I've almost used up all of my concealer - and I desperately needed a new one.. So I went to the MAC store and asked the girl to help me find my shade (since mine was a little bit too dark - one shade too dark). We found my shade and when she was picking it up, she noticed that it was out of stock.. With almost no concealer at home I thought that I'd try another one, and see what I think of it.

That's why I got the Studio Sculpt Concealer by MAC. I know that their makeup can be a bit pricey, but I think that a good base is worth splurging for..

I really hope that this product turns out to be good - I need it for graduation!



Do you have any products that you tend to splurge on? ♥

Since summer is coming around, we all just love having an extra glow on our face.. But sometimes, there is no time to lay under the sun or use any self tanners - faking it (naturally) goes a long way at times like these and that's what I've been rocking (or trying to) lately.

I found a picture of Blake Lively with a gorgeous summer-glow-skin, but I wanted to keep this look simple and very natural, which is why I skipped some of the steps.



1. Do your regular foundation (or powder)/concealer routine. Don't forget to prime and moisturize beforehand!

2. Pick up a bronzer with no shimmer, sparkle and so on - it should be plain "brownish". Don't choose a color that's too dark on you if you are fair skinned. That wouldn't look like a summer glow - it would look like a summer burn or something like that and that is not attractive!

3. Sweep the bronzer on your cheekbones (not the hollows of your cheek - we don't want to contour, just fake a glow), your nose, your jawline and along your temples using a powder or blush brush.

4. Using an eyeshadow brush (crease brush), sweep the bronzer along your crease, slightly up to your browbone, but not all the way up under your brows!

5. Sweep some shimmery highlighter (I use a champagne-white-goldish eyeshadow for this, since I think that it looks good.. And it doesn't make my face go oily - I have combination skin!) on your cheekbones (only! dont take it further down!), your nose (just along the bone - and use a tiny bit if you have oily skin!), under your brows, the inner corners of your eyes and your cupids bow.

6. Fill in your brows (I think that a full brow look is very flattering during summer, specially when wearing this look, since you wont have anything on your eyes).

7. Sweep a pink or coral blush (personally I prefer pink) on the apples of your cheeks and blend.

8. Put on some brown mascara - it looks more natural than black and I've been loving brown mascara lately.

9. Apply your favorite lipbalm (or a pink/coral lipgloss/lipstick) and your ready to go!

Simple and easy steps that I LOVE!
Btw, what do you guys think of this type of post? Do you want more or less of it?
xx

Since I am obsessed with the Twilight Saga, and loved Breaking Dawn part 1 (the movie), I really liked Bellas simple "smokey" wedding look and thought that I would make an inspired how-to-post about it. I usually do that look on myself - on parties and so on, since it's very easy and simple!

Disclaimer: my "version" of her look might look a little bit different, since I'm only inspired by her look.



 
The eye makeup is really beautiful - and simple.     
        
After doing some research, I found the actual quad
that they used in the movie!
Chanel Quadra Eye Shadow in Winter Nights

1. Start by applying a foundation primer (on clean and moisturized skin).
2. Apply a sheer foundation (or a tinted moisturizer) and hide any imperfections with concealer.
3. Prep your eye lids with an eyeshadow primer (I have a post about this. Click here).
4. Apply the pinkish shadow (the left one in the bottom) all the way to your brow bone to highlight your brow and to set a "base" for the other shadows. You can use any similar color to the actual quad - work with your own shadows!
5. Sweep the golden/shimmery color (the right one in the top) on your lids - only! Don't bring the color up to your crease.
6. With a crease brush, take a little of the brownish color (the left one in the top) on your crease - lightly! Don't go overboard with it. Use circular motions while applying it and start with a little color and add more later. A little goes a long way!
7. Use any black pencil and draw a messy line on your upper lashline, but draw it only halfway - from the middle of your eyes and outwards.
8. Blend the black liner with a black eyeshadow (the right one in the bottom). Blend outwards - we want the inner part of the eyes to stay clean. Repeat step 7-8 until you like the "smokeyness". I usually repeat it about two times since I like dramatic eyes.
9. Line your upper lashline with the black shadow (all over the lashline - but make a thin line!). For more drama - use a liquid eyeliner.
10. Curl your lashes and apply couple coates of black mascara - be careful with the mascara though, we don't want clumpy eyelashes.
11. Fill in your brows - I like to fill my brows with brown eyeshadow. Remember to go two shades lighter if your hair is dark and two shades darker if your hair is light.
12. Use a sheer pink blush on the apples of the cheeks and blend to the hairline.
13. Finish of with lipbalm and a pinktoned lipgloss.

There you go - an inspired Bella Swan bridal look!

Imagine not washing your hands for a week - that's how dirty your brushes could be (kind of!).

I can't say how important it is to clean your brushes - specially the ones you use everyday! Since I'm not a professional, I have only experiemented with my own brushes with some guidence from different sources and so on and I have learned what cleansing methods work best (for my brushes).

