Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Perfect Winged Eyeliner ? ? ? A Youtube Lie & How To Make It Actually Work For You

There are tons of videos like this out there & it's always so frustrating to me. It's not that they do a bad job. The girls always do a wonderful job & their liner looks great.
The problem is that it looks great on them.
Everyone's eye's are different & this often gives girls the wrong impression. The'll do it exactly like the girl does in the videos & then it won't look like it did on the girl that did the video. Because of this they think that they just can't wear winged liner or that it just looks bad on them.
This, of course, is not true. You simply have to work with your eye shape & may need to do it in a different shape to achieve the style & shape you're looking for.
So it's not that I'm against these videos, it's just that I think that they need to be renamed to something like  "How I do my winged liner".

So how do you know how to do winged liner on your eye shape?
Practice & lots of it!
I suggest sitting in one night, taking a cheap black eyeshadow with an angled brush (my favorites are Raven eyeshadow by Loreal & the ELF Angled brush, I find that a small angled brush is easier to control then a bent or pointed liner brush when you are first starting out), some baby wipes & going to town. Try it out & wipe it off until you find something that works for you. Then, when you get it to a point that you like it, take a picture (with eyes open & closed) & post it in the area that you do your makeup. This way, you have your very own little cheat sheet next time you go to do your liner.

 So, where do you start?

There are a few different techniques to figure out the general line that you can follow. Each will give you a different shape & pronounce your eyes slightly different. Most of it comes down to personal style & what comes more naturally to you.
#1- Put on a pair of false lashes that have a long curved outer corner. Open your eyes wide & follow along the outer edge of the lashes. This technique is best suited for people without a deep set crease or that naturally have a large lid space. This gives you a traditional 50's-60's type of look.
#2- Extend the line from the natural curve of your lower waterline. Place your brush on the corner of your water line & just follow where that would naturally go if it extended towards your brow. I find that this technique works on all lid shapes & will give a upturned look to the eye.
#3- Place a cream product along your lower lash line. Then take the side of your index finger, place it along your lower lash line & drag your finger along the lash line to either your temple or the corner of your brow. Now just follow your liner along the inside of the smudge. I find that this technique works the easiest for those just learning where they should place their liners outer edge.
#4- If you like more of a triangle elongated effect, take the line from the middle of your bottom lash line up towards your brow or temple. This technique is much harder to master & really is dependent on eye shape as well as personal preference.
#5- Take a piece of paper, line it up from the corner of your nostril to the corner of your bottom lash line. Make sure the paper extends to your hairline & follow along it with your liner. I find that this technique works the best for people with mono-lids, deep set eyes, or hooded eye lids because it extends the line beyond the crease which can distort your wing. This technique also elongates the eyes.

Now that you have the bases of your outer line (which is definitively the hardest part) it's time to bring it towards your top lash line.
If you want a more dainty look, start about half way up your outer line. Pull it in a sweeping motion to a forth of the way into your top lash line, accenting a deep curve. Then blend the liner into your lash line. Keep building this line until you are happy with it. You can build it up higher on your outer line as well as further into your lash line. Remember to build slowly & alternating between both eyes, making sure they are even (nothing sucks worse then having one eye perfect & then trying to get the other to match).
If you want a stronger look, pull  your line over from just below the top point of your outer line. Drag it in a straight line towards your lash line. You can pull it to about a forth of the way in for a modern pin-up look, half way for a dramatic effect, or almost all the way to the edges of your lashes for a great rock chic look.
Of course, either of these techniques can look more subtle or stronger depending on how high you take the initial outer line.

Now for the liner against your top lash line. This comes down mainly to personal choice & how you want your eyes to look. The top liner greatly effects the way your eyes will look shaped.
For a sultry Marilyn Monroe type of shape, start at the inner corner of your lashes (just at the very start of your tear duct). Make a straight angled line to about a forth of the way into your lash line, it should be about a 45 degree incline. Now round out the corner into a straight line across your lash line to your outer corner. Make sure to round out the edge before your wing as well.
For a dramatic, rocker type of look start at either the edge of your tear duct or just a little bit into your lash line. Now do a straight angled line to your outer wing. The higher you take this, the more dramatic it will look. I suggest starting by taking it just a little bit less the 1/4th of the way up & then building it from there. This will give your eye a very lifted elongated shape. I think that this works best when your initial outer line is more angled away from the crease (techniques # 3, 4, & 5)
For a rounded baby doll look, do a line tightly against your lash line. Now, slowly build up a dome in the center of your lid pulling it down towards the corners. You may have to even out the angle or sweep between the outer edge of your dome & your wing depending on how steep or wide it is. Work with it until it flows the way you want it to, this may take a little time & practice so be patient.

