Savvy Thinker » Techniques

Creating a black lippie

Karin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:22:21 +0000

Wow! this was fun! Thanks to Elena for giving me the idea yesterday.

Do you want a little drama and edge in your life?
Try a little black lippie, especially since they are moving out of Goth and into mainstream, albeit high fashion.
Yves St. Laurent has a black gloss.
Chanel has black lippies in different color hues, not like their famous Vamp lippie, a burgundy-black. These would be black-whatever-color-tone-you-pick of the three.
NYX has a black gloss.
Fyrinnae has Monochrome, a matte black lip lustre.

Is it still Goth, if mainstream isn't far behind?

Could I make my own? Yes!
I figured I could come up with my own, yes!

I also wanted to try it with one of Aromaleigh's wonderful black shadows. But there was no time. Maybe tomorrow.

Step 1:
Base: Avon Beyond Color Lip Plumping Conditioner
This would allow the pencil to go on without pulling. And also, hopefully, not stain my lips.
Choosing a black eye pencil.
I used Revlon Wet Dry Blackest Black
I wondered about my really black Shiseido and my not-quite-as-black Shiseido, but for this, I chose Revlon.

What a gorgeous shimmery black! But I didn't have my eyes on yet, and it was morning, and I knew I wanted to tame it down.

For real drama
This would be a beautiful shade colored on both lips, with a touch of gloss up the center.

The bottom lippie is Milani Lip Mixer Gloss 704. I wanted to bring it into a burgundy look. Next time I might try lipstick instead of gloss.

My youngest 2 girls were looking at me wondering what the heck!

Step 2:
Smoosh the lips together.
It was really quite black, and the pencil shimmered through it.

My girls thought it was way too dark for me. But I wasn't finished with the rest of my makeup. If you could see the full shots here, you would certainly agree with them. But I'm not sharing them!

Step 3: Add gloss up the middle of the lip to highlight
Lancome Starlight White with silver glitter
Milani Glitzy Glow Girl to pink it up some

Finished FOTD I'll post more FOTD shortly.
Looking good.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-22 13:30:53.

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FOTD Aromaleigh eyes + Cover Girl lips +

Karin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:15:12 +0000

I felt like wearing turquoise on my eyes today, and outside of the Summer set by Mary Kay, my go-to for turquoise is Aromaleigh. Kristen has beautiful shades of greens, turquoises and teals, and I probably have most of them, at least in sample sizes, which are quite long lasting. They are vibrant and beautiful, if you are on a quest for this color.

I also felt like doing a 5 min makeup today, which I did. The only reason it took longer is because I kept thinking of things I wanted to take pictures of, such as the Chanel container and my powder. So I would digress to that. Aromaleigh is really fool proof. Easy to apply; always looks great and lasts all day. I knew I could do a 5 min makeup with AL. And I had a busy, busy day today, meetings, errands, music lesson, pick and delivery to school and more.

In all honesty, there were two things I meant to do and got sidetracked: concealer, and some of the new Arbonne white shadow in the inner corners of my eyes. That would have taken 30 sec. I just forgot.

Eyes: all Aromaleigh, except where noted
Base: Nude Frost, then BE Queen Phyllis
Lids: Azure
Drylined Top: Aqua Nightmare (love this color!)
Drylined bottom: Caribe, just a touch more blue
Mascara: Stiletto
Tightlined top: NYX pen black
Brows: Merle Norman powder

Primer: Avon Magix
Foundation: L'Oreal True Match, N1 Soft Ivory While it looks like this foundation covers well, when applying it, I'm a little disappointed in how sheer it looks in the pictures. I like my skin to show through, but I like it a little less sheer. I will likely use this more as a highlighter in the future, if I try it again, and it is equally sheer.
Rouge under my sparkly mix of powder: Chanel stick
Blush over: Arbonne Promise
Hightlight: Arbonne Bashful lightest blush

Lips: CG 912+928 + Stila Silver Mix
First: Guerlain liplift primer and conditioner and all round magic product
912 and 928 are plumping colors
1/2 and 1/2 each color, one on each lip, smooshed; then Stila-Silver Mix gloss when some of the lippie was gone to refresh it...this lipstick (928) is the one that hurt my lips after using it exclusively for months. After using every lip balm known to man and still having problems wearing anything on my lips, I remembered I had the Liplift. It fixed the problem with one application. I now have one in my purse and in the bathroom. And I made sure I used it before these colors. I never felt the product sting my lips. 912 is a particularly pretty soft shade. Perhaps tomorrow I'll show it alone.

