Author: Emmie

I am a fashion and beauty professional with a degree in Fine Arts. I also have passions for cooking, baking, movies, music and pop culture; I am often sailing the seas as a hairdresser on cruise ships.

Glycerin is your new BFF when it comes to having glowing skin!

~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment
A skin rescuer for powdered make-up users...this setting spray only takes three ingredients; rose water, distilled water and glycerin!
A skin rescuer for powdered make-up users…this setting spray only takes three ingredients; rose water, distilled water and glycerin!

So about a year ago, one of my good friends told me about the skin trend in Asia particularly Korea, where the young girls not only have perfect skin, but they also have shiny, dewy baby skin, like no other in photos.  At first thought, I figured that the look can be achieved by exfoliation, followed with a tinted moisturizer, and no use of face powder, but that didn’t explain the “flawless” glow of the dewy shine trend.  How that look can be achieved, I figured out recently is with the use of a setting spray.  Make-up has a nicer real skin effect when slightly dampened, and the misting of a setting spray (water based) over foundation and powder will make your face look more hydrated, and give you the dewy shine that you crave even after it’s dried.  That’s right, shine can be pretty as long as it is not a greasy slick over your face. Another bonus is it increases the staying power of make-up that is applied.

What’s even more amazing? I found out there is a DIY home recipe for a setting spray that will make you wonder how you could have done without it for all these years! It is super easy to make, hydrating and smells awesome. A homemade spray that is just as good as any $20 spray on the market, but better since it is super affordable and preservative free.  There are different ways to use a setting spray, as in before make-up application (for adhesion and colour intensity) or after (to get rid of the powdery look and build shine)…  I mist the spray all over my face after my foundation and powder but before I do my eye make-up. That way, I get better adhesion and color intensity for my eye shadow, and it prevents my powdered foundation face from looking too powdery by giving it a healthy dewy glow.

A bottle of glycerin from the local pharmacy! Not hard to find and so good for the skin!
A bottle of glycerin from the local pharmacy! Not hard to find and so good for the skin!

Recipe for DIY Rosewater Glycerin Setting Spray:

  • 1 part distilled water
  • 1 part rose water
  • 1/8th part Glycerin** (you could use less if you find it too sticky)

**For those of you who don’t know…glycerin is a thick liquid compound that is a sugar alcohol. It is put in many products in the food industry for keeping things moist and sweet.  Since it is food grade, if you spray any of it on your lips and lick it, it’s totally safe! It’s also known to be great for your skin as it draws water to it and has other benefits too!

Put all ingredients above in a small clean spray bottle.  Shake it to mix it and spritz a fine mist over your make-up or under your make-up depending on the result you want as I mentioned above! I like to use enough that my face feels moistened, and takes about two minutes to dry.  And then start welcoming the pretty shine and dewy glow that using a setting spray imparts!

It's hard to see in photos, but the hydrating and glowing effect of using a setting spray is worth it, even as it covers the back of my hand!
It’s hard to see in photos, but the hydrating and glowing effect of using a setting spray is worth it, even as it covers the back of my hand!

MY DIY Halloween Get Up: Katana from Suicide Squad!

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This summer when Suicide Squad came out, it crossed over into the Batman universe with characters like Harley Quin and the Joker. The premise of the film was super villains joining forces to complete a mission that could save the world…sounds more pulled together than the film’s execution of the story…but visually it was still a treat.

I am not really into super heroes that much…but the year before I did a simple Tomie costume, a character from a manga series by Junji Ito…so I couldn’t resist making another Japanese inspired costume when I found out there was a Japanese hero in Suicide Squad: Katana!  Forget Harley Quin, one of the most done of female costumes of this year, but the character of Katana; a deadly and strong willed woman of honor who has superior samurai skills was the way to go for me.

Suicide Squad looked great visually, and the costumes had a street vibe interpretation!
Suicide Squad looked great visually, and the costumes had a street vibe interpretation!
Karen fukuhara, an new unknown actress took over the role well.
Karen fukuhara, an new unknown actress took over the role well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The back story on Katana is is that she was originally the daughter of a great samurai, who while being trained in the skills of fighting, also won the hearts of two brothers.  They both sought her out, and in the end, she chose the more honest man to marry and have kids with…leaving the rejected brother to be jealous and turn even more evil. There was a dual between the brothers and Katana’s husband was killed by his evil brother, and the children died in the resulting fire.  After she lost her husband and kids, Katana became a force for good, using her magic sword (who still possesses her husband’s soul) to fight evil as a means to cope with her tragic loss.  Katana has worked with Batman, Birds of Prey  and for the movie Suicide Squad she was Rick Flag’s body guard.  Anyways, enough about her back story, let’s take a look at my costume.

This is my take on Katana from Suicide Squad. Am I menacing?
This is my take on Katana from Suicide Squad. Am I menacing?

I made this costume mostly with clothes I already had.  Such as a white tank/top, tight black jeans/pants and a black bomber style jacket. I pinned it in on the bottom to create a cropped effect.  I also already had the sword from a previous costume (Kyo from Black Bird) The only thing I actually bought was the white half mask, the red sash, and gold metallic paint for the flowers.  I painted the red dot on the mask with red nail polish and reshaped and cut the eyes to resemble Katana’s mask more.  Then I painted gold petal shapes on duct tape and then cut them out and stuck them in a flower pattern in the bottom right corner of the jacket. Then I looped the long red scarf around the arms of the jacket and pinned in place.  All in all, this costume only cost me $10 for the scarf, paint, and plain white mask! I had everything else!  But it was really fun getting to be Katana for a day on Halloween.

What DIY costumes have you made in the past that was both cheap and made use of things you had?

 

Graphic liquid Liner…can basic black be replaced by grey for everyday?

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An inky black marker type liquid liner, verses a brush on liquid grey liner...
An inky black marker type liquid liner, versus a brush on liquid grey liner…

There is no make-up look I’ve seen more worn by women than that of the ubiquitous “cat eye” makeup.  It is usually done in a combination of ways, but always involves liquid liner to produce that hard edge top eyelid line that defines a graphic “cat eye” make-up.  And with a flick up in the corner, any girl can instantly get daily glam without feeling too made up.  When buying liquid liner, by default I always go to black, for some reason and I get it in pen style for ease of use.  Liquid liners with a brush and a bottle go on too black and thick for me and for some reason and I end up looking too hard, but pens can still be really harsh if they are very dark…like the one I use now. My eyes are like daggers lined by black ink.  I accept that black is the fashion… But  I recently discovered that charcoal grey is a great alternative, if you like the polished elegance of the cat-eye, want to still be in vogue, but don’t want to look as stern with super black lined graphic eyes.

So the left photo is black liner and the right photo is grey liner. All other make-ups are the same. Can you spot the difference?
So the left photo is black liner and the right photo is grey liner. All other make-ups are the same. Can you spot the difference?

So as you can see with my photos, there is a only subtle difference between black and grey.  But you can see how grey liner is a lot softer, and gentler, it opens up my eyes a bit more and still is a cat eye make-up.  In the black liner photo, I used all the same make-ups as the grey liner photo, but with black, you can see how my eyes are more emphasized and I look harder and edgier.

So which do you prefer?  Hard edgy black, or sweetly composed grey?  These days I’ve been going for charcoal grey liner since I find that sometimes, less darkness on the face can actually be appealing, and maybe even more youthful.  Try it out and let me know what you think.  Make-up and being a girl is all about the details and small things!