Bangs or No Bangs, That is the Question

Women struggle with this all the time. We want to change our look and sometimes cutting bangs seems like a good option. But sometimes we immediately regret it. Some people are just bang people and some are not. I could go both ways, but I prefer to not have bangs. Cowlicks can be an issue as well as texture and thickness of hair.

But you really don't have to choose. If you only want bangs sometime or you just aren't sure if you can pull them off, get some fake ones. They sell clip in bangs now. I'm not going to put a link because there are so many places to get them. Buy the real human hair type so that you can use heat tools if needed. Also, to make them look more natural, get them in blonde and have your hair stylist color and cut them to match your hair. You can buy a few pairs and have all types of different lengths and styles without the commitment.

The bangs I have are not the right color and I cut them myself with clippers. Here is a good tutorial from Cherry Dollface on how to cut Betty bangs yourself with clippers.

Christmas Present Ideas for the Pin Up in Your Life

Do you have a pin up girl in your life? Not sure what to get her for Christmas. Here are some ideas.

You can't go wrong with a Sephora gift card: http://www.sephora.com/

She will love anything from Pinup Girl Clothing:
http://www.pinupgirlclothing.com/

Every true pin up girl needs proper undergarments:
http://www.whatkatiedid.com/en_us/

For the extra special girl, go big with the Whirling Turban:
http://whirlingturban.com/

She will love this vintage hair styling book:
http://www.hrstbooks.com/vintage-hairstyling

You could also buy her a subscription to this pin up magazine to give her inspiration:
http://www.pinkbowcity.com/

Marilyn Inspired Glitter Eyes

For this look, I was inspired by Kevin Aucoin's version of Marilyn Monroe. It's actually Lisa Marie Presley. It's from his book "Making Faces."

Here is my before and after. I didn't have a Marilyn wig, so I just went with a blonde wig that I had from when I was Miss Piggy for Halloween.

I started this look by moisturizing my face. I use EmbryoLisse Lait-Crème Concentrè. I then contoured my face using Makeup Forever flash palette white (because I'm so white that I need a white for a highlighter) and Makeup Forever concealer palette in dark for the shadows.

You can see here where I added the highlights and shadows. I blended it all with my foundation, Makeup Forever HD in 117 and a Real Techniques blending brush. You don't want the contouring to be obvious. It just add dimension.

Next I worked on the eyebrows. I use Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil in caramel. I created a strong arched brow for this look because Marilyn was known for her brows. I also used the flash palette white again to highlight the brow bone and make the eyebrow sharp around the edges.

To add more dimension to the brows, I added a golden brow gel on top. I then primed by entire eyelid with Urban Decay eyeshadow primer.

Next is the part that really makes the look. You may have noticed the Marilyn has a distinct eye shape. Especially her eye lid. It's a large lid with a crease that starts high on the inner corner and tilts down on the outside. This is one of the reasons she had such wonderful bedroom eyes. I copied this shape on my own eyes. You can use shadow and highlight to alter the shape of your eyes.

Again, after applying the primer to help the eyeshadow last longer, I used the three colors below circled in red. The white on the brow bone and the inner corner of my eye, the brown to create the shape and the yellow on the lid and to blend them together.

This is the shape that you want to achieve. It will seem strange at first and you will even feel like you are making a mess of your eyes, but try to keep the line clean and blend upward. You can use a lighter brown to help blend. Just keep blending. I used MAC brushes 230 and 217 for this.

One you have the right shape, time to apply the glitter. I used highbeam highlighter to make the glitter stick. I applied it to the lids where the lightest area was located and then packed on the Makeup Forever diamond powder on the left. It is a very fine glitter. I then applied a nude shimmer, not sure of the name or where I got it, to all the areas with brown. I then applied a heavier clear glitter on top of the first diamond powder and a copper over the nude shimmer. Finally, I applied the diamond powder to the brow bone.

You can see the effect it creates below on the left. It really helps to highlight that large eyelid. I then applied a MAC liquid eyeliner starting at the outside lower lash line and extending out to create a cat eye. I also added just a flick of black underneath on the outside to help give the illusion of a shadow. This will help with that heavy lash look.

I applied lots of mascara, Eye of Horus, and some glitter eyeliner around the black eyeliner to help define it. And I added false lashes to the outer corners of the eyes. I finished the look off with rosy cheeks and Makeup Forever HD powder.

Here is the look before lips. I added a few photos of the eyes so that you can see the shape from different angles.

Marilyn's lips were also one of her signature features. I used five different lip products. I started by powdering my lips lightly to help make the color stick. I then use a MAC lip pencil in beet to line the lips. I lined them a bit outside of my natural lip line and rounded them to make them look more like Marilyn. I just filled the liner in on the corners of the lips though leaving the middle bare. I then took a dark red lipstick and went over the outside corners. I took a lighter pinky red and filled in the middle. I then took a nude and put ad dab of that right in the middle of my upper and lower lip. I finished it off with just a bit of gloss in the middle as well. All of this helps create that dimensional pout.

