Lashes for Days!

We all struggle with glueing on fake eyelashes. So hopefully this tutorial will help you understand how to do it and if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to email me! (click on my name on the homepage, and then in my info there is an email link i believe, click on that and send me your questions!) PS: don't judge my bathroom! Haha! I just moved into a new house and I still haven't got everything put away!

So when you take all of your pictures on your ipad and have to hold it with both hands, you have to get creative on how to hold your products and take pictures! So these are my favorite eyelashes from sephora and i typically buy all of my lashes from there. They are just great quality and they are pretty!

 

The three things you will need (that i think you need if we're being clear): a pair of tweezers, obviously a pair of eyelashes, and glue (I love the DUO glue from sephora! That stuff stays on all day long! Also, it dries clear so if you do get it all over your lid, once it is dry you cannot tell.).

Step 1: put a thin line of glue on the lashes. To do this, simply squeeze the tube enough to where the glue is about to come out but not flowing over the sides and apply it to the lashes. 

STEP 2: LET THE GLUE SIT FOR 30-45 SECONDS!!!

So many times I forget to do that and then I get glue everywhere and the lashes refuse to stay on you.

Step 3: using tweezers, hold the lashes upside down where the edge with the glue is facing your eyelid. Then set the lashes down on your lash line. 

Step 4: using the tweezers still, you can grab the lashes and put them into place. For me, to get them to stay down in my inner eye, I usually have to use the tweezers and hold the lashes down for about 10 seconds just to make sure the glue sets and begins to dry in that position. You don't want the glue drying while the lashes are sitting on your real ones because then they are uncomfortable and will drive you crazy all day long and inevitably you will just pull them off. 

Hint: it is okay to use your fingers to put the lashes into place on your outer eyelid. The tweezers just help with your inner eye so that you can grab more without pulling on your own lashes.

On this eye, I did them incorrectly. Can you tell where? I set them down with the tweezers and held my inner lashes into place while they dried. But that was it. You can see in the middle of my eyelid where the fake lashes are nowhere near my real lashes. Be careful of this gap. It is easy to happen. When this does happen, peel the fake lashes off and simply reapply them.

HINT HINT: to make your lashes last longer, when you take them off at the end of the day, use your tweezers to pull off the glue because once it dries, it will look a lot like rubber cement and once you pull that off, you can reuse them!

And these lashes are done correctly :) They are very close to my real lashes and when you look down you can see they are against my skin, not resting on my real lashes. 

Good luck! If you have any questions, please email me! xoxo 

Go Red

Everyone loves a good red eye. But when is it appropraite to wear it? All the time of course! It can go with almost any outfit and looks pretty when you're just having fun with your makeup in sweat pants :)

I love red eyeshadow becuase I have blue eyes and it's one of the colors that really lets my eyes pop! Please excuse my hair and tshirt in this post, yall know by now makeup is my priority lol, not my hair.

Because this post is focused on the eyeshadow, I have already done my other makeup this time. All that is on my eyes right now is my foundation and powder to even out my skintone.

Step 1: create your crease. Because we are using a color as vibrant as red, it is not necessary to put a nude base eyeshadow on unless you just want to. Completely up to you! Now, using a crease brush, take your red shadow and brush on your crease. It is okay to make your crease heavy as I have and I personally think it looks better to have a heavy crease becuase since we are dealing with red eyeshadow, depending on which brand you use, it can look dark on the pallete but go on really light. 

Step 2: your bottom lid. Using a smaller eyeshadow brush, apply red eyeshadow to your bottom lid. Make sure that the amount you put on the bottom matches the color intensity of the crease you created.

Step 3: using an angled eyeshadow brush and your red eyeshadow, connect the shadow on the bottom lid to the shadow on the top lid. Just like in the Bridesmaid Glory tutorial where you create the shadow cat eye and push the shadow toward your crease, you will do the same thing here as well. 

Step 4: your upper lid. For this step you will use a darker pink and a lighter pink eyeshadow. OR you can fill your lid in with your red eyeshadow. I like to use pink with the red. So here on the outer side of my lid I used the darker pink and applied it half way. Then I used the lighter pink on the inner side of my lid. When you apply these I know you won't exactly be able to see the difference in colors but when the eyeliner and mascara go on, you will, I promise :)

Step 5: the eyeliners. In the bottom left frame, you can see that i used a shimmery brown liquid eyeliner to create a baby cat eye (tutorial: Baby Cat Eye). Then in the bottom right frame, I used my hot pink eyeliner pencil on my waterline to give it a flare of pink! If you want to use a brown or black eyeliner pencil, that is up to you. I just love using colors! I used brown liquid eyeliner on the top though because when the red shadow and the black mascara come together they can be very dark and if you have black eyeliner on the top too it can look a little strong lol! So I chose brown because it will keep the look toned down. 

