Just because they make skintight neon leggings doesn't mean people should buy or wear them. And just because cosmetic companies make certain products doesn't mean they should take up residence in your makeup bag.
I'm mixing social media metaphors here, but in 140 characters or less (per item) I'll tell you why you should "unfriend" these products:
Waterproof mascara is drying and can make lashes brittle; try tubular (AKA "thermally activated") mascara instead. #lashbacklash
Waxy lipbalm seals lips locking OUT moisture. Balms with butters and oils actually nourish and hydrate. #savethelips
Astringents strip the skin, confusing it and maybe even encouraging more oil production. Use oil-free toners or skip it. #poreawareness
Pressed powders are old fashioned and so is flat, matte. No need to set makeup, so skip it. Use MAC Blot on oilies instead. #Shineprevention
Rough scrubs make microtears on the skin. Look for gentle, rounded granules or uses AHAs or glycolic products. #smoothoperator
Streamlining. It's the way I get mornings done. But there's stuff that can be skipped and stuff that shouldn't. Skip the baby's diaper and the kid's snack for school? No. Skip cleaning the bathroom? For now, yes. Clean undies & brushed teeth for everyone? Yup. Another viewing of Toy Story? Not today, we've gotta go! Whether you have kids or not, you make the same kinds of judgement calls each morning about what is and what isn't going to get done.
But all of us want to look and feel great, no matter how hectic the mornings are. Just as it's important to have a plan of attack for your morning, it's helpful to pick and choose your makeup battles.
Here are eight important steps to consider when you're planning your makeup. Skip them, and risk looking tired all day. If you want to see a perky-looking you when you glance in the mirror, not skipping these things (and a coffee) will help.
Hydrate the area around the eyes Skip this step if you want to see every tiny line and crease under your eyes. By bypassing the eye cream, you also enhance those shadows!
Conceal and correct darkness By pretending there's no green, blue or grey tones under the eyes, you drag down the eye and make yourself look tired. A salmon-toned concealer would cancel out those shades and a skintone concealer over that would brighten. PS: this means you! We all have a bit of darkness here and in the inner corner of the eye (next to the nose).
Frame your eyes with groomed brows Definitely skip this if you want droopy, non-committal eyes that fade sleepily away. A little color or quick comb brings brows and, consequently eyes, into focus.
Highlight browbones Skip this step to make eyes smaller and more exhausted. A slightly-lighter-than-skintone color would open up the whole eye, brighten the face, and act as the finishing touch for eye makeup.
Brighten the corners of your eyes Darkness here is aging and makes the eyes look tired. A tiny pat of a soft shimmery tone on the inner and outer corners of the eyes will make eyes look awake and open.
Curl your lashes It's so easy to skip that darn curler! Do, and lashes subtly block the eyes, making them appear smaller, droopier.
Apply mascara Skip mascara if you want to look half-done. Putting on eye makeup without topping lashes with mascara is like going to work with all of your zippers open. You aren't done getting ready!
Color on cheeks By skipping a sweep of color on the apple of the cheek, you're dragging the whole eye downward and undoing all of the work you've put in. A dusting of a slightly shimmer pinky-peach blush puts a twinkle in the eye and brightens the whole face.
So, what do I skip when I want to do my eyes but am pressed for time? I forgo fancy shadings and gradations, complicated eye liner, and eye makeup "statements". A little color, a smudge of liner, and doing the steps above only take a few minutes but make all of the difference in how I feel once everything settles down and my day gets going.
Once upon a time, there was a lovely young maiden young-ish matron who sought a solution to her troubles.
She didn't seek a handsome prince (she has one, thank you).
She wasn't saddled with a horrid stepmother and jealous stepsisters (she has a sweet mom and two lovely brothers, though she is a stepmother herself -ask her son if she's evil or not).
In fact, she had everything she ever needed except one thing... Flawless eye makeup.
She sought high and low for the solution to her troubles. She simply wanted to know how to keep eyeshadow from fading, prevent any shadow from creasing, stop eyeshadow smears, hide lid discolorations, brighten the eye area, and make eyeshadow more appear vibrant and intense!
Unless you didn't read the headline, you're not going to be surprised that the answer is right here in this post. The secret is EYE SHADOW PRIMERS, people!
An extra, but not time-consuming or costly, step that quite simply changes everything. It may take a slight bit of trial and error to find the right product for your specific needs, but once you get it, you get it!
My best recc: a crease-proof cream shadow in a shade slightly lighter and brighter than your skin. This will help brighten the eye area and give it lift, even before you've put on your shadow. I suggest finding the right matte/flat shade first, though adding darker shades, neutrals/invisibles, and shimmers are fun latter purchases.
