Fall Nails

This fall it's all about purple and grey for me.. not just with nails but clothes too.  This was my way of combining those 2 colors for my nails. Fall generally calls for deeper colored nails than in the summer which is all about bright colors. I'm still tan from the summer so the deep colors work for me until it fades. 

As a side note, I do my finger nails once a week, although I use Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat my nail polish still seems to chip.. it may be the base I'm using so I'll give my fast drying top coat the benefit of the doubt. However I think that the fast drying agents make the nail polish more susceptible to chipping.. just my observation.. I'm not so sure if that's scientifically proven or not!!

I used O-P-I's Funkey Dunkey and China Glaze's Recycle

Have fun with your nails and NEVER be afraid to try out different fun colors, I never strayed from the reds, and deep pinks and burgundy's but once I did I fell in love with doing my nails and wearing all the pretty colors and experimenting with different designs!! PS it is also really important to me to keep my nails in shape now that I do makeup at Macy's I find that I big part of my clientelling is looking nice, including my nails.

All About Foundation & Application- Sponge vs Brush

I noticed that many girls don't quite know how to apply their foundation, whether its liquid, cream, stick, or powder so I'm here to help!

Primer- I think using primer is very effective but only after you moisturize your skin. So you'd wash and moisturize your face let it dry and then apply your primer and let that dry before you apply your foundation no matter what kind it is.

I use Laura Mercier's Oil Free Primer and I like it it's not bad.. I may experiment with Shiseido's new primer though. If I do I'll do a comparison review.

Setting Powder- very important for liquid and some cream foundations, if not you end up with a greasey, runny look and the makeup can run and get on clothes.

I use Make Up Forever's HD Setting Powder.. it's amazing you may get a little white cast if you don't blend it out well with a brush!

Concealer- use on dark circles around eyes, and scarring, hyper pigmentation, rosacea, etc. Apply after liquid, or cream foundations so that you use less.. if you want you can use it before it's up to you. Using a concealor brush works best, and they smooth it out with your fingers if you need to.

I use Smashbox Healthy FX(i think) concealer

Types of Foundations-

Airbrush- More rare special occasion use, pricey and full buildable coverage, no setting required

Liquid- Special occasion to everyday use, moderately pricey, medium to full coverage, need to set

Cream/Stick- Moderately everyday use, not too pricey, medium to full coverage, should set

Powder- Everyday use, relatively inexpensive, sheer coverage not too buildable, no setting required

I use Smashbox Healthy FX Liquid and Sephora Brand Mattifying Powder Foundations.


Okay now for application. Working in cosmetics and helping women choose what foundations are best for them and teaching them how to apply it I found out that many women aren't applying their foundation right. For a natural, polished look applying your foundation correctly is KEY.

Airbrush makeup if you have the compressor and airbrush you don't need anything else. However, you can use airbrush makeup with out all of the fancy equipment. Simply use a few drops on your hands and rub it into your skin quickly because it sets fast. You may not need to prime your skin when you do this, and definitely no setting powder.


Liquid Foundation-

Sponge

• Pros
• Full coverage
• Don't need as much as if you were using a brush
• Blocks out glands in your face
• Cons
• Looks unnatural
• Messy 
• May not get into creases in the face
• Doesn't blend well

Brush

• Pros
• Blends well
• Full/Medium coverage you can determine that
• Buildable
• Get all your creases
• Looks natural
• Cons
• Use more foundation
• If your brush isn't clean it can look streaky

With liquid foundation using a brush to apply is a must. For those of you who want the extra coverage then a sponge may work better but you can distribute the coverage better with a brush. 


Cream & Stick Foundation


Most cream foundations come with sponges, if it's a cream to powder finish a sponge is ok for application, other wise a brush is always better in terms of coverage and to get a nice finish. If it's a stick then you can use a brush to blend out the rough spots.


Powder Foundation


For totally sheer coverage a brush, for medium coverage a sponge. Most come with sponges.


All of the products I use can be found at a Sephora or Ulta :) if you have any further questions comment!!

Should I offer makeup services?

I made a poll above and here is what I am considering.

I was thinking about offering make up services for all occasions.. weddings, proms, homecoming, formals, fashion shows, dance troupes, parties etc for fun.

My rates would be :
$15 for eyes with or without falsies
$20 for full face (using your own foundation)
$25-30 for full face (using my products depending on the occasion)

For a group the rates will be lower*($10-15 per girl full face etc depending on how many girls)

I want your thoughts on if I should pursue this on a larger scale or not.. I always do friends/family members make up but I'm thinking about advertising myself on craigslist and facebook but I won't if no one's interested you know?

So comment below or vote on my poll with your thoughts on pricing etc.. if the poll disappears and I can't repost it PLEASEEE comment and let me know what you think!

Henna Darkening Tips

Hello Lovelies,

With Eid, Diwali, and weddings coming up, many of you will be getting your henna done, even on the boardwalk so I wanted to give you guys some tips on how to get the best color possible out of it.