Step 6: bottom mascara. Be careful not to put on too much mascara on the bottom because you don't want your lashes sticking together. 

Step 7: top mascara. I put on light mascara on the top becuase I used this look to be my shadow for my eyelash tutorial. Had this been a normal look that I would leave my house wearing, I would have put more mascara on the top! But it's pretty either way :)

THANK YOU XOXO

Bridesmaid Glory

So this is a special blog becuase I ACTUALLY did my hair for it! LOL!

Anyway, I have a friend who is going to be in a wedding in March and asked for some ideas to create a braidesmaid look for a blue dress and silver heels.

So this is what I came up with! I hope you all like it :)

So as always, I always start with a blank face. It's like a blank canvas to paint on, and that is what we are doing afterall isn't it? 

First things first, cover those imperfections and blend the creme or whatever your choice of concealer may be so that you don't have any clumps!

Foundation. This is how I apply mine to make sure that I get my whole face covered. I do a stripe on my right cheek, then my left. Then I move to my forehead, down my nose, and then to my chin. 

When blending the foundation together, start with your cheeks first. By doing this, it's easier to make sure that your forehead, chin, and nose blend better together. Don't forget to go over your eyes as well :)

Powder. I use a compact powder from Sephora and I love it dearly. When applying powder, make sure that you do it in a circular motion for even distribution across your face. Also, DO NOT FORGET to blend down your neck so that you dont have a makeup line along your jawbone! To do that, all that is needed is for you to carry some powder down below your face and move your brush in circular motions on your neck. Make sure that you blend it well and nobody will be looking at you and smiling because they can see where your makeup starts. That has happend to me one too many times!

Eyeshadow is so very important when putting together a bridesmaid look. You want dark enough colors that you can see the eyeshadow but not so dark that you become the focus of the stage, not the bride. Her makeup needs to pop more than yours LOL.

Step 1: I used the sand colored shadow on the far left of the pallet all over my upper and lower eyelids. This allows for even skintone around the eyes and is like the background in a painting. 

Step 2: I used the shimmery pink 3rd from the left on my upper eyelid only. Not on the area by my brow. This creates a contrast between your lower and upper eyelid.

Step 3: I used the golden sand color 2nd from the left on the area that the shimmery pink did not go by my brow and my lower eyelid. This provides extra shimmer as well as the new contrast provider once the dark shadows and eyeliner have been applied.

step 4: for the cerase i used the brown with gold shimmer (2nd from the right). By adding the crease, you create depth that shows your eye isn't a flat surface and breaks up the light two shadows we just applied.

step 5: using the 1st brown shadow on the right and a small eyeshadow brush, apply the darkest shadow to the space where you would normally put your eyeliner on the top and then brush it underneath on the lower lid to create some color between the sand color on the bottom and your eye itself.

Step 6: using the same brush, wipe it off on a towel or whatever you would like, and then using the brush, push the shadow up toward your crease to make it look like it is fading upward. This will make your upper lid where the shimmery pink was a little darker and that is just alright. The point of this step though is that we don't want any harsh lines in our shadow. We want a smooth smokey eye/cat eye shape when all of this is said and done!

step 7: using an angled eyeshadow brush and the darkest shadow we just used, create two lines coming off the sides of your eyes as if you were drawing the outline of a cateye with eyeshadow.

Step 8: still using the same angled brush and dark eyeshadow, put the tip of the angled brush hair at the tip of your line. Then, almost like coloring, begin blending the dark shadow on the brush inward toward your crease. Do this for the entire length of your line, short or long. For this step, you do not need a lot of eyeshadow though. The point of this step is to simply begin to fill in where the smokey eye is. 

**HELPFUL HINT: For those who put too much shadow on for step 8 and want to lighten it, here is what you do! Using the sand shadow (2nd from the left) or which ever shade you put under your brow, get that back out. Using the same brush you used to apply the shadow the first time, use it again but this time pull that shadow down toward your crease making sure to go over the dark shadow. The more light shadow you use to go over the dark area we just created, the lighter it will get! Your welcome.

