My Favorite MAC eye shadows

I thought today I’d do a blog on some of my favorite MAC eye shadows. Mac eye shadows were some of the first eye shadows that made their way into my kit. Only because of my discount I receive and I had a few personal one’s that I loved!


These eye shadows come in various forms of texture’s and of course colors. Some of my favorite textures are matte formulas. I guess I just really love the consistency it brings forth once creating that smoky eye, that 20’s look, 50’s and 60’s look. With these eye shadows you get really great quality. Below I will post pic’s of just a few of my favorites. I tried to keep my favorites to a minimum but it was hard to do!

Aquadisiac
Ahhh Aquadisiac!! One of the few shades I first bought! I laugh today at the fact that the sales lady said “Add some water to your brush and it goes on really well!” Wow I thought….hmm the water activates it!! Hence the name “Aqua”! But I love to pair this shade up with either expresso or embark. A little really goes a long way!

Carbon

What can I say about carbon! Absolutely a must have color! This is my go to matte black in my kit! Excellent for smoky eyes!! With this matte black you can’t go wrong!!

Coppering

Coppering was a color I saw on one of the sales rep’s for MAC. She appeared to be my complexion and she had it on just right! This is such a velvety color and rich in texture! Once again a must have!

Embark

Can I just say that I love Embark! Embark is such a great shade for WOC for their eyebrows. I also love to use embark in my crease as a crease color for some definition to my hooded lids. Better yet just use embark on the mobile lid, blend out well with just a tad bit of carbon in your outer V and Viola! You have a nice neutral look!

Expresso


Once again a very nice shade for WOC. Just like Embark this makes for a great eyebrow color or crease color!

Rice Paper

Rice Paper is the absolute best highlight for right up under the brow! You can also use it in the corners of the tear duct for just a slight reflection of light to add to any day or night look!

Vex

Vex to me is one of those colors many sleep on. Hey just my opinion. So velvety in texture! It’s richness is pure heaven! I like to pair Vex up with either a matte brown or either carbon or print e/s. It’s a great compliment to a smoky eye or a matte purple as well.

These are just a few of my favorite eye shadows by MAC. There's more but these are some of my main go to eye shadows when in a hurry for a quick everyday look. What are some of your favorite MAC eye shadows?

The Bride!!

 

Hi everyone!  Last week I did a post on a bridal consutation.  Needless to say the wedding day arrived this past Saturday 3/12/11.  It was a pleasure doing this Bride.  She didnt wear makeup but yet in still wanted to look flawless on her special day!  Like I said in my consultation post she picked her colors.  They were beautiful purples. I added the gold just to set the purple off plus it was one of the colors of her wedding.

This was my first wedding of 2011!  I was excited to do this wedding because it kicked off Bridal Season for me. I knew being this would be the first wedding of the year I had to bring my A game.  I wanted everything to be flawless about her makeup (no pun intended)!  Because I knew with this one wedding could bring more.  I didnt do the bridesmaids but even still it's all about the Bride!

I was sorry that I couldn't stay for the wedding so that I could have possibly met some soon to be brides or clients but duty called in two other parts of town.  I was on the MOVE!  Lol 

You can best believe that I have looked at the pics and critiqued them a thousand times.  I see a flaw here or there or something that I could have blended more or gave more attention to.  But thats why I've learned to take my own pics so that I can have a constant reminer of what not to do next time.  Sometimes I don't need the pics because the minor mistake coud be something that sticks with me or in my head to never do again or try a different way next time.


Also before I finished the look especially after the foundation I would take a pic just to see how it would look or turn out in photos.  But all in all it was a great experience and shall we say......."On to the next one!"

Plum Eyes

Today I did a look which features some plum colors. Yes it's still sort of in the purple family but I find that I'm drawn to these colors for some reason.

I used mainly two neutral palettes to achieve this look. I used my MAC neutral palette and my neutral palette that I got from Ebay which is very similar to Coastal Scents neutral palette. These are two of my everyday go to palettes. Especially when I'm on the move!

