Oh, No You Didn’t!
Oh, yes I did. I couldn’t believe it myself. It appeared as if I was finally going to be beaten by a horror-monal blemish from Hell that could actually transcend the very best I could dish out. Despite my best efforts, this pimple continued to reign supreme. No amount of zit zapping or begging and pleading with mother nature to bring about this bad boy’s hasty demise would shift it. I am sure I once even heard the blasted thing bark, “Feed Me, Seymour!” I kid you not. The very split second before I steadied myself to concede defeat, I felt a surge of unmistakable feistiness and determination that is the hallmark of a true makeup maven or the savviest of skincare savants. I wasn’t going to go down easy. Almost as if I was having a surreal out of body experience, I reached, with deft precision, for my blackest liquid eyeliner and I DID IT! Yep, before I knew it, I had put a dot of liquid eyeliner smack dab on the apex of that baby and, much to my total amazement, it looked like the most adorable beauty mark! Aw. I loved it. I know, who would have thought it? That crazy, way out, seemingly hair-brained suggestion actually worked. Yesssss! Now the pimple’s gone. Is it wrong to do this brilliant trick without one?
What’s your wackiest makeup or skincare fix? Go on. Spill…
Drawing The Line.
I recently received a few fabbo emails inquiring about lip liners and whether or not they were necessary or a thing of the past? My short answer to this is: Yes and No. The long answer, on the other hand, is: It depends… Lip liner done well is a sure fire way to create a wonderfully sculpted lip that will wear well, look great, and more than likely hold on to the colour applied a lot truer. Lip liners done, let’s say, a little less than well can leave you, if unintentional, looking like a preserved beauty from a bygone era. Lip liners are also not strictly necessary when you’re after a more relaxed, whimsical look like on your gloss days or when a more deconstructed lip is the aim. Personally, I only tend to wear lip liners when I am wearing a “tricky” lip colour, like a bold red or an uber vibrant pink or orange, perhaps. Professionally, when colouring up the lips of my clients, I will go with a liner, more often than not, to increase the longevity of my client’s lipstick wear, to even out or create their lip line or to prevent bleeding into any fine lines they may have. Even when using just gloss on clients, I will, on occasion, finish up with a matching lip liner to add definition to the lip and to act as a preventative barrier to lip colour feathering. I’m not really convinced this last step is 100% necessary, in all circumstances, but maybe a case of my “old school” ways sneaking through. Well, it can’t hurt to be sure to be sure, now, can it?
When lining lips, line and totally fill in the lip area with liner. Not only will a complete line and fill smooth the surface of the lip and fill in any fine lines, lay a moisturizing foundation for your lippie, but when your lipstick starts to head off to greener pastures, it will leave you with an even fade of colour, not a patchy one that leaves you with an exposed lip outline. Oh, the shame. *wink* When choosing a colour to line your lip with, should you decide liner is the way to go, be sure to pick a suitable liner colour. Red and other bold coloured lips are best lined with the closest matching bold coloured lip liner. When wearing nude lipsticks, a nude liner of the same colour is good or a liner that matches your natural lip colour will also work a treat. There are colourless liners also, but they are generally used in conjunction with your coloured liner and lippie and best used to line just outside of your natural lip line. Colourless liner’s forté is to act as a physical waxy barrier to prevent your lip colour from breeching the perimeter. They are handy, that’s for sure. Especially, if you have a mouth like mine, that has this uncanny knack of depositing a little bit of lippie just under my bottom lip. *throws hands in air* I don’t know how I manage it, but I do. Just lucky I guess.
The long and short of it is, really…that lined and totally filled in lips absolutely have a place in your makeup repertoire, should you wish, but unlined lips can also look pretty spesh too, if that’s what you’re feeling on the day. As always, it should be about whatever works for you.
Curl Resistant Lashes.
The best tip I know for curling curl resistant eyelashes is to curl the lashes with an eyelash curler first and then show that curl who’s boss with absolute lashings of quality waterproof mascara. I know, for many of you, waterproof mascara gives you the willies, but it is, indeed, awesome at encouraging poker straight lashes to maintain its new curl. I suspect, the reason why most folks are hesitant to go the waterproof is that it has been known to make your lashes a bit, well, let’s say, crunchy. I’d wholeheartedly agree that crunch is best left for a gorgeous apple, but many of the newer formulated waterproof mascaras are far less hardcore, thankfully.