What do you think?
Do you like to use plumping lipsticks or teals and turquoises for shadows? What is your favorite AL color?

Kristen's birthday is coming up and she'd love to have people participate in nominating her business. See the info here.

Karin
www.savvythinker.com
do not steal my posts -- you know who you are

Originally posted 2009-08-28 17:41:19.

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A little makeup theory

Karin — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:50:15 +0000

This is just a quick summary of some various ideas about makeup.

Powders, creams or lotions?
If your skin is oily, work more with powders than creams or lotions.

If your skin is dry, work more with lotions or creams. Use powder sparingly because it might not soften.

Soften the top step Usually not necessary for oily skin.
For drier skin:
Just as foiling is a concept for eye makeup, dampening the face after applying product softens the edges, mutes a powdery look making it appear more like skin, not makeup.

Damp, not wet.

A damp sea sponge offers a bit more control than spritzing with a product that might not be as even.

Dark recedes; Light or bright brings forward
This concept works for every part of your face: eyes, cheeks, nose...

You want to lift, not drag down.

Contouring the face
Use the concept Dark recedes; Light or bright brings forward to your advantage.

If you are very fair, like me, contouring might tend to look like dirt on the face. It is more subtle to use bronzer (matte in hollow of cheeks) (with some glimmer along edges of face) or a slightly darker shade of powder in those areas.

Contouring can be done with very defined edges, as Oprah's face is contoured. You can examine her cover pictures to see how contouring is laid out, because it is defined enough that you can see it. This looks good for magazine shoots and TV, but too made up for RL unless you are a star.

More subtle: follow the outlines, but with less difference in tonality.

Highlighting the face
Highlight wherever light would touch your face (the high points) and up the center of your face to draw the eye. This can be done with powder, creams or lotions.

Go for a mix of these two ideas
In general, whatever is under your top layer, looks like your skin
This creates an optical illusion that looks like your skin.
Most people are not aware of this concept or how well it works.

Use a cream or powder blush and highlighter/contouring under your last step (powder or mineral.)

If you are using a cream or liquid foundation, use a cream or liquid blush under your finishing powder. If you try to use a powder blush at this point, it will most likely grab and not go on even. Cream or lotion works better.

OTOH, if you are using minerals in a powder form, you can use cream, liquid or powder in this step, then finish with your sheer setting powder.

Whatever is on top of your last step, looks like makeup, not your skin
Putting some color under your last step, means you can use less in this step. Therefore, while you have color, you look less made up.

Highlight or contour with powders or minerals at this point. Use a cream or lotion, if you have drier skin.

Blush can be powders, minerals or creams depending on the look you are going for and what your skin type is.

Lips
Highlight just above the dip in your upper lip to draw the eye to your lips.

If one lip is smaller than the other and you would like to balance them more, line just outside the smaller lip line with pencil. Be sure to fill in the whole lip with pencil so it holds better and doesn't just leave you with an outline. This can match your lipstick or match your lip line. Experiment with how far outside you can go and still have it look natural.

Contour the lips to make them look fuller by using darker shades at the outer edges or highlighting the center of the lips with gloss or something that glimmers.

Nose
To slim a nose: use deeper color on sides than top; use a slightly lighter color along ridge of nose.
Nose too long: This sometimes happens with aging. Use deeper color on tip.

Chin
Use the same theory as for the nose. If your chin is too prominent, use a little contour.

Cheeks
You are looking to make high cheek bones, rosy cheeks, and slim hollows.

Use light and bright along apples of cheeks and above.

Use deeper in contours of the cheeks, if you wish to try contouring, to slim the hollows.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-17 10:16:52.

