Makeup Tips/How To

How Do You Apply Blush? Do You Bounce or Swirl, or Do You Have a Different Method?

May 1st, 2011 by Karen 51 Comments

Mission: Impossible. That’s what I’m going to start calling my efforts to organize my makeup collection. At the rate things are going, I should be done in roughly 10 years, give or take. I just keep getting distracted/hypnotized by all the pretty colors and end up spending more time playing than actually organizing. Instead of putting things into the appropriate bins, I put them on my cheeks. 🙂 I’ve also been staging things for pictures like the one above…

Seriously, I’m not getting anywhere, and, yes, I’m sitting here with hot pink blush on my right cheek and a shimmery plum on my left.

About blush, that reminds me. How do you apply it? I usually do it one of two ways, either bouncing or swirling the brush, and the brush is usually just a standard blush brush like the MAC 129 ($34), unless the blush I’m going to apply is highly pigmented or dark. In those cases, I’ll go with a fan or duo fibre skunk brush instead, both of which apply a little less product per layer.

mac 188 small duo fibre face brush
My current favorite blush brush, the MAC 188

Sometimes, when I want to lay down more concentrated color on the apples of my cheeks or if I’m applying a cream blush, I’ll ditch the brushes altogether and use my fingers.

Just like women did in ye olden days. Almost. Back then they’d use their fingers, too, except sometimes without the blush. They’d just pinch their cheeks to turn them rosy red. I’ve done it before…in a pinch (sorry!). 🙂

In choosing a brush for blush, I also consider the size of a brush’s head and the size and shape of my face. I don’t have a lot of room on my cheeks for big brush heads, so I prefer small-to-medium ones. Big ones tend to splay on me, depositing color like a puff on the skin around my cheeks.
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A Manic Mango Thursday and My New Foundation Routine

April 28th, 2011 by Karen 62 Comments

Greetings and happy Thursday, friend! 🙂 What’s shakin’ out yonder way?

Can we talk about foundation for a sec? A few of you noticed that I switched up my foundation/powder recently — the combo I’ve been wearing in my pictures — and I wanted to share why I changed, what I’m doing now, and to ask you about your routine.

But before that, mango break! Thanks for all the great mango suggestions and recipes. You’re really feeding my addiction. Nutella’s facing stiff competition from my new (and at different times former) favorite fruit. I think I’m going to try making mango lassi and mango salsa this weekend. Of course I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’m so hooked on mango right now, it’s ridiculous. Last night at Trader Joe’s I chucked four (FOUR!) boxes of those Mango & Cream Bars into my cart. I actually felt a little ashamed, but it was like I physically couldn’t help myself. Damn those things are tasty…

trader joes mango and cream bars
NOM!

Sorry, back to foundation. As a devoted fan of Laura Mercier Oil-Free Liquid Foundation for years, I was heartbroken to find that Laura changed the color of my go-to shade (NOOOO!). Or, rather, I’m fairly sure she did. I bought a bottle recently that seemed dramatically darker and pinker (is that a word?) than it always had before, so I checked other bottles at several counters just to be sure, and, yup, they were different too.

What a disappointment… It always covered everything, never caused breakouts, and has always been so easy to apply.

I drifted like that, crushed, in foundation no-man’s land for a while and returned to using my trusty Chanel Mat Lumiere, which I love for everyday wear, but I don’t feel like it photographs very well on me (I think it looks a little flat).

I also tried Make Up For Ever HD, which I think looks fantastic and photographs well, but hello, pimples!; and MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation (great coverage, but it smothers my skin) but wasn’t really wowed by either.

Then, last Friday, desperate for relief, I hit up the MAC store to find something new.
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How to Get the Most Bounce for Your Buck from the New MAC Big Bounce Shadows

April 25th, 2011 by Karen 26 Comments

Do you remember flubber? It was a rubber-like, super bouncy substance created by an absent-minded professor in 1961. Actually, by THE Absent-Minded Professor in the Disney movie of the same name. I suspect MAC might have lured the professor out of retirement to help them develop the upcoming MAC Big Bounce Shadows ($16.50 each) because, like flubber, they’re also quite bouncy and unusual.