Try: MACPaints (shown), MAC Paint Pots, Make Up For Ever Aqua Creams, Bobbi Brown Cream Shadows, or the old standby, Urban Decay Primer Potion. Other makeup junkies seem to swear by T0o Faced Shadow Insurance and NARSSmudge Proof Shadow Base, but I haven't tried them yet, so can't personally vouch for 'em.
Extra Bonus Tip: to really increase color pay-off and vibrancy, use a coordinating cream base + powder shadow combo!
Coming soon: THE PRODUCT YOU NEED IF YOU'RE A SHIMMER OR GLITTER SHADOW JUNKIE!
Do you use shadow primers? Why or why not? Which ones work for you? Any that are giant "FAILs"?
Nothing drives me more nuts in the beauty world than hearing some "rule" passed around without a trace of truth. Well, maybe mascara ads make me more angry. Are we really expected to believe that those ads are just mascara-enhanced lashes? Does the beauty industry think we're chumps? Apparently... But I digress (as usual).
Back to beauty myths. It's time to sort out the truth from the lies.
The other day I was rocketing through my Google Reader (is that thing genius, or what?!) and came across a few words that burned me up. Another beauty blogger (who is usually spot-on) said somethng along the lines of "beacause I have cool undertones I avoid browns."
screeeeeeeech...
Stop the presses!
I think we need to explore this myth. Keep reading to see if I bust or confirm this beauty myth!
Take a look at our new Beauty School Lesson
to find out what color makeup products are best for you! Learn how to
pick colors with the color wheel as your guide. We use real examples to
show you cool and warm colors and sort out the variations laid out on
the makeup counters. Click on the link below to learn more!
Many people ask this question, and it's very highly Google'd, so I thought I'd lead with this. Lesson 1 is about skintones, or "undertones". There's a lot of confusion about skintones, and a lot of people are passing on misinformation. Let's clear up the fog, shall we!?
What's the difference between a "skin tone" and an "undertone"? Good question! Often, when people talk about "skin tone" they are really referring to whether someone is light/fair, medium, or dark complected. When people say "undertone" they usually mean being "cool" or "warm". You can have cool undertones and any depth of color to your skin; in other words, you can be fair and cool, medium in shade and cool, or dark complected and cool. The same holds true for warm skin, which can be found in the fairest of fair and the darkest of brown skins.
For more, keep reading...
So what is "cool" and what is "warm"? Well, folks with cool complexions have blue undertones in their skin, while warm complexions are usually more yellow.
I don't look blue or yellow. What's up with that? This used to drive me nuts, too! I just couldn't see the blue or yellow! But after awhile, it gets easier, though sometimes people still trip me up (but not often!). Here are some ways that make it easier to identify your own undertones:
Push up your sleeves and take a look at the inside of your forearms. See the veins there? Are they blue or green? If they look more blue, you're probably rocking the cool undertones (like me!). If you see green veins, you're a warm complected type. Why is this? Remember the old Ziploc commercial? Yellow + blue makes green. Veins are blue, but when viewed through skin with a yellow (warm) undertone... VOILA: green. Cool, huh? So, blue veins = cool skin, green veins = warm skin.
If you're still not sure, lets talk jewelry. Do you look best in silver (platinum!) or in gold jewelry? If you're not positive which is best on you, wear some gold jewelry and show your best friend or mom (someone who will be honest). Then show him/her your silver jewelry. Which makes your skin look more radiant? Which really shines on you? Usually people with cool undertones really look their best in silver/white metals, while those with warm undertones show off the best in gold/yellow metals. White metals = cool skin, yellow metals = warm skin.
Another way to test is to try on some clothing in certain colors. Beg, borrow or steal shirts or fabric in these colors: rust/orange, baby blue, white, and ivory/cream. Grab your best friend or mom again and, in good lighting, stand in front of a mirror for the test. Put each color up to your face, or drape around your throat and neck. See how it makes you look. Does the rust make you look healthy and sun-kissed, or sort of peaked? Does the baby blue really do something for you, or do you feel you appear a bit tired in it? Which of the light shades brings out your beautiful, healthy-looking you: the ivory or the white? Please make sure you're looking at The Big Picture and not just noticing your eyes or your hair. If blue and white are your colors, you're cool; if rust and cream are best, you're warm.