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FOTD Meow Lancome Eyes Too Faced gloss

Karin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:19:05 +0000

I wanted to do a Take 2 yesterday with darker greys, but everything still looked so good, it didn't need refreshing. I'm not tired of the look yet, so today I re-did it using deeper greys.

Eyes:
Base: Dior light pink cream in wand; then my sparkly mix
Lid: Cat got your tongue? Meow IdealEyes Purrl -- light pink
Outer corners: Lancome Platinum Couture (darker grey in set)
Crease: Vincent Longo Concerto, glittery black-grey wet-dry – love these colors
Brows: La Prairie pencil

Lined upper: Clinique Granite 10 Quick Eyes pencil (med grey)
Then used the powder with it to go over the line.
Lined lower: MAC graphblack in waterline, then earthline outside it -- This time it didn’t look too strong, not like yesterday.
Lined just outside the lower Sephora Flashy Mauve waterproof pencil
Mascara top: Guerlain Maxi-Lash Black
Mascara lower: Stiletto I wanted a spiky look – love this and might start using it everyday.

Primer: I forgot! And it really does make a difference
Foundation: Revlon Vital Radiance Color 10 discontinued, can find on Internet
Concealer: Mary Kay Highlighting Pen Color 2
Color under my sparkly powder mix: Mary Kay cream rouge
Blush over the powder: Meow Lush Blush Hugs and Kitties -- I really like this!

Using Beau Nelson of Beauté's technique highlighting my lips
Too Faced Mermaid for lips, rimmed with Pink Bling
You can read about this technique here.

Don't you just love the lips with this technique!
I hope you try it!

How do you like this look?

Have a great day!

Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-26 08:58:17.

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FOTD Meow AL

Karin — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 05:50:52 +0000

I started with the lippie I wanted to swatch, then had the hardest time thinking what direction I wanted to go in. Then I remembered I had wanted to try Beau Nelson's lip technique, and I had used a different gloss than I had thought of originally. That will be later today Too Faced -- and more pix. And I hadn't chosen my T yet.

I don't think I was in a light pink mode. After all that angst, I think it turned out nicely. I think it came together. What do you think?

Eyes:
Base: Dior light pink cream in wand; then my sparkly mix
Lid: Cat got your tongue? Meow IdealEyes Purrl -- light pink
Brows: La Prairie pencil

What direction to go in?
I knew I didn't want to do blue or teal or green -- but what?
Ah, grey with pink would likely be nice. But I hadn't sampled any greys from Meow. My BE greys are very dark, which would have worked too, and I might do it later over the lighter. So I went to AL and chose a light one.
Crease and outer corners: AL Avalon rocks! sonic eyes
Very light grey; almost no contrast with the pink, but enough.

Lined upper: Mary Kay Steely pencil (dark grey)
Lined lower: MAC graphblack in waterline, then earthline outside it -- whoa! dark and too piecy looking...had to soften for it to fit -- and also deepen the shadow shades by:
Lined upper and lower: AL evilwoman rocks! glam glitter, deeper sparkly grey
Lined just outside the lower, very carefully with more of the Meow to bring the pink around
Mascara: BE Buxom Black

Primer: Guerlain Meteorites
Foundation: Guerlain
Concealer: Mary Kay Highlighting Pen Color 2
Color under my sparkly powder mix: Mary Kay cream rouge
Blush over the powder: Meow Lush Blush Hugs and Kitties -- I thought this would hardly show, but it was perfect. First time I tried the sample.

Using Beau Nelson of Beauté's technique highlighting my lips
NYX Pink Sparkle Diamond Sparkle Lip Gloss
Lancome Starlight lip gloss to rim
You can read about this technique here.

I might do a Take 2 later today with other colors. Hope you enjoyed this one!
Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-25 13:29:38.

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FOTD AL eyes + lips

Karin — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 11:08:38 +0000

Today I was busy sorting and organizing. I only did my makeup about 5 mins ago. The theme makeup this week at AL is to use Snapdragon (beautiful blue pink)(I'm not sure I've ever used this before) with Aqua Nightmare (one of my favorite colors.)

