My makeup remover has to be fierce 
I don’t like my makeup to move during the day….but in order for it not to move, it has to be waterproof….or be very strong. One day many years ago (maybe 10?) I had a buildup of waterproof mascara on my eyes. (BTW I don’t use waterproof mascara anymore unless I know I will be crying, but that is another post). I also felt like I could never, ever get all of my liner, mascara and shadow off. When I finally did, it was because I had used copious amounts of $12 per bottle eye makeup remover and rubbed my delicate eye skin until it was red and burning. Sheesh-what was the expensive eye makeup remover for again??? It was at that point that I started using this:
That’s right guys…I don’t even spring for the fancy Johnson and Johnson stuff–I just use the Equate brand 
Seriously, I don’t know what I would do without this stuff. I am at a loss without it. If I accidently forget it while traveling, I feel all icky using someones borrowed fancy, shmancy makeup remover because I can’t get all my makeup off!! I don’t even know how people who use Maybelline’s gel liner (like I do) get it off without baby oil. And those times when I have to wear waterproof mascara?? Forget it. It would take me forever to get all of it off without this stuff! It is the best for loosening eyelash glue residue. Ditto for putting a bit on a brush to fix any liner or dark lipstick mistakes. It cannot be replaced! Now, I realize that some people are going to say “that’s not good for your eyes” or “you shouldn’t do that” or something to that effect. I’m not saying it is what you should do or that it is 100% safe–I am just telling you what I do . There are as many people out there advocating the use of baby oil as an eye makeup remover as there are people saying any oil based eye makeup removers are bad…including baby oil. And it very well may not work for you–some people’s eyes are more sensitive than others or they are prone to milia from product buildup and oil is the last thing they need around their eyes. It is all about what works for you! All I know is that I would be lost without my baby oil. It cleans everything off in two swipes instead of having to rub the sensitive skin around my eyes with a less oily makeup remover! I am also a huge fan of paying $2 for my makeup remover that lasts foreeeeever rather than buying an expensive bottle that can’t do the job and disappears quickly!!
Erin
Day of the Dead halloween makeup
Another Halloween makeup post for y’all! I had a totally different post planned for this week…but-Last Friday I sat down to do this really involved post involving lots of fake blood. What I quickly realized is that the fake blood was going to have more contact with my skin than with the latex. I had to work a wedding the next day and decided that it wasn’t the best time to greet clients with a blood stained face and hands…so I decided to do this one instead because I had already gotten the materials for it (Don’t worry, the gore post is soon to come!) My sweet sister inspired this “Day of the Dead” makeup when I was brainstorming Halloween posts with her…. Here is the cake topper I got her for her Halloween wedding:
Cute right? Anyway, there are sooooo many ways to do “Day of the Dead” or “Sugar Skull” makeup. Type it into google and you will see it done in every way, shape and form. That is exactly why this is a great makeup for Halloween…you can interpret the look and change things to suit you or do whatever you want!!! I wanted my look to involve some pretty aspects so……….check it out and see what you think!
Step 1:
Cover your face in white grease paint. Set with powder. Go around your entire eye with back grease paint. I used a small brush for this and used the top of the brow and the bottom of my eye socket as an outline for the black paint. I realize it is a bit uneven in this picture…I had to go back and fix some. It is really hard to make two perfectly matching circles!! Anyway, it should look something like this:
Step 2:
The most involved part. I wanted the eyes to have a nice ombre effect so we used two different colors. Using your bullet brush, apply a purple shadow right outside of the black grease paint..all the way around. Using a stiff fluffy, apply a pink shadow right outside of the purple shadow..all the way around. I applied it with my stiff fluffy so I could kind of blend the purple into the pink as I went…that will create that ombre effect. Blob out some eyelash glue. Using tweezers, pick up different stones and apply them right outside of your pink line. Use any sizes and any pattern you want! I kept mine even on both sides by applying one stone on one side and then immediately doing the same to the other side. It should look something like this:
Step 3:
Apply your mouth! I used some black liner mixed with a little shadow and a super small liner brush. I would have used my pencil liner but I couldn’t find my black (odd) so I improvised. I applied the two lines coming out horizontally from my mouth first and then applied the up and down lines. I also shaded my cheekbone area with some gray shadow. (but then I added more after this) It should look something like this:
Step 4:
Using the same mixture, apply your spider web to your forehead. I rushed this part a bit so forgive me 
I also have a widow’s peak that is not centered in my forehead but that looks weird if things aren’t centered with it *sigh * I had a couple of issues…But it still came out ok! I would recommend drawing out your center line and then the two bottom “fan” lines and then fill in from there. I did go in with a fluffy brush and blend out some of the lines …I wanted them to look more shaded than rigid. Apply black grease pain to your nose…there are a few different ways to do this depending on what kind of nose you want! Apply more white grease paint to cover up your neck, chest and ears. You could also go in and do some more shading on your cheekbones, your chin, your jawline AND if you are wearing something that shows your collar bone, shade either side of it to give a nice sunken illusion. Your final product will look something like this:
and this:
Aaaaaaaaand there you have it! Some fun “Day of the Dead” Halloween makeup for you. A little something different for your halloween this year-and super cost effective! I know I didn’t include a products used guide but really the only think I had to purchase was the package of stones. I got them at Michaels for about $4 when I used one of those great 40% off coupons….and I had so many leftover stones (that I have big plans for!!). Hope you enjoyed this look!
