[Requested] Jade Thirlwell makeup in DNA makeup tutorial: Classic Neutral Glam Eyes and 3D Burgundy Lips)

Seems Jade Thirlwell's makeup in the DNA video is causing quite a stir.

Basic theme:

Now, the video has special lighting and some color editing so there's a noir sort of atmosphere, and the skin of all the girls looks a little sepia-toned and monochromatic. You won't see any blush on their faces. There's just matte, clean skin and a bit of matte contouring around the cheeks. Contrastingly, their hair and lip colors are processed to show up more visibly.

Each girl has a slightly different neutral glam eye, and "3D lips" done in different shades.

Jade Thirwell's Look:

Jade's lip was colored in deep berry tones to match that incredible burgundy hair. Her eye makeup is a slightly softer and more romantic than some of the smokier or cattier looks the other girls sport. There isn't any obvious contouring; just thick liner along the upper lash line.

I would say ANYONE can do this look, although the effect will be more dramatic if you are very pale, with dark hair.

Read the full post here!

MAC Viva Glam Nicki 2 Amplified Lipstick: Swatches and Mini-Review

Color:

This is a chalky, dusty lavender-toned creme lipstick that's little more cool and grey than Saint Germain.

As you can see in the comparative swatches above, it's not as much of a true-purple as the 2 Lime Crime purples, but it's also not a true pink either.
On the lip, it has a tendency to look much chalkier and more lavender than it does in the tube, so this is not a color for the faint-hearted. There is nothing natural looking about it. It's much lighter than my lips, even on my light NC25 skin.

Texture:

This is a creamy amplified lipstick, so it's quite opaque, but not as thick and pigmented as a matte or satin lipstick in MAC's range. The creaminess means that when you press your lips together or roll your lips, the lipstick can shift and start to look patchy in areas, so that's one of the problems you might experience if you have pigmented lips.

If you have a pale liner or lip primer that is skin-colored, that will help to minimize or mask the unevenness.

Wear:

Very hard to say, because it depends on each person's habit (whether you have a tendency to bite or lick your lips, etc. I'd say this wears like any regular creamy lipstick. Not particularly long-wearing but not too bad.

Layering it over a liner does definitely help a lot, but it might also change the appearance of the lips slightly.

Popster: Fuchsia Lips with Warm, Romantic Neutral Eye (Good for Mono-Lids and Smaller Eyes

I call this look the "popster" because it's SUCH a common look among celebs and popstars both in the West and in the East. 

A warm, glamorous eye focusing on winged liner and sometimes false lashes, paired with electric fuchsia-pink lips.

This is a look that's especially good if you want to "enlarge" your eyes a little, because the lashes, the shadow AND the liner all create the illusion of bigger eyes.

You will need:

• A brown cream shadow (I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in #14; you can use a regular powder shadow if you want)
• A soft bronze-beige shadow (I used The Body Shop's single shadow in #41; just look for something a little deeper than a beige)
• A pale yellow matte pencil (NYX Yellow would work)
• A black gel liner (or liquid liner if you want; I used Maybelline's black gel liner)
• Black mascara
• False lashes (I prefer soft fluttery, natural-looking ones like Ardell 122s for this sort of look because they are longest at the center, not the outer corners. You want to retain that very rounded, doll-like eye shape.)

Spring Pinks: Some of the best Light Pinks for every skin tone!

[Click to enlarge]Swatches L-to-R: NYX Strawberry Milk, NYX Jupiter, Maybelline Watershine Pure B24, MAC Pink Pearl Pop, MAC Pink Plaid, NYX Tea Rose, Revlon Pink In The Afternoon, Revlon Pink Pursuit, MAC Right Image, Revlon Crystal Lilac.

We find outselves drawn to that soft, candy-like pink lip on other people, but it can often go terribly wrong when we apply it on ourselves. Here are 10 options and the women they’d look good on.

Here are some recommendations for different skintones!

NYX Strawberry Milk.
This perennial favorite is filled with white pigments and is PERFECT for uber-pale girls on whom most pastel pinks look too strong and bright. Girls with medium-light skin who also have pale lips can wear it as well, but if you are any darker than an NC25 or NW20 and have pigmented lips, this will look very chalky on you.

