Better Career with Makeup?

According to the New York Times, women who wear makeup were found to be more likeable, competent, and trustworthy. They also state that it could be the placebo effect; a woman wearing makeup could exude the energy to feel more likeable, competent, and trustworthy. Makeup is typically thought of as a 20 minute process, and it's often not. Makeup is about enhancing and concealing features to enhance a woman's natural beauty. It’s not about getting everyone to look like a perfect plastic Barbie doll, but to look their best as a unique woman. Through application techniques, one can cover under-eye problems, hide pimples and make their skin appear brighter among many more options.

Women are looking their best, while spending 5 minutes or less on their facial appearance. Some products are even great at multitasking while they are on your face, such as the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind foundation and concealer. Women want a lip product that will have a great appearance, while moisturizing the lips. Some lip product companies are acknowledging women's requests, and the lip butters and balms were born. Revlon's Lip Butters hit the market first in the fall of 2011 while L'Oreal Paris offers lip balms were recently promoted early in 2012. Even mascaras are pulling double duty like Rimmel London's Lash Accelerator Mascara.

One of the biggest factors in being competent was to have the right shades of makeup on. This means that one should keep makeup looking polished and not as an attempt to look like a clown. I would suggest only trying minimal amounts of color, such as a bright shade of color applied to just the lid area. Or use a bright lipstick while keeping the eyes and cheeks more neutral. Be sure when you are experimenting with color it doesn't contrast with your outfit, and keep the rest of your face minimal and neutral in colors. A pale peach color on the lips would look great with a green shadow paired with a black pencil skirt, white blouse, and green earrings or a bracelet for St. Patrick's Day coming up next month. 

Removing Blackheads

I have been cursed with blackheads on my nose for years. Blackheads are those tiny black dots that typically appear on someone's nose but can also appear anywhere on the face. They are clogged pores that dry up and leave a black appearance at the top. Here are some tips and tricks to get rid of them, I do this at night so any swelling and/or redness has time to subside.

I use an aspirin mask, as demonstrated by Michelle Phan. I crush 3 uncoated aspirins on a plate with a wine bottle making it into white powder, adding a bit of honey, and few drops of warm water. I apply to my face and allow sitting for 10 minutes before getting into the shower. I use warm water to massage it off, leaving my face thoroughly exfoliated. After I get out of the hot shower I immediately put on a Biore pore strip, however if you have sensitive skin I wouldn't recommend this.
After the pore strip has dried and I have peeled it off, I rinse the residue off with warm water and pat my face dry. I then take a bobby pin and dip it into rubbing alcohol. I carefully center any large blackheads in the middle of the bobby pin's head and gently press. If you don't get the clog out the first time, don't press too hard or repeat because you can cause damage tissue or push the blackhead into your skin causing a terrible infection. If any gunk comes out, wipe off onto a tissue, and disinfect the bobby pin before touching it to your face again. When I am satisfied after trying all of the large and noticeable ones, I then moisturize my face and apply a thin coat of Neosporin to my nose. I do this because it is soothing and will prevent any infections. I was surprised to learn however that when my friend was going through tattoo artist training, he tells clients to never apply triple antibiotic ointment to a new tattoo.
Be careful when trying to remove at home, you don't want to be too harsh to your skin because this could cause you to break out even worse. You also don't want to damage tissue because this leads to scarring. If you are unsure or too nervous, seek professional help at removal. 

Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette

Earlier this year I splurged on myself for my birthday and purchased the Naked palette from Urban Decay. I fell in love with it because of the high quality of the shadows and 12 colors it offered. This month Urban Decay has released the sequel, Naked 2. Despite the high price tag, I used gift cards that I had received for Christmas so I could afford the newest edition.

While the original Naked palette was warm chocolate brown velvet brown case with gold lettering, the sequel comes in a cool toupee colored metal tin with gray lettering. Right away I noticed the differences in tones and overall feel. While most of the colors are of the neutral shades, there is a warm tone to the first palette, and cooler tone to the second palette both with the cases and the pigments. Both palettes included a brush and sample product as well. The Naked palette included a flat shadow brush and a trial size of their infamous primer potion. The Naked 2 palette included a double ended brush combining a flat shadow brush and a blending brush. Also included was a trial size of Lip Junkie Lip-gloss in Naked.