The rich colors don’t feel like anything I’ve ever felt before. Think dense whipped cream, if that makes any sense, and when I tap the pans with a finger, I can actually feel them bouncing back in a very cool, weird way.

Hopefully these 16 shadows with metallic and/or pearl finishes are easier to corral than flubber was. Getting that stuff to stay put was almost impossible, but these shadows are supposed to bounce onto counters May 5 as part of the new MAC Flighty collection.

For help getting the most bounce from these beauties, I turned to one of my favorite MAC senior artists, Romero Jennings (are you following him on Twitter?).

MAC Senior Artist Romero Jennings

So if you’re ready, let’s bounce! 🙂

1. Be firm

While you could use any eyeshadow brush to apply the Big Bounce Shadows, Romero suggests using something with firm, stiff bristles like the MAC 242 Shader Brush ($24.50). A firm brush should give you more control than a fluffier, softer brush like the MAC 217 ($22.50). “And this way you can buff it out with the same brush,” he adds. Just buff with the edge of the head along any harsh lines.

2. Tap, tap, tap (or bounce, bounce, bounce)

What’s the best way to apply these Big Bounce Shadows? By tapping/patting/bouncing them onto your lids with the MAC 242. It helps distribute them evenly. And try to avoid swirling the brush or swiping it side to side like a windshield wiper, which tends to just push the product around. Romero says you can probably get away with skipping an eyeshadow primer, since the Big Bounces have a great grip and should last all day long.

Four of the 16 MAC Big Bounce Shadows from left to right: Count Your Assets, Spread the Wealth, Black Diamond and Rich Thrills

3. Work fast!

Time is of the essence! The Bounces were designed to dry quickly — within seconds! So, if the phone rings while you’re working on your eye makeup, you might want to let it go to voicemail, LOL! Because once these dry, they don’t budge.

As for drying in their pans, MAC made the packaging air-tight to keep the shadows moist.

4. Put out the welcome matte

Here’s one way to work these into your regular routine: apply them first as a base, and then pat a matte shadow directly on top. “This is a trick that I love, LOVE doing,” Romero says, “especially if someone is going out in the evening…”
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Makeup Magic at Home with the Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System

April 23rd, 2011 by Karen 15 Comments

Written by Sam

Welcome to Makeup 2.0. The future is now! Upgrade your makeup point of view with the subject of today’s guest post from Sam.

The Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System

How often do you glance at a magazine photo spread and enviously draw your fingers over the page? No one’s skin can be that perfect, you think, studying the model’s face. It’s like the pores have all been airbrushed away!

What is the Temptu?

Now you can have pro-caliber post-production skin, and you can get it from the comfort of your own home. Skin nirvana is just a Temptu away. With their AIRbrush Makeup System, you’ll be staring at yourself in the mirror, wondering if you’re seeing something real, or a cruel trick of light.

The Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System ($225) is available exclusively through Sephora or Temptu’s own website (I prefer to deal with the brand itself).

Dealing directly with the company

Using the company’s Shade Finder tool, you can upload a picture of yourself (don’t forget to smile!) and list your current brand of foundation, as well as the shade you use. Within a day or two, you’ll receive an email recommending the Temptu foundation, blush, and highlighter shades ($55 for two foundation AIRpods; $30 for each blush; $35 for highlighters) they believe you should try.

One reason I prefer to deal with Temptu directly is that I’ve never had much luck with Sephora’s shade matcher girls. I’m not sure whether to attribute it to the lighting in the stores (shows every blemish, rough spot and acne scar I have), or to something else, but whenever I try to match my foundation in Sephora, I end up walking out of the store with a shade that’s either too light or too dark.

Temptu’s online tool, however, picked the shades I would have chosen for myself, and their online color representations look spot-on.