Erin
Amp up your exfoliation.
A few weeks ago I decided to order a new peel to alternate my microdermabrasions with. I know plenty of reputable peel companies and have tried many different brands of peels but I stumbled upon a new site called Skin Obsession and wanted to give theirs a try (because I’m a rebel). So, I ordered my peel and it came super-fast and that made me a super-pleased customer But the reason for this post is not the peel that I ordered (I am not advocating at home peeling for anyone that isn’t trained to do peels) but for the awesome sample that came with it!! Inside of my package, I received what I would consider a “Deluxe Sample” of Microdermabrasion Crystals and now I am hooked:
When you get a microdermabrasion at a spa, they will sometimes have both “crystal” and “diamond” microdermabrasion. Diamond micro’s are given with a wand that essentially scrapes the dead skin off. Crystal micro’s are given with a tool that blasts out aluminum oxide crystals at your skin which essentially blasts the dead skin off. So,basically what we have here are the loose crystals that are used in crystal dermabrasion. So if you don’t have a tool to blast them out then what do you do with them? This is where the genius is. Let me tell you about one of my favorite “at home microdermabrasion” products. It is from a french line and it is about $80 a jar and it is fabulous. Guess what? Mix some of these crystals in with something with some slippage (like a cream or cleanser) and you have a product that is very, very, very similar to my favorite $80 product. –Genius. I mixed some of these in with my Bliss Lemon and Sage Body Scrub (that I happen to use on my face) and I got an AHMAZING exfoliation. As I said, you could mix in these crystals with anything from your cleanser to your moisturizer depending on how coarse you want it. This is going to be an awesome product for winter to combat any dry skin and I plan on purchasing the large bottle to use on my body!
Erin
Halloween Makeup-Exposed Muscle
It is the first week of October!!! It is starting to feel like fall… pumpkin flavored everything is in full swing, leather jackets and sweaters are being dusted off and…….Halloween will be here soon! I decided last month that I wanted to do some Halloween makeup tutorials because not only will it possibly be able to help some of you wanting to concentrate heavily on your makeup this year but it also gives me the chance to branch out, try some different techniques and have some fun! I decided to have my first look be a bit gory which is why I settled on this exposed face muscle look. I also wanted to introduce some latex techniques in because the possibilities with it are endless and it is soooo easy to use. This look actually only required three things: grease paint, latex and tissue. All in all I spent about $6 at the Halloween store–not bad for a Halloween costume right? Before we begin, let me explain why below you will see a picture of eyelash glue instead of a bottle of latex. I have never, every had a problem with latex..until now. The bottle that I got at the Halloween store was so thinned out and old that it wouldn’t work at all-this made me very upset. But, I am feeling a bit under the weather so I didn’t feel like venturing out to return it before doing this tutorial…so I just turned to my trusty eyelash glue since it is latex and it did the job beautifully. I wouldn’t recommend it though unless you can’t find liquid latex because you are going to pay much more for the tiny tube of eyelash glue than the bottle of latex
Products Used:
Grease paint in red, white and black, latex or eyelash glue, not pictured: tissues
PREP:
Clean the skin. Cover the brow on the side of the face that the latex will go on with concealer…I actually used my paint pot. I went ahead and applied my foundation and eye makeup to the side of the face that wouldn’t have the latex application.
