Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation and then some....

I am absolutely in LOVE with the new Hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder foundation ($55) sold at Sephora.  It is so lightweight and gives an awesome matte finish to the face.  Being how oily I am, I loved how smooth and matte it was.  Not to mention that it is oil-free and water-resistant!  Who could ask for more!?  Top that with the Hourglass Aura Sheer Cheek Stain in Flush and I was ready to go!  It looked so natural and gave great coverage!  Even better, this foundation is packed with good-for-you ingredients for the skin.  Everyone needs to go to their local Sephora and try it out or at least get a sample to take home with you and wear it for the night.

If you don't have oily skin like me, try Hourglass's other options such as their Illusion Tinted Moisturizer OR the Veil Fluid Makeup Oil-Free.  This line is AH-mazing!

In other news!!  Kendra and I once AGAIN apologize for not being able to do more tutorials and reviews.  After next week, things will probably calm down a bit enough for us to get together and start cranking out more review and tutorials...who knows! maybe even start our YouTube channel!  Won't that be exciting!?  I know I'm excited!

But speaking of next week, I am so excited to announce that I will be going to Charleston and as a part of the Hair and Makeup Team, I will be helping out with the makeup for the 2012 Charleston Fashion Week!  I know it will be intense and lots of hard work, but I am pumped and ready for it!  Can we say Starbucks!?  Check it out if you can! Until then, see all you beautiful faces in the next couple of weeks!

My go-to Eye: Golden and Sexy

Hey everyone!!! Wow! What a long time it has been since my last post! I do apologize. Life has been throwing my some punches, but I'm back and ready to show you guys some great looks! 

Today I used my Urban Decay, Naked2 palette to create a sexy golden eye look. This look is something that I find myself doing a lot whenever I don't have enough time to think of or experiment with new looks. The natural colors that I use go with pretty much any outfit and can be worn as a day or night look. Plus, gold is one of those colors that looks good on every eye color. 

In this photo I have my NAKED2 palette which also came with the double ended brush and the mini lipgloss you see. Next, I have my Lush Lash Mascara, Eyeshadow Primer Potion in "Greed", and my 24/7 glide on eye pencil in "Zero"....all of which are Urban Decay. The Lush Lash Mascara is UH-mazing. It has vitamins in it to help your lashes grow and condition them as well! I live it mainly because if the great separation you get with the brush. CLUMP FREE! 

Lets get started, shall we?

1) I stared off by filling in my brows (tutorial coming soon) and applying Greed all over my eyelid as well as underneath. I applied the primer underneath, along my lower lash line because I will be applying shadow there as well. 

       2)Begin by applying the color Half Baked to the lower part of your lid, up until you hit your crease. Be sure to PAT the color on instead of sweeping. Patting helps to put more pigment on the lid and is also a gentler on the skin. The skin on your eye is the thinnest and most delicate! You want to be as gentle as you can to prevent wrinkles! 

3) Now its time to add some drama and depth to the eye. You can do this by taking your crease brush and applying Busted to the crease. For this you want to use a back and forth motion. Make sure to blend the darker color with the lighter gold, Half Baked. Drag Busted about 3/4 (or less depending on what you feel is right) of the way inward towards your inner corner of the eye. You don't want to do all the way over because that will make your eye look smaller and cut off. Leaving a little space will give the illusion that your eyes are nice and big. 

For more of a night time look or if you just want some more drama, apply the darker crease color to the lower lash line. Take it about 1/2 if the way over then fin in the other half with your lid color.

4)Next, I applied Bootycall to my brow bone. This is called your highlight color. What a highlight color does is gives you're brows a more define and cleaned up looking arch. Some days I just fill in my brows, apply a highlight color to my brow bone, throw on some mascara and go. 

5) Finish the look by applying some mascara and eyeliner. For this, I applied Zero along my waterline and my upper lash line. Lining your water line gives it more of that sexy, "come hither" look. 