With Temptu’s “Build-a-Bundle Starter Set,” rather than purchasing the system, the foundation duo, the blush, and the highlighter separately at MSRP, you can bundle your shades (hopefully the ones you were matched to) from three drop-down menus, and they’ll combine them for you to the tune of a $50 savings.

The packaging

Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System Packaging If you’re a packaging nerd like I am, I think you’ll be impressed. The system itself is housed in a magnetic closure box, and nestled in a fitted plastic container that rests over the other components: air-hose, power source, instructional DVD, and warranty. Glossy minimalism at its best.

The DVD wasn’t what I expected, and I think the printed instructions are much more useful overall. Airbrushing and applying makeup with a brush or sponge are totally different beasts, and the DVD isn’t much more than pretty cinematography. Sure, it’s well laid out, but the model has nearly perfect skin already. Fine for a fashion spread or a virtual look book, but for real people like us who want to learn how to conceal a blemish or dark under-eyes, I recommend reading the manual or looking up a YouTube video posted by a consumer instead.

The airbrush that comes with the Starter Set is the same one that comes with the Temptu air professional compressor, sans the battery pack. Instead, a rubber muffler is glued to the underside (thank goodness, as this thing produces a rather loud rumbling noise when turned on) of this model. If you had hoped to purchase a battery for it, quash them now. This version must be used near a power source. That said, the power cord is rather long.

The proprietary gun rests inside a stand above the machine, and its beautiful! That is, until you pick it up. The shiny, brushed-metal-esque plastic attracts fingerprints like mad. Not that that affects its performance in the slightest, but if you have issues with that type of thing, be prepared to keep a microfiber cloth nearby at all times.

Using the system

To begin using the system, take the rubber hose, and push one end into the hole underneath the PSI regulator (that knob with the white ring around it on one side), and the do the same with the other end and the gun. Next, take your first AIRpod (I assume you’ll be using the foundation one first), and remove the black cap on one end. Inside this cap is a little tool, held back by a piece of sticky tape. I needed a pair of tweezers to remove it, so be prepared. Take this tool, and poke it in and out of the red-rimmed hole on the now exposed end of the AIRpod (this is where the gun will connect to the product). Make sure to also remove the tape from the other end of the AIRpod as well (I learned this the hard way… So much product wasted!)

Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System Compressor

Now, here comes the tricky part. Hold down the small button on the side of the gun (this is extremely important), and slide the AIRpod in until you hear it click. You won’t know if it worked or not for another few seconds. ..

Push the button on top of the machine, and aim the gun at the back of your hand (you should be holding the gun like you would a large pencil or pen). You should feel a cool, gentle blast of air. With one finger, pull back the lever on the top of the gun itself. If it seems to kind of click instead of move smoothly, the AIRpod didn’t latch properly, and no product will come out. In this case, you’ll have to remove the AIRpod and reinsert it (I once had to do this four times to get it to work).

A gripe

And this is where one of my major gripes with the system comes in. It’s nearly impossible to get those little devils off! You’re meant to hold down that button on the side of the gun (make sure the machine is turned off for this) and simply slide the AIRpod right off. Nope. It’s a struggle. I often have to work it so hard that the hose pops off. I’ve tried wiggling it back and forth, pulling straight back, wrapping it in a towel and pulling… And if you have any sort of slippery material (lotion, etc.) on your hands, forget it. I think

Temptu AIRpods in Ivory, Pale Pink, and Champagne

Inside one of the Temptu AIRpods
Inside one of the AIRpods

I’ve honestly spent more time trying to remove these things (either to reinsert them to get them to latch, or to switch products) than actually applying what was in them! I get that they need a tight seal to work, but there definitely needs to be an easy-release tab or something.