If you can't have fun with makeup, when can you?! I got the idea to reverse my eyes, sort of like combining all my posts from last week. It looked strange at first, but I figured my liner would tie it all together. I am really happy with it now.

Eyes: all Aromaleigh unless noted, in order of application
Base: Nude Frost
Crease: Lagoon matte
Outer corner of one eye and inner corner of the other (and reverse drylined on bottom): Snapdragon, then vice versa for Aqua Nightmare
Tight lined top and wet lined lower: Peacock gel liner -- using back end of brush only.
Inner corners: Snapdragon
Drylined top only: Moonagedaydream
Brows: Merle Norman powder
Mascara, top: Guerlain; lower: Tarte
Concealer: Mary Kay

Sunscreen: La Prairie
Primer: Avon Magix
Foundation: Chanel, discontinued
Rouge under powder: Revlon , cream
Powder: My sparkly mix, then SCA Hyaluronic with stiff Guerlain brush
Blush over powder: EL Pinkshimmer, then NARS Riviera as it didn't have enough color

Lips: AL Karma on one lip; Gala on the other; smooshed; rimmed with Beauté Allure

What do you think?

Karin

Originally posted 2009-05-12 15:40:13.

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FOTD AL eyes + Arbonne lips + Meow blush +

Karin — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:52:36 +0000

I love Aromaleigh shadows; they are just beautiful. I'm not sure I've ever worn this sample (Dew) before, but it looked like it matched my T so I decided to try it. It almost looks matte in the baggie, but it is shimmery on, but not glittery.

Eyes:
Base: Nude Frost
Lids: Meow Nicole S ScandalEyes light bright pink, then AL Dew pure hue
Drylined: AL Lagoon carolina summer matte, then I wanted it a little stronger but not green, added AL Disintegration rocks!glam glitter -- would have been good to have done this after the pencil liners below, it would have showed up more, and I like glitter!
Tightlined: Upper and lower: MAC graphblack, then added lower MAC earthline It's been a while since I've used these. Of course, I blinked and smeared the graphblack, then to fix it, I decided to use the MAC brush made to smudge pencils. I liked the look because it isn't as hard as a hard black -- I worried a little about that choosing these pencils again. I like this technique, even if I wouldn't have done it except by necessity.
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Mascara: Covergirl Eyelights

Primer: Arbonne
Foundation: Arbonne
Rouge under powder: Revlon
Powder: Guerlain meteorites
Blush: Meow Waterlily Masterpiece blush -- such a pretty soft color
Highlight: AL Magnolia Blossom up the center of my face

Lips: Arbonne Legend + Whisper Legend applied more like a stain, lightly, since it is a deep burgundy brown, the Whisper on top of both, which I rarely do, since I like to keep the tube clean + with a lip brush Arbonne FYI Vogue gloss (very similar to one by Stila, but a lot less money)+ rimmed with Beauté Paramour gloss

What do you think?

I was really happy with the way this turned out.

I you would like to buy Arbonne from Bookgirl, she would love to be your consultant.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-08-20 14:06:48.

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LOTD Avon + Clinique, lined with MAC

Karin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:56:09 +0000

I have way too many lipsticks and lipstick samples to ever use them up in a lifetime, even though I have three daughters and others with whom I share lipsticks. Why! I try as much as possible to buy department store products always with a gwp, and generally that includes a lippie or two, and often I'd buy a lippie as part of my qualifying purchase. So given a number of lipsticks and a number of pencils, it is possible to come up with almost an unlimited number of colors.

How or why did I come up with this one?
Applied in this order
I wanted to try or re-try the Avon sample I had. It is a fuchsia, but when I started to apply it, I could tell it wasn't vibrant enough. It is more of a spring color than a winter.

Then, my new gwp Clinique lippie, more of a plummed brown pink, was next to it on the counter. I looked at it and thought, this might work.

