Tag: make-up

The only two shades of lipstick I need for getting polished fast and goes with any look!

~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment

It’s not easy putting on a full face of make-up every morning on a moving ship, and reporting for duty bright and early in the morning at the Spa (I’m a hairdresser on board ships). And as women we all know that lipstick shades and finishes come in such a huge array of choices. Every mainstream brand, whether designer or drugs store has too many options to choose from when it comes to lips. Here my my tips however, for making the colour decision fast, and always having a makeup look that works, so that mornings can be spent having that extra cup of coffee for who knows what a busy work morning will bring!

These are the two recommended colours: A natural mauve/pink and a bold, fashion red!

First tip, I recommend using long wear lipsticks only. Not only are they more economical because I’m reapplying lip colour less frequently, but also, they save time for that same reason. I can be confident that my lips looks good until lunch-time when it comes off. And then I reapply after lunch and I can repeat the feeling of confidence that it hasn’t smeared or rubbed off until the next break. All cosmetic brands now make long lasting lip products, (no budge), and it’s easy to find one in a variety of colours. There are also matte and gloss finishes to choose from. I feel for no budge lipstick, matte is better, just because it feels less like shellac on my lips. And I also feel glossy lips are distracting and less natural looking. But to each their own, of course.

Now on to tips for choosing which lip colour to use for what look. One colour of lipstick I used often was a bold red to pair with nude/light eyeshadows and minimal make up looks. That’s right, the face needs balance, so if I were wearing a minimal makeup look on a given day, I would punch it up with a bold fashion colour! And a velvety red really brought the drama and I always had compliments when wearing it.

Nothing goes better with a statement red than minimal clean makeup!

But I also received so many compliments on my smokey eye make-up! On days where I wore that look, the eyes were so dramatic that they didn’t need a loud lip colour to compete with. It would be too busy. So with smokey eyes or darker eyeshadows, I would pair the look with a muted mauve/natural pink lip. And this always kept the smokey eye makeup as the star. We always want one thing more loud on the face and the others more quiet. If we choose the lips, it’s getting the bold red, and they eyes stay natural. If we choose the eyes to be the focus, the lipstick colour has to be muted.

And with a smokey dark eye shadow, we’re going to have to have a muted lip colour. Here I was doing very cool toned nude. But a natural pink works also. Anything “quiet”.

What I love about these two lip colours is that it’s all the colours we need! And they can paired with dozens of makeup looks. It actually simplifies my makeup routine and helps me save time, while still looking put together. And that’s what I feel makes the best beauty tricks. We want to look effortless, but we also want it to be truely effortless. We can have style and taste come faster just from knowing which colour to use, and not because from over thinking from having too many options to choose from. Girls, I was rarely ever late on the ship, and also rarely ever wore the wrong shade of lip colour!

Some basic, but important Tips for Make-up Beginners

~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment

First: A Throwback of my Past Make-up How-to’s:

I write a lot of articles about different make-up looks, whether it be a natural or vampy look, or valentines’ day flirty eyes; I have fun expressing unique make-up applications. Here a few of my escapades with make-up and color:

This is from my article on how to do be-witching eye make-up! check it out here.

Very dark lined cat eyes for a fashion forward winter holiday look. Article here:

An 80’s electric eyeshadow look for a bold statement. Article here

What works for New Make-up Wearers?

My make-up looks are certainly fun if you want to change up your daily routine, but what about people who want to start wearing make-up and are intimidated by all the complicated/trendy tutorial out there? I think the best make-up looks enhance your facial features simply, and doesn’t change or hide them. Like making your eyes look brighter with a shiny shadow, or making your skin creamier with a bb cream… In essence, make-up is basically playing up what you have naturally, and it shouldn’t feel odd or awkward. It’s a fun form of self expression, and one of my favorite ways to show off. Here are some basic suggestions I want to give beginners who are starting to wear make-up.

Tip # 1: No substitute for Good skin

Before putting on make-up, one needs to take care of the skin. Cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize, and use an antioxidant nightly on your skin. When you have healthy skin, make-up can actually do it’s job properly. Check out my line of natural skincare to learn more.

Tip # 2: Use an SPF or SPF loaded foundation

The sun is not your friend.  UV rays and ultra violet light from the sun IS what causes premature aging and wrinkling, so wear a sun screen under the make-up. If that is too heavy of a base, find a foundation with higher than 15 SPF to help protect your skin from harmful rays at the same time as giving you coverage.