I remain a disciple of the school of thought and practice that says “curl before you coat”. Life’s too short and lashes too few, to risk loosing the odd lash by curling eyelashes after applying mascara and possibly getting one or two of those precious few stuck to the curler and accidentally removed. I know that there are a handful of you adrenalin junkies out there that curl after you coat and still have a raging row of lashes, but, I don’t reckon the majority of us would be so lucky. The big thing to remember about waterproof mascara, though, is to remove it. Bi-phaseal eye makeup remover makes light work of taking off waterproof mascara. Just ensure that once you’ve removed the mascara, to cleanse any oily residue off and splash with water as the final rinse before gently patting dry. Also, don’t forget to wipe your eyelash curler clean after each use. Any eye makeup used on your eyes prior to applying mascara can find its way onto your lashes and transfer onto your curler and can act much the same as mascara-ing your lashes before curling if the residue is sufficiently built up. A wipe with a clean tissue aught to suffice. Just remember, waterproof mascara and a quality eyelash curler are a curl’s best friend!
Keep The Beautiful Ones Rolling In.
You have no idea how much I appreciate all the great many beauty questions and queries I receive each day. I am so very flattered that you ask them of me. Thank you. I get so many fabbo questions that I sometimes find it hard to get back to you lovelies in a timely fashion. So please accept my humble apologies and know that your emails and comments are very important to me and that I have put them all into thought and most certainly haven’t forgotten about them. So in hopes to answer several emailed questions that have the same or very similar answers, I will keep popping them in blog posts every so often, many times as topics of posts, in fact. Fingers crossed this will assist. I will also continue to answer your beauty questions in the Beauty Marked!® Online Beauty Magazine as well. So, hopefully, between the Get Even More Gorgeous With Beauty Marked!® blog and Beauty Marked!® online, we should get a fair few of your wonderful emails answered. I very much look forward to your emails and comments…they, absolutely, make my day. Thank You!
No Go Zone…Please.
I don’t know if it’s just me or not, but I seem to be a magnet for those hypothetical conundrums pertaining to whether or not you should tell someone (other than your bestest friend in the whole entire universe) that their makeup is horrid, that they’ve got racing stripes for blush, or that circa 80’s style lip liner is passé. I am posting this to say…Nope, no way, absolutely not, don’t go there, don’t even think about it, and step away from the temptation. Seriously. Yes, we have all thought it at one time or another and may have even mumbled it a little louder than we should have under our breath, but under no circumstances should it go any further than that. Let it be our little secret. Unless you are 210% sure that the zany makeup wearer will not be offended because you can let them know via an update that is said in such a nice way that you may have even convinced yourself that their offense is not that bad and gently slip in an alternative that is not only the way to go, but so awesome and smooth as silk, that they feel they, in fact, thought of it first. *takes a breath* In other words…Life’s too short. Serve them up a great compliment instead, that is sure to make them smile, and… just let it ride.
Random Acts Of Beauty.
Every time you compliment an individual on their appearance, their character, their actions, their words, well…anything really, you are carrying out a Random Act of Beauty. Random Acts of Beauty, or RABs, as they are also affectionately known as, serve a two fold purpose. Not only do RABs have a wonderful impact on the recipient by presenting them with an opportunity to reacquaint themselves with their own infinite beauty, but Random Acts of Beauty also offer the initiator a fine opportunity to express their own generous spirit, which ultimately generates even more beauty as it’s highly contagious. After all, beauty does beget beauty.
In every man’s heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. -Christopher Morely
You Are Entering A Makeup Fascism Free Zone.
Do you ever feel a bit brow beaten by the dictum often put forth by many of my fellow pundits of beauty, stating that a red lip must always be accompanied by a nude eye? I do. I must confess. The funny thing about it is, as I do know a bit about beauty and only adhere to a few of the conventions of the day, I am starting to feel this catch cry is getting a bit fanatical. The purpose of this post is really just to say, “Whoa, Nelly!” Save that right-wing business for your eyeliner.
You can wear a signature red lip with a dark eye. Feel free to smoke up your lids, like it’s nobody’s business. Heck, even add a bit of ultra finely milled glitter to those lovely lids if the feeling strikes. Go for it! The only two things you might like to be cognizant of (and only if you feel like it) is, if you’re going to rock a bold red lip, ensure that your makeup application is immaculate and well blended…everywhere. That really is the key to wearing what you want, how you want. Wearing makeup is all about making the most of your beauty and feeling fabulous!
*Gloves off ladies*
If it makes you feel good, wear it. It’s as simple as that.