Step 1:
Rip up your tissue into some jagged pieces, make different sizes. Using a sponge or brush (that you don’t mind possibly ruining) start by applying latex to a couple of inches of the skin (I started at the top of the forehead) and then apply a piece of jagged tissue on top. Do this around the entire area to create the shape of the “exposed muscle”. Once you have all of the tissue layed down. Go over the top of it with more latex so that you saturate the tissue. I also sponged more latex around the inner part (the inside part that is closest to where the exposed muscle will go) so that the entire thing is sealed with latex. It should look something like this:
Step 2:
While my latex was drying, I went around the latex side of my face with some foundation…I didn’t cover all of the latex/tissue combo just yet because I didn’t know how far I wanted to go yet. Make sure that your latex has dried all of the way. You can run a COOL hairdryer over it to speed up the process if you would like. Beginning in the inside (the part that is closest to the part that will be exposed muscle), gently pick up some of the latex and peel it backward. Do this around the entire inside….go further in some places to create an interesting shape. This is the part where you kind of just have to play with it. Sometimes too much off the tissue and latex will come up when you start peeling and you will need to place it back down with more latex and let it dry again..That is ok–you really just have to keep peeling and creating the shape you want. It is trial and error. This is about 3/4 of the way through my peeling as I had to stop to fix a couple of places and let the latex dry..you can see my skin got quite red from the peeling..this is normal and as long as you aren’t allergic to latex you will be fine:
Step 3:
Once you are satisfied with how you have peeled your latex and tissue back and you have created your desired shape, go in with a brush to color the “exposed muscle” red with your grease paint. SET THIS WITH POWDER–DON’T BE SHY WITH YOUR POWDER.–OTHERWISE YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO DO THE NEXT STEP. It should look something like this as it creates the base for your muscle:
Step 3:
Ok. Go google “muscles of the face”. Here you will find your blue print for your exposed muscle. You need to create a color…kind of like a burgundy or deep purple by mixing some black grease paint into some read grease paint. This color will be your contour color and you will use it on the dark areas. Take some white and mix a little red in to get a very, very light pink-almost a fleshtone color. If you don’t want to mix colors then you can use your concealer. This will be your highlight color. I know it can look daunting when you look at the diagram and then back to your face, but once you have all of your colors applied it will come together-trust me! All you need to remember is your basic contouring. Dark colors make things recede, light colors make things come forward. I start with the purple/contour color and make the lines with a very thin lip brush. Then I go in with the pinky white/concealer and add my big highlights (such as the top of the cheekbone and the brow bone) and then stroke little highlights through the whole thing.–It will come together! Just keep adding your contours and highlights according to the facial muscle diagram.
Step 4:
Finish applying foundation to the excess latex/tissue around the face so that it is even with the surrounding skintone. You may have to add extra latex to blend the latex/tissue combo into the outer skin..then go over that with foundation. (I had to do this just to smooth things out some). I wanted it to be a bit gooey so I mixed some aquaphor with some red grease paint and and applied it to the inner part of the latex/tissue combo that was peeled back. Your final product should look like this:
and this:
Easy right? There are a few things that I would have done differently…I definitely would have opened it up more around my mouth, but I didn’t want to get into “exposed teeth) territory because that is a whole different game right there. This was also the first time that I had used tissue, I have seen it used to add texture and I liked the extra effect it gave. However, if you are in a hurry and just want to use latex you will get a great effect from that too! I will tell you that using just latex is much easier to work with. The night before, I did this on my arm using just latex (sorry for the iphone picture)
So….. you can use this technique in different places for a great allover “torn” effect! I think a huge one on the thigh would look amazing…and my sister suggested an exposed spine–obviously I can’t do that one on myself. All in all, this is a really quick halloween makeup for you…the whole thing took me about an hour so it really isn’t that time consuming. You could also purchase some pre-made wounds to stick on other places with latex to cut down on makeup time. Hope you enjoyed!
Erin
The many uses of coconut oil!
I know I have talked about coconut oil a bit before as I have put it in one or two of the homemade masks..but I never really got to talk about all of the amazing things you can use it for as well as all of it’s benefits! Using coconut oil alone and in other products is steadily making comeback right now ….and for good reason– It is a super useful product and the bonus is how wonderfully natural and organic it is! My coconut oil comes from my good friend Tracy…I will say that I haven’t had to actually venture to the store to purchase any because she keeps me super stocked with this organic oil from Glaser Farms in Miami (bless you Tracy) But…you can purchase organic coconut oil at pretty much any organic grocery store…or any grocery store that has an organic section. Trader Joes, Earthfare, Fresh Market, Whole Foods….etc. Anyway…here is mine:
This jar will last me foreeeeeeever. Talk about getting the most bang for your buck….Jars at the store sell for around $8 and you use so little that you will be stocked for awhile. So what are the benefits of coconut oil? Well, it is SUPER moisturizing..and I think you know by now how I feel about great moisturizers (love them). The wonderful thing about coconut oil is that it absorbs into skin (especially damp skin) very quickly…so no waiting around looking like a crazy greasy lady. It also contains Lauric acid so you are getting antimicrobial properties. Here are some great uses for coconut oil:
A moisturizer:
Use it on your face and body all over or on any dry patches you have.
In a scrub:
Mix it with some sugar and you have a moisturizing and exfoliating body scrub.
In a mask:
Threre are so many homemade masks on the internet, add in some coconut oil to one of them to amp up the moisturizing properties.
For a dry scalp:
Apply some to your scalp and massage it in to help with any dryness. Some people say that coconut oil on the scalp also promotes hair growth.
Moisturize Cuticles:
Put some on your cuticles to keep them nice and soft and looking lovely for fall nail polish trends!
As a hair treatment:
Apply all over hair and leave on as long as possible to help heal damaged hair. I apply it to my hair and secure with a hair tie and leave it in overnight!
As a hair finisher:
Rub a tiny bit in between hands and run your fingers through your hair to smooth down fly-aways and put the finishing touch on hair.
Oh yea you can cook with it too…
Coconut oil is a wonderful, wonderful oil to cook with and is said to have so many benefits when it is ingested…it is also said to increase metabolism!
Seriously, how can you go wrong? Invest the 8-12 bucks on a jar and see what it can do for you…I promise you will find many more uses for it.
Erin