I know that this was a rather long blog post with a ton of information. I tried to explain things as clearly as I could but, if you have any questions at all or would like a short video on a specific technique please feel free to comment below.
Hope this helps you figure out a few new tricks to winged liner!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Wonder Woman Nails & Makeup Look


While I can't really say that I've ever watched Wonder Woman, I still think that she's awesome as hell!
I've always been attracted to her look & outfit more then anything else. So everything was kind of based around that.

For the nails I really wanted to pull the whole look of her outfit together. I decided to go with a gold base to pull all of the colors together. Then added accents of red, blue, & white


Products Used:
Nail Savy Enamel (I don't know what color this is or even if it's available anymore, I've had it forever & was given it as a gift. I just used this as a base as all my other polishes were completely sheer. Any golden yellow or even a light brown or peach would work.)
Sinful Colors in This Is It (this is a beautiful golden shade but is pretty much sheer)
Wet N Wild Fast Dry in The Gold & The Beautiful (I highly suggest this polish to top off any other gold you decide to use. It is a beautiful brassy gold shimmer/glitter. This will look beautiful over the deep fall nail polishes that are coming out!)
Sinful Colors in Under 18 (I think this is going to get a ton of use this winter)
Sinful Colors in Midnight Blue
Sinful Colors in Snow Me White

For the makeup I really wanted something that was a little bit disco & a little bit classic pin-up. I'm extremely happy with the results & think that the blue, gold, & red look great together. It's kind of just a step up from an everyday look.
I seemed to be having one of those days that nothing wanted to work when I filmed this tutorial. I decided to put it up anyway because I felt it was important to show that everyone has those day where things just don't go as planned & you just have to work with it.


Products Used:
Revlon PhotoReady Foundation
Real Techniques Stippling Brush
Revlon Cream Blush in Berry Flirtatious
Real Techniques Blush Brush
High Definition Small Powder Brush
Cover Girl Loose Powder in Translucent
Rimmel Exaggerate Eye Definer in Deep Ocean
Sephora Smudge Brush
Forever 21 Concealer Brush
Ulta Professional Eye Primer
High Definition Large Blending Brush
ELF 100 Palette #69
Real Techniques Base Shadow Brush
ELF 100 Palette #79
ELF 100 Palette #62
Urban Decay Baked Eyeshadow from The Fun Palette
Electric Blue Eyeliner (Sephora, Urban Decay, & Makeup Forever all have great ones)
Too Faced Lash Injection
Sephora Eye Pencil in 505
Cover Girl Liquid Line Blast blue (this doesn't have a name on it but there's only one blue)
Sephora Nano Lipliner in Real Red
Loreal Infallible Lipcolour in Cerise
Gotta B' Urban Powder Brush
Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips in Miami Strip
Loreal Infallible Never Fail Lipgloss in Rebel Red

Thanks for all the feedback for this series. I've really enjoyed reading all your comments.
If you have an idea for a series or have anything you'd like to see let me know.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Mystique Nails & Makeup Look

              





(It was extremely difficult for me to find pictures of the Mystique that I like from the 90's X-men cartoon,
so sorry for the crappy pictures.)

While most girls admired their fairy tale princesses, I was in front of my TV every single Saturday morning hoping that Mystique would be on this episode of X-Men. She was my idol & I don't think that I could have had a better one.
Mystique is the ultimate woman. She can be anyone & yet chooses to be herself (except for the occasional time when it benefits her master plan to be someone else), even though it made her an outcast. She is strong & powerful, yet has a deep emotional side. It seems that she can sway anyone to her will, which I'm sure you'll agree is something we all admire from time to time. She is incredibly sexy & completely un-reachable unless she chooses you. She is the definition of female empowerment!
She taught me to be strong & independent & to be yourself, even if it's different.

As soon as I thought about the nails for Mystique I knew that I wanted to do a gradation with blue & white. To me it just speaks to the essence of her. The beautiful tone of her skin & her flowing white dress, the effect of her transitioning, it all just seemed to fit together perfectly.
Now, I have never done anything like this before & found it to be quite easy to do. Plus I really like the end result & have been getting compliments on my nails non-stop.


Products Used:
Sinful Colors in Snow Me White & Why Not
Foundation Sponge
Toothpick
Lovely Cuticle Pusher
Wet N Wild Fast Dry Clear Coat

For Mystique's makeup I once again wanted to go with blue & white, but I also wanted to add a touch of yellow to bring in her eyes. I wanted something that was bold but still wearable & not too over the top. Mystique's makeup is very simple with classic red lips & slight liner. This kind of left me on my own with coming up with something. Hope that you girls like what I came up with.



