Makeup Tips/How To

Today Aisha gives us a few tips on how to wear eye makeup with glasses.

Okay ladies, let’s start this post with a short quiz for those of you who wear glasses:

QUIZ: If you wear glasses…

1. Would ripping a contact lens before something like your best friend’s wedding trigger a minor panic attack due to the thought that you might have to wear your glasses to the wedding instead?
2. Do you secretly wish you could look as cool (and therefore be as cool) as Tina Fey in glasses?
3. Does your collection of eyeshadows look more colorful than a bag of Skittles?

If you answered yes to … well, ANY of the above questions, you’ve come to the right place. With some creativity, your awesome eyeshadow collection and a few rules of thumb, you, too, can look as spectacularly sexy in spectacles as Jennifer Garner did in Alias.

Before I show you some evening looks, here are 10 basic tips for wearing glasses with makeup.

10 beauty tips for girls who wear glasses

1. Your eyebrows frame your eyes when you wear glasses, so keep them well groomed.
2. Under-eye circles are more noticeable beneath glasses, so good concealer is a must.
3. Cream and waterproof eyeshadows are less likely to flake onto your glasses than loose powders or pressed eyeshadows. If one type creases, try another. The likelihood of creasing often varies from one person to another.
4. Shimmer CAN be worn under glasses.
5. Keep trying on your glasses during makeup application to see if the look needs adjusting.
6. Curling your eyelashes may prevent them from touching the inside of your lenses.
7. If you’re blind without your glasses, a pair of these Magnifier Specs may help with application.
8. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes and to reduce squinting, which can cause fine lines to appear around the outer eye area.
9. When choosing a frame, spend the extra money for a quality anti-reflective coating and high index polycarbonate lenses.
10. Keep your lenses clean and fog-free with lens cleaner and a soft cloth.

Look One: Dramatic false lashes

Now that you have some basic guidelines, here are a few dramatic evening looks to spark your creativity!

My first model, Q, has a simple dark frame — nothing too overpowering. She’s wearing a light but vivid pearly color, strong black eyeliner and mascara, dark brows, and a dark, shimmery, glossy lip color. She also has dramatic false eyelashes on her lower eye line.

First, I applied Hourglass Oxygen Foundation Powder No. 3 and then used Shu Uemura Cover Crayon as concealer and eyeshadow base.

Next, I applied MAC Naked Lunch (a pearly light peach) all over the lid before applying Shu Uemura Cream Eye Shadow in P Light Green (a pearly lime green) to the lower part of the lid and inner corner of her eye.

I think a synthetic brush works best for blending this cream shadow.

The top semi-hardened layer of the eyeshadow in the pot should be wiped off prior to each use. Here, I used MAC Cloudbound (pearly ivory) to highlight.

Finally, I blended the upper area and curled the upper eyelashes, applying Fresh Supernova Mascara to the ones on top.

I used a nail clipper to trim the four end sections of a set of Darkness false eyelashes in style X-up6 in Black. Darkness can be found in some beauty supply stores and is available online, but the styles vary among sellers. Other inexpensive false eyelash brands will work just as well; that’s what experimentation is for. 🙂

Since I used an eyelash intended for an upper lid, I removed the sticky residue from the band with makeup remover.
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Today Rae of theNotice shows how to rescue a broken pan of pressed powder from the brink!

Hi there, ladies! It’s Rae from theNotice. I just wanted to take a moment to say “thanks!” to Karen for letting me guest blog. Makeup and Beauty Blog is definitely one of my favourites, so this is pretty much the best. thing. ever.

Okay. Moment’s over!

It’s happened to us all: you go traveling, or you move, or you take a compact with you on your way out the door. When you open up your traincase or cosmetic bag, there’s a thin film of powder everywhere, and then you just know — one of your pressed powders broke in transit, and it’s completely unusable in its current state.

But it’s not the end of the world, because this is a problem that’s easily fixed! Seriously, folks. It’s easier than making toast to fix a hungry stomach or tempting children with candy or Jell-O.

What you’ll need

• Alcohol (no, not vodka. You want cleaning alcohol! I’m using isopropyl.)
• A steady hand to pour it, or an eyedropper
• Lots of tissue and/or Q-tips

We start our endeavor with one of the Smashbox Brow Tech duos from my makeup kit (this one’s Blonde). The powder portion had completely broken in transit — crumbles and chunks everywhere!

You know how when you get to the bottom of your Special K Cinnamon Pecan, there’s just… dregs? Well, it was like that. And for all of you who don’t obsessively eat that stuff, just check out the photo below (and add the cereal to your shopping list, because it’s like heaven. But in cereal form. And edible).

So because this was a duo, I started by scraping off the top layer of the wax with a clean cosmetic spatula and using an eyedropper to moisten the powder half with alcohol.

Use a damp towel or Q-tip to clean up around the edges a little, but it doesn’t have to be perfect — trust me, it’s easier to clean it up at the end, when more doesn’t tip out every time you move the pot!

For the wax, I just wiped off the top with a tissue after scraping, and it was pretty much good to go. But for the powder (or for a single pan) it’s a little harder. To fix this one, you have to keep putting in alcohol until it turns into pudding. I know. SO much harder, right? Oh, my god! I can’t do this! It’s too difficult!

…aaaand I’ll pretend you recognize the sarcasm in my, erm, font.

Anyhow, that’s really all you need to do! Once it’s mushy, all you have to do is let it dry (the stronger the alcohol, the faster it’ll be ready for the next step). Because this was a half-pan, re-pressing was a little harder. But for a normal 26mm MAC shadow pan, all you have to do is wait until it’s just barely damp, put a paper towel or handkerchief on top, stack a couple quarters on that, and apply pressure!

SHAZAM! Just like that, you’ve got a like-new pan again — clean up the edges, let it dry overnight before closing it, and you’re ready to face the day. If you have a half-pan like mine, and not a full circle, just press it with your fingers. The result won’t look new, but unless you’ve found a way to get a half-quarter, it’s the best you can do!

TIP: if you’re pressing something large — like a foundation, powder or blush — the bottoms of glasses work wonderfully instead of quarters!

One last thing, though. The pans in this were a little loose (if by “a little loose” you mean “totally not connected with the pot anymore”), which I’m thinking was the reason for their demise. So I took ’em out with tweezers, applied a couple drops of Krazy Glue, put them back in, and after about 10 seconds, they were secure again!

For loose pans, plain ‘ole Krazy is a lifesaver. It’s my number-four beauty tool, preceeded only by my Tweezerman tweezers, lash curler, and Q-tips. Just please don’t use it as cosmetic glue, alright? 🙂

Is it just me, or did this turn into a lesson about how you shouldn’t blog while hungry, instead of one about re-pressing broken powders?

This post was written by Rae, the beautiful brains behind theNotice. Beauty blogger, student and makeup enthusiast, Rae can’t remember a time when she didn’t love makeup.