I didn't feel like the edges were strong enough, so I did the edges with the MAC pencil. I too almost prefer to do my pencils this way as I have some control over how much pencil shows or shows through vs. doing the pencil first. Plus I can get the edge sharper without looking made up. See my earlier post on Andrea Claire.

How long does it take?
It's a really fast technique. The longest time is just to determine the colors.

Colors
Balm: AL -- this was left from earlier today, but I like the balm as a base
Lipstick
Top: Avon Royal Fuchsia
Lower: Clinique Rose Aglow smooshed
Lined edges: MAC Soar pencil

Here's how it looks full face:

Karin
www.savvythinker.com
don't steal my posts -- you know who you are

Originally posted 2009-09-04 14:58:37.

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FOTD Ulta +MUFE Eyes + Lancome Lips

Karin — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 07:58:27 +0000

I wanted a quick makeup today. Sometime easy. And something purple.
Eyes:
Base: Nude Frost + BE Queen Phyllis
Lids: Ulta Amethyst, a gwp and really beautiful, with some copper or gold micro glitter
Drylined: MUFE Irisee, gorgeous color, a little brighter than Amethyst
Inner Corner: Arbonne Illume
Concealer: Guerlain
Brows: La Prairie pencil
Mascara: Arbonne, 2 step

Primer and foundation: Vital Radiance
Rouge, under my sparkly mix powder: Chanel stick
Blush over my sparkly mix powder: Arbonne Promise
Highlight: Arbonne Bashful

Lips: Lancome Prodige + Fusion

I hope you've had a good Saturday!

How do you like this one? Have you ever used the Ulta shade?

Karin
www.savvythinker.com
don't steal my posts -- you know who you are!

Originally posted 2009-08-29 20:49:48.

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Mixing up your own shimmer powder

Karin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:16:54 +0000

Having trouble finding the post that has your glow powder recipe. Now that I've seen how fabulous you look in full harsh sunlight, I've decided to try some, too.
--Natasha

Thanks, Natasha, that's a wonderful compliment. I appreciate it!

It's really very simple to do and there's no hard and fast rules. Remember you are just tweaking it to be right for you.

I sparkled in sunlight before it became popular from the Twilight series!

I became more conscious of doing this on a regular basis when I came across an article about Inman. She said that the beautiful glow she has is done with makeup. I had thought it was natural -- and she is certainly beautiful! So I began to experiment with highlighting my face as she does. Younger people naturally tend to have this glow because they have a T-zone. But I have never had any discernible oil in my skin.

So yes, as you commented in another post to me, it is a bit of magic.

Why I mix my own
Loose and compact facial shimmer powder has been around off and on for a long time, but in general, I find it too shimmery for an all over look. Often it is available during the holidays, so is made for more of an evening look. I wanted something I could wear daily, that would take me from day to night.

And not all illuminating powders are created equal or are the right depth or tone. So one day I just decided to mix what I had on hand together until it was the right depth and tone and amount of sparkle, because it gave me more control over the amount of shimmer, and I've been doing it ever since.

What is shimmer or illuminating powder
First, it is not a frosted look. Frost tends to accentuate negatives, whereas illuminating powder tends to obscure them.

Shimmer or illuminating powder has some degree of glitter/shimmer in it. I prefer the tiny glitter. Illuminating powder generally has less shimmer and is easier to use for the entire face vs. highlighting only some of it. But the color isn't quite right.

It comes in loose or compact forms.

Many mineral makeup lines, including Bare Escentuals and Aromaleigh, have foundations or 'powders' with various amounts of shimmer. Some are more silky than others; most offer more coverage than I'm looking for.

The original one I had was loose and silvery, from Viviane Woodard. If it were still being made, I'd still be using that in my mix.

Why use it?
It is a fresher look.

While some lines are promoting a matte look right now, it isn't a look I desire.

At one time, a few years ago, a matte look was promoted as the only look. Now, it is one of several choices, and I'm not sure how many will take it up. Someone with a lot of oil in their skin will not stay matte, even if they start out that way. Someone whose skin is not oily should set matte finish with a damp sea sponge -- which, of course, takes some of the harsh matte away.

But there is a difference between a shimmer look and having a T-zone.

