Make your own lipstick! 
We all have our favorite go-to lipstick colors….but every so often I find myself wishing one of them had just a bit more pink….or was a tad bit more purple to suit the look I was going for. The other day I did this tutorial and wanted my nude to have a bit more rosiness…while I didn’t mention it in the tutorial (because I knew then I would be doing this one 2 days later) I used this method I am about to show you to get my Julie Hewett Biba to have a slight burgundy color so it suited the look more. You can do this with layering other lipsticks…but oftentimes people have more eyeshadows than they do lipsticks so this is a great way to expand your makeup collection without having to buy more colors! Here is what I started with, I swatched my Revlon Soft Nude lipstick down my arm:
Then I took a good selection of pinks, rose golds, burgundy’s and purples to get a nice selection of new lip colors:
From top to bottom: MAC Plum Dressing, Makeup Geek Burlsesque, MAC Mythology, MAC Cranberry and MAC Girlie
I added a couple swipes of each shadow to each Revlon Soft Nude swatch….These are the new lip colors I produced from just my nude lipstick and some eyeshadows:
Nice right? Now I have 5 new lipstick shades ranging from golds to pinks to purples to amped up nudes! If you don’t have the eyeshadow colors to do this but have a lot of blush then you can totally use your blush to create some amazing new colors too! –This is also a great thing to do with loose pigments and gloss! Hope you enjoyed!
Erin
Burgundy Burlesque eyeshadow
This whole post has been building since Thursday morning when I was on Pinterest. Roaming through the hair and beauty section for trends, I saw a picture of the most gorgeous burgundy eyeshadow. Now, I know my MAC collections and I instantly knew it wasn’t one of them….In fact, that is a big area where MAC is lacking. They have Cranberry and Deep Damson but Cranberry is a little more pinky gold than a true burgundy and Deep Damson has a tendency to look a little purple instead of red (even though I adore them both!). Anyway..as soon as I saw this shadow, I knew I was going to buy it (I really am not an instant purchase kind of gal…it has to really grab me and be special). So the link from Pinterest took me right over to the Makeup Geek website…if you haven’t been there before, it is a great site devoted to makeup tutorials, forums and photos and now they have a store with some great well known products and they even have their own line-which is where I purchased this Burlesque shadow. I ordered it Thursday AM…it came to my sisters on Saturday and she handed it off to me today and I immediately did this tutorial because I couldn’t wait to use it! (I will be doing a review on these shadows at a later date!)
Products Used:
MAC Eyeshadow in “Mythology”, Makeup Geek Eyeshadow in “Burlesque”, Maybelline Gel liner in “Blackest Black”, MAC Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre”
PREP:
Apply concealer to the entire lid up to the brow, all around the eye and underneath the eye. Set with powder. Apply your eyeshadow primer…I used MAC’s Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre”.
Step 1:
Using a stiff brush, apply “Burlesque” to the top of the lid stopping just past the crease. I also dragged that color down underneath the eye to the lashline-thick. I wanted this look to extend out diagonally instead of being more rounded so I did a little trick. I grabbed a piece of paper and held the edge diagonally underneath the eye pointing toward my brow…then I filled in the shadow from there so that the paper stopped it and created a nice diagonal. It should look something like this:
Step 2:
Using a stiff brush, apply “Mythology” right above where you ended your application of “Burlesque” from corner to corner. It should look something like this:
Step 3:
Using your big fluffy, blend, blend ,blend these colors together. Using your stiff brush, apply a highlight from the brow bone down into the inner corner. Using your fluffy, blend your highlight out a bit. Apply your fake lashes. I used a new kind of lash that I will be writing about soon! Go over any excess glue with your gel liner. Apply gel liner to the waterline and smudge some into the lashline. Your final product should look something like this:
and this:
Such an easy low step look!! Pretty true Burgundy color right?? I think this color is going to be such a great asset in my kit!–It looks excellent with gold and I would add some black for a night out. Want your own? Visit the Makeup Geek Shop here. I didn’t feature the lipstick on the product list but it is “Biba” from Julie Hewett…one of the best nudes I own. Hope you enjoy!
Erin
Hard Candy Living Doll Blush Review
Strolling through Walmart the other day to pick up some Maybelline Gel Liner (the cheapest place to get it) I came across the Hard Candy Section. Now if y’all remember-you used to find Hard Candy right next to Urban Decay in places like Sephora and Ulta. I am not exactly sure what happened to the brand except for the fact that they re-branded it, changed the pricing and packaging and sent it over to Walmart stores. There are actually quite a few things from the line that I want to try but this hot pink and gold swirled blush really caught my eye. Here it is:
Lovely color isn’t it? Here it is swatched in two different lights:
I wore this yesterday and loved it! What you can’t pick up that well from the photos is that it has a great sheen to it so you get a nice highlight on your cheek! As I said, there are some other products in the line I can’t wait to try. I worked with a wonderful client yesterday who had recently purchased one of their dual box blushes (they look like Benefit ones) so I can’ wait to try those as well! Check them out…not bad for a $6 investment!