Here is the final product with a blonde wig and a beauty mark, because you can't be Marilyn without those.

Behind the Scenes of a Concept Shoot

Greyline Creative and I are at it again. This time we are doing some portfolio work. It is a series inspired by the seasons. This particular shoot was all about Summer.

I bought some new Sleek palettes and they were perfect for this shoot. The particular palette that I used is the acid color palette. The colors are very saturated and blend easily. I used a MAC 217 to do the blending. Before I applied the makeup to the model, I practiced on myself. I knew that I wanted to use a pink/orange/yellow color scheme to mimic the feel of summer.

Acid Sleek palette (top) My practice session (bottom)

I started by applying an eyeshadow primer (Urban Decay). I then put down a base of white eye shadow to make the color brighter. I put a thick coat of orange (4th color on top row) all over my eye lid and blended it up into the crease. I then blended light hot pink (3rd color on bottom row) in the outer corner of the eye. I also added the orange and pink under the eye. I then blended the darker pink (1st on top row) even further out in the corner. I also added the bright yellow to the inner corner of the eye and underneath the eye inside. Finally, I added a bit of black in a v-shape to the outer corner of the eye to add dimension. It ended up looking purple instead of black which was nice.

My makeup arsenal

Glitter lip tattoos provide a strong beautiful glitter lip. Feels a bit weird and are not easy to apply.
I used gold on just the bottom lip for the shoot.

You can see the gold bottom lip here and the same eyeshadow treatment as above.

I curled the hair as I usually do, with a wand and stand up pin curls to give it body and wave.

The Shoot

Casey, the photographer, had the idea that she wanted to weave the models hair into a fence to create a romantic, whimsical composition. We knew we wanted flower to be a large part of the image and decided on orange and pink snapdragons, hydrangea and eucalyptus. We got a great deal on flowers from Casey's friend Julie from Jule's Design, an amazing flower designer.

The corset was one that I created for my Seven Deadly Sins fashion show. I'm glad that I was able to use it again.

The set up against a fence with flowers weaved around the model.

Another view of the shoot.

The Final Shot

Here is the final shot after all of that work. I think it turned out wonderfully. It always helps to have a beautiful model.

You can see the gold bottom lip here.

A close up of the makeup, without the gold lip. You can really see the eyeshadow gradient.

The full shot with the beautiful flowers.

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.

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:

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

Mother's Day Shoot

Spent all day yesterday doing hair and makeup and hiking a waterfall and traipsing through fields in the name of beauty. We got some beautiful photos of moms and their kids.

Natural Vintage Makeup and Contouring

Here is a tutorial on my everyday natural vintage makeup look. I also added a section on contouring. I don't do the contouring every day, but I thought it would be a good tip.

If you want to take this and amp it up for night, simply add red lips and some false eyelashes for added drama.

I start by combining my foundation with moisturizer. This helps reduce streaking. I apply it with a flat foundation brush. I use Real Technique brushes. I then buff it in with an expert face brush to create a flawless finish. You can see in the photo below the smooth, even skin tone on the left side of my face. The right side of my face is without makeup.

I then start contouring. I use the lightest color on the darkest palette of a makeup forever concealer palette for the contouring. I applied it to the hollows of my cheeks, my temples and the sides of my nose. I then added a highlight using the lightest color of a makeup forever concealer palette on the brow bone, bridge of my nose, forehead, chin and in a triangle shape under my eyes. You basically put the dark color wherever the shadows would be and the highlight where the sun hits your face. Then blend. You can see on the bottom right image the left side of my face is contoured and the right side is still without makeup so you can see the difference. It's not supposed to be a dramatic difference. The idea of makeup is to accentuate without looking like you're wearing makeup.

I then applied a cheek stain using a stippling brush to the apples of my cheeks. And filled in by brows to make them stronger and defined using Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil. Here is a tutorial I did once on eyebrows.

I also added a gold eyebrow gel to set the brows. I then moved on to the eyes and covered the entire eyelid with matte white eyeshadow. I then used the darkest matte brown from my Naked Palette to contour the eyelid. I only concentrated the brown just above the lid and on the lower lash line. I used the three brushes below to apply the color and blend.

I then applied MakeUp For Ever black liner with a small brush. I made a fairly thick line with a winged end. The shape of the eyeliner you choose is up to you. There are many different looks you can achieve with eyeliner. I finished it with mascara and nude lips. Since I don't have particularly large lips I like to keep the emphasis on the eyes. Each person should play up their best features.

Finish it with powder and here is the final makeup look.

Add a vintage hair style. I rolled my "bangs" to the side and added some victory rolls.

More vintage photo shoots

I promise I will start adding more tutorials soon. I've been busy doing hair and makeup for vintage inspired photo shoots.