're REAL!"...honest

Hello beautiful makeup junkies! Here's a product review for the new Benefit mascara. This product is not available in stores yet, but it is available for Sephora's VIP members. All you need is 100 beauty points to get a sample of Benefit's "They're REAL!" mascara. I was super excited when I got the email about the new mascara because I'm a big fan of their BadGal line. Below you'll find before and after pictures.

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 What it looks like:

The mascara tube cleans the excess so you're left with a ready to use wand!

Before Benefit's "They're REAL!" Mascara

Look at the DRAMATIC difference using Benefit's They're REAL! mascara. I only used 1 coat and I did not use an eye lash curler.

After Benefit's "They're REAL!" Mascara

I love the mascara and I will certainly buy the large bottle when it's available in stores. The tube cleans most of the excess mascara from the wand so there is no clumping. I also love that there's no fall out and it gives my lashes a wet look. The best part of all is my lashes are still flaunting their stuff after hours from application! This product will be available in July for $22.00. I hope you found this review helpful.

**By Eleni**

Bohemian Summer Shoot

I had the pleasure of working as a Makeup Artist and Hairstylist on a Bohemian/African Tribe inspired photo shoot recently. I love what I do, and recently I have found another passion of mine, and that is styling the overall theme and also wardrobe for shoots. For this Particular shoot I worked together with Owl Garden Styling to come up with these three different outfits complete with Jewerly, Makeup and Hair.

The pictures of this shoot were taken by photographer Diana Santisteban. To view more of her work visit her website at: www.dianasantisteban.com 

The First Look- Teased Hair emulating a Lion's Mane

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Fun, Colorful, and Playful with a cute side Braid

Whimsical makeup and A messy side bun

Here is a short Behind the Scenes Video taken by Diana Santisteban:

To view lots more pictures click here

Photo shoot: frilly, dreamy, vintage, & sweet...

This photo shoot was done by yours truly! The girl seen in these pictures is a future graduating senior of the C/O 2011. She was interested in getting her makeup done and having her senior pictures taken. However she didn’t want traditional senior pictures, rather pictures that reflected herself and the theme of her party, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. So, I found the perfect opportunity to shoot my own photo shoot! I love photography! Problem is that I don’t own a professional camera nor have training. But, a good friend lend me his camera and gave me a crash course.  

 

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Style 1:  

Makeup: Soft makeup with rosy lips and false lashes for a flirty effect

Style 2: 

Makeup: 50's Inspired Wing'd eyes paired with dramatic red lips

Style 3:

Makeup: Purple and Pink eyes paired with frosted lips and glowing skin

 I really enjoyed styling and staging this photo shoot and I hope you all enjoy the pictures and makeup. My message to all is to be creative, challenge yourself, and find your inner Picasso! Always remember "Art is not so much expressing oneself, as it is discovering oneself".

Before the Magic of Makeup

**By Eleni**

Here are more pictures of the shoot!

Subtle Spring Look for the Career Woman

This look was requested by reader Miranda. She is a busy career woman and mom, and she wanted a "not so colorful spring look" that she could wear to work or a night out. To me, spring is all about glowing skin, rosy cheeks, and COLOR, but just for Miranda, I held back on the color and came up with this more subtle look. Scroll Down for Instructions.
Enjoy :)

 

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This look is very easy to recreate. Use your favorite dewy foundation to even out your skin tone, apply a cream blush to the apples of your cheek ( this will create the glowing from within effect.) Apply liquid Highlighter like Benefit High Beam above the brows and to the temple following a C shape.

For the eyes, I used the colors champagne, blush pink, plum, and a little bit of maroon along with the Urban Decay liner Rockstar to create a smoked out look. For the lips I used Benefit Lipstick in the shade Good-to-Go ( a cream/ plum brown.)

I hope you like it. :)

Pretty in Pink: Day Look and Hair Tutorial

When you think of PINK, you think of...

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Here is how you can do this super quick day look that would be great for a romantic picnic or a day at the mall with friends.

Eyes:

To create this look at home, pick a few of your favorite pink eye shadows. Start with a light pink eye shadow across your lid, and then apply a hot/bright pink eye shadow for the outer ‘V’ of your eye using a smudge brush.  Apply a plum shade for your crease and remember to use a highlighting shade for the inner corner of your eyes and brow bone.  To make your look more sassy and flirtatious, you can line your upper lashes to create the illusions of thicker lashes and apply lots of mascara! Because this is a day time look I did not line my lower lashes, Instead I applied a pearl color eye shadow using an angled brush under my lower lashes. This effect helps your eyes look bigger and more awake.

Face:

Apply your favorite rosy blush and pink lip gloss and you’re ready to go!