I say that you should clean your brushes constantly - but not everyday! I think that you notice once your brushes are really, really dirty and needs to be cleansed.

Why is it important to clean your brushes?
Lets look at the concealer brush (although I use an eyeshadow brush as a concealer brush since I think that they work better) as an example. You use your concealer brush everyday to conceal any blemishes, dark circles and so on. And if you happen to have an active break out and use your brush to conceal it (along with concealer of course) and put it back in your brush holder to use it the next day, chances are that you might spread the bacteria in your active break out to other areas of your face - we don't want that! That's why you should cleanse your foundation brush and your concealer brush constantly.

Now there are two types of cleansing:
- Spot cleansing
- Deep cleansing

Spot cleansing usually works with a some sort of cleanser spray that you can buy at any makeup store - I get mine at Kicks. You lightly spray the brush that you want to clean AFTER you've used it, and dry with a clean towel (don't use any white towels, only use an OLD towel that you don't need and make it your "brush towel", if you know what I mean) . I recommend spot cleansing your foundation and concealer brushes after every use. It's also a good way to spot cleanse an eyeshadow brush that you've used for a certain color, so you can re-use the brush (after letting it dry!).

Deep cleansing can be a bit tricky. You have to sort of try different methods to see which one you like best - and which one that maintains your brushes original shape. I use a shampoo for this. It's recommended to use a baby shampoo, since they are very "unharmful" or any non perfumed shampoo (although I'm using a shampoo with a light scent in the pictures below).
It's very important that your brushes are tilted down - don't make them "stand up" - while you are cleansing them; or else the water could ruin the glue that the brush hairs are attached to, and your brush would be ruined!

Another important thing is that you wash them in a way that wouldn't ruin their "original shape". For instance, if you are cleansing a kabukee brush, you should stir (wrong word?) it in circular moves (using the shampoo) and keep stiring it until most of the dirt has been "released". Then you should rinse it (with water) without letting the water going into the glue of the brush - as I said, keep the brushes tilted DOWN. Let them dry - lay them down - on a towel.



The spray cleaner - from Kicks!


Some of the brushes that I cleansed - the shampoo - the towel (my "brush" towel).


How I laid my brushes to dry.


I don't know if this post helped you, or if it just messed everything up :P.

I've never liked purple eyeshadow.. Nor pink/choral or anything that isn't brown, grey, white, gold and so on. I have never really liked to put anything with color on my eyelids, until recently..

Since I have an expanding eyeshadow collection (because of my devotion to them hahah :P) I have been experimenting with color - without wanting it to seem very obvious. We don't want to have pure purple eyelids now, do we?

And to be honest I have been afraid of putting on pink eyeshadow since it can make your eyes look like they have an infection - and they tend to make them looking quite red(-ish). But when I was looking through my "mono" eyeshadows I found a pretty pinkish-coraly-salmony color - as you might guess, I have no idea what I should call the color, but it's really pretty. I mixed it with a light beige, almost white, color to make the pink tones in it seem less obvious - and to take away some of the glitter in it.. And oh my - it looked very pretty! (specially with high lighted inner corners!).

So when I was having a study break today, I thought of how to "transform" the very subtle day look (makeup artist wannabe, eh?) to a simple, easy evening look - and I found the answer! Why not use a purple eyeshadow to compliment the color?! (I'm wearing it now, since I tried it on myself before advising it to you guys hahah!).


These are the colors that I used. They are from the recent Maybelline limited edition collection (I'm
not sure that they are still selling them) and they don't seem to have any names or numbers :/
I reaaaally want to say that you shouldn't be intimidated by the very dark and scary purple color - or
any purple color for that matter!

I really want to know what you guys think about these type of posts - do you like them or should I get back to the older ones? (I'm asking because my readers seem to increase each and everyday - making me think why people would like to read my blog.. :') )

I've been thinking about writing makeup-related-posts, since I've got a thing for makeup - specially eyeshadows.. and blushes.. and mascaras!


Don't you all just hate it when you have put your heart in working on your eyeshadow, and wearing it with pride and joy, when it suddenly starts creasing or fading away? Sometimes, the colors of the eyeshadows that you use won't even show because of it not being very pigmented.. That's where my tip comes in handy (and I bet that many of you have heard it!). Eyeshasow primer.

That one product, that usually comes in small containers, can be very pricey.. And if you have just started to build up your makeup, you don't want to spend that much money on an eyeshadow. The good thing is that you can make your own eyeshadow primer! Although it won't be as good as real eyeshadow primers, its better than not wearing any "primer".

You need:
- An empty container
- Concealer (preferably liquid)
- Body butter (NOTE: not body lotion!)

Measure up the same amount of concealer and body butter, mix them together in your little container and VOILA! (how do you spell that word?) You got yourself an eyeshadow primer!