Viola! Now you have a sexy, golden, everyday eye. Again, this is my favorite go-to look. It is so simple and sexy. I encourage you to give this a try. Remember to blend the colors all together! 

Hope you beauties have enjoyed this! Thank you again for all of your support and patience. 

i wanted to show you this pic not just cause of the adorable baby but because i wanted to show you what a highlight color looks like from far away. it cathces the light and makes that area look nice and smooth.  Its a great way to hide a few hairs you may have missed. 

xoxo

kendra

Sneak Peek Shoot

Hello beautiful!!  So Kendra and I have been seriously MIA and we do apologize.  We are both just trying to juggle our hectic schedules while still trying to post some reviews and tutorials, which will be coming soon!  But, until then here is a sweet and short post.

Today I headed to Columbia, SC with model, Emily Hammond, to shoot with Mark Green of Markverks.  Here is a little sneak peek!  I am overly excited to see the finished product!  I'll try to post some pics and list what I used on her.

Until next time (which will hopefully be soon!)

Teri

Quick and Long-Lasting Valentines Inspired Nails

Hey beauties! What a week! Teri and I had planned on meeting up and doing a couple of different more makeup related posts BUT, as some of you  know my entire family has come down with some type of bug and I didn't want Teri to catch it.


I have been feeling bad that I haven't had anytime to put any new posts up so I thought I would do a little review on some nail polish I got earlier this week. Mostly, I want to rave about this base coat from L'OREAL called One Stop Base. This is probably the BEST base coat ever! I found out about it through my favorite blogger, Kandee Johnson. Since she loved it so much I thought I would give it try....


IT'S AMAZING! I picked it up this past monday and it has yet to chip! I have never been much of a nail polish person because usually they get messed up within the first day. NOT anymore! I can now go about my day without having to worrying about my nail polish chipping off! Finally! 


The light pink color I used is Essie's A Crewed Interest. I love this color but did not love the 3 coats I had to put on. Oh well! That won't stop me from using it ever again.


To add some fun (and not to mention SUPER easy) Valentines Day Flair I added a heart on my ring finger. I used a toothpick to draw on the heart and voila! I now have no chip nails that will last me well through Valentines Day. =) 

Super Bowl Sunday

Hello all my funny faces out there!  So as everyone knows the Super Bowl is this coming Sunday with the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.  Get excited!!! Which team are you rooting for?!  Or are you just in it to see all the hilarious commercials?  Well, either way, just to get in the spirit, I decided to do a step-by-step tutorial using both teams' colors, which are red, white, and blue. You guys can do different variations of what I did.  Just have fun with it!  So follow along!

Here are the 3 brushes I used to create this look.  (left to right)  Small eyeshadow brush, Medium shader brush, and my favorite brush of all time the crease/blending brush.  The crease brush is going to be the KEY ingredient in blending the 3 different colors together.

So, to start off, I used Urban Decay's Sin Primer Potion to prime the entire eyelid up to the brow bone.  You can really use any eye shadow primer that you desire, any will work perfectly fine.  Then, with my finger, using Bare Escentuals Buxom Stay-There Eyeshadow in Sheepdog, I smudged this pearly white cream shadow in the inner corner of my eye.  This will help the white shadow that I layer on top of it show up more.

I chose to use a matte red and white eyeshadow from La Femme Cosmetics, but if you are in the mood to add a little more sparkle to this look, you are always welcome to use a shimmery or frosty red and white eyeshadow.  Moving right along...using the small eyeshadow brush, you are just going to layer and pat on the white eyeshadow on top of the Buxom Sheepdog cream shadow.  Then, using the same small eyeshadow brush, pat on the red eyeshadow in the center of your lid.  With the crease brush, using back and forth strokes, blend the two colors together.


