NUDESTIX

A 10-Minute Minimalist Makeup Tutorial: Gleaming Rose Gold Wings With Glossy Cheeks and Lips

February 1st, 2018 by Karen 21 Comments

nudestix golden rose top pic — You CAN do this in 10 minutes!

I’ve been wearing this look with gleaming rose gold wings and glossy cheeks and lips lately, most recently to brunch with my friend Cindy, and on the day I did this side-roll ponytail tutorial.

It’s borderline glam, which I like, but it’s still quick and easy. From start to finish, you can do this in 10 minutes.

There are three things about this look that help keep the time from spiraling out of control.

1. The concealer is doing the heavy lifting.

I’m not wearing any foundation at all. There’s just a medium-coverage liquid concealer with a natural satin finish, which I’m using for spot treatments to even out specific places, and I’ve chosen a liquid concealer that can be built up in layers wherever I need the extra coverage (it’s nice to have that option).

2. Pressed powder gives you more control.

The concealer is set with a medium-coverage pressed powder, which is handy for 10-minute looks, whereas loose powder is usually messier… Pressed is just easier for me to grab and go.

Also, pressed powder tends to look sheerer than loose powder does for me, which provides a lot more control over how much powder actually ends up my skin.

Basically, I’d rather apply less product and have to build it up to the coverage I want than accidentally apply too much powder and have to remove the excess… It’s always easier to add makeup than take it away, IMO.

3. A creamy eyeshadow pencil corrects any mistakes with the liquid liner.

Running the cream shadow along the edge of the liquid liner helps to hide any dips and imperfections. There’s also a subtle transition of shine from the high beam gleam of the liquid liner to the softer shimmer of the pencil, which gives some subtle complexity to the liner.

Alright… Are you ready for the breakdown? I hope so, because here we go! 🙂

nudestix golden rose breakdown — Before and after

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10-Minute Work or Weekend Makeup With Red Blush, Red Lipstick and Smudgy Bronze-Black Cat Eyeliner

January 13th, 2018 by Karen 24 Comments

10 minute makeup — Today’s 10-minute makeup

A few things:

It’s Saturday morning, and I’m wearing the same pajamas I put on Thursday night.
My head feels like it’s being squished in a vice (yes, I’m still a walking germ factory).
I haven’t washed my hair in three (four?) days.

But thanks to the healing power of makeup, I can pretend I briefly look like I’m a somewhat functioning adult, LOL!

This 10-minute makeup look was 1) to help myself feel better, and 2) for Sheena (yay for the Bay, girl, woo-hoo!), who liked the NUDESTIX Intense Lip + Cheek Pencil in Purity post earlier this week but wanted to see me use a darker color from the line.

This time I used warm red Stiletto, and I used it as both a blush and a sheer lip color. And then I also did a smudgy, bronze-y black cat eye.

Everything I used is listed below, and if you have any questions, you know where to find me (hints: it involves Netflix, a laptop and my couch).

nudestix stiletto — When you’re trying to not look like you’re a walking germ factory…

nudestix stiletto — Oh, this? I always look like this when I have a 101-degree fever…

One note about the skin. I used a very sheer liquid skin tint to even everything out just a touch, then boosted the coverage on my cheeks with a loose foundation. This is a very cool shortcut I like to do when I’m pressed for time/have very little patience.

Also, because I went into this look planning to only spend 10 minutes on it, and because the pencil was an opaque bright red, I opted for the sheer lip stain because I figured I’d be able to fudge the edge of the lip line (which I did).

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Unsung Makeup Heroes: NUDESTIX Intense Matte Lip + Cheek Pencil in Purity

January 10th, 2018 by Karen 28 Comments

nudestix purity k — This is your new favorite matte blush and lipstick for 10-minute makeup looks.

Just because you have to do your makeup under the clock and stick to a strict schedule doesn’t mean it has to be a slapdash situation with, like, BAM! — a little eyeshadow here, some eyeshadow there. You can still do looks that are elegant, refined and pretty. You just have to find ways to move the whole process along.

If you’re always looking to save a little time like I am, using multitasking products can help.

But aha! — not all multitasking products are equal, right? Dusty rose NUDESTIX Intense Matte Lip + Cheek Pencil in Purity ($24) works as both a matte blush and a matte lipstick, but in the vast sea of multitasking makeup, its smooth formula makes it exceptional.

nudestix purity — NUDESTIX Purity

What’s an unsung makeup hero? For me, it’s an oftentimes underrated makeup morsel, a permanent collection product that scoots under the radar screen of many makeup lovers but regularly rocks my world. The long-running Unsung Heroes series features some of my favorites.