How do I use it?
I use this as the last step of my makeup, before blush, over cream or liquid foundation, in place of non-illuminating loose powder to set my makeup, but this could be the last step after mineral foundations too. With minerals, if you are wearing mineral foundation, I would only use this as the last step at the top, not for the entire foundation.

I apply very little. I use a powder brush sparingly, but a fiber optic brush would work as well.

Recipe for the mix
Container
I use a jar that had loose powder in it, once upon a time, and it has a little screen to filter how much your brush picks up, but any container would work that has an opening easy to use a brush with -- or that you could sprinkle some out onto a jar lid, for example, then use it.

How much do I make at a time?
I might mix up the whole container (like I did the last time) or a smaller amount. When it's gone, I make more.

If you are unsure of what look you are going for, make up a smaller amount, enough for a week or two. You can always throw more color or plain powder in to tweak it.

It's kind of like making frosting, if I add too much shimmer, I have to add more plain powder, so the batch gets bigger.

This batch could have had a little less glitter in it, but I tossed in too much of one kind and had to add more base powder -- and I was going to overflow the container!

Gold or silver shimmer?
You would determine for your own skin tone, if you prefer gold or silver shimmer and use it with any loose facial powder or mineral powder/foundation that is the right color for your skin tone.

Mine has some gold, because I had it sitting around, but I balance it more toward silver.

What kind of shimmer?
You can use any dry shimmer you have on hand, so long as the shimmer/glitter particles are small.

It's a good way to use up things that are just sitting around.

Some body glitter (which tends to be bigger glitter)...some of those glimmer powders for the body either in a shaker or in a wand with a brush (these are sometimes less money than ones made for the face)...minerals...even some eye shadows (white or off white with glitter)...toss it into the mix.

Why mix it with a powder/mineral?
Facial powders are generally very finely milled and silky, which allows for ease of application.

Using this as a base, you can control the amount of glimmer.

What shade of powder as the base?
Use what works for your skin tone. I mix what I have on hand from various gwp and etc.

Light beige, beiges, pinks or peach, all work fine. I think there is even some green correcting powder out there, which could be thrown in the mix. Guerlain Meteorites Powders, with the little pearl balls, have all different hues in the balls.

If you are very deep complected, you can work with a bronzing powder to start with. One of the bronzers I have is the exact color of one of my daughter's complexions. Many bronzers are illuminating anyway.

My current mix includes These are all loose powders.
Laura Mercier's Star Dust powder -- this is very pretty, but too shimmery and a bit too golden dark for me to use alone.
JLo's shimmer powder which is white and quite sparkly. The sparkles are a nice size (small), but it is very light.
Stilo's sparkly body powder in the pink color.
Clinique illuminating powder again, too dark alone.

How much glimmer do you use?
It doesn't take much!

Start with the base powder, about half the amount you'd like to finish with, in case you have to keep adding more. Add a bit of glimmer. If you add too much, add some loose powder. Test it on the back of your hand until it looks like the right mix.

What I like about mine
It is very silky to the touch. Some minerals or powders are rough or dry feeling if you rub them between your fingers. Go for silky.

Other ways

Sometimes you can get this look by using one of the shimmer compacts lightly over plain loose powder. Today I double dipped in Elizabeth Arden's shimmer powder compact, which is really lovely, after I used my own mix. A single dip would have been better.

For a fast look that is really excellent, Mary Kay offers highlighting and bronzers with a separate compact. These can be used as eye shadows also. My compact is filled with both highlighting powders (one pan has 2 matte; the other pan has 2 illuminating). I sweep my brush over all four and apply it up the center of my face. The lighter shades of bronzers would be my color. You could make a compact with a highlighter and a bronzer. The brush with this compact is good too. (Sold separately.)

Have fun!
Use it in place of loose powder -- either over your entire face or to highlight the edges or the middle. I use my mix all over. Then if I want, I re-highlight up the middle as the last step with the Mary Kay or some other one I have. I contour or bronze only occasionally.

Karin

Originally posted 2009-03-11 09:54:17.

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