Actually using the brush

The Temptu AIRbrush Makeup System Brush

Assuming, though, that the lever did move smoothly, you should see some product start to slowly build up on your hand. That’s good. Release the lever, and move it toward your face. The brush has a continuous airflow, so you’ll feel air being pushed from it even when you aren’t distributing product. Adjust the machine’s PSI regulator for whichever product you’re currently using (I prefer the middle to the high position for foundation; the middle to low setting for blush, highlighter, and concealing).
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Picking the Perfect Urban Decay Baked Bronzer

April 7th, 2011 by Karen 57 Comments

urban decay baked bronzer

Urban Decay’s three new Baked Bronzers for Face and Body ($26 each) probably won’t satisfy the Oompa-Loompas or Snookies of the world. Able to be worn wet or dry on the face, eyes, lips and body, the faux tan these powder bronzers bring doesn’t look as orange that.

But if you’re interested yet unsure which Baked Bronzer to snag, Urban Decay International Makeup Artist Eric Jimenez suggests following these steps:

1. Decide on a level of color and coverage

These Baked Bronzers come in three different levels of color. The lightest is Gilded, Baked is the medium, and Toasted is the darkest shade. Each also varies in terms of coverage, with Gilded offering the least, and Toasted delivering more of a full-coverage look.

2. Do you want to shimmer or matte?

If you plan to wear them on your face, Eric suggests going with the finish that best suits the condition of your skin. If you have great, practically flawless skin, consider either Gilded, which has a shimmery golden finish, or Baked, which has a shimmery silver finish. (NOTE: The “veins” of shimmer in these new Baked Bronzers are not spray overlays; they penetrate all the way through the entire pan 🙂 ).

Since shimmers tend to emphasize things like fine lines, pore size and oily skin, if you’re dealing with bothersome skin issues, Eric recommends Toasted, which has a more forgiving matte finish.

Urban Decay Baked Bronzer Face and Body
From left to right: Gilded, Baked and Toasted
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Rolling with the Hot Pink from the New Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette

April 6th, 2011 by Karen 59 Comments

Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette

The year was 1985. Doc Brown and Marty McFly had just gone Back to the Future (for the first time)! I was just a wee lass then, spinning her wheels every Saturday afternoon at the roller rink, which was THE place to go in my small suburban town. One of the moms would drive us in something called a “station wagon,” a kind of prehistoric car forced into extinction by the much larger and faster minivan.

At the rink, we’d spend hours skating in circles to Madonna and Huey Lewis tunes beneath multi-colored disco lights in our stinky, rented skates…

Yup, there are some things I wish I could forget about the ’80s (hello, high bangs and side wings!), but the roller rink is not one of them. 🙂

I always felt bad for the one kid clinging for dear life to the side rails. I couldn’t do any fancy tricks, and never quite mastered the art of breaking/stopping (my method involved running into a wall), but I was fast. I’d fly around the rink, zipping between the taller skaters, only sometimes body checking the slower moving targets.

Believe it or not, this was, to quote the pants-dropping Deena from Jersey Shore, “a good time.”

Memories of those days came flooding back to me today when I saw the pretty picture on the new Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette ($32). It comes with four eyeshadows (three neutrals and a hot pink), a brown pencil liner and a pink lip gloss.

Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette
The Rollergirl Palette with an iPhone for scale

When I posted a pic of it last week, some of us weren’t sure what we’d be able to do with Woodstock, the hot pink shade, so I asked Urban Decay International Makeup Artist Eric Jimenez for ideas.

1. Wear Woodstock as an eyeliner

Eric says we’ll be seeing lots of little bright pops of color on eyes this summer. To get the look, start with an eye primer on your lids, and then pat one (or two or three!) neutrals directly on top (Eric suggests Rollergirl’s neutrals). Next, using an eyeliner brush, apply Woodstock along your upper OR lower lash lines. A dry brush head produces a softer look, while a wet brush head intensifies the color. If you’re feeling REALLY adventurous, try lining BOTH your upper and lower lash lines for a bolder look.

2. Layer Woodstock beneath a neutral shade

So maybe hot pink eyeliner is a little out of your comfort zone. For a hint of pink that doesn’t look too flashy, Eric suggests dabbing it along your upper lash lines with an eyeshadow brush, and then overlaying one of the Rollergirl neutrals directly on top.