I’ve noticed that the smoother and creamier a multitasking pencil is, especially a matte like this one, the easier it is to push across the skin and manipulate, so when something is creamy like this is and doesn’t skip or tug when you apply it, then it also means that it won’t fight you when you feather it. In the end, you won’t have to spend more time blending than you need to.

This is one of those products where the hardest part of using it is drawing a few stripes on your cheeks. Let’s just do it right now…

nudestix purity — The closest I’ll ever get to having real kitty whiskers!

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The NUDESTIX Nude(art)ist Creator’s Palette Has a Few Stories to Tell

December 4th, 2017 by Karen 18 Comments

nudestix go girl — Go Girl

I could happily spend an entire day (or night!) with a good book on my couch, just reading and reading for hours on end, and maybe that’s one of the reasons I love things that have a good story behind them, even makeup, whether it’s an entire collection like Chanel’s Travel Diary, or individual items with catchy backstories, like the pencils in the NUDESTIX Nude(art)ist Creator’s Palette ($59).

nudestix creators palette — Six new nude limited edition shades in the long-lasting Magnetic Matte Lip Color formula

It’s a little funny to me that this is called a palette, because the cute tin actually contains a set of six new full-sized LE shades of NUDESTIX Magnetic Matte Lip Color, the brand’s line of creamy, smooth long-wearing waterproof — I wanna call them liquid lipsticks — lip crayons.

The Magnetic Mattes are three-in-one liquid lipsticks/lip pencils/lip stains, and they last me anywhere from six to nine hours.

nudestix creators palette — A tin to hold your treasures and your Magnetic Mattes

Each of the colors in the Creator’s Palette was developed by a different social media influencer, and every one has a story behind it, like matte dark chocolate brown Joyce, which was created by Instagram artist @cydbee, whose first memories of makeup are of her mom putting on her favorite chocolate brown lipstick.

I think that’s so sweet!

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A “Gilt and Gloss” Makeup Look With Nudestix and Urban Decay

June 9th, 2017 by Karen 15 Comments

Ya know, this whole “makeup in 30 minutes or less thing” I’ve been doing all week long has been VERY liberating. To think, there was a time when I didn’t want to try anything beyond basic makeup because I thought that any looks worth doing would take at least 45 minutes to an hour (or sometimes two).

This look took 20 minutes and — get this! — only one brush. I used an angled eye brush to take out the edges of the cat eye.

Oh, and a BeautyBlender, if we’re being really picky.

To blend the makeup on my eyes, cheeks and lips, I just used my fingers! I’ve been inspired by a makeup artist a friend of mine named Fieran (hey, Fieran!) introduced me to, violetta_fr on YouTube. She’s this impossibly chic French woman who lives in New York, and she does most of her application with her fingers and a handful of products (only what she can fit in her cross-body Chanel purse).

It’s refreshing to see makeup out there beyond the hyper-glam beat that dominates social media, ya know?

Anywho, I call this look “Gilt and Gloss” because I used a mix of sparkly glitter, golden shimmer, and matte taupe and beige eye gloss on my lids.

I wanted to play with finishes and textures, and I wanted to do it in a messy, grungy way that still looks somewhat “lady like.”

For my eyes, I drew thick cat eye liner with a taupe matte shadow stick (Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Color in Slate). Then I used my fingers to smudge the edges on my lids.

Next, I took a shimmery neutral gold shadow stick called Gilt (also by Nudestix) and layered that on top of the taupe (quick! — say “top of the taupe” five times fast) on my lids, blending it with my fingers. I wanted to keep the flicks and my lower lash line dark, so I didn’t layer the gold on those parts.

Then I grabbed a pan of Urban Decay Diamond Dog Eyeshadow, a delicious glittery golden brown, and dabbed it on my lids with a finger, and then loaded my lashes with HELLA mascara (MAC In Extra Dimension Waterproof).

Lastly, I applied highlighter in my inner corners using a shiny beige eye gloss called Milk Makeup Eye Vinyl in Bridge.

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Take Me With You, Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Color!

June 2nd, 2017 by Karen 4 Comments

nudestix magnetic eye color — A few of my favorite Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Colors ($24 each and available in 10 shades)

When I take a trip somewhere, I NEED to bring along my makeup brushes. That’s one of my non-negotiables. I literally never leave home without them — literally…unless I forget them at home. 🙂 Which has happened.