Step 3: Level of coverage in Foundation:

Be honest about the level of coverage you want.  There are three levels of coverage: Light coverage is a tinted moisturizer, with no powder, medium is a light foundation/bb set with a bit of powder, and full coverage is a heavy foundation and concealer set with powder. I tend to like a medium coverage for day to day, since that often means I can skip concealer for minor uneven tones. But if you want the flawless skin look, you will have to go for full coverage. All options are fine, but choose the one that you want, not the one that you think you should want. Just because you have been make-up shy all your life doesn’t mean you can’t have the flawless full coverage look. Be willing to experiment to find what works for you!

Step 4: Definition of the face:

Using a foundation will mute all your other features. Your eyes will look smaller after foundation application, your mouth will be colorless, your eyebrows non existent. Your cheeks without color. So this is the time to add back definition.The more products you use, the more defined your features become. My minimum staples for definition are eyebrow color, eye lid color, mascara and blush. If you want extra definition, you can add an eyeliner, liquid or pencil, contouring/bronzer, lipstick, false lashes…etc. But again be honest with the level of definition you want!

The Bottom Line:

I feel that when starting to wear make-up for beautifying effects, it’s really important to be honest with yourself and how much coverage/definition you want to present to the world. Take the time to figure out what level of “made-up you really want”. And just like when wearing fashion, you want to have fun while expressing yourself with your make-up looks! Having a positive attitude and a willingness to try new things will get you farther in anything, any day!

My day to day make-up look. Very minimal: Medium coverage foundation with a light powder, eyebrow definition, thin lined top lid and neutral eye shadows…no lipstick, but a bit of blush! My go to natural look…

I don’t usually write make-up reviews for cosmetic giants, but…

~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment

Maybelline doesn’t need my help to sell it’s make-ups. It’s as ubiquitous as all the other make-up giants; that kill the environment, use chemicals and test on animals…Maybelline is no exception. But since this is a make-up journal, I feel inclined to report about how I recently discovered the crazy over performing lipstick that is the Maybelline Super Stay Matte Ink Lipstick line. It’s a semi-new release (within the last year) that has gotten me in a state of fandom over long wear make-ups for my lips…(since that’s really the only place on the face that needs it…since we eat and drink, every hour of the day)

The two best colors from the line, as mentioned by a lot a reviews: Lover (mauve), and Pioneer (classic red)

I come from a philosophy of simple is better, less is more and basically I feel natural always trumps chemicals. That’s why I have a line of gentle handmade cosmetics and perfumes called Dream E available for all. But because I work in the fashion industry as well, I know how important a well painted lip can be and how much it can pull together a fashion look from head to toe. So here I am being hypocritical about my own philosophies by liking super-stay lipsticks; since they probably have more in common with car paint enamel than the traditional wax based lipstick…what to do…

The reason I feel I have this contradiction is because ignorance is bliss. If I think about the chemical gloop that are in super-stay lip color, I would probably cringe…but I am slightly comforted by the fact that once they set, they don’t go anywhere. They become more like clothes that one wears and then takes off at night. The problem I’ve always had with traditional lipsticks were that they were movable, oily and gross, getting on food, coffee cups and clothes. I could feel them on my lips, they felt greasy, slimy. Not to mention they are made with chemical/metal colorants that could make their way into my body eventually. Too gross. But the great thing about a color stay lipstick is that it doesn’t budge, and because of that, I am assuming the chance of it getting into my belly is unlikely? (cross my fingers)

Ok now that I’ve explained my contradiction, what were the general downsides of wearing color stay lipsticks? Flat, unfashionable choice of colors, uneven wear throughout the day, 2 step application of some formulas, drying feel on the lips…the thing with the Super Stay Matte Inks is though that they don’t feel dry on, the wear is even throughout the day with NO retouching at all necessary…and they come in highly pigmented, velvety colors that you virtually paint on once carefully, and forget about it. It is that comfortable and light, that I forget I’m wearing it until I walk past a mirror and see my high fashion lips!  Just like a great eye make-up that you put on once and don’t have to worry about reapplying throughout the day, you can live the busy life you have, while having a high maintenance lip look that nobody knows you didn’t work at!

Here is the mauve color (“Lover”) on my lips. In this photo, it looks a bit muted, but in real life it’s actually deeply pigmented… almost plumy…

And here is the classic red color (“Pioneer”) on my lips. I really like the intense color and matte velvet finish…

The two colors I own from this line is a gorgeous mauve pink called “Lover”, (that started me on this epiphany of how to wear lip color from now on!) and a rich, classic red called “Pioneer” that screams fashion! I was doing a make-up look that was sans lipstick for a few years now, since I couldn’t deal with the gross feel and maintenance required of tradition lipsticks, but with this new long wear formula from Maybelline, I am a fan of colored lips once again! From reading other reviews online, the two colors I have demo-ed in this post are the two best and most popular colors from the Matte Inks line. Which one is your fave?