Products Used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in Noir
Ms. Makeup Eye Blending Brush
ELF 100 Palette #41 (use #61 if you're darker)
Studio Basics Crease Brush
Too Faced Blending Brush
Wet N Wild Fly Me To The Moon Trio (bottom blue)
Love & Beauty Concealer Brush
Revlon Illuminance Cream Shadow in Electric Pop (white)
Wet N Wild Fly Me To The Moon Trio (top white)
Studio Basics Eyeliner Brush
Femme Couture Cake Eye Liner in Cobalt
ELF 100 Palette #31
Maybelline One By One Mascara
Gotta B' Urban Powder Brush
Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips in Miami Strip
Studio Basics Concealer Brush
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Matte 006 Really Red


If you try this out tweet me a pic!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Love It Or Ditch It- Collective Review/Haul (August2011)

I got a fairly wide range of products this month & was happy with most of them. I also tried out quite a bit of Maybelline stuff this month due to the buy 2 get 1 free sale at Ulta. Most of it was ok but nothing spectacular. However, I did notice that the prices on Maybelline have drastically gone up & the products just weren't worth the price. The lipsticks are pretty comparable to the CoverGirl ones that I love & have a great color range that is completely different then the CoverGirl ones. They recently release a jewle toned lip collection that has some amazing colors (I stumbled across it at Ulta by mistake, so I'm not sure where you can get them or if they're limited edition)
My Sleek purchase is not included in this because I wanted to do a separate review & have yet to use a few of the products enough.


Products:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Speedy Sunburst & Grape Going- Ulta $5
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Model Behavior- Target $5 (on clearance)
Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Red- Walgreens $9
Wet N Wild Dream Weavers Trios- Rite Aid $3 each
ELF Beauty School Eyeshadow Night Look- Target $4
ELF Smokey Eyeshadow Palette/Party Palette- Target $3
Essence Gel Eyeliner in Berlin Rocks- Ulta $4
Jessie's Girl Eye Dust in Baby Blue(?)- Rite Aid $4
Essence Stay With Me Lasting Lipgloss in Trendsetter- Ulta $3
Hard Candy Stroke Of Gorgeous Felt Tip Eyeliner in Storm- Walmart $5
HIP Crystal Shadow Duo in Charming- Walgreens $6 (on sale)
High Definition Deluxe Eye Duo Set- Walmart $9
Maybelline Eyestudio Color Explosion in Amethyst Ablaze- Ulta $11
Maybelline Super Stay 24 Color in Lasting Lilac- Ulta $10
Maybelline Eyestudio Master Drama Cream Pencil in Vibrant Violet- Ulta $8
Maybelline The Falsies Mascara in Black Drama- Ulta $7
Maybelline Colorsensational Lipcolor in Fifth Ave Fuchsia & Fuchsia Fever- Ulta $8

A few products that I didn't mention in the video (because I left them in my bathroom).
The Suave Dry Shampoo Spray is AMAZING!!! I have tried several brands from all over the place & don't like any of them as much as I like this cheap little $3 one. It has a wonderful fresh citrus sent, doesn't leave some weird film texture on my hair, & doesn't leave a white residue. There can be a minimal white residue if you over-spray but, it brushes out really easily. Would definitively suggest this over all others! I got mine at Target but, I know they sell it at most drug stores.
The other thing is my new straightener. After a few months of trying to deny that my crappy $20 was dying I finally took the plunge to buy a little bit better one. I am not one of those people that feel it is at all necessarily to spend $200 on a straightener but, I did want something a little nicer then what I had. After looking at tons of them, I finally decided on the Ion Ionic-Ceramic 1" Styling Iron in the awesome silver & black zebra print. There was another one that I liked just a little better but, the print was so awful I just couldn't get it (I would have gone crazy looking at baby pink & lime green tiger print every day!). I really like the flexible plates on this & it seems to just glide through my hair. I also like that the plates don't go all the way to the edge so you can get it right up to your scalp without burning yourself. Plus the rounded off design comes in real handy to curl under the ends of my hair. The only thing that I don't like about this is the temperature controll dial. My old one had buttons & a little display on top. This one has some turning wheel on the inside (between the two tongs). I always find myself nudging it & turning it up really high on accident.
I got mine $10 off at Sallys for $50.

If you have any suggestions for products let me know!
I read each & every comment that you leave & reply every one.
Hope you girls found this helpful.