life is peachy

I'm noticing a trend for the spring/summer that I actually really like - peachy/orangey shades of lipstick/glosses. I love the way it looks on just about every skin tone, and you can tone it up or down depending on how sheer the color is. Hillary here has really nailed this look, and even accented her cheeks with a peach-toned blush, which really works on her. Milani makes a great shimmery gloss in an orangey shade called Stylish that you can pick up at a CVS or Walgreens, or if you're into ordering online (like I am), E.L.F. makes a great shade called Cool Coral that is really inexpensive (and who doesn't love that?).

The trick here is to be careful that you aren't going too overboard on orange or you could easily end up looking like an Oompa Loompa. Stick with something sheer and shimmery and keep the eye makeup light to complement the look. Now...orange you glad I told you about that? :)

Fall Trends: Hot Pink Lips

I have never really been one to wear color on my lips. As my sister loves to point out, I have pretty thin lips that I don't like to draw a whole lot of attention to with bold color, so I tend to stick to nude or very pale pink tones when it comes to my lips. However, I do like to keep up with the trends and one that I'm really liking for the fall (picked up from people.com) is pink lips. But not baby pink, no no...hot, fuscia pink, which is a beautiful color on so many skin tones. If you're on the younger spectrum of your teenage years (say 12-14ish), I would stick to lip glosses just because an actual lip stick can look sort of heavy on young skin, and there are plenty of glosses out there that offer lots of shine and color. One thing to note here is that if you're going for bold lips, keep the rest of your look very light. Like how Charlize on the left here has totally played down her eyes so that there isn't a competition going on between her lips and her peepers. Hayden, in typical teenage fashion, has upped the liner around her eyes, but has otherwise kept the boldness of her look confined to her lips. I would definitely advise against using colored shadow if you're going to rock this look. That is just clown face waiting to happen. And most people I know are terrified of clowns, so we want to steer clear of that.

Using Color Creatively

It’s no secret that I’m a big advocate of wearing makeup that is not only age-appropriate, but situation-appropriate as well – meaning toning down the glitter or the thick liner for school, work, family events, etc. This does not mean, however, that “appropriate” means “boring.” Personally, I cannot seem to get myself to stay away from color, no matter if I’m going to work or doing freelance makeup work, or even just hanging out with my family or friends on the weekends (yes, I hang out with my family. They are cool people. You will understand how cool your family is when you are older, I promise). Granted, I don’t wear as much as I would if I were going out with my girlfriends or having dinner with my boyfriend (ok, he’s my husband, but I want to sound cool and hip here!), but you’d be surprised at how you can still work a pop of color into your everyday makeup routine to ramp up your look without crossing over into “inappropriate” territory. I am going to pretend like the girl on the left is not Stefani Pratt cause I could seriously care less about her, her brother, her brother’s wife, or any of those crazy idiots on the Hills or whatever show that is about all those rich kids who are famous for doing nothing. HOWEVER. The addition of a swipe of blue eyeliner to the bottom water line really makes the blue of her eyes stand out, and it’s an unexpected addition of color that also adds interest. In Ashanti’s case, the blue looks beautiful against her darker skin tone and adds definition to the shape of her eye that you may not notice if her liner were just black or brown. A little color in the outside corner of the eyes is always fun, or I also like to take a thin angled brush and swipe some color under my bottom lash line – purples, blues, greens…just don’t apply too heavily. Eyeliner is not meant to be black or brown all the time! I know I’ve advised you to keep a neutral color palatte for school/work, and you should, BUT…a little punch of color never hurt anyone. That I know of.

Shiny, Happy People (hmmm...this is a reference to an old REM song from the 90s that you maybe will not get cause you were like 4??)

I am the first to admit that I am very, very guilty of what I call "raccoon syndrome" because I am instantly attracted to and mesmerized by anything shiny, sparkly, or glittery. (In case you are not picking up what I am laying down, raccoons are infamous for their attraction to shiny, reflective things, I'm not just picking stupid names here) That said, I LOVE glittery, shimmery makeup. I love it. I got a Milani lip gloss the other day that I think I might want to marry. It's called Lip Mixer, and it's available in multiple shades (today I'm wearing Lip Stir, kinda like Hipster but with less hip and more lip - and I am all about that!), and not only does it look like something I might want to eat, but it's also incredibly, beautifuly shimmery, it's not sticky, and it smells delicious. I highly recommend adding any shade to your makeup collection, and you can get Milani at pretty much any drugstore. That said, it's also very easy to go over board with the giltter, so a tip for keeping the shine in check is to only apply it in one place. If your shadow is super glimmery, use a matte lipstick or a gloss that doesn't have glitter. If your lips are rocking the glitter, use matte shadows and maybe highlight by your brow bone with a shimmer. You don't want to look like a disco ball, so try to balance out something shiny with something matte (by the way, matte means it's not reflective, but a flat color that doesn't have sparkly specks or metallic shimmers in it...sounds boring, I know, but the combination of the two is really very nice!) to get your look right!!

When It's Too Hot for Foundation...