1. Leave it on for as long as possible. 
• Many people think that taking it off once it dries is good enough, and depending on the quality of the henna this may be true, but if you want a deep maroon/brown stain that will last over 2 weeks then you want to leave it on for several hours to overnight.
2.  To keep it from flaking off, apply lemon juice and sugar, if you don't have any on hand aerosol hairspray works too, just keep it at least 6 inches away from the henna when spraying.
• To apply the lemon juice and sugar simply squeeze half a lemon to a whole lemon depending on the size of the design and mix a few teaspoons of sugar into it until it dissolves. Then simply use a cotton ball to dab on the mixture.
• This acts as a type of adhesive to keep the henna moist, and from flaking off, you may have to repeat this several times.
3. If you toss and turn a lot when you sleep and are afraid you'll mess up the henna in your sleep there are several ways you can cover it to enable you to sleep. Make sure the design has been lemon juiced or hairsprayed before doing any of these.
• Masking or packaging tape if it's a small enough area. Press on the tape quickly and tightly making sure the design isn't messed up. Gauze pads with adhesive work too. 
• For a whole hand or foot you may want to use a plastic grocery bag/shopping bag and simply tie it around your wrist or ankle, and secure it with tape. 
4. When you go to remove the henna do not use water to remove it. The water will wash off the reminants of the paste and not allow it to get dark. Use a paper towel or just peel it off. 
5. After the henna has been removed apply Mustard Oil immediately with a cotton ball or paper towel, you can clean off the excess henna/lemon juice/hairspray this way. Mustard Oil or Mustard Seed Oil can be found mostly at Indian Grocery Stores and it's the best oil to apply after. If you can't get a hold of Mustard or Mustard Seed Oil you can use Olive oil, or any cooking oil. 
6. Last but not least, do not let water touch the designed area for 24 hours. The design will get darker as the day progresses, when you take a shower simply cover up the area with a bandaid or something, it may get a little dampened when showering but the idea is not to soak it in water and soap because it'll start fading the henna which is the opposite of what you want to do.

I hope this helps! Enjoy your henna :)

Liquid Eyeliner Tutorial

Hello Lovelies!

So here is my 2nd tutorial, I did it on Liquid Eyeliner because I get asked about how I do my eyeliner all the time! If you want anymore tips & tricks videos comment here or on the video!

I used Diorshow Mascara in 090 or Black & Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eyeliner in Black :)

Follow me & Enjoy!

Seche French Guides Review

Lately I've been obsessing over my nails, and decided I wanted to do my own french tips/manicure. I have shakey hands and I suck at doing my nails neatly so I bought Seche French Guides from Head2ToeBeauty.

I was so excited to try it out, so I put on my base, and then placed all the guides where I wanted on my nails, painted them accordingly with my nail liners everything looks great, until I went to take them off. I took off the guides and was left with glue that I couldn't get off without ruining the rest of my nails. I then tried lightly dusting my nails with baby powder after the base coat to see if that would keep the glue from staying, and it still didn't work. They were inexpensive so I'm not upset but I was so disappointed because Seche is a good brand for nail products.

I bought some random brands nail guides from CVS and they work great, with no residue however I find that with practice, free handing the tips with liners is much easier, it's just time consuming. So if you're in a rush when you do your nails french guides are great if you're not keep practicing free hand and it'll be a piece of cake!

Beach Nails

Although I love bright colors in makeup and nail polish, I never quite have the guts to wear them, I just like to look. Last month I went clubbing in NYC for my friends 21st birthday and had one of my girls do my nails to match my dress, grey base with black leopard spots colored in with silver and teal to match my dress. I bought this neon teal Milani nail polish from CVS and it was a gorgeous color, however I never considered wearing it by itself. I don't mind incorporating bright eyeshadows into my looks, but nails never.

 I got bored with my pinks, reds, and grey and was playing with the teal and really liked the way it looked all over my nail, so I kept my fingers grey and toes teal. I went to the beach and got mad compliments about how pretty my toes looked, thus beginning my new love for teals and blues.

This is the teal I talked about above, Milani Neon's 504 Fresh Teal from CVS or any drug store that sells Milani. I think this was around $5 so it's pretty inexpensive, and great color pay off, you really only need 1 coat although I used 2 above. 

Teals and deeper aqua blues look amazing on tan skin. I mean I always though teal/blue and brown looked pretty on clothes, jewelry, and shoes but never thought of applying that concept to my nails and makeup. I'm so glad I did!

I was at a discount beauty store in the mall I work at and needed one more item to make their clearance sale, buy 3 items and get 50% off of your entire purchase so I walked over to the OPI counter and this blue caught my eye...

This color is a little less bright however it still looks so nice on my sun-kissed skin! It's called Suzi Says Feng Shui and probably runs around $5-$9 dollars depending on where you get a hold of it and has a great color pay off however you do need 2 coats!

If you aren't a bright colors person, but want a break from "normal" reds, pinks, and neutrals and have tanned skin like me I highly suggest trying out blues and teals for this summer!