NYX Jupiter.
A pale pink that’s a bit more forgiving simply because it’s translucent and frosty. Works on pale to tan skins, but if you are very dark, this might look too silvery. It still works if you like that sort of dramatic sheen, but go easy on it or you could look very 80’s sci-fi.

[Requested] Basic, Polished Brow Tutorial (tips, techniques, and choosing the right products and colors)

The one I’m doing today is just a regular polished brow and the basic guidelines apply to ALL brow shapes no matter how thick or sparse yours are:

• Trimming/plucking for a neat appearance, without altering your natural brow shape too obviously
• Filling in sparse or patchy areas for a slightly fuller look
• Grooming the hairs so they look and stay neatly combed rather than pointing in all different directions

Disclaimer: Now there are different ways of doing brows, and this isn’t the only way. You can also choose to do:

• dramatic, thick, strong brows (40s- 50s bombshell brows and boyish brows)
• super thin and dramatically arched (20s-30s flapper brows and theatrical/drag brows)

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Candy Crush - Tri-color Ombre Nails (Hot pink, Pastel Pink and Peach)

Hot pink, pastel pink, and peach ombre nails.

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Blue Lagoon Tutorial: Color-block Eye Look with Nude Lips

I got a request recently for looks to wear with nude lips.  One fun option is to wear a colorful eye look with it, because you can get away with a lot more colors on the eyes than you would if you were wearing a stronger lip color.

I'm placing 3 strong colors side by side (coppery-bronze, a golden-aqua, and a vibrant purple). 

You will need:

• A navy base - I used an old Sasatinnie blue gel liner, but any metallic pencil would work.
• A bronze/tan shadow - I blended a whole bunch of peachy tan browns from the 88 Warm palette but you can just use any brown soft tan shade you have.
• A medium blue-green shimmer - I used Lakeshore by Coastal Scents, which reflects gold. You don't have to use a duochrome like I did. A nice strong aqua or teal would work just fine.
• A strong, bright grape - I used a Coastal Scents hot pot again, in Amethyst.

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Read on for the tutorial!

Majolica Majorca Humming Book I (Swatches, Review, 2 Easy Looks and how to dupe the product!)

I think Majolica Majorca has fabulously silky and pigmented eyeshadows. But I'm not a fan of palettes where there are a mixture of cream and powder products. Creams have different shelf lives from powders and the lip cream is most likely going to go bad before the other stuff. Also, when powder gets into cream and vice versa, everything gets ruined. 

BUT, when I saw this charming little "song book" in their latest limited edition collection and tested the 3 shadows (1 cream base and 2 shadows) alone and over one another, I concluded it was so brilliant I had to pick one up.

 

Concept:

The collection is centered around a dreamy, lyrical flower garden, and the combination of shades gives you exactly that sort of look. Now you CAN possibly use each of the colors alone, but I personally wouldn't do that. 

Alone, the 2 pale shadows can look a little washed out and not flattering if you don't have a very defined and deep socket. The cream base on its own, does not set and will shift, smear, and crease. The genius is in the combination when the pale duochrome shadows hit that dark blackened plum. You get the most beautiful soft-focus pearl finish.

The petal-pink lip gloss I couldn't care less about. It looks nice in the pan but applies streaky, lacks pigmentation, isn't flattering on its own, and all in all, you're better off getting Revlon Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake.

[Requested] The Gyaru Eye Tutorial: Japanese Bambi Eyes a la Tsubasa Masuwaka

The Gyaru look has been around for quite awhile, but only really took off in the rest of Asia after it was popularized by people like Tsubasa Masuwaka, to the extend that it's come to be known as the "Tsubasa look" for many people.

The typical feature of the look is an exaggeratedly droopy doll-eye shape with big lashes on top and bottom, AND the prerequisite circle lenses. The overall effect is a much larger eye than one naturally has.

This isn't a look that I would ever wear myself because my features are a little too strong for it, but if you have smaller features, mono-lids or hooded eyes, this is a look that could very well suit you, though "natural" wouldn't be how I'd describe it!

Aside from the basic eye, I'm also going to give you a couple of tips on getting that very glowy, pastel blush and the pale glossy lips.

Not suited for:

• People with very deep sockets
• People with very thick double lids