Step 9: Everyone loves black eyeliner. But how do you use in it a bridesmaid look where it isn't too strong? I'll tell you. You blend it, duh! Isn't that what everyone does with makeup? ;) But seriously, using a black eyeliner pencil, draw on a thin black line from your inner eyelid to your outter eyelid.

Step 10: using a clean eyeshadow brush, or one you've just wiped off, go back and forth over the eyeliner blending it in. It is okay for it to get covered in shadow that is already on your lid. The point is we are trying to blend it in. 

Step 11: Bottom liner baby! Apply black eyeliner to the waterline of your bottom eyelid.

Next comes the brows. No, I have not forgotten about mascara, I just save it for the last few steps of the eyes. NOW, looking at the picture you will see i have combined 3 steps into one photo. This is simply because if I made them separate, it is sometimes difficult to see the evolution of the brows if the pictures are too spread out. So, that being said:

Bottom right frame: brush those babies out!

Bottom left frame: you can see that I filled in my left brow using my Smashbox Brow On The Go pencil and I LOVE it. 

Top front and center: I have filled in both of my eyebrows.

Finally! I told you we would get to it! The bottom mascara! I always put my bottom mascara on first because when you apply it, you are generally looking up and after a while of having a hundred little black dots on your upper eyelid from your top mascara not being dry yet, you will start to get upset. Depending on your outfit, be sure not to put on too much mascara on the bottom. Your goal isn't to have clumpy lashes.

And then there is the top lashes. Again, put enough mascara on but be sure to keep your lashes separated becuase you don't want them to section separate while you are being escorted down the isle!

And now we have reached the blush. For this look I used a bronze Nars blush because the eyes are a dark nuetral and with a blue dress, therefore pink or red blush might be a little much and you don't want your cheeks to look flushed; so always play it safe. Nobody wants to see a bridesmaid and wonder why her cheeks look like she is embarrassed. 

Last but not least, we have come to the lips. With a look like this, we want soft lips of a light pink or nude base. So I have chosen one of my light pink Nars lipglosses that is a staple for even everyday outfits. 

AND NOW OUR LOOK IS COMPLETE! Wear your makeup with pride and confidence my gorgeous ladies! XOXO -Lala

 

The Baby Cat Eye

So this post is one that is long over due!

It's no secret. Women struggle with cat eye eyeliner. It is beautiful and can be made fun for everyday makeup, but some of us just are not that good at it. It is nothing to be ashamed of! I still struggle with making them the same size and shape! 

So here I am making a blog entry about how to do a small cat eye that is easy and sure to be noticed! I used my electric blue eyeliner in this one because i love the color of it and I wanted to change things up a bit :) 

PLEASE ignore my crazy faces! I am trying to concentrate on doing a good cat eye for my ladies!! ;)

So first things first! Chose your inner eye where you want the cat eye to start. I like mine all the way across my lash line. Some ladies like to leave some space. It's completely up to you!

Draw a thin line across your lash line. DO NOT extend it out at this point. 

Secondly, take your wand and begin going over the middle area of your line making it slightly thicker than the rest of the line. For a more dramatic cat eye, make this middle region very thick, i have chose a medium thickness because my line going across my lash line is pretty thick already and I did not want to add too much. 

Now your line should look something similar to this. You want to add a slight tail on the end. Not a long one though. We are making a baby cat eye. :)

Now using your wand, take the end of the tail and extend it ever so slightly to create the "long peice that sticks out" so to speak. 

And when you close your eye, it should look like this! And now you have done a baby cat eye! Yay!

Here is your completed cat eye! 

Now that you have got that down, to make it an everyday look, throw some pink eyeliner on the bottom with LIGHT mascara so that you can clearly see the blue, and wear your makeup with pride as you take on the world! 

Work Day Makeup

There are some people in this world we live in that you see and you just can't help but think, "oh my gosh, somebody doesn't love them enough to tell them their makeup is horrible!" One of those places this tends to occur at is at the workplace. There is makeup appropriate for work, and makeup that should be saved for your G-N-O.

My favorite kind of make up alwasy has a hint of flair, becuase lets be honest, you can't be boring and expect people to notice you for anything other than the boring person that never has anything interesting to say and her makeup looks the same everyday! If you feel this might be you, then I DARE YOU to try my methods one day and see what happens! :) Make up gives a girl a certain amount of confidence and umph that is importnat in the workplace for success as well as reputation.