Erin
Fix your old nail polish!!!
I have been meaning to do this post for a long time…mainly because I desperately needed to do this to a few bottles I have stuffed in drawers!! Nail polish can get expensive…just a bottle of Essie starts at $8…and then you move up to the double digits with stuff like Butter and Deborah Lippmann, FACE Stockholm, POP Beauty….Heck Tom Ford’s polish comes in at $30! The point is….it is a big investment when halfway through the bottle your beloved polish turns into a gunky, thick mess and you can’t use it anymore. Or so you thought. I learned this wonderful, glorious tip from my friend Lori who is a nail tech at Kanvas in Tallahassee, Fl (thanks Lori!) Meet your new best friend who is going to save your favorite polish from the trash can:
I picked this bottle up at Sally’s today for less than $5….so less than the cost of most bottles of nail polish. Here is what I was dealing with with one of my favorite Essie glitters:
As you can see…there wasn’t any polish on the left side because it was all gunked up inside! I could even turn it upside down without anything coming out because it was soo globby-yuck. So I added a few drops of the thinner and shook it around like a crazy person (you could also stick a headless Q-tip or toothpick in there to swirl it around a bit and then shake) aaaaaaand…..
Voila! Just like new!!! This is such a money saver right? The best part is that the bottle of thinner will last you foreeeever…it takes so little to revive your nail polish. Go get yourself a bottle to have on hand so you aren’t disappointed the next time you reach for “the perfect color” and find that it is half used and gunky!!! I have quite a few bottles of “splash of grenadine” stockpiled that I have to go bring back to life now….
Erin
Natural eye makeup-5 min!
Limited time in the mornings?-Then this is the tutorial for you so you can get out the door quickly!!! This is a no frills tutorial today because it’s not the color combinations that I wanted to show but the quick and easy technique that will also elongate your eyes. Because of this, I used basic natural colors…but you can use any colors you like to switch it up!
Products Used:
MAC Eyeshadows in “Shale”, “Malt” and “Swiss Chocolate”, Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Liner in “Blackest Black” (optional), MAC Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre”, MAC Lipstick in “Pink Nouveau”, NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Black Bean”
You will also need a wide flat liner brush that looks like this:
PREP:
Conceal the entire lid up to the brow, all around the eye and all around the eye. Set with powder. Apply your eyeshadow primer all over he eye up to the brow…I used MAC’s Paint Pot in “Soft Ochre”.
Step 1:
Using your big fluffy, apply “Shale” to the front half of the eyelid….then apply “Malt” to the rest of the lid and up..stopping at the brow bone. I didn’t show this step because both shadows are so light.
Step 2:
Using your wide, flat liner brush, apply “Swiss Chocolate” to the end of your eye in a kind of “wing” shape. I do this by looking straight ahead in the mirror and angling the brush from my lower water line towards the end of my brow. Then I simply place the color on that angle. It should look something like this:
Step 3:
Using the same brush, place it back on the line and move it in towards the inner corner (but not going very far in at all)—kind of like a windshield wiper motion. Continue to add color to your brush, place it on the line and “windshield wiper” it over towards the inner corner. This is your trick and the key to this eye…it is going to elongate your eye and keep your shadow on the outer corner of the eye. It should look something like this:
Step 4:
Using your NYX Eye Pencil, apply liner to the top of the eye.. 2/3 of the way in…making it bigger or fatter on the outside of the eye. Using your flat liner brush, smudge out your liner. You can also smudge some of the liner onto the “wing” you have created on the outside of the eye…just to create some more darkness. It should look something like this:
Step 5:
Using a stiff brush, apply your highlight from the brow bone down into the inner corner. Using your fluffy brush, blend your “Swiss Chocolate” into your “Malt” and in towards the inner corner. If you don’t want any lashes…apply your mascara and you are done! If you want to step it up, apply your false eyelashes. Apply a coat of mascara to blend your fake lashes into your real ones. Your final product will look something like this:
and this:
I added some MAC “Pink Nouveau” as a final touch-Love this color! I love this whole look because it is nice and soft….and fast! And it gives you a winged/elongated look without messing with winged liner!
Erin