With a neutral palette you can't go wrong. This video was actually made on yesterday 2/24/11. But being that I had such a busy day yesterday I uploaded it today. I hope you enjoy and if you have any comments or questions feel free to comment below! XOXO

Products Used:

• NYX hd primer
• Coastal Scents Metal Mania palette a shimmer soft beige e/s in the inner corner
• MAC's Antiqued e/s  on the lid and outter corner
• MAC's Curduroy e/s in the crease and outter V
• MAC's Kid e/s sightly above the crease for blending
• Ebay neutral palette soft brown shimmer e/s as a highlight underneath brow arch

Last but not least I used My Loreal Carbon Black Mascarra and Nyx eyeliner also I used Loreal leuner liquid liner for my top lid!



Fridays FOTD!!

     Today I'm back with my Friday FOTD!  Today I was rushing as usual to get out the door and to work on time.  Needless to say I was still late but I thought that the look was quick not too detailed and really wasnt time consuming at all.  I basically just contoured and highlighted my entire look.  Even on my eyes I used blush, sculpting, highlihting and shaping powder.    

For foundation I used Nars Tahoe Sheer Matte in Med/Dark 2. I love this foundation!  It doesn't take much, it's buildable and it goes on seamlessly.  To apply my foundation I used my Beauty Blender. Another new love of mine. If you have not purchased a beauty blender it is definitely a  must have!  I bought them from Amazon.com.  After my first purchase and use of the Beauty Blender I placed another order for  4 more!  I ordered more to use on clients and to add to my kit. Definitely a great investment for my kit I must say!     

Here is a list of items that I used to achieve this look:

                                                                              

First I cleansed, moisturized and primed my face.

For cleanser:Mac Green cleanser

For Moisturizer: MAC studio moisture cream

For Primer: I used Milk of Magnesia(my first time using this.  I had to try it. Lol. Shhh)

For my Contour: Shadester by MAC(sculpting powder pro)

I contoured my nose, crease of my eyes and cheeks with this.

For my Highlight:Emphasize by MAC(highlighting pro powder)

I used it under my eyebrows, bridge of my nose, the top of  my cheeks and the tear duct of my eye's.

Also for the crease of my eye  and lower lash line to add some depth I used raizin blush and  Format blush by MAC. For actual blush I used coppertone blush by MAC.

For shadow on my mobile lid I used lightsweep shaping powder pro by MAC.  I also used Loreal eyeshadow primer to prime my mobile lid.

I used Loreal Volumnous Mascara for lashes

NYX eyeliner for liner on both top and bottom of my lids.

For my eyebrows I used spiked eyebrow pencil by MAC and went over top of it with Boy Girl eyebrow set by MAC just to set my brows and give them a natural look.

For Lips I used a tad bit of concealer to even out my lip color and a sheer coat of  Greek Holiday gloss  by Nars to give my lips a nice neutral look and some shine.

I wanted to do more with my look today but being I was pressed for time this is what I came up with.  It's my go to look when I'm rushing to get out the door.  This look I feel gives me detail without alot of color but comes across as neutral, clean and flawless!

Makeup Artist Reads and Must Have Books!!

<>

Insert of Bobbi Brown's Make Up Manual

 

Hey you all I'm back today with my Favorite Makeup Reads! I've been reading these 5 books for almost a year now. The Hair, Makeup & Styling Career Guide by Crystal Wright is the last book that I purchased which was in maybe October of last year and I'm almost finished. (Please visit: http://www.crystalwrightlive.com/). I normally can read a book depending on the book in a day or two or a week tops but when it comes to my make up books I've found that I need to go back and re-read a section or basically study a technique or get a better understanding of what I'm reading. Therefore it takes me a bit longer to read.

Actually I've finished Bobbi Brown's Makeup Manual. It was the first into my collection. When I decided to start my business I googled Makeup Artist technical books/handbooks and this is what came up and I purchased it off of Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/). I also purchased Kevin Aucoin's books from Amazon as well. I still am looking to purchase Sam Fines "Fine Beauty" from there but I figured I needed to study these some more first before my next purchase. Plus I have Sam Fines Dvd "Fine the Basics of Beauty".

All of these books are very informative and go into great detail and explanation of contours of the face, colors, undertones and so much more! I really don't have a favorite out of these 5 books actually all of them are my favorite. But I will say that if you are an aspiring makeup artist and you are wondering how to take your skill to the next level and get your name out there and network and get your foot in somebody's door, Crystal Wrights book is the absolute best for this!! Hands down! My second recommendation if you just can't seem to understand how to get that seamless contour and highlighting to work for you or your client, Scott Barnes book delivers that and so much more! I love Scott Barnes book for the simple reason it's in color and shows great detail and has step by step bullet marks and guides. It's definitely any aspiring makeup artist's must have.
Here is some of the detail that is done inside of Scott Barnes Book! Amazing transformations.

