Brows for the Win

Recently brows have become my favorite thing on my face.  Forget the eyes, nose, or lips, brows are where it's at.  Hollywood has given us some amazing examples of Brow Divas over the years: Katherine, Liz, and Audrey being my personal favorites...am I right??

Recently, brows have begun to make a comeback and I couldn't be more thrilled!!  New Brow Divas like Megan Fox and Kate Upton are giving us some brows to keep our eyes on!

Let's start with the shape of the brow.  The rule used to be that the brow should start directly up from the inside corner of the eye and should stop at a 45 degree angle away from the outside corner.  But brows are getting longer...slightly.  Don't get crazy, I'm not backing a uni-brow here, just saying that keeping the brow a little longer on the outside gives the face a softer, more romantic look.  Also, a soft arch is a gorgeous shape...mimicking, but just short of the arch of the ocular bone.  Lastly, don't get those babies too thin, we don't want to look like we're from south Texas.  

Once you have your shape down, it's time to define.  It's amazing what a difference defining the brow makes in the overall appearance of the face.  Get thee to a retailer of fine eyebrow pencils.  My two favorites are the Anastasia Brow Wiz because it has an incredibly fine point and has a large selection of colors and the Smashbox Brow Tech to Go because, although it only comes in two colors, it has an angled roll-up tip and setting gel.  There are other brow products on the market, powders and gels, but I prefer a pencil to get the Megan Fox/Kate Upton brow.  Choose a color the shade of your natural brow or slightly darker...again, we're not aiming for south Texas brows.

Anastasia Brow Wiz...note the spoolie on the bottom

Start by outlining the top and bottom  on the inner half of the brow, literally draw a line on the top and bottom, now fill in between those lines with short, hair like strokes.  Now draw a line enclosing the inside of the brown.  None of this should be harsh...light lines but enough to give you definition, you can go a little heavy here if you want to, we're going to lighten it up later.  Quick tip: stand back from the mirror when you're doing this, if not, when you do step back you're more likely than not going to have two giant caterpillars drawn on your face.  Next, take your pencil and, with those same short hair-like strokes, fill in the outer half of the brow.  This part doesn't have to be as rigidly defined but does need to be well filled in.  Finally, take a spoolie (the brush that looks like a mascara wand) and brush through the brow, from the inside-out.  This not only keeps the hairs in place, if you bear down on it it will distribute the product and give your amazing brows the perfect finishing touch.

Voila, you now have perfect brows.  Wear them with fabulosity!! 

Makeup Alley Love

Have you heard of Makeup Alley?  No?  Well, you should have heard of it because it's awesome.  You might be familiar with the more recent (and more popular) Beautylish, which has a much better app, but that's a post for another time. 

On a side note, I have been trying to upload two pictures to Instagram, for them to sell and not pay me for, for an hour and they WILL NOT LOAD.  I am going to scream.  It's Christmas Eve Eve and I'm going to scream at Instagram.  Next time you're sad, just imagine me screaming at my iPhone in front of the Christmas tree because Instagram refuses to cooperate and you are sure to feel better.  Moving on...

Makeup Alley was the first website that I ever used to look up consumer reviews of cosmetics, bath and body, and fragrance.  I love, love, love it!!  There are thousands of products reviewed on the site, with popular products having hundreds of reviews each.  I also love that the reviewer lists their age, skin type, eye and hair color next to their reviews so the reader can take this into account when considering the review.  Do I care what a ninety-five year old woman with extra-dry skin thinks about an oil-free moisturizer that is only designed to give a bit of hydration to normal/combo skin types?  Not so much.  The reviews have been particularly helpful to me when I'm looking to purchase a bigger ticket item like a Clarisonic or my Babyliss straightener.  I'm sure as heck not going to pay $150 for a hair straightener that half of the people who own them say doesn't heat after six months!  I also love to read the reviews to compare similar-ish products.  It really helps to make an educated guess as to which one will be the best for me.  I used this most recently when deciding which luminizer to buy to mix with my matte full-coverage foundations.  If you haven't been in the market lately for luminizers, there are plenty to choose from, let me tell you.  Stila, LORAC, Smashbox....just to name a few.  I ended up choosing the Artificial Light from Smashbox and love it, by the way. 

Obviously, there are a zillion places to find consumer reviews online...but wait, there's more at Makeup Alley!  There is also a swap section where you can swap with other beauty junkies!  No selling here, just swapping.  I reach point break every so often and go on a swapping binge to get rid of the overwhelming crap-ton of stuff I have AND I get new happies to play with.  Like now for instance...I want matte lipsticks and I want some warm tone blushes (there are WAY too many pink blushes in my life right now), um, and I want some Stella by Stella McCartney (this list could get really long if I let it so I'll stop there).  I recently swapped a Benefit Bad Gal Lash I had lying around for a "Pretty Sexy" MAC lippy and hubby is taking two other mascaras and a toner sample to the PO tomorrow to swap for a MAC blush and NARS lippy.  I LOVE this idea...love, love, love it.  My only word of warning is this: PLEASE be careful of germs and clean anything you swap like it is covered in AIDS.  Just assume it is.  And don't swap for used mascaras/other things that hold onto germs/things you can't clean...that's disgusting and not worth getting pregnant and dying over (Mean Girls anyone? no?  ok). 