Using Kat Von D's True Romance Pigments in Johnette, take the medium shader brush and place the color in the outer corner of your eye, slowly bringing it into the crease.  Then, with the crease brush, blend the dark blue pigment into the crease.  Keep doing this until it blends and softens any harsh lines of color.

I used MAC's Superslick Liquid Eye Liner in On the Hunt to line the upper lash line, but again, I am giving you permission to use anything your heart desires, whether it be a liquid, pencil, gel, or cream...use whatever feels most comfortable.  Then, using Sephora Collection's Retractable Waterproof Eyeliner in Teal, I lined and smudged it out on my bottom lash line.  I also used Urban Decay's 24/7 Waterproof Eyeliner in Zero (sorry, no picture!!! :(...but I think Kendra used it in her Smoky Eye tutorial, so check it out below!) to line my waterline.  

FINALLY, last but not least!!!  I used one of my most favorite mascaras, Yves St. Laurent's Faux Cils Mascara in High Intensity Black to coat my lashes and complete the look!  Add some false lashes if you desire and SHAZAM! Pass the pizza because you are all glamified for Super Bowl!

Voila!  We would love to see what your makeup will look like this Super Bowl Sunday, so please post some photos for us to see!  I hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Until next time!!!

Teri

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Hey all you funny faces out there!  This is Teri!  Seeing as how awards season is here I thought I'd do a post on the Screen Actors Guild Awards that was held yesterday, Sunday, January 30, at the Shrine Auditorium.  Either Kendra or I will do posts on the upcoming Grammy's and Oscars as well!
The makeup from this year's SAG awards was pretty soft, subtle, and feminine.  Nothing too crazy...maybe a light smoky eye or clean eye here and there.  I really loved Dianna Agron, Kaley Cuoco, Jayma Mays, and Ashlee Simpson's makeup.

Kaley Cuoco

Dianna Agron:  

But overall my award for best dressed, best hair, and best makeup goes to....... *drumroll*

EMMA STONE!!!

Oh my goodness look at how awesome she looks!  A very simple, clean, and fresh face.  Kendra and I will try to get some tutorials on how to do these simple, yet stunning looks.  I'm excited to see what type of looks we will see at the Grammy's in the next couple weeks!  

Did you guys have the same favorite looks as me?  Let me know who you thought had the best makeup and hair!  Also, let us know what looks you would like to see in a tutorial!

SOURCE:  Glamour, Just Jared

Click! My first photo shoot!

Salut beauté! That is how you say "hello beautiful!" in french. Or at least that's what Google told me to say. My french has gotten a bit rusty since high school. Why am I speaking in french you ask? Because I did my very first "photo shoot" (if that's what you want to call it) today and I used one of my favorite foundations from Nars.

 Nars is a french company that is very well known for their amazing blushes (can we say Orgasm?), eye shadows...and oh yea, THEIR AWESOME FOUNDATION! Today I used their Sheer Matte liquid foundation in the color Macao. If you are in the market for a light weight, full coverage, and not to mention non-comedogenic (meaning its not going to break you out) foundation I would suggest giving this one a try. They have one for more of a matte finish and another for more of a dewy finish called, sheer glow. They have a pretty large shade range so no matter what color you are  I'm sure you can find one that fits you. You can find this awesome foundation at Sephora!

Moving on to the blush...as you can see the model has a very light blush on. Well guess what? I used this very bright cream blush from Urban Decay. This particular color, you can find on Urban Decay's website. Right here. This color looks intense but goes on very very soft. BEWARE!!! A little goes a long way! I always recommend a shade like this on darker skin tones. Lighter skin tones can pull this off too but I especially like it on a darker skin tone. Another one of my favs is Exhibit A by Nars. It is very similar in color but instead of a cream or "cheek stain" it is a powder. 

You Make Me Blush

 Hey guys! Its Kendra. I just wanted to do a quick review on some pretty cool blush before I called it a night. It's only 9:51 but in mommy time it is 2 a.m.! 