Here below is some pics from Kevin Aucoin's book which also goes into great detail but half is in color and mostly illustrated step by step. But you get the picture and is very detailed and informative.

Once again all of these books are very informative and helpful when trying to master the art of makeup artistry. It's just not necessarily limited to a makeup artist but a makeup lover as well who just wants to look good and wear her makeup well! I hope you guys enjoyed today's post. I'm dedicating myself to posting more often. If you'd like to add a few of your favorite make up reads please by all means comment below. Thanks for reading!

Look using Sugar Pill Cosmetics

Hi everyone! Today I'm reviewing and using the Sugarpill cosmetics quad. Hmm I don't know where to begin on this quad. I saw alot of You tube guru's use this quad and just gave such rave reviews on it that I felt I just had to try it! Well needless to say I'm dissapointed. I guess where the other guru's were calling it very pigmented I found it to be chalky. Now I will say this.....maybe it was chalky because I picked up alot on my brush. If you just tap your brush in one of the colors it immediately gravitates to your brush so I guess thats the pigmentation that everyone is speaking of. But to me as I was applying the yellow it just caked up and chalked up on the yellow Jumbo pencil by NYX. I found it very hard to blend. Because it is so "Pigmented" you have to sort of layer it.

Now like I said it could have been me. I know with some other brands I've tried I found I wasnt using it correctly. Or I didnt have the right brushes for the product or didnt know how to properly use the products. But nor here or there I guess I'm just spoiled with using products where it's blendable and there are no rules or certain ways to use the product. But I do suggest if you have this quad or are considering getting this quad that maybe not to use as much as I did. For me according to my pics it doesnt look as though I used alot but ....I DID! Lol . I'm only going to give my honset opinion on any product that I use. I have just always seemed to luck up on products that I purchase and love them. I have bought some things I didnt like it but never reviewed them and either donated them to someone else or just threw them away. But being that Sugarpill is such a popular brand I really wanted to try them out and I honestly really wanted to like them. Also I feel as though there should be more colors than what they have. To me every guru, up and coming cosmetic company or private label has a quad or some of the colors that surarpill has to offer. Now if they gave me some things to try out to review I'd definitely give them another try but as of now I don't think I'd be purchasing the line with my own hard earned money. But in all fairness to the line I will continue to try and use it and see if there is a specific way that I should use it. Also I may even watch some other guru's videos to see if there is anything different that they may have done that I didnt. But I did see a still picture of someone else using it and it looked chalky to me off the break! But hey I like to form my own opinion before assuming. Well I assumed right. So once again like I said I will try and attempt another look or so with it to see if there is something I did wrong.

Pink and Brown eye look

Hi everyone! Im back with another tutorial. Today I did a Pink and Brown inspired eyelook. I've been wanting to try this for some time now. So I had some time on my hands today and decided to give it a try!

I think that pink and brown together makes a hot combination! With these two colors together you just can't go wrong! All the colors I used are all Matte colors. There is something about matte colors that I'm just drawn to. It's almost like I see just the true pigment of the color. I really can't describe it but I'm just facinated with matte colors. I like the shimmery ones but matte's are my favorite.

Also in this video you will see that I used my finger to apply the first coat of brown. I like to use my fingers from time to time to just gjve the colors some appeal and appearance of almost airbrushed. Once again something else that's hard for me to describe but you know where I'm coming from. Lol. There is a part in the video where I'm applying and blending the under eyebrow color. I dont know what happened to the clip of me showing the color but I just wanted to make sure I let you all know that I did use a shadow up under the eyebrow.

Here is a list of products used:

Too faced eyeshadow insurance-lid primer

soft ocre-eye base

120 pallet-Both pink shadows and first brown application

Hip duo eyeshadow(poppy)- 2nd brown used

Wet N Wild color icon(lust)*Top left hand corner* - Underneath eyebrow

Contour & highlights:

MAC NW50 & NC37

NYC Matte powder bronzer

Blush:Wet N wild in Goddess

Highlight above blush: MAC Belightful iredescent pressed powder

Eyeliner: Loreal Hip cream liner

Mascarra:Kiss

Lashes"Ardel Daisie's

If you have any questions please feel free to ask. XOXO