Monday, June 24, 2013
Vintage Glamour
Here is a photo from my latest session with Greyline Creative. This is Gail. She wanted an authentic vintage look. My idea of more authentic look includes more sculptural hair. Her hair was actually longer, but I pin curled the bottom all the way around to give it a Marylin appeal. Gail's porcelain skin and blonde hair also helped. Contact Greyline if you want to set up your own vintage photo shoot.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Product Reviews
I recently purchased several new makeup items. Most of these came from Pixiwoo tutorials that I watched.
I was really excited to apply my makeup this morning because I got to use all of my new products. I'll start by going through the steps that I went through while applying my makeup and talk a little about each product.
Here is the before and after so you can see the results at a quick glance:
The first item is Embryolisse moisturizer. It is a concentrated cream that has a light floral smell and goes on smooth. It only takes a little and it makes your skin feel so soft and smooth. I think it's one of the best moisturizers I've used. I put that on and then used Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer Potion. I keep going back on forth on the effectiveness of face primers, but I think it's especially helpful during the hot summer months to keep your makeup in place all day. This particular primer is thicker than others that I've used, and it's slightly tinted, but it goes on smooth and does not feel heavy. Between the moisturizer and the primer my face was already feeling flawless.
Next I applied a new foundation to my face. I used Illamasqa Skin Base Foundation and I used my Real Techniques buffing brush to apply it to my face. The Real Techniques brushes are created and sold by the ladies that brought you Pixiwoo. They are high quality and affordable. The foundation gave a light to medium coverage. It's light weight and goes on smooth and is offered in many shades. I chose a porcelain yellow tone. I think it's important to figure out if your skin tone has a pink or yellow undertone. It makes it much easier to choose a color. The foundation is in a 1 oz bottle. It's pricey for such a small amount, but like many of the more expensive brands, it will last a long time because of the high quality.
Next I applied Bobby Brown Cream Concealer under my eyes. This concealer gives great coverage. It's thick enough to cover dark circles, but does not settle in the lines under the eyes. It comes with it's own little powder pot to set it. I also bought a MAC blush in buff. It is a great color to use as a contour for the cheekbones. It creates a natural shadow. I also used it in the crease of my eyes to add some dimension.
At this point I also filled in my brows with Anastasia Brow Wiz in caramel. I've been using this product for a while and love it. You would think that with all of the products I've shown I would look like I'm wearing more makeup, but the idea is to not look like you're wearing makeup and to accentuate your features. You can kind of see the blush contour in the photo below. Also notice the stand up pin curls. This will create the retro hair I do later. The back of my head is in eight large flat pin curls.
The next two products come from the brand Eye of Horus. This is a brand that comes from Australia. I used an eyeliner pen and mascara. I was excited about trying this eyeliner because it's supposed to not make an imprint on the lid. I have that problem a lot. Most of my eyeliners transfer to my upper eyelid throughout the day and I have to constantly wipe it off. At first I wasn't crazy about this because it was a bit difficult to apply. When I applied it, it bled a little into some of the fine line in my eyelid, but the color is such a dark, rich black and after I cleaned it up with a q-tip I thought it looked pretty good. I just might need to practice putting it on. The tip is very similar to a felt tip marker. The mascara was also very dark and has a nice applicator brush. I'm not sure if it's any better than some of the other mascaras that I tried, but it's nice. The eyeliner also stayed put all day.
I then applied a cream blush by Illamasqua in Brazen. A little goes a long way with this stuff. It is highly pigmented. I applied it to a brush and then wiped most of it off on my hand before applying it to the apples of my cheeks. You can see in the photo below that is melted a bit in transport.
I then lined my lips with my favorite lip liner, Makeup For Ever in nude and applied Lip Tar stained gloss in the color Rhythm Box on top. The Lip Tar comes in a little pouch with it's own applicator brush. The name tar is a little misleading because it isn't very tacky or thick. It is a beautiful color and goes on smooth and lasts a long time. It didn't make it through lunch, but it made it up to that point.
Here is the final version before the hair. I finished it off with Makeup For Ever HD Powder. Overall, I'm very happy with all of the products that I bought. I think the buff MAC blush is the most versatile. I still have a few eyeshadow palettes in route and will post reviews of those when I get them.
