Hey everyone!
Sorry I’ve been MIA. I was away until Wednesday, then I had work, and today is my 26th birthday. I will post more within the following week. You know how it is when you come back from vacation… Please bare with me.
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The Blog
Make Up Do’s & Don’ts
Makeup Do’s
Always…
Play up your best features! Long eyelashes are to beautiful eyes what a short skirt is to great legs.
Use a light hand. Remember you can always add more makeup if you need it.
Blend! Blend! Blend! There should be no “stripes” on your face. You’re a lady, not a quarterback.
Adjust the amount of make up to the time of day. LESS for day, more for night.
Use clean tools to do the job. Nothing is worse than using a dirty brush on a clean face.
Cover your clothes with a towel/cape before applying makeup. You don’t want to get messed up!
Practice and try new things…that’s how you’re going to get good, and comfortable with putting your best face forward
Makeup Don’ts
Never…
Go overboard. No need to wear layers of makeup. Clowns are cute…at the circus!
Focus on more than one feature at a time. Going for a strong lip? Then go easy on the eyes and vice versa too.
Think that makeup will hide all your problems. If you have skin issues like acne, work on clearing it up before you wear make-up regularly.
Fall into the trend trap. Just because you saw it in a beauty and style magazine doesn’t make it right for you!
Wear what you don’t love. Don’t let the lady at the beauty counter convince you that you look great when you think you look a hot mess.
Learning to use these makeup application tips isn’t hard. It’s 20% skill and 80% practice. As long as you stay far away from the no-no’s you’ll be fine!
BEST PART: If you’re not satisfied with your work, use a makeup remover, wash your face and start over. Remember, it’s not permanent (unless you want it to be but that’s another story!)
O.k., now that you know what and what not to do, time to hop to it. Practice makes perfect!
Eyebrow Shaping with Tweezers
The right brow shape can and will make a dramatic difference in the way you look.Some people cannot handle waxing/sugaring, even threading because their skin is overly sensitive, which will cause them to breakout in the area they got threaded or waxed. This happens to my sister, so I tweeze her brows for her, and after tweezing she has no bumps.
Prepping:
1. Wipe area clean with alcohol
2. OPTIONAL: If you dislike pain, try numbing the area with a topical numbing cream or spray.
3. I put a little Vaseline on my brows after I brushed them so I can see the shape better.
***Don’t stand too close to the mirror when shaping
Decide on what shape you’d like your eyebrow to be. This is where it gets a little confusing.
You can mark each section off with a white brow pencil or concealer to cover the hairs you’ll tweeze, & tweeze after or you can tweeze as you go along.
4. If u take a pencil, pen or something long & slim hold it parallel to the side of your nose. Where the brush meets your brow is where your brow should begin.
5. To find the end of your brow, extend the pencil diagonally from your nostril, following the outside edge of your eye toward the brow. Where the inside edge of the pencil hits is where your brow should end.
6. To find your arch hold the pencil parallel to the outside edge of the colored part of your eye (the iris). Where the pencil meets the brow is where the highest part of your brow should be.
TWEEZE CORRECTLY!: Hold skin taut by gently holding skin firm with your free hand while tweezing, means less tugging and pain on the skin.
If the hair is just too short for tweezing, don’t push the tweezers into the skin. Scraping, bleeding or even scarring can result if you get a little too forceful with your tweezers. Having some hair is a better option over broken skin. Instead, just wait until the hair is a bit longer and can be easily grabbed on to.
TWEEZE CORRECTLY!: Hold skin taut by gently holding skin firm with your free hand while tweezing, means less tugging and pain on the skin.
If the hair is just too short for tweezing, don’t push the tweezers into the skin. Scraping, bleeding or even scarring can result if you get a little too forceful with your tweezers. Having some hair is a better option over broken skin. Instead, just wait until the hair is a bit longer and can be easily grabbed on to.
7.Trim your brows -Brush them up and the really long hairs will be very visible. Snip it with a pair of tiny scissors.
I use these tweezers because it allows you to get a more precise line & clean look like if you waxed or threaded. They’re expensive but, they have a lifetime guarantee & you can always send them back to be sharpened. La Cross sells similar ones for a cheaper price I think $6.99 or something.
If you live in Brooklyn, I’ll do yours for you – for a fee of course lol
I’m A Woman of Color & I Can’t Find My Right Shade of Makeup
If you’re a woman of color (black, hispanic, indian – anyone with tan to dark skin) you have a yellow base tone to their skin. So always choose makeup that has a yellow hue. But, some women do have reddish hues to their skin. The best way to figure out which tone, red or yellow, your skin is, try this:
After washing your face wait 10-15 minutes before applying any toners or moisturizers. Then look in the mirror and you should see either red or yellow tones to your complexion. Which ever color stands out more is the foundation hue you should choose.
Stay Away From products (powders, foundations, concealers) that contain titanium dioxide. Products containing titanium dioxide will make darker skin tones look ashy and dry. Also make sure that before applying your makeup that you are not using moisturizers that contain Titanium dioxide because this too can make your skin appear ashy.
Many African Americans naturally have more oil in their skin. Which is why the age slower than lighter skin. Most often the darker your skin the more oil is being produced. This just means you’ll receive wrinkles much later than most women. To achieve a matte, shine free complexion choose powders that are one shade than you would normally choose. Oil has a tendency to make your complexion look darker than it actually is. So if your oil production is high choose a color one shade lighter than your complexion.
Visit COCOACHIC Beauty for reviews of liquid makeup from Clinique, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Prescriptives, Lancome, and Maybelline and reviews of stick makeup from Black Opal, Becca, Bobbi Brown, Iman, MAC, and Stila.