Emerald City Look

Another beautiful new look by Nikki you can find more looks at her blog http://www.makeupjunkienikki.com/ and you find her on facebbok http://www.facebook.com/MakeupJunkieNikki   If you lioke her looks you can also order them at www.fusionofcolor.net she has her own section with all her looks.

1. Apply a base colour all over lid up to the brow bone. I used Fusion of Colour "Bone".

2. With a stuff dome brush apply a mid-tone brown just in the crease. Blend slightly up. I used Fusion of Color "Twig".

3. With an angle brush I applied Fusion of Color "Pea Pod" on the inner lash line. Continue the liner with Fusion of Colour "Emerald City" and wing it out. Blended the two colours together where they meet.

4. Line water lines with black gel liner. I used "Blackest Black" by Maybelline. Smudge the same green tone e/s on the lower lash line that reflect the top liner.

5. With a small shadow brush pat on a light shimmer shadow to the pocket of the eye & to the highest point of the brow bone. This will brighten and make your eyes pop. I used Fusion of Color "Silk".

6. Apply your favorite mascara and your ready!

Matte vs Shimmer

Watching QVC last night, Mally of Mally Beauty was on she was selling one of her kits. As they were presenting the kit she said something that has been debated by women applying their make up for years.She was presenting a highlight and blush glow kit. She said that we (more mature) women need some glow and highlighter on our face, THANK YOU MALLY!!!! I have been saying this for years, as we age we lose color in our face and become monochromatic. I have read and seen articles and make up companies say that after a certain age, I think I have read the magic age is 40 LOL!! you should never put shimmer on your face. Well, sometimes matte make up makes us look older (my opinion) because some matte make up looks very dry on the skin and has no movement.  I am not saying that you should wear super shiny and sparklie make up. If you think you face looks better with some shimmer and you are over the magic age then wear it, there are no set rules. If you look and feel great then go for it. Use a matte underneath the shimmer, if the shimmer is too much, you can tone it down, but it will still have some depth. The foundations we make are matte, but they have some movement to it, they do not look dull. We do not use anything that sparkles in ours like some do. Our blushes and shadows have shimmer to them, not over the top shimmer. You can buff the shimmer down if it is too much. You can also take your matte make up and add a bit of shimmer to it. I have found that if I take a foundation maybe 2 shades lighter than my normal color, and put on my face at the middle of the face, apply some on chin ad forehead. Then the normal color on lower part of face, then apply blush. My face looks brighter and much better!  You can also do you face with your foundation and just add a highlighter to those areas, play around and see if this work for you. There are no rules set in stone with applying make up, do what looks best on you.

My take on the O2B2 Beauty Tour

The O2B2 Beauty tour,Out of the Beauty Box Tour finally made it to Chicago this weekend. Saturday started with seminars Marketing yourself as a Makeup Artist,  the second Makeup Artist Contracts. Elessa also know as Pursebuzz gives you all the information you need to market yourself and Koren, aka Enkore Makeup, you tube guru extraordinaire, handled how to read a contract so you don't get taken advantage of. They give you knowledge that you cannot find on line or most people will not give out.  I did not take these classes but if you are new to this business I really think this would be something you need to know.

Bag of goodies

The second half of the day was Transitioning to Pro, which I probably should have taken.  I was the model for a few hours, the class covered step by step how to talk to your client, what questions to ask, then step by step make up application and how to do it correctly. I keep stressing the step by step thing and this is something I haven't seen to often in a class, they go thru things slowly and explain the reason for what you are doing. Then you get to do what they have told you on your partner, they walk around watch what you are doing and give you tips on how to do it better or what you are doing wrong.  They make sure you understand what they are teaching you and why you should know it.

Koren answering questions

  I know some girls think that these classes are too much money, but let me tell you, you get a bag of make up that is well thought out and everything you need, from make up, throw away item that you need, headband, brushes. You do not need to buy anything else when you leave the class to start applying make up!! The item they give you are ones that work for the business, they have used products upon products and know what works.  I have taken classes that you sit in a big room and the teacher is up front with a model and all you do is listen and look and have no idea (maybe a small idea) of what to do or what they are saying or referring to and NO GOODIES to bring home.
More cities are being added to the Tour, if ones comes by you PLEASE go to it, they give you enough time to save up.
 To check if they are coming to a city near you, click here

I will do another post about being in the class I took Bridal Make up and my  favorite Air Brushing!!

What's that white stuff on my face...............................

in the picture!!!  We have all seen and probably been there, when we take a picture and our face is either glowing or has white streaks and or patches when we look at the picture. Yep our make up is probably the cause.  What brought me to thinking about this, I want to get back into doing make up, it has been a few years since I have done so on a regular basis.  Of course cruising all the web sites and seeing pictures of  some celebs with white streaks on their faces got me to wondering, is it really the make up!! So I googled this problem, love google you can find out almost everything you want to know.  Everything I read goes back to a make up problem. So of course I am going to experiment, I talked to a friend of mine, that does make up and ran a few things past her. Yes she confirmed my suspicions. The first culprit is a high amount of silica, and I love my silica. Fusion of Color does carry products that have silica as their first ingredient, as I think it does wonders as a finishing powder. So if you are using it everyday for work or play it is just fine and your face will look amazing during the day.