Ok, back to the blush! I recently received this Tarina Tarantino Dollskin Cheek Palette as a birthday gift from one of my dearest friends. I was so excited because I have been really into blush lately! I am a blushing freak! 


This particular palette is pretty new in Sephora right now. I don't think it has been out for even a month yet, so yay for newness!!! Like I said, you can get this at Sephora and I believe the price is $45. Not bad for a nice, sleek looking palette. when you do the math you're basically getting each blush for $11.25!!! 

 I did some swatches on my arm and really liked the quality. The colors are something that will definitely get me through the spring/summer season. They seem intense on the swatches but blended out they are very soft and great for everyday wear. 

 Here are some swatches on a darker skin tone a.k.a my husband. I was very shocked that he allowed me to borrow his beautiful chocolaty skin for this. Haha! I thought for sure I would have some persuading to do but he was a real team player about it. So another YAY! for the hubs helping out. Getting back to the subject, I think the 3 darker colors are fine for someone this skin tone. The lighter one seems just a tad on the "chalky" side but then again, blended out...it may be just fine. 


RECAP: This was a GREAT gift and will last me probably forever. It is a good investment for someone who is looking to add some more blush to their makeup collection. Or if you're the type who wears the same ol' blush everyday, I say take a deep breath and step outside of your comfort zone. you won't regret it.  


Ok beauties, I think its time to go climb in bed and watch some pointless reality TV right? 


thanks again for a great day. We had just under 100 views in our very first day. keep them coming! 


xoxo,
Kendra

smokey eye how to

Hey everyone! Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to do those ever so popular, smokey eyes. I will be doing a video tutorial on this as soon as I can to further explain some steps and maybe try out some different colors. Today I chose to do a matte(meaning no shimmer) brown smokey eye with a soft shimmery highlight. You can do any color you like, purple, black, green, gold...the choice is yours! So lets get started!

Here are the 3 brushes you will need to create this look. (left to right) Small all over eyeshadow brush, angled (some people say slanted) eyeliner or a brow brush(i have an eye liner brush and use it for filling in brows and cream/gel liners) , and last but certainly not least a crease brush. The crease brush is key to making a smokey eye...smokey! it is going to blend the shadows together for that soft smoked out look everyone goes crazy for.

 swatches of the two shadows i will be using on my eyes. I wanted to show you what they looked like so if you can't use the exact ones I did , you could find some colors similar. (please ignore my daughter's fro in the background. haha!) 

I chose to use coffee bean (right) from the Too Faced Matte eye shadow palette as my main smokey eye color. I also used that and chinchilla (right) together to fill in my brows. I suggest these colors to fill in your brows if they are darker like mine are. 

                                         

My favorite highlight! Laura Mercier's baked eye shadow in Ballet Pink. 

Urban Decay's 24/7 glide on eye pencil in Zero. (any good eyeliner will work, chose your favorite) I like Urban Decay's because they do not give me those infamous raccoon eyes! 

Make Up For Ever's Smokey Lash mascara in brown. This stuff is great! Easily one of my top 3 best mascaras ever! You could totally use a black for more drama. Since I'm not going anywhere today i chose to use a brown. 

DIY Lipstick Palette

Hey everybody! So this is our first blog post!  I did a little DIY project since I have a ton of lipsticks in my kit.  The last time I went to LA, I made a stop at my favorite beauty store, NAIMIE'S, in North Hollywood and bought oodles and oodles of stuff to restock my kit.  One of the things I bought was this empty Japonesque palette.  I recently watched a video blog tutorial on how to make your own lipstick palette from Makeup Geek and I figured why not try it out!?  So here was my attempt!  Hope you enjoy!

MELT, MELT, MELT...

Not so bad for my first attempt!  I will warn you that it did take me a while so be VERY PATIENT!  I am very excited to try this palette out this weekend!


Another side note...I realized that I need to invest in more PINK lipsticks!


Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!