Eyebrows For Beginners

    I admit it, my eyebrows are far from perfect, but I do try to keep them in shape. I decided to give a few tips here for those of you who are maybe afraid to pluck them because you aren't sure how or are afraid of messing them up. Plucking your eyebrows just a little bit can really make a huge difference in the way you look, its hard to explain but I would say it makes you look more feminine and less harsh?

    So here are some easy tips. Of course it is going to hurt a little bit, but if you maintain them regularly you will only have to take out a few hairs at a time. If you want it to hurt less, pluck after you get out of the shower, or apply a warm washcloth to your brow area for a few minutes before you get started.

    Use clean tweezers to grab the hair near the base and pull very quickly in the direction of hair growth. I usually touch the tweezers to a tissue after each hair, it sticks to it so I don't have little hairs falling all over my face. Start by cleaning up all the hairs in between the brows. Don't go too far in to the actual brow, just get all those little ones in the middle.
    Next, look at the shape of your brows. It is best to maintain the shape you already have so pay attention to where the arch is, how far out they extend etc. Clean up all those stray hairs underneath your brows that don't fall into the natural shape. Don't pluck any hairs from above the brow, trust me this is the easiest way to mess them up, it will get weird, so don't do it.
    Really resist the urge to over pluck. I'm very happy that I never went overboard and over plucked because I don't have to fill them in every morning. I don't use waxes or pencils or anything on my brows. I'm not sure if this is a myth, but I was told that there is a stage in every hair's growth where if you pluck it out at that stage, it will not grow back. It makes sense because I know girls that have over plucked in the past and now they always have to fill their brows in.
    If you really feel that your brows are still too bushy, remove one more layer of hairs from the bottom of the actual brow but be very careful to follow your shape and don't get carried away.
    If even after these tips you are still unsure, or your brows don't really seem to have any shape or you just want some help, consider getting them waxed! A professional can shape your brows for you and then when you go home, you can follow along the shape she (or he) gave you so you only have to spend the money that one time. When I got mine waxed, she used a gel that was easier to shape and pressed her fingers to my brows after she pulled so it didn't really hurt much at all and it looked really good!
    Every day before I put on my makeup or at night after I take it off I look at my brows and see if there are any stray hairs that I can take out. Doing it often like this makes it easier and quicker to just pull a few hairs then if I wait a long time for them all to grow out.
    I hope these tips help and if you have any of your own be sure to add them in the comments! Stay tuned for my reply to a tag I got.
PS: Here's a pic of the Essie colors, the darker one is the Turquoise and Caicos and the light one on my ring finger is Absolutely Shore. I'm on day 4 and there's no chipping which for me is a miracle!

Stylish Blogger Award

 I was given this:

Yay, I'm so excited! Thank you so much to Minnie at http://beautyblogger1891.blogspot.com/. Check out her blog, I follow it and I love it!

The Rules

1. Link back to the person who gave it to you.

2. List 7 things about yourself that you haven't mentioned before

3. Tag 7 people and let them know you've done so!

 1. I have had my hair dyed almost every color ever. Black, red, orange, blue, greenish blue, purple, brown, white, light pink and hot pink.
2. I can't eat pork, it makes me really sick.
3. I was homeschooled my first 3 years of high school.
4. I've only been to two other countries besides the US. (Mexico and Jamaica)
5. I used to have pogs!
6. My mom taught me to read when I was two and a half.
7. I am horrible at math.

I tag:
Adventures of a nomad just trying to find her way
Beauty Barbie 16
Elle Says
Juicy Conoir
Love. Life. Beauty.
I know I'm supposed to tag 7 people but I really tried to give the award to people who don't already have one, and many of the bloggers I like and follow have one already so this is the best I could do, hope that's ok!

Essie Nail Polish

So believe it or not, I've never tried Essie nail polish before! Today I thought I'd pick one up to try, I was thinking maybe Mint Candy Apple or one of the Brazil collection colors if I could find them. I ended up really loving Turquoise & Caicos so I ended up with that one, but my Ulta was having a sale buy 2 get one free so I decided I may as well get 2 more. I found Absolutely Shore, perfect because I wanted a more subtle color and I've heard great reviews. For my free one I was hoping for Braziliant and finally found it hiding from me! So those are the three I picked and I'm really happy with my decision. I used the Braziliant one just now and it's so pretty, bright, summery and something different, since I don't have any orange polishes. I needed only one coat on most nails for it to be opaque and it went on pretty smoothly. I give this color two orange thumbs up!

Above is Braziliant and below are Absolutely Shore and then Turquoise and Caicos.