So this morning I experimented, I took a Finishing powder with the silica as the main ingredient, put some one and took a picture with and without flash (no I am not posting them LOL).   With flash I look like Casper the friendly ghost, without flash was fine. You cannot see this if you just look in the mirror. So I took our Diamond Indulgence Finishing Powder and put that on the other side that looked fine with or without flash. It does contain silica but it is the last ingredient on the list so there isn't much in it.

If you have a big day coming up that you need great photos for, I suggest you get a pro to do your make up before hand. This way you can see what it would look like for pictures so there are no surprises. These PRO make up artists are worth their weight in gold with their knowledge. Of course you will get some that don't know much, so do your homework for that big day.  If you decide to do your make up yourself, experiment and take pictures before the big event.

I will be doing more experimenting on this subject, Fusion of Color wants to bring you the best in make up that works for all occasions without any worry. I am taking a class with EnkoreMakeup (Koren) and Pursebuzz (Elessa) in March and of course I am going to pick their brains on this subject and others.

Update: I took our Aura Lusion Diamond Powder and used it with the stipple brush (That I recommend for it) and buff it into my skin, No Flare and or white streaks. So I thought hmmmmmm I took the Aura Tint Powder, which contains silica and buffed the other side of my face again using the stipple brush. A slight bit of glow not bad, so maybe it is in the appplication.  More experimenting this week. 

Highlighting and Contouring the face

Contouring and Highlighting

With contouring and highlight, remember highlighting brings the areas forward and draws attention to that part of the face. Contouring recedes the areas. Contouring gives your face shape and depth. You can alter your face shape with highlight and contouring tricks.
Contour your cheek bones. add a little bronzer and or a shade darker foundation or even eye shadow below your cheek bone, from the hairline to towards the apples of your cheek, in a wedge-like shape. This trick is especially good for women who have very round faces. You can find your cheek bone by sucking in your cheeks and put the color in the hollow of the face. Contouring is all about reshaping your face and giving it sharper edges. On the top of the cheek you can add highlighter, apply your blush between both of these and blend, blend, blend. Make sure you see no harsh lines.
To bring areas of your face forward, emphasizing them, do the opposite to contouring and use a highlighter a bit lighter than your skin color. The areas you want to do this to are the top of the cheek bones, and the center of your eyelids. When it comes to your lips, dab a lighter lip shade or a shimmery powder or lip gloss just in the middle of them.

Round face is fuller and usually stays younger looking longer  than the other face shapes. It's shorter, fairly wide, with full cheeks and a rounded chin.Highlight your forehead, underneath the eyes just on top of the cheekbones, and the center of your chin to draw attention to the center of your face.
Contour your temples, cheeks, and jawline with a bronzer or powder or cream  that is one or two levels darker than your skin tone to create the appearance of an oval face. Make sure you blend, blend, blend.
Check the darker colors to make sure you do not have harsh lines, do not use anything that is too dark for your skin.

Long face shaped face has high cheekbones, a high, deep forehead and a strong, sharp, chiseled jawline. Never highlight or contour your face. This will only make your face look longer. Brush a bit of bronzer or dark color foundation across your chin to help shorten its length. Apply blush on the apples of your cheeks. This will help widen and shorten your face. When applying your blush, start closer in on the apples of the cheeks and brush outward across the face.

Pear Face shaped face is narrow at the temples and forehead and wider at the cheeks and jawline. Highlight your forehead to create the illusion of width, and highlight underneath the eyes on top of the cheekbones and the tip of your chin. Contour the jawline and the cheeks to minimize their width.

Square Face is the same width at the forehead, the cheeks and the jaw. Highlight down the center of your forehead, underneath the eyes just on top of the cheekbones, and the tip of your chin to draw attention to the middle of your face. Contour your hairline at the two corners by your temples and the jaw at the two corners. Apply blush on the apples of your cheeks to this will draw attention away from the corners of the square and help widen the area and make it appear more oval.

Oval Face is considered by most to be the perfect facial shape It is usually broader at the cheeks, tapering in slightly at both the forehead and the chin. You do not need to contour and highlight your face.
To make a wide or very round forehead appear narrower, shade just the temples or sides of the forehead.

To slim your nose you would apply the contouring shade on each side blending carefully, and the highlighter down the center of your nose.

If you want your nose to appear shorter. Shade the underside of the tip of your nose.

For a small, thin chin, apply highlighter to the center of the chin, directly under the center of the lip. To minimize a double chin, apply a darker foundation shade (don’t go to dark) along the jaw line and blend it down, towards your neck. This creates depth and helps to strengthen the jaw line.