It was a few summers ago… El Hub and I drove up to visit family in Redding, which is a couple hundred miles north up near the Oregon border.

As luck would have it, I completely spaced out and forgot to bring my brushes (!), so the first thing we did when we got there was go on an emergency brush run.

Never mind using a restroom or saying hi to relatives after four long hours on the road. All I could think was, “Take me to the mall! Stat!”

If I’d had one or two of these Nudestix Magnetic Matte Eye Colors with me, I probably would have freaked out less. They’re long-lasting $24 cream shadow pencils. They come in 10 neutral shades, and you don’t need to use blending brushes with them (although you can if you want).

If you hit the road a lot or frequently find yourself doing your makeup in the back of a cab or in the ladies’ room before work, I’ve got one word for you: Nudestix. All of their makeup comes in either stick or pencil form, and you can blend them with a finger (or a brush), so they’re completely not fussy. They also have a wide selection of colors for different skin tones, too, and everything is cruelty-free.

nudestix magnetic eye color terra putty — I’m wearing Putty on my lids and under my brow bone, Terra and Fig in my crease, and Army on my lash lines. On my cheeks, that’s the Nudestix Nudies in Bare Back and Naughty N’ Spice, and that’s Kosas Electra Lipstick on my lips.

These set in about three or four minutes, which gives me enough time to blend out the edges. I don’t ever feel rushed. Most of the time, after drawing a few strokes on my lids (I don’t have to use much because they’re packed with pigment), I buff out the edges with a finger (or a MAC 217 if one’s handy).

Speaking of MAC now, a few of the Magnetic Matte shades could pass for near-dupes of some of my favorite MAC matte shadows, like Putty, which looks a little like matte beige Brule, and warm brown Terra, which reminds me of MAC Soft Brown. Oh, and warm brown Fig kindasorta looks like MAC Swiss Chocolate.

nudestix magnetic eye color swatches — From the top: Nudestix Putty, Terra, Fig and Army

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Take Me With You, Nudestix Nudies!

June 1st, 2017 by Karen 15 Comments

nudestix nudies — The travel-friendly Nudestix Nudies ($30 each, available in 5 shades)

I don’t how this happened, because it feels like I’ve been looking forward to this trip forever, but I’m leaving for Hawaii in less than two weeks! — which means that I probably should start packing RIGHT NOW.

It’s all about portable beauty, and I’m hell-bent on finding multitasking makeup to bring that won’t take up a lot of room, so as to have more room to bring home dashboard hula girls, macadamia nuts and the like.

Let’s make this a series! I’m gonna call it “Take Me With You,” and the first entry is these new Nudestix Nudies. They were recently added to the Nudestix permanent line.

Nudestix is a cruelty-free Canadian brand, and everything in their line comes in a pencil or some kind of stick packaging.

Yes, this makes them great for travel.

nudestix nudies — Makeup in the palm of your hand

The Nudies are multipurpose creams for your cheeks, lids and lips. They’re $30 each and come in five shades. One end has a cream stick, and the other end has a dense, soft brush to apply and blend the product.

I’ve tried two of them — cool pink Bare Back (um…which I’m pretty sure refers to something naughty) and rosy nude Naughty N’ Spice.

nudestix nudies bare back — Bare Back on my cheeks and Naughty N’ Spice on the lower part of the apples of my cheeks. And that’s Kosas Undone Lipstick on my lips.

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NUDESTIX Gel Colour Lip + Cheek Balm: These Glossy, Pigmented Pencils Do Double-Duty

July 20th, 2016 by Karen 15 Comments

nudestix gel color — Four of the eight NUDESTIX Gel Color Lip + Cheek Balms ($24 each)

I had a dream the other night that I left these NUDESTIX Gel Colours out on my desk, and a toddler-sized Connor Claire found them and used them to draw all over my office walls.

But like, honestly, I wasn’t even mad at her, because I thought, “Girl, you’ve got good taste! If I were a kid, I’d probably do the same thing. BRAVO.”

These NUDESIX Gel Colours came out a while back (late spring/early summer, I believe) in eight $24 shades.

They may look like standard-issue lip pencils, but naaaah — they’re much more than that. With these you get an uber-moisturizing, long-lasting, easy-to-blend lip balm (my dry lips totes approve) with a shiny gel finish, and they also double as blush.

nudestix gel color rebel — NUDESTIX Gel Color Lip + Cheek Balm in Rebel (my fave!)

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