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Coastal Scents (and the best sister in the world)

19 Jun

For my 23rd birthday my sister sent me the loveliest of gifts… Unfortunately, thanks to the most inefficient postal service in the world; the italian one, I received it just in time for the celebration of 23 years and 3 months of age. When my sister asked if I had liked her present realizing I didn’t thank her for it, I let her know nothing had arrived. She then felt it was better to tell me she had sent a total of 352 eye shadow colours by Coastal Scents (aka happiness in palettes!!!!!!!!!!!! hahah). I was anxious to finally open her gift, but days passed without any deliveries. I ran downstairs each time I had to sign for a package hoping it was my new, beautiful, lovely, darling makeup hahaha. One month passed… I called, I argued, I received importing papers, I signed importing papers, I sent importing papers, I watched my delivery move from italian city to italian city, customs here, more papers there, three delivery attempts during a holiday, and after finally being allowed to pick it up myself after three months…tan tan tan! At last the joy of coming home and opening my perfectly wrapped and intact Coastal Scents make up…

A little bit about Coastal Scents in case you haven’t heard of it yet: Coastal Scents sells make up exclusively online on their website http://www.coastalscents.com. They deliver everywhere, and are known for having very pigmented and amazing colours on their makeup palettes which have very low prices specially when compared to other brands. Another quality is the quantity of shades you buy with each palette. They have eye shadows, blush, brushes, foundations, concealers, powders and theses have all very positive feedback. The packaging is great and I rarely heard of a kit arriving with a broken shade or something out of place due to moving around during delivery. And if you think it’s too good to be true I’ll show you the perfect state and beautiful colours on the kit my sister sent me and has traveled half the world before getting to my front door hahaha:

This is the Combo 5 eye shadow kit which includes the Ultra Shimmer, Original, Warm and Metal Mania eye shadow palettes all and each including 88 shades:

The Ultra Shimmer Palette:

The Original Palette:

The Warm Palette:

The Metal Mania Palette:

Thanks Mavi for this beautiful gift :) !

Do you like and use makeup by Coastal Scents too?

I hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll write to you again soon!

Maria

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Night Makeup Looks

2 Jun

Well, tragedy has struck me – my camera is gone. I’m very sad, but most of all its a Thursday and I will not leave you without a good idea for makeup for the weekend.

I looked for my favorite black eye veeeeeery easy to do makeup so you guys don’t feel abandoned and frustrated during your weekend.

Lisa Elridge (what can I say… we love her) has some looks which I find easy to do and which you can start trying. Also, remember the technique of the 4 eyeshadows? Well, you can just use that same technique with darker colors – it works just fine.

For anyone: Quick Smokey Eyes:

 

For people with almond shaped eyes: Cheryl Cole Makeup (I don’t recommend doing this if you have round big eyes – or skip the step where you apply the makeup underneath the eyes)

 

And if you feel like working the lips rather than the eyes: Orange/Red Party Lipstick

 

Again, I know I have failed you dear readers, but all will be well. The important thing is to again realize what works with your type of beauty. If you’re confused, don’t be: just look back at our eye type guide and I will post a color guide today or tomorrow. That should make up for my shortcomings

Tutorial – Eye Shadow Basic Principle

24 May

I’ve finally done it. To view it in HD click on the full screen button!

Good news: it’s pretty useful. Bad news: I’m still camera-awkward. Enjoy =]

Find your way inside Sephora – Part 1

23 May

I’ll be honest here. Once upon a time, when Sephora was only a quick stop in a long line of store-visiting during trips to Disney World it used to drive me crazy. I would go in, stare, say “I have no idea what to do with any of this” and leave. However, after my freshman 15 I had to focus on maintaining the rest of me and so I found my way around that place – and it’s my new FAO Schwartz. In the hopes you won’t feel lost in a maze of people, perfumes and eyeshadows I have devised a safe and comfortable way to get around to the good stuff without losing your mind.

I know we’re all used to one brand because it makes things soooo much easier when you just walk up to any counter and get one of each “thingy”. But there are so many different brands and so many different products, it’s worth knowing more or less what they have that’s good.

  • Bobbi Brown – must have: the concealer kit. We talked about it before, so between that and the skin products (foundations and whatnot), Bobbi Brown has some amazing deals. I also enjoy the eyeshadows, though I try not to buy shadows by themselves, its usually too much and not used too often – not gonna lie, I prefer palettes. But I digress. Also, if you’re into gel liners try out the Longwear Gel Liner ($21.00) – don’t forget the liner brushes
  • Make Up For Ever - I love so many things about this brand, its gonna sound like I’m selling it (hey, Make Up For Ever people, if you’re reading this by any chance, I’m totally available for the job – seriously, count me in). First, skin products; the whole HD line I talked about (concealer, foundation, finishing powder) and my new discovery: the HD highlighter. Now that I think about it, I guess I am kind of photoshopped after all…
That’s not all!! I’m gonna show you some other favorites of mine. The eye pencil is really good (try the dark silver liner instead of normal black and see how it gives a lighter look).
The pigments are also really beautiful. If you have hazel or brown eyes try some of the golden, brown or pink colors. They are extremely flattering, and pigments don’t need too much effect since they already have a way of capturing the light that does the trick of a good look
(so my photographic skills fail me sometimes…)
Fake eyelashes. Yes, I go there sometimes, I’m damn proud of it. Because my eyes are round, the 156 Genevieve gives them extra shading in the outer corner. The quality of these lashes is amazing, it comes with a good glue and you can use it up to 5 times (if you don’t put too much makeup on it). Oh and if anyone tries out the feathered and crazy ones, send me a picture I’m dying to see it but I don’t have the guts myself =]
  • Urban Decay – Eye shadows are beautiful…. I recently bought the Naked Palette (lucky day, they never have it), amazing colors and quality. Too bad they only had a teaser photo
The good news: in today’s world you can just buy it yourself in approximately 2 minutes here
The must-haves are the eye potions and the setting sprays (first and last steps of makeup)
  • Laura Mercier - Shadows. Bronzer. Concealer. Primer. Tinted moisturizer (for people who can…)
  • Smashbox - like I said in the skin tutorial the O-Glow blush is a great product. I also noticed they have a new HD collection for beginners, it comes with instructions and everything – practical right?
(The O Intuitive Color line is wort testing! I’m a huge fan)
 