Date Look- Rock Concert/My Video Look

Time for another date/going out look! This one is for a rock concert or should I say going to a rock concert is the inspiration for this look since you can actually wear it anywhere. I had been planning on doing this look for awhile and then decided to wear it in the music video, so it's a rock concert/the makeup I wore for the video. I actually wrote it all out the night before so I could just wake up in the morning and get started without trying to remember what I decided on. So here it is.
First, I used some prep items:

Prep Step 1: The little bottle of clear stuff is Rohto Cool eye drops. I used it 15 minutes before I put in my contact lenses and it really takes care of any redness. Be forewarned, when they say "cool" they mean so icy cold it almost burns but only for a few seconds. I can't help it, every time I put these in I do the "it burns" dance, but I promise it only lasts a couple seconds and it doesn't really burn, it's just cold.
Prep Step 2:  Then I used the Garnier Skin Renew anti-puff eye roller. It's not a must have, but it feels so good and refreshing and it really wakes me up. Plus it gets rid of any puffiness.
Prep Step 3:  I moisturized with Dear John by Benefit which is a very thick but luxurious cream.
Prep Step 4:  Next goes on the Too Faced Primed and Poreless primer. Ahh I've done a review on this so you know how I feel about it. I don't use it every day, only for those special occasions when you want to take that extra step in having your skin look as flawless as possible.

Step 1: I covered my under eye circles with concealer, make sure you take care of any blemishes with it as well. I used my favorite concealer ever, Mac Studio Sculpt (NW 20). I put it on with a concealer brush and then blend out with my fingers.
Step 2: Foundation. I realized that both of the foundations I use have SPF in them and this reflects light, making you look washed out or shiny in pictures or on camera so I decided to try Revlon Photo Ready which I had been eyeing for awhile anyway. It has a pump which is a plus and goes on smooth, its just slightly less moisturizing than my regular foundation so I used a thicker moisturizer. Also, it dries fast so I just did little sections at a time and blended quickly. Oh if you're wondering I have the color 004 Nude.
Step 3: Put on some eye primer, I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance and then we are ready for smokey eyes.

Step 4: I put the bottom left white all over the lid from lashes to brow.

For a smokey look, you usually leave the lid the light color and put darker colors in the crease and outer corner, but I wanted this look to be a little edgier and darker so I put the top middle color on my lids.

Next I used a crease brush to apply the middle color into my crease and a blending brush to blend it out. Finally I put the bottom middle color in the outer corner of my eyes and a tiny bit into the crease, blending the bit in the crease into the rest of the crease color.

Step 5: I used NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker to make a somewhat thicker line than I would normally use to line my eyes on the top. To line the bottom I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Zero and I also used it in the water line.
Step 6: I then curled my lashes and applied a coat of Loreal Telescopic Explosion mascara.
Step 7: I put one thin line of Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Catfight (hot pink). It matched my earrings and skirt so I decided to just go with it, concerts and clubs are times when I like to experiment with something a little different, sparkles, darker eyeliner or shadow, etc.

Step 8: Blush time. I used my Coastal Scents 10 color palette.

I used the one in the exact middle on the bottom. Since the eyes are heavy, use something that goes well with your skin tone, something that doesn't show up too pinky or dark. This color gives me just a hint of pink on the apples of my cheeks.
Step 9: If you use bronzer go ahead and apply it now. I of course used my favorite Too Faced Peach Leopard Bronzer.
Step 10: For just a bit more glow, I used my Coastal Scents glow dust on just the tops of my cheek bones, just a tiny bit. So if you want, use any cheek highlight. The fun thing about concerts (or just going out) and dates is using those finishing touches that you normally wouldn't bother with, but can make just that little bit of difference.
Step 11: Almost done! I applied my Mac lipstick in Angel and then put some Mac Lipglass in A Quiet Roar over it.

For hair, I just straightened it and then put a little bit of this on the top part:

Osis Dust It mattifying powder and then backcombed the top so I would have some volume. My hair held up pretty well until Josh got ahold of it and destroyed it haha but whatever.
I wore these accessories (the flower is a ring):

And these boots (but if you read the blog post you know what happened with the boots):

 

And here is everything put together.

And that's it! I couldn't really get the top in there but you get the idea. However, remember this was just for the video, for an actual concert I would NOT recommend wearing boots or high heels at all!! Wear comfortable shoes, you will thank yourself later. Also, I wouldn't really recommend wearing a skirt either, and probably not the long earrings, just to be safe. Like the director told us, you don't wanna be the person standing there nodding your head to the beat with your arms crossed. Have fun, jump around, dance! Don't be afraid of what your date thinks, you might get him to join in since you both obviously like the music!
Hope you enjoyed this post, I'll be doing more soon!

Sorry for the lag

Hey guys. I keep trying to think of posts to do, but money has been tight lately so I haven't gotten any new products and I keep trying to do more tutorials and other posts but honestly I haven't felt like putting on much makeup lately. I've been loving the summery neutral look and have been doing a very neutral face every day, consisting of a very light eye, blush and bronzer and that's it. But I will definitely think of something and get some more blogs out there to you. In the meantime you can check out my personal blog http://jessyinlights.blogspot.com and please if you have any questions, problems, dilemmas or need help in any way you can use my help blog http://justjessask.blogspot.com No one has used it so far and I'm thinking of closing it, it was a good idea but doesn't seem to be working, so if you want to use it please do. Thank you all so much for following me and sticking around!