3. Go mod with Woodstock at the inner corners of your eyes

For a ’60s mod look, apply one of Rollergirl’s neutrals to your lids, adding a dash of pink at the inner corners of your eyes. NOTE: Some gals feel that wearing pink in the inner corners makes them look like they’ve been crying. If you haven’t tried it before, you might want to do a test run.

4. Wear Woodstock for pink lips

Now here’s something I would’ve never thought to try! Eric likes to pat Woodstock on the lips and then layers a clear gloss on top. It sets the eyeshadow on the lips and really makes it shine.

5. Get cheeky with Woodstock

Woodstock even works as a blush. Try dusting it on the apples of your cheeks with a blush brush.

Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette palette

Urban Decay Rollergirl Palette palette
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Game, Set, Matte: The Pitfalls of Powder and Shine

April 2nd, 2011 by Karen 17 Comments

Written by Sam

Game, set, matte! Only shine when and where you want to with the help of today’s guest post from Sam.

Strike the Powder
Photo by sekushy

Some of the most inappropriately applied makeup products are the ones we use every day, like shine/shimmer products and setting powder. When used correctly, they can produce beautiful, subtle effects, but when used improperly things can go terribly, horribly, no-good, very badly wrong.

Let’s review some application techniques and tips to help you use shine/shimmer products and setting powders to perfection.

Beware of Shine

Shiny isn’t usually a word you want used in reference to your face. It brings to mind other less attractive words like greasy, oily, dirty — you get the picture. But no glow at all can make skin look flat, two-dimensional, dull, and expose things like large pores and dry patches (not a good look either).

What we want is a happy medium — a selective sheen — with a bit of “wetness” on the tops of our cheekbones, down the bridge of the nose, on the chin, and on our cupid’s bow. Everywhere else should be more or less matte.

To pinpoint exactly where to apply, stand almost directly under an overhead light, and note where the light highlights the planes of your face. We’ll call these your highpoints.

When you have some time to prepare, try using a cream or liquid foundation, and then dust a powder lightly over every part of your face except for your highpoints. Blot these areas with a tissue instead. This way, the moisture in your foundation will produce a skin-like gleam only where you want it to, and where one would appear naturally.
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What’s Your 5-Minute Makeup Routine?

March 22nd, 2011 by Karen 105 Comments

Sometimes you barely have enough minutes in the day to Google shirtless pictures of Ben McKenzie let alone put on a full face of makeup. When time’s of the essence, I stick to a bare minimum of basics and products that 1) I can apply fast, and 2) don’t require a lot of blending and precision…

A brightening moisturizer — First, to brighten my overall appearance and give some extra dimension to my skin, I apply MAC Strobe Cream, an opalescent moisturizer, all over my face.
Foundation — Next, I reach for Chanel Mat Lumiere Foundation, the synthetic fiber Sonia Kashuk Flat Top Brush (or similar skunk brush) lightly moistened with a bit of MAC Fix+, and dab and blend around my nose, chin and cheeks. It may be mad pricey at $54, but matte Lumiere is the most natural-looking everyday wear foundation I’ve found so far, and it doesn’t give me breakouts.
Concealer — When worn together, Smashbox Photo Op Under Eye Brightener and MAC Pro Longwear Concealer, a pearly pink brightening lotion and a full-coverage liquid concealer, disguise even the darkest of my dark circles.
Powder — I use translucent MAC Blot Powder to set my makeup and increase wear time. It absorbs shiny oil for hours.
Brows — I started using Benefit Instant Brow a few months ago to quickly fill in my brows, and now it’s a full-blown addiction. It’s an easy-to-blend wax brow pencil with a handy brow comb attached.
Lashes — The Shu Uemura Lash Curler is the only curler I’ve ever used that refuses to pinch my lashes, and that’s awesome. It creates lovely, natural-looking lash curls, too.
You’re making me blush! — Creamy Urban Decay After Glow Glide-On Cheek Tints are a snap to apply and blend. I just use my fingers. I end by using these cream blushes to give a little color to both my cheeks and my lips (they double as lipsticks).

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