  •  Temptu - I am not the biggest advocate for spray makeup, its no secret. However, one of these days I was speaking to a girl who told me she had acne and this product was amazing at covering it up. I was curious about the summer products they have as well! If anyone knows about it let me know!
Wanna know the second part for great tips? Stay tuned…

Eyes – how to work what you have

18 May

First, I’d like to thank everyone for not bullying me after the video. Now that my face is on youtube, I’ve pretty much lost my shyness, expect more videos soon.

I’m not gonna lie, I was kind of worried getting to this part. Eyeshadows are the most extensive subject, I’m gonna have to kind of come and go. True to form, we’re starting with the basics, then we’ll move on to more sophisticated stuff. But I have the feeling there will always be something extra to learn

I won’t be able to make another video tutorial until the weekend, but before then I hope we can cover the brushes for the eyelid.

For now let me say this: with eyeshadows you need to know very few things to pretty much go off on your own and create (what? you? yes, indeed!) anything you want. Techniques are only a matter of how the shape of your eyes can be used to your advantage. As for skin tone, colors are there for a reason. Anything (a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g) you want to pop up or conceal can be done with eyeshadows. Eyes are obviously the soul of any makeup, but once you understand what you want out of your makeup, you won’t need to worry.

Let’s first find out where you fit. (WARNING: yes, I know I keep saying we’re not celebrities or Victoria Secret’s angels, but for illustrative purposes I’m gonna use a few celebrity examples – why? Try to search “almond eyes” on google and tell me what you see…)

Eye shapes 

  • Almond/Uplifted – some eyes have a natural lift on the corner. I envy them a little (a lot) – you are free to work with liners under the eye and concentrate on the corners of the eyes. Why I envy them: any kind of makeup looks flattering. Stupid perfect eyes.

Olivia Wilde

  • Downturned/Round – yours truly. My outer corner of the eye slides a bit down, makes me have Bambi eyes. To those with downturned eyes, you concentrate the color and shading on the outer corner and use the kitten eye makeup to lift it the angle of your lower eye lid (whaat? I’ll get there eventually). A lot of makeup under the eyes tends to be unflattering and causes the eyes to look droopy – unless you’re Anne Hathaway:

  • Asian – straight uplifted small eyes. You should probably know by now if you have that kind of eye shape. I kid, it’s one of the most beautiful eye shapes – you can shade underneath and makeup for this type of eye is eyeliner and you’re ready. Take for example, Nikita star Maggie Q:

Eye Position  - it has more to do with your eyelids. Open your eyes, stare at the mirror and see how much of your eyelids can be seen when you’re looking straight. Want a better test? Put a strong color of eyeshadow on and look straight – can you see a lot of the color?
  • Average/Medium lids – people with naturally defined eyelids meaning you can see more of the eyeshadow. Lucky you, you won’t have to work so hard with eyeshadows to get any effect. You’re the creature that wakes up, puts on one eyeshadow and walks around happily. Your job is easy. Warning: as you grow older eyelids tend to show up more, so you really have to take care of your eyelids. If you don’t you’ll see the age lines whenever you put on eyeshadow. But I guess lifting is always an option, so let’s not freak out

  • Thin lids – between average and the monolid. When it comes to putting on eyeshadow you want to create depth. That’s the case for multiple layers of eyeshadows, you can get some amazing effects and maybe date Justin Bieber

  • Monolids – eyelids without a fold. This is where putting layers of eyeshadow really makes a difference. There’s so much you can do with it, but the rule of thumb is to let the lightest eyeshadow closer to the inside of the eye and go layering until the darkest layer is just on the outer corner of the eye. The great example is Lucy Liu

  • Hooded lids – happens to many women after a certain age. This is when your eyelids droop over the crease, so you don’t see that much makeup and its hard to get any sort of effect without having it covered up. The good news is that you can create depth by applying a darker color above the hooded lid and use a lighter tone underneath your brows to really highlight your eyes. It’s all about working it like Taylor Swift

  • Deep-set eyes – eyes that have natural depth, they are set farther back in the ocular bone. This causes the eyes to have more natural shadowing and sometimes they look larger and more round, so when you apply darker shadows it looks heavy. But worry not – you can still apply darker eyeshadows closer to the lash line, and lighter colors to your lids. Kim K worKs it (sorry I couldn’t resist the stupid joke)

  • Large eyes – large lid space, large eyes, large space for colors and effects. The more the merrier. Just remember to stop before you get to your brows (no clown looks, s’il vous plait). Ever wonder why Mila Kunis always has the most amazing makeup effects? Psh.

  • Close-set eyes – when the space between the eyes is smaller than the width of one eye – easy enough to solve. The best technique is to apply darker eyeshadow to the outside of the eye, it gives an impression that the eyes are wider and farther apart. A good example? Soo-ké (Anna Paquin)

So, how do you figure out what is your case? If you can’t tell, give it some thought… do you look better with darker eyeshadow on the outer eye? How much of the eyeshadow do you see? It’s all a matter of understanding your features, then we can get to work – soon.
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