Here is how you can get this cute hairstyle: 

Tools/ Products

1 ½ “ Curling Iron

Bobby Pins

Chi's Iron Guard

Flips or soft curls go great with a “Pretty in Pink “ look. I created this look by spraying my hair with Chi’s Iron guard spray. This spray helps protect the hair from heat and also has a bit of holding without the harsh chemicals of hair spray. I flipped my ends out using a 1 ½“ curling iron. While the hair is still hot, I curled up my ends with my fingers and pinned it in place. Allowing the hair to set while hot, will help the flip last longer. I suggest doing your hair first, then applying your make-up while the flips set. 

*By Eleni*

Tutorial- How to fill in your brows

Hello Makeup Friends,
This tutorial was specifically requested by blog reader Patty. She wants to know how to fill in her brows and make them look fuller, but natural.
If you do research on the internet, you will notice that each makeup artist has their own technique for this and if you have already learned a way that works for you, then by all means don't change it on my account.
This is just the way that I have learned to do it and after many years and many different faces, I find that this gives the most natural results. WARNING this is a very detailed and long post with lots of information, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy.

Products Used:

Inglot customized brow palette, a brow/liner brush, and a spooly brush.

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The key to great brows is having the rights product. I prefer to use powders to fill in the eyebrows, I have found that used correctly, they provide the most natural results. Powders also give you the flexibility of mixing the colors to find the correct shade. 

Although Brow pencils are very popular,  I don't recommend using them to fill in your brows, because they tend to make the brows look too harsh and even if done correctly it tends to be very artificial looking and noticeable. 

No matter the condition of the client's eyebrows, I have never had to resort to using a pencil. Look through my Before and Afters page and you will see examples of eyebrow transformations all done with powder.

My favorite Brow Product is from Inglot, but unfortunately, Inglot is a pro brand that is not available in Florida. Now, since most of my readers are not Pro Makeup Artist, I don't think you will need a product of that caliber. Don't you worry, I have included here some more affordable products to achieve great results at home. I never recommend anything I have not tried, so rest assured that all of these have my seal of approval.

(Click on the names to go to each site)

The NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder is only $6.

The Coastal Scents Brow Tones Palette only $9.95

For those of you willing to spend more money, the Benefit Brow Zings are a great investment and I highly recommend them:

Benefit Brow Zings $30

Now that you have the tools, lets get this started. 
Click on Read More to read tips and step by step instructions.

Color selection:

You always want to use a powder color that is lighter than your brow hair color. 

• Even if you have black hair, you NEVER want to use black on your brows. 
• If you have blonde hair, use a light ash brown with a green undertone. Please no yellows! Natural redheads usually fall under the Blonde category when it comes to brows, they just need to use a color with a hint of orange. I said a HINT, don't go buy an orange eyeshadow and put it on your brows :)
•  Brunettes have it easy, there are lots of browns available and as long as you follow my go lighter rule you will easily find your color.
• Artificial redheads are a little bit trickier, the truth is that no one has naturally bright red eyebrows, so if you color your hair red, then stick to warm browns for your brows with maybe a slight red undertone.
• TIP: You can use any matte eyeshadow as a brow filler.

Application:

Always begin with groomed  and brushed brows. Pluck away any stray hairs.

• Now dip the brow brush on the brow powder color that most resembles your natural brow color making sure you follow the guidelines I wrote above. 
• Remember you can use more than two colors. 
• TIP: Always dip the brush on the lighter color first and then on the darker one. Why? Because the last color you dipped into will be the first color to go on the actual brow. In this case you want the lighter color to go on top of the darker to blend it well, so when dipping you do the opposite. Get it?
• Now start applying the color on the center of the brow using short horizontal strokes following the direction of the hair growth. Do this softly and kind of like if you were drawing little hairs. 
• Continue filling in the rest of the brow following this technique, and don't be afraid to go slightly outside the line in order to shape and arch the brow.

The brow to the right has been started and you can begin to see the difference. 

• When you reach the tail part of your brow, use only the very thin tip of the brush and softly apply the color.
• Now grab the spooly brush and brush your eye brow using short strokes following the hair growth. This will blend in the brow powder with the hairs and give you a more natural look.

All done!

• TIP: If you want your brows to stay in place for a long time, spray the spooly brush with Hair Spray and brush it onto your eyebrows. Trust me, this works better than any brow gel.

For those of you that want a more dramatic look, you can fill in the brows and keep going outside the area where the hairs grow creating any shape you desire, but you might want to reserve this for only special occasions and night time. The key is to blend it all together with the spooly brush and use the application technique I described. 

Here is an example of the same eyebrows, over filled to create a thick, dramatic brow.

Big difference. Super dramatic.

I hope you learned a lot from this tutorial and remember that practice makes perfect so Practice, Practice, Practice until you get it right.

Jaday :)