Foxy appears as a light and cool vanilla color, totally mat with no shimmer.
Half Baked is a metallic gold with a metal sheen finish.
Booty Call is a pale off white, with no shimmer or sheen.
Chopper is a copper color with a metallic finish.

Tease is a very mat taupe color
Snake Bite is a combination between copper and chocolate, it has a metallic finish.
Suspect is gold with a metallic finish as well.
Pistol is a metallic gray, very cool toned.





Verve is a light shimmery silver
YDK is a rose-colored gold; it is the warmest color of the palette.
Busted is a dark chocolate brown with a hint of shimmer.
Blackout reminds me of charcoal; it’s extremely black and completely mat.

While some people are questioning if they should purchase the second edition of this palette, it ultimately depends upon your preferences. If your budget won't allow, then save your money until you can splurge. There are other drugstore palettes and colors that are much more affordable as well. There is also a great alternative quads for a dollar by ELF cosmetics in Brownstone and Butternut.

Highlighting and Contouring Basics

One of the easiest ways to bring some dimension onto your face is with contouring and highlighting. You basically want to darken the areas of your face that you feel should sink back in, and apply a lighter color to the areas you want to bring forward. There are many products that you could use, including darker/lighter concealers, foundations, eye shadow, or bronzing and highlighting powders. Lots of women do this to look their best, including business career professionals, students, and stay-at-home mothers.

To contour, you want to place a darker color into the hallow of your cheeks to slim the appearance of your face shape. If using bronzing powder, try to avoid using very shimmery powders because this could draw attention to the area you are trying to make sink back into your face. Smile and find just below where the apples of your cheeks are because this is where you want to place your contour powder/foundation from the middle of the cheek and blend it up towards your temples. Once you have blended, you can apply blush above this on your cheeks. I enjoy using ELF contouring and blush duo, the price is amazing at $3. To demonstrate, I used green lines to show where I contour my rounded face to give it more dimension. If anyone has a double chin such as I do, you could apply contouring powder to help diminish the appearance. Other areas that you could contour include your forehead and nose to slim your nose. I like using the shimmery bronzing powders with peach blush to give a sun kissed appearance. I take a large and fluffy brush to sweep it across the top of my forehead, down my nose, and a touch on my chin.

When you highlight, you want to draw attention to features of your face. The area I like drawing attention to is my eyes, I demonstrated this using purple on my picture. I use either a lighter colored concealer or a shimmery powder. I recently picked up Physicians Formula Mineral Glow in Translucent Pearl. Using a small brush, I applied their shimmery light powder around the tear ducts, under my eyebrows, just above where I applied the blush on the tops of my cheek bones, and on my cupid's bow above my upper lip. Other areas some women like to finish contouring are by blending some highlight powder down their nose or their chin.

Busy Morning Makeup on the Go

Everyone has busy mornings occasionally. Here are some tips for applying your makeup on the go. Toss some of these products mentioned into a bag and get out the door.

Cleanse your skin and hydrate it with these pre-moistened towelettes. Just gently wipe across your face, no need to rinse.

De-puff your eyes with Garnier Anti-Puff Eye Roller. Do this at a red light, only closing one eye at a time. Just a quick sweep under eyes, on lids and up to the crease will give you a refreshed and awake appearance.

Prime and correct skin with one product; Stila has a wonderful product that delivers many benefits in one pump with their Prime and Correct Foundation. This is one time it is ok to use fingers to apply.

Add color to your cheeks with a color stick. I love the all over color stick from ELF makeup, and love the price at a dollar! I use the Pink Lemonade shade; just a smudge on my cheek and it blends in easily.