Okay ladies, so as always my rule of thumb is to start with a bare face. It is always safer that way to make sure that your pores will not get completely clogged from the terrible thing that makes us feel like we rule the world, make up. :) 

First things first: cover up those blemishes. For whatever reason, this spot on my face is where I always get pimples, so I love the Nars coverup. I just apply it then use a beauty blender to spread it out to make sure that there are no clumps.

Next is your foundation IF you use it. I love foundation because it smooths out your skin and even the tone throughout your face. 

Then of course, powder comes next. Be sure you always apply your powder in a circular motion to ensure that it will be evenly distributed around your face. Also: please please please do not forget to carry your powder down into your neck region! Too often you see those women out about their days with makeup rings around their necks and it's never pretty. 

For my everyday "work makeup" eyes, I love the Too Faced Natural Eye pallet. I use the top three colors because they are the perfect combination of simplicity and depth; and I mean come on, Too Faced put them together! 

So step 1 of the eyes: put a nude shadow all over your upper and lower lid. It creates a solid skin tone that the other shadow colors can decorate. On the Too Faced pallet I used Heaven.

Step 2: use a darker nude on the upper eyelid only. Not on the area underneath the brow (excuse mine, I know they are bad right now. Thickening them up is NEVER a pretty process.) From the Too Faced pallet it's called Velvet Revolver and it's also one of my most favorite staple shadow colors. 

Step 3: create that crease! A crease is a great thing to have on the eye becuase it gives it depth and dimension it otherwise would lack. I like to use the Sephora Crease brush to create mine. From the Too Faced pallet it is a shadow called Sexpresso. 

This picture is just to show you that a crease is indeed a miracle worker, especially if you feel you have "flat eyes". It breaks up the single color shadows and makes your eyes look larger and when using the right color combination, it can make your eye color pop! Some people don't know this and it took a while before I got the hang of it, but with practice and time, one begins to understand eye color and shadow combinations:

blue eyes: brown/nude shadows

brown eyes: purple shadows

green eyes: both of the above when used correctly are beautiful!

*just a helpful hint since nobody ever told me that :)

Step 4: eyeliner baby! Because it is work, you don't want a harsh dark eye so liner on the top only is perfect because it adds more character to your eyes without overpowering them. Liquid eyeliner or an eye pencil in this case are perfect. However, sometimes I find using a dark eye shadow and applying with an eyeliner brush is always a lovely accent as well. 

Next comes battle of the brows! Everyone has a different preference for eyebrows. Some people like them thick, some thin. Some prefer straight lines and some prefer high arches. I like mine to be darker and arched more towards the back of the brow. It's different but it's simply what I like. :) In this picture I have filled in my left eyebrow with my Smashbox Brow On The Go pencil. 

Your eyebrows transform your look in every way, so branch out and try something new with them! The great thing though is that if you hate a different look, they will always grow back in, as I am experiencing right now!

To complete your eyes, you must have mascara darling! The way I put mascara on is different from everyone else, but that's okay. I have started doing my bottom lashes first. Why? Because when you do them you're looking up and I got tired of having a row of little black dots under my brows when I was finished, so I switched it up! 

Of course next comes the top lashes! 

I know they look dramatic when you look down, but they are simple and gorgeous when you look straight ahead! And sweetheart, that's professional. 

CHEEKS!! This is my favorite blush pallet from Nars. It has absolutely wonderful shades of reds and the perfect pink with a bronze blush and a highlighter. I simply love it. 

For my blush I used the middle row of blushes from the photo above to create a two tone look that is slightly darker on the bottom and lighter on the top.

** Reminder: if you ever feel like you have put on too much blush, you can always apply more powder over it to soften it until you are happy with the intensity of the color!

This is one of my absolute favorite Nars lipsticks called Roman Holiday. It is a perfect light rosy pink and perfect for the office place! 

Roman Holidy lipstick does not draw attention but it doesn't really go unnoticed either. It's the perfect shade for any meeting and a staple to always have in your purse!

Thank you all so much for reading and I hoped I might have given some tips to save your efforts when applying your makeup and hopefully provided a process that does not take an extended amount of time (everyone is different) because in the mornings, WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT??!! XOXO Larryn