I was really excited to apply my makeup this morning because I got to use all of my new products. I'll start by going through the steps that I went through while applying my makeup and talk a little about each product.
Here is the before and after so you can see the results at a quick glance:
 |
| Before and After |
The first item is Embryolisse moisturizer. It is a concentrated cream that has a light floral smell and goes on smooth. It only takes a little and it makes your skin feel so soft and smooth. I think it's one of the best moisturizers I've used. I put that on and then used Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer Potion. I keep going back on forth on the effectiveness of face primers, but I think it's especially helpful during the hot summer months to keep your makeup in place all day. This particular primer is thicker than others that I've used, and it's slightly tinted, but it goes on smooth and does not feel heavy. Between the moisturizer and the primer my face was already feeling flawless.
 |
| Embryolisse moisturizer and Urban Decay face primer |
Next I applied a new foundation to my face. I used Illamasqa Skin Base Foundation and I used my Real Techniques buffing brush to apply it to my face. The Real Techniques brushes are created and sold by the ladies that brought you Pixiwoo. They are high quality and affordable. The foundation gave a light to medium coverage. It's light weight and goes on smooth and is offered in many shades. I chose a porcelain yellow tone. I think it's important to figure out if your skin tone has a pink or yellow undertone. It makes it much easier to choose a color. The foundation is in a 1 oz bottle. It's pricey for such a small amount, but like many of the more expensive brands, it will last a long time because of the high quality.
 |
| Real Techniques Brushes and Illamasqua Foundation |
Next I applied Bobby Brown Cream Concealer under my eyes. This concealer gives great coverage. It's thick enough to cover dark circles, but does not settle in the lines under the eyes. It comes with it's own little powder pot to set it. I also bought a MAC blush in buff. It is a great color to use as a contour for the cheekbones. It creates a natural shadow. I also used it in the crease of my eyes to add some dimension.
 |
| Bobby Brown Concealer and MAC Buff Blush |
At this point I also filled in my brows with Anastasia Brow Wiz in caramel. I've been using this product for a while and love it. You would think that with all of the products I've shown I would look like I'm wearing more makeup, but the idea is to not look like you're wearing makeup and to accentuate your features. You can kind of see the blush contour in the photo below. Also notice the stand up pin curls. This will create the retro hair I do later. The back of my head is in eight large flat pin curls.
The next two products come from the brand Eye of Horus. This is a brand that comes from Australia. I used an eyeliner pen and mascara. I was excited about trying this eyeliner because it's supposed to not make an imprint on the lid. I have that problem a lot. Most of my eyeliners transfer to my upper eyelid throughout the day and I have to constantly wipe it off. At first I wasn't crazy about this because it was a bit difficult to apply. When I applied it, it bled a little into some of the fine line in my eyelid, but the color is such a dark, rich black and after I cleaned it up with a q-tip I thought it looked pretty good. I just might need to practice putting it on. The tip is very similar to a felt tip marker. The mascara was also very dark and has a nice applicator brush. I'm not sure if it's any better than some of the other mascaras that I tried, but it's nice. The eyeliner also stayed put all day.
 |
| Eye of Horus Mascara and Eyeliner |
I then applied a cream blush by Illamasqua in Brazen. A little goes a long way with this stuff. It is highly pigmented. I applied it to a brush and then wiped most of it off on my hand before applying it to the apples of my cheeks. You can see in the photo below that is melted a bit in transport.
I then lined my lips with my favorite lip liner, Makeup For Ever in nude and applied Lip Tar stained gloss in the color Rhythm Box on top. The Lip Tar comes in a little pouch with it's own applicator brush. The name tar is a little misleading because it isn't very tacky or thick. It is a beautiful color and goes on smooth and lasts a long time. It didn't make it through lunch, but it made it up to that point.
 |
| Illamasqua cream blush and Lip tar stained gloss |
Here is the final version before the hair. I finished it off with Makeup For Ever HD Powder. Overall, I'm very happy with all of the products that I bought. I think the buff MAC blush is the most versatile. I still have a few eyeshadow palettes in route and will post reviews of those when I get them.
 |
| Final makeup look |