You can also find message boards here where you can post questions and find answers to any beauty/health/fitness question you could possibly dream of.  I like just scrolling through these.  I always get great ideas, have a few giggles, and marvel at what other people actual use their brains for.  

Makeup Alley does have an app but it only has the consumer reviews on it.  I'm pretty apathetic about it honestly.  I guess if I was shopping and an emergency came up where I had to compare products this might be helpful, but I wish the app had all of the great features that the website does.  The app gets pretty crappy reviews and I'm sure it's because it doesn't sport all of the fancy features of the website.  

So come join me on Makeup Alley, I'm "efjones".  I have a few reviews on there and my swap list and wish list.  But guess what I still don't have...INSTAGRAM PICTURES!!

Fab Take: Palladio Herbal Foundation

Palladio is a mass cosmetics brand that many people haven't heard of but I wish it was more well know because it's kind of awesome!  I have a few of their products in my kit and enjoy them all.  If I recall, Sally Beauty used to be the sole distributor of Palladio, but it is now also available at Ulta and online at www.palladiobeauty.com, HERE. 

Today let's look at the Palladio Herbal Foundation.  It is an oil-free, light-medium coverage, matte liquid that is buildable and leaves a nice pretty finish.  BUT, the fun doesn't stop there!  No, this foundation has great skin benefits too!  Ginseng and Ginko extracts, along with Vitamins A & E provide anti-aging benefits, reducing the look of fine-lines...score.  Cucumber, Aloe Vera, and Chamomile help to soothe the skin, which my ridiculously sensitive and reactive skin LOVES!  I can use this several days in a row without swelling eyes whereas I have to change up with other foundations to prevent overload and reactivity...score again!

The shade range is limited, only 8 to choose from but I'm OK because the lightest color, Ivory, suits my just fine.  And, here's the most ridiculous, best part...Palladio Herbal Foundation is ONLY $10!!!!!!!!!

The Fab Take: Give it a try!  It's oil-free and suitable for all skin types.  And, at $10, it can't hurt!!

Just Your Average Daily Routine

 Hello, my name is Erin and I have a makeup problem.  Hey, at least it's not coke.  I'd like to introduce you to my "everyday" makeup kit.  This doesn't include my back stock...Junkie/Hoarder/Lover of Makeup...call it what you will (just please don't call that hoarders show, that would be embarrassing).  I anticipate another post on that later.  I know you will be waiting for that one with bated breath...get excited.  My go-to's live in the giant train case and I have a side bag of Bare Minerals, I only use this to put over light foundations to achieve greater coverage or when I'm going to the Dr. with snot running down my face...pretty much my Bare usage.

I'll deconstruct the train case of makeup madness as we merrily roll along but I'll be hitting my faves and most-used loves RIGHT NOW!

• Primer: Too Faced Primed and Poreless Pure - this one really does what primers are supposed to do: even out skin tone, give a smooth surface to work on, help makeup last longer, mattify, reduce the look of fine lines and pores...all without making my skin look greasy (I'm looking at YOU POREfessional!)
• Foundation:  Good grief, this is embarassing.  The ones that are in my case at the moment are: Urban Decay Naked Skin, Smashbox BB Cream, Benefit Some-Kind-A-Gorgeous, Palladio Wet/Dry Foundation, Palladio Herbal Foundation (um, haven't taken this out of the package yet) and Bare Minerals Original.  Also Clinique translucent setting powder and about three different Bare Mineral Veils.  Honestly, apart from the Palladio, none of these give me the coverage I want so I always wear two because that makes sense.  I will probably go for Smashbox Studio Skin and Halo Powder when I run out of these and go through the back stock, which will be in ten years.  Because I clearly wait until I need something to buy more.  I should work on that.
• I LOVE eye makeup!!!  I always start with Urban Decay Primer.  I have the Original in my case now but I prefer Sin...guess where that is, yep, in the back stock.  I use Urban and Smashbox sticks A LOT and my Naked II Palette the most, but occasionally I make myself use my Stila Palette.  Honestly, I'm generally to lazy to work with my UD Black Palette but when I'm not being a bum I'll bust out with my more fun colors.  
• Cheeks - I have been totally obsessed with TARTE Gel Blushes for years.  They are the best and rock my world.  You should love them too.  I wear them under every powder blush, every day.  Word of warning: despite appearances, they WILL flush down the toilet and you will have to pay a plumber $250 to get your $30 gel blush out of the toilet.  Just keep an eye on that.  I am also obsessed with the Benefit Box O' Powders.  Bella Bomba and Sugar Bomb are my faves.  Devastated when they discontinued It's A 10.  How could you Benefit, how could you?  I also love to use Smashbox Softlights for highlight and definition.  Cheeks are so yummy to me.  
• If I'm not feeling lips I'll use my Korres Lip Butters.  They are the only tinted balms I have found that make my lips happy AND give me color.

My real lips, liners, brows, and mascaras live on my magnetic (with other cheeks and eyes) board so that's why they aren't in the case, I know you were wondering.  Yes, I know I'm ridiculous and, yes, I love it.