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#MakeupMonday – Top Lipglosses

Tarte Double Ended Lipgloss in Rhett and Scarlett

Tarte Double Ended Lipgloss in Rhett and Scarlett


Some women gravitate to eye makeup, some women to lip makeup. Without a doubt, I am a lip woman, specifically I am a lipgloss gal. No matter how many I own, I always buy more HOWEVER some do stand above the rest. Here then are my picks for Best Lipglosses;

5) Cargo Cosmetics – Lipgloss
This would be higher on the list save for the fact that Cargo changed the configuration and color selection of this item. They used to be lipgloss duos and they were the BEST ever. Now I see they are quads and they didn’t keep any of the same color names. I’m still going to recommend it, however, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the actual formulation of Cargo’s lipgloss was always fantastic; smooth and creamy and full coverage without being sticky or gloopy. Secondly, the amount of product was quite generous. Dunno if it’s still as generous now that it’s a quad, however, the tin is larger and deeper than most tubes AND you can scoop every last bit out. Not sure what the new colors are like but when you’re in Sephora, Cargo is always worth checking out. Continue reading →

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#MakeupMonday – A Change of Season…

Nars' Orgasm Illuminator

Nars' Orgasm Illuminator


With Spring being well underway, you may be noticing a change in the cosmetics landscape. Actually, cosmetics companies have already started introducing their Summer collections, so now is the time of year to rethink and recharge your beauty routine. By recharge & rethink, I do not mean run out and buy a zillion more new products and totally change how you do your makeup (unless you want to :) ). Instead, it’s about changing applications and textures, and going for a more easy approach. I call this time of year the “Lighten Up, Brighten Up” time of year.

1) Foundation – If you’re a foundation wearer, changing formulation can be the simplest way to lighten up your routine. Try going with a tinted moisturizer instead of a full bodied foundation. With the changes in makeup technology over the last few years, you can get a surprising amount of coverage in a lighter-weight formulation. Ones to try; Josie Maran (light coverage) and Korres (a bit more coverage)

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The Makeup Show – Assorted Highlights from Day One

Speakers/Education:
- Joanna Schlip: Joanna Schlip has the type of career most people who enter this industry hope to have, yet so few new artists seem to know about her. I make it a point to see Joanna speak whenever she does if nothing else but for inspiration at this point. She is PURE walk, no talk and her resume and portfolio speak for themselves. This was a particularly great session with Joanna because she was actually doing a live demo. What a rare treat to see a master artist at work!

- Working in L.A.: The “Working In” series is a staple of the Powder Group’s education series. Personally, having worked my whole career in Los Angeles, I think L.A. is a tricky market and I was interested to hear what the panelists – Koren Zander & Bryin Smoot – both freelance artists along with Lori Taylor, in-house artist for Smashbox Cosmetics and Sarah Lucero, lead artist for Stila Cosmetics) and facilitated by makeup artist James Vincent – would have to say about it. I would have changed the format for this workshop just a bit. The panelists were obviously highly knowledgable, however there was no directed line of conversation. The floor was, instead, immediately opened for questions and as such the questions directed the flow of the seminar. Most of the questions were quite basic – which is fine because people are there to learn – but for artists like my friend who I was with who has already gotten herself firmly implanted on agency assist lists and is working jobs via agents as well as her own Key jobs and is definitely a more intermediate level artist – there wasn’t a whole lot of new information. Not to mention more established artists like myself (but really, I was there more in Blogger capacity). I think there is just an underlying assumption that artists at these shows are complete newbies and that’s not the case so I’d still like to see the shows develop more content for intermediate and advanced – working – artists.

Exhibitors/Shopping:
The floor was jam packed with tempting goodies. I managed to just take a walk-thru and not spend every dime I had right off the bat but here are a few of the folks I plan to go back to today;

- Korres: Y’all know how much I love Korres so ’nuff said there, but they had their fabulous Provitamin Mascara there at a show price as well as some new items I’ve not tried yet. Trade shows are a great time to try new products at great prices, and Korres is one of the few naturally derived lines that works well for both personal and professional use. If you aren’t hip to Korres already, be sure to check them out!

- Ingot: I couldn’t get to a person to get actual assistance so I’ll have to go back today but in addition to their vast array of products they have something called a “Freedom Palette” that I need to go investigate.

- Yaby: Disclaimer – Liz Yu, founder of Yaby, is a friend. However, her line is great so I don’t have to feel guilty about being completely biased. I am giving myself a late pass for just now discovering the fabulous Pearl Paint eyeshadows but I’ll be rectifying that by buying the palette today.

and the Big Winner:

-I Nuovi: I teach periodically at the MKC Academy and founder Margaret Kimura is the new Creative Director for I-Nuovi cosmetics, so I wanted to check the line out. I haven’t been this impressed with a line in a long, long time. Beautiful colors, beautiful textures, beautiful pigmentations (all the colors showed true and beautiful on my dark skintone), an impressively comprehensive array of products… I’ll be real I felt about I-Nuovi the way I thought I was going to feel about Inglot. I was completely blown away by this new line and I think I Nuovi has definite Cult Status potential.

Sadly Not At The Show – Parian Spirit. We miss you!

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Holiday Makeup Shopping

It’s the Holidays! The holidays means so many different things; fabulous food, time with family, tradition, spectacle… and for the makeup fanatic = holiday makeup sets. Every year I go crazy buying 5 times more makeup than I normally would because of these delectably seductive little sets. Whether you keep them yourself, or give them as gifts they’re just the perfect little beauty Pick Me Up… here’s the best of the bunch for 2009 (IMHO ;) )
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Best Blushes for Darker Toned Beauties

Iman Cosmetics Blushes in Peace and Allure

Iman Cosmetics Blushes in Peace and Allure

I did a job recently where I had to do makeup on an African American female model who was about Phylicia Rashād’s (mom Huxtable from ‘The Cosby Show’) complexion. Both Phylicia and this model are a rich brown color, but still more fair than myself. To my dismay, I did NOT have a blush that really, really worked on her. Well, I had one, but it’s shimmery and I needed matte/satin products for this shoot (pharmaceutical ad). When searching for colors for darker skin tones either for yourself or for your kit, the issue isn’t needing a darker color necessarily (although that’s obviously sometimes the case), the issue is needing higher pigmentation. You’re dealing with skin that already has it’s own measure of pigmentation so in order for color to show it needs to have a measure of potency. This led me to search for blushes for darker complexions, and let me tell you – it was a search. I thought I’d find some info online since there are always so many “Best Of” lists – nope. Searched some magazines – nope. I had to pull out the Do It Yourself kit and actually get in the car and hit the pavement to find the best blushes for darker toned beauties. Here’s what I found; Continue reading →

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