June Favorites (Better late than never)

Hey guys. So I wasn't going to do a June favorites, I've just never done one before and I was trying to think of a post to do today and I thought, why don't I do one even though it's a little late? So here we go.

FAVORITES FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE
Lately I have been really into the super natural look. I have been using this a lot.

It gives a perfect amount of light coverage without being too heavy, plus it has SPF 15 in it.
Sometimes I don't even put foundation on which I never ever used to do, I just put concealer, blush and a little eyeshadow and some lip gloss and I'm done. Sometimes I use a little bronzer too. Which brings us to another favorite:

My Too Faced Peach Leopard Bronzer. It brightens up your complexion and for me, it doesn't look orangey or fake at all, it's really soft and natural. I looooove it.
Also, this blush I have been wearing just about every single day for the past month and I love it:

I just talked about it in my last blog so I won't bore you and repeat it.
On the other hand, here is something you haven't heard about from me yet, which is my MAC 242 concealer brush.

It hasn't been a favorite for the whole month because I got it not too long ago but I really like it. It spreads my concealer on way better then my finger and blends really well.
Since I have been doing the natural thing, I've been using the next product a lot.

I love these colors, especially the middle row. These have become my every day colors.
The last thing is something I don't use every day but I do use it a lot.

It's the NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker. You can really control how thick or thin you want the line and it is more dramatic and lasts longer than a pencil but is easier to use than a liquid liner. Plus it comes off at night easily, with no extra scrubbing.
Ok I lied I have one more favorite but it isn't a product, it is a trend. I like having my ring finger painted a different color from the rest of my nails, but one that corresponds. I've done all light blue with one dark blue and all pink with one black. I think it looks really cute and is more interesting than all one color polish.
So that's it for June favorites, I hope you liked it and sorry it's a little late!

My Collection: Blush

Time for another My Collection post, this one is all my blushes!
Alright. So I was going to do a post on "rock concert" type of makeup and fashion based on what I wore to the music video shoot (the thing I did yesterday that I was excited about) but I ended up having so much to do the day before and when I came home yesterday I just passed out exhausted so I didn't get time. It will go up eventually but I've got a different post today and I better get started because it might be kind of long.

Blush is something that a lot of people tend to overlook or at least leave out of an essentials list, but it was one of the first makeup items I started to wear. That flush of color is the perfect thing to give your complexion life as well as a good healthy look about it. I usually wear blush every day.

I started using Benefit blushes and they last forEVER which is why I have so many of them still.
Benetint:
This is the first one I ever got. It is a cheek and lip tint/stain, but I rarely ever use it on my lips since it tends to dry them out. It has a rosy scent to it and is a classic Benefit product. I used to use it everyday but it's been out of rotation to me for awhile just to make way for other products not because I don't like it.

Posietint:
I like this one even better, it is creamier and lighter. They call it a "petal pink" color which is perfect. With the tints I usually put a stripe of it along my cheekbone and then quickly blend it all out with my fingers before it dries.

Dallas (Benefit Boxed Powder):
I think I got this at the same time I got Benetint and I have to admit, it was so long ago that I didn't know what to do with it. On the box it says "an outdoor glow for an indoor gal face powder" so I though you were supposed to put it all over your face to give you a kind of ruddy been-outside-all-day look. It just made my face look dirty and I eventually realized this so then I used it as a blush like I was supposed to. I haven't used it in so long, I had to dig it out of the back of my makeup collection. Maybe I will start using it again. It is a darker kind of bronzy color.

Thrrrob (Benefit Boxed Powder):
I love this blush. It is the perfect flushed pink color with just a touch of shimmer and a rosy scent. It can be brushed on with a light hand or layer more heavily for a more intense look without looking overdone. The packaging is adorable too. The color in the pic is a little off, its a bit deeper of a pink than it looks.

Maybelline Expert Wear Blush in Sweet Cinnamon:
This is a great drug store blush. It is a perfect color not too deep, not too bright pink, very subtle but looks nice. I like this for an everyday kind of look. Again the color is a bit off (sorry!) but it ends up looking brighter in the pic than it really is this time.

Lorac Baked Matte Satin Blush in Velvet Rope:
I loooove this blush, I have been using it almost every day lately. It is so soft and satiny, it is also a great color for summer since it complements a tan (or bronzer) very well.

Coastal Scents 10 Color Blush Palette:
So this is just about perfect. Get this and you will never need to buy another blush again. Many different companies sell this same palette too. There is a purple color which sounds weird but looks great, two reddish orange colors, two pinks, two tans for contouring, two coral type colors and a horribly bright pink which I have never used or found a use for yet.

So that's it! Stay tuned for more beauty posts as well as more My Collections.