Here are some other generalizations (but not rules!): Cool undertones are most often present in fair skinned people (like myself) who burn but never tan; those who look more "pink" than "peachy"; dark brown skins with "red" tones (Native Americans, some people of African descent); and those whose skin is often described as "bronze" or "brown" when tanned. Warm undertones are present in fair skinned people who can tan; those who tend to look "peachy" rather than pink; people who have visibly "yellow" tones (some Asians, some people of African descent); those whose skin is often described as "golden" when tanned.
Do you (really) look like any of these people, skintone-wise? I always think of Snow White when I think of cool complexions, but Elizabeth Taylor, Oprah, Meg Ryan, Courtney Cox, and Demi Moore are also cool, as is the real live Snow White: Dita Von Teese. Warm beauties should have Jennifer Lopez as their postergirl, but can also count Nicole Kidman, Heidi Klum, Beyonce, and Lindsey Lohan in their ranks.
OK, those tests resulted in mixed results, or I'm just great looking in all of these situations. Now what? You may have neutral skin, meaning you look equally good in cool and warm colors. Lucky you!
Cheat sheet: Here are some things I've noticed when it comes to skintones, since I've looked at a lot of skin as a makeup artist. Again, these are generalizations and you really need to check out all of these "tests" above to try to get to the bottom of the skin tone thing. At any rate, here's what I have seen...
The darkest of dark skins on people with African anscestory (those who are truly nearly "black") have cool undertones. Think Alek Wek.
People who are true redheads, or those who really can pull off faux red hair (and we need complete honesty here - not people who tell themselves that they look good, but don't!) are usually warm compected.
Olive skin has warm undertones. Some people have been told they have olive skin, but they do not. Please take the tests above and check it out. You may have been misled!
People from India can be tricky, as can many African Americans and mixed-race folk! What makes these skins tricky? Sometimes there's what I refer to as an undertone and "an overtone". When I see this, skin is most often "olive" or warm, but the surface of the skin has a slightly pinkish tone. These people need custom-mixed foundation (Red Door Spas or Prescriptives) or specifically-blended shades (try MAC's NC42 or NC43 or maybe even NW43).
Sometimes you find folks with cool skin and warm eyes/hair. That can be confusing! I'm a perfect example of this. I'm without a doubt part of the cool undertone team, but, awkwardly, my hair is pretty neutral and my eyes are defintely warm. Therefore, I wear cool tones for clothing, but sometimes "pop" my eyes with warm eyeshadows. Brilliant, eh?
Real examples:
See that picture above of Oprah, flanked by Mary J. Blige and Beyonce? That's an excellent demonstration of the differerence between African Americans with warm (Beyonce and Mary J.) and cool (Oprah) skin tones. The former two have distinctly warm, golden tones to their skin, and look great with those golden highlights in their hair, while My Lady Oprah is ravishing in her black dress with cool colors and one can really see the red (cool) tones in her skin. PS: note how the warm toned gals in the pic have chosen to wear ivory/cream dresses and not bright white. When I'm right, I'm right!
Now take a look at besties Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. I'm not hating on Jennifer, 'cause I'm a huge fan, but see how the black outfit makes Courtney look radiant but doesn't really do as much for Jen? Courtney's eyes look bright, her skin is glowing, but Jen's gorgeous eyes aren't "popping" and her skin almost looks dull. Cool toned skin really resonates in black, whereas it's not the best choice for those with warm undertones. So what does it all mean!?COOL UNDERTONES: You'll look best in white metals, as discussed, so please specifcy platinum when the conversation lends itself to the tip! Your wedding dress should be (should have been!?) bright, snow white. When it comes to clothing and/or makeup, think sunrises, berry bowls and Spring shades (but you're not limited to pastels!). The following colors suit you: pink, rose, fuschia, blue, silver, white, black, blue greens, blue-purples. See the color swatches on the left in the pic below.
WARM UNDERTONES: You'll look best in yellow metals, as discussed, so go 24K! Your wedding dress should be (should have been!?) cream or ivory. When it comes to clothing and/or makeup, think sunsets, Thanksgiving, and Autumnal shades. The following colors suit you: peach, yellow, orange, olive green, bronze, brown, rust. See the color swatches on the right in the pic above.
THE CAVEATS: Just because you have a warm complexion, you're not limited to the colors mentioned above. You don't have to wear "your" colors! Just keep in mind: wearing warm colors if you're warm complected will look most natural and flattering, while wearing cool colors if you have warm skin can really stand out (or go horribly awry, if done wrong). More on that later.
I'll talk about how to apply this info to picking your foundation, how to pick makeup shades for eyes/cheeks/lips, and how to understand the craziness that is MAC foundations.
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