If you are one of the lucky few who is just blessed with beautiful skin (and oh, how I envy you!!) and you just don’t NEED to wear foundation, there’s a great product out there that doubles as a moisturizer and a little bit of color – tinted moisturizer (genius name, right??). One thing that’s really great about it is that it will blend in to match your skin tone because it’s only lightly tinted to provide just a teeny bit of coverage, and it also is super lightweight so you don’t have the heavy feel of foundation. This is also great during the summer if you want to skip the foundation all together but still need to even out your skin tone or cover a blemish. Sometimes it really is just too HOT for foundation. Instead, dab a bit of concealer under the eyes or over a blemish, then blend over that with the tinted moisturizer, finish with powder, and that’s that. Neutrogena makes a great one that is available at any drugstore, and even comes complete with that SPF factor that I love so much. And may I say, that had I had skin like Selena Gomez when I was 17, I would have paraded it around every single day. Not that she is parading, I’m just saying that I would have.

Hats Off to Hayden

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my lucky stars that I was never a child celebrity. Considering that I was a teen in the 90’s, when sky high bangs and unbelievably tacky crap were in fashion, I think most people who were famous back in the day can only look back at the photos and wonder why on earth they ever thought wearing multiple colored scrunchies (oh my GOD, do you even know what a scrunchie IS?!?!) or velvet button-up shirts was cool. That said, I am (for the most part) totally amazed at how classy and put together most teenage celebrities are now. I am not a huge fan of her acting (sorry, but I speaka da truth), but I would like to applaud Hayden Panawhatever, because she was born when I was like TEN and I seriously want to raid her closet. I plan to get some video tutorials going on here soon, and I’d really like to recreate some of Hayden’s looks. MOST of the time she looks age appropriate and fresh-faced and cute (ok, ok, she’s beautiful) and I know that for me, attempting to imitate the looks of my favorite celebrities back in the day often had disastrous endings (I have already mentioned the pencil thin eyebrows that were a result of telling my older sister to make me look like Drew Barrymore).

I do think it’s kinda creepy that she can’t date anyone her own age, but that has nothing to do with this blog, I just wanted to say it. Out loud. So she can hear me.

Anyway, stay tuned for some video soon, and kudos to Hayden for growing up in Hollywood and remaining (relatively) normal-ish. Kind of. Most normal people don’t have million dollar Dooney & Burke deals and a closet full of Louboutins but you know what I mean.

Crazy Beautiful

I am about to say something that might shock you. I have never seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I do not care to read any of the books, and despite my overwhelming crush on Alan Rickman, I flat out refuse to watch a movie about wizards and flying around on broomsticks. That said, I flippin LOVE Emma Watson. I seethe with envy over her shiny hair and I am in love with her style...she's always looking very classy, feminine, elegant, and sort of retro. I also think she is a great role model and I love that she's going to real college and living in a dorm and not partying it up all hours of the night like some crazy Hollywood types (are you listening, Lindsay??). So, anyway, this is from the premiere of the latest crazy wizard movie she's in and I think she deserves a standing ovation for looking so amazing. Her makeup is FLAWLESS! I love love love her brows - they are on the thicker side but they totally frame her face perfectly and make her eyes stand out even more. I'm also thrilled that she doesn't have tons of makeup piled on, because she really has beautiful skin and features and knows how to play them up without overwhelming her face.

To get brows like Emma's, you may want to start out at a salon before you do any at-home work. DO NOT do what I did, which was let my sister pluck my eyebrows when I was in the 8th grade and I ended up with eyebrows so thin my mother bust out in tears when she saw me (this was also in the early 90s when super thin brows were the thing). If you have a great brow shape naturally, consider yourself lucky. If your brows are thinner than you'd like, use a powder to fill them in - it looks much more natural than a pencil and blends into your brows much more smoothly. You can get a brow kit anywhere - NYColor (Target) makes a powder/wax combo set, Milani (CVS) also makes a good kit, as does Benefit (department stores). Grab an angled brush to lightly apply the shadow into your brow - if your kit comes with a wax, use that over the shadow to help set and hold the shadow, then don't forget to run a brow brush over the whole thing, to blend the shadow and complete your look.

THIS is what i'm talking about!

Ok, so I felt kinda bad about ragging on Miley's makeup yesterday, so I thought I'd post something nice about her today to balance out my karma. This photo is from the Oscars or the Emmys or some awards show that I didn't know why she was attending (oops, I am supposed to be saying nice things, huh?), and although I questioned her presence at whatever event this was, I do have to say, I love her makeup. She looks totally fresh-faced here, very feminine and yet glamorous, too. The blush is great (this is a difficult skill to master!) and I love that she isn't too heavy on the eye makeup since she's wearing red lips. It's important to remember to keep the drama to one part of your face - like if you are doing dramatic or smokey eyes, you'll want to steer clear of bold, dark lips, or else you run the risk of looking like a clown or a showgirl. Since Miley is doing a bolder lip here, she kept the eye makeup simple and it really works well. She looks her age (yahoooo!!) AND her makeup is totally appropriate for the event she's attending. Love it!!

To get that glowing look she's rocking, pick a more red-toned blush, but apply it VERY LIGHTLY - trust me, a little blush goes a long, LONG way - to the "apple" of your cheek, and brush upwards towards your ears. In case you are wondering, the apple of your cheek is easily found by smiling. Feel that fleshy part where it's most rounded out? That's the apple. But again, go easy on the blush - the idea is to make it look like you're naturally flushed like you got embarassed, NOT to obviously look like you have color painted on your cheeks. I have the best luck with powder blushes, but creme or mousse blushes work just as well, they are just a little tricker to apply. Pick a blush with a little sparkle to it and you'll really get that glow!