Apply a highlight to eyes with a sponge applicator. In the inner corner of the eyes, and under the brows is where you should apply a slightly shimmery pale shadow. I like Cover Girl trio in Shimmering Sands. Use the sponge applicator that was provided, if you drop or lose it, use your fingers and clean them with that wipe you used to clean your face.

Open up your eyes with mascara. When you park at your destination, apply a quick coat to the bottom lashes first. Then apply a coat from root to tip on the top lashes, when done, use the wand to hold lashes into a curled position for a moment. Apply your lip product while the mascara dries, then apply a second coat in the same manor, holding the tips of lashes curled up for a moment.

Top Youtube Beauty Gurus

As I've had problems with my skin over the years, I've always wondered about how to become a dermatologist. I watched some videos on YouTube.com about skin care, and eventually to makeup so I could cover up and conceal my problems. As my interest in makeup grew, I wanted to know how to apply it more creatively. I wanted to know different techniques and what products were cheap but comparable to high end brands such as MAC. YouTube offers a huge variety of people offering tips and suggestions. Some videos were amazing, some were ok, and some were horrible. Here is my list of favorite YouTube beauty gurus:

JulieG713 has a variety of videos ranging from fashion, beauty, and nail art. She has a line of nail polishes she designed sold by Jessie's Girl Cosmetics. She has a few videos featuring her outfits for the day, with tips and suggestions for students occasionally. I appreciate how she is conservative yet fun with her outfits, and features items that I can often find at the mall.

Emilynoel83 has created Beauty Broadcast channel on YouTube and a blog. She offers comparisons and reviews of everything beauty related including drugstore products and high end products. She offers tips and tricks for makeup and hair. Through her YouTube videos she has persuaded me into purchasing or not purchasing products, saving me money on poor products.

Chantilliscious offers fashion and anything beauty related in her YouTube videos. She offers shopping hauls, fashion tips, makeup tutorials and reviews, hair care tips and styling how-to videos.

ItsJudyTime features a wide variety of anything beauty related videos and tutorials. Some of my favorite videos are when she puts products to the test. Her latest video persuaded me into purchasing a foundation after she demonstrates how it wore on her face over a 6 hour period.

MichellePhan always showcases her creativity in her videos as she explains how to make remedies and offers make up tutorials. She uses high end products frequently in tutorials, I typically watch for application tips and tricks.

MakeupGeekTV demonstrates her many  tips and tricks with makeup, often with high-end brands. There are many videos with application suggestions that helped me.

DiamondsandHeels14 offers skin care and makeup suggestions and tricks. She comes across as very detailed and well researched when offering information about skin care, especially with acne related information.

How to Unwind from the Holidays

As the stress of the holidays is over, it’s time for my skin to recover as well as my body. Here are some tips and ideas to unwinding from the holidays:

Exfoliate your skin. In the shower I will use a body scrub to exfoliate off the dead skin cells. For your face, use a gentle facial scrub so other products will better penetrate your skin. You could also allow the water to stand as you are nearly done in the bath tub, so your feet are soaking and as the water drains, scrub feet with a pumice stone.

Moisturize your fresh skin. After patting skin dry, apply a rich lotion. My personal favorite is St. Ives; it delivers wonderful moisture at a reasonable price. Try using a hydrating facial mask as Michelle Phan demonstrates.

Hydrate your body from the inside out. Eat a well-rounded diet and drink lots of water. Avoid salty food as it will make you retain water and appear bloated. One of my favorite meals that include many vegetables is a taco salad. I add baked tortilla chips, avocado, black beans, salsa and a little lime juice besides the meat, veggies, and cheese. I love eating fruit as a dessert, especially watermelon.

Use a humidifier as you sleep. It puts moisture in the dry air, especially in the winter. It helps to keep skin hydrated and the sinuses. It also helps to make the room more comfortable and rid any unwanted scents.

Eating something high in healthy oils can help to retain moisture. Nuts are an excellent source and provide protein. They are also rich in antioxidants. They will help hydrate from the inside out.

Exercise as possible, moving will help get blood circulating and pushing toxins out of the body allowing you to feel your best. It will also help increase your thirst as well, helping you to drink more water.