Going Bold

For work, I tend to stick to neutrals because when I get people in my chair, and it’s a blue eye shadow day, it scares my clients.

I get the quizzical eyebrow, and then…

“You’re not gonna make me look like…you, are you?”

It’s easy to get offended by this, but I get it. Most people want to blend in most of the time. I get that for day to day work looks, neutrals are the safest. I wish that weren’t the case, but it’s what it is. When I get people in my chair, it’s like they have this unwritten rule book about colors and looks that I’ve not been privy to. A snippet of these rules:

1. Colors are only for going out.

2. Oh, honey, that blue shadow looks great on you, but I could never do such a thing.

3. Red lipstick makes me look like a streetwalker!

4. Smoky eyes are supposed to be black and silver, right? That’s what I’ve always seen.

5. I have dark skin, I can’t wear bright colors.

Sigh. None of these are true. I know that the way makeup is marketed will lead you to believe those things, but it really isn’t true. So, counterpoints:

1. Color is for whatever time of day you want to wear it. So pink eyeshadow is fine for daytime if you want it. Just put it on the lid only and blend with a neutral shade if you work in a conservative office.

2. You may not like the cerulean blue shadow I have on my eyes today, but I bet if you let me put some of this periwinkle on you’ll see your blue eyes pop! (purple is lovely with green, and greens are beautiful with brown.)

3. If you feel a bit…overdone, as it were, you just have on the wrong shade of red. Cherry red doesn’t go with all skin tones, y’all. But one could do a burgundy, or one with more blue (these look like they cast more pink). There are so many shades of red in the world, and if you have time to play around I bet you’ll find one that makes you feel and look fabulous.

4. Smoking an eye is a technique, so you can use any colors you want. Love green? Do it in three shades of green! Love colors in general? Use multiple colors. If you don’t know what works together, download a color wheel and pick three colors that sit next to each other. The more you play around, the more colors you’ll morph together (try pink, yellow, and orange!)

5. Nothing makes me sadder than to get folks in my store and decide that the world of color is not for them because they’re “too dark.” As black and brown folks, we can wear any color we want. We just have to look at the shade’s tones, not the shade itself. So, again, maybe cerulean isn’t your favorite look for yourself, but that deeper sapphire is amazing. Don’t throw the whole rainbow out because one beam doesn’t shine bright enough.

Honestly, I think the biggest rule of makeup is that there are no rules. Guidelines, sure (I think everyone should use primer, for example, and it isn’t just for eyes), but there is no set of set in stone rules for it. And there shouldn’t be. You have to be willing to be bold, really. Not too much more to it than that. Even though my customers are petrified of my bright colors for themselves, they LOVE it on me, and that’s because I don’t carry myself timidly when I have it on. I’ll do loud greens and yellows and pin up my ‘fro. I know I’m gonna get eyes on me, so I hold my head high and strut. That’s really what sells a look–not just the technique or color.

In honor of going bold this week (and every week), here’s a look I did with my Urban Decay Electric Palette:

With this look, you have options! You can go with a nude lip, as I did in the first two pics (gloss is Kitten by Stila), or you can go bright with a pink. I know, typically bold eyes go with nude lips. Here’s why this works: I’m in the same color family. So you can do a pink or even a purple, but no red here. This pink is called Jilted, and it’s by Urban Decay.

Would y’all like a tutorial on the eye look? Let me know and I’ll post it next week!

Go bold and be brave. 🙂

 

 

A Tale of Three Lipsticks

I normally stick to neutral lip gloss for my day to day looks, because at work most customers’ emphasis is on eye shadows.

So I’ll play up my eyes, and downplay the lips.

I’ve grown tired of that look for day to day, but it works for work. Since I had the last four days off, though, I went to put on some crayon colored lipstick before I went out…and couldn’t find any.

What? How does this happen?!

I had browns, my go to red, but nothing with some pizzazz. I have the BH Cosmetics 66 Lip Gloss palette and it’s awesome, but I wanted brighter. Like liquid Skittles.

So of course that means…shopping! 😀 I’ll look for just about any excuse, really.

So I shopped and shopped, hit up Macy’s and Ulta, came home, and spread out my spoils.

*sigh* Why do I do this?!

What you see here are three very similar colors. Granted, all three have very different finishes, but I probably could have gotten away with one and used some gloss or powder to come up with the other two looks.

But I’m not taking them back. Because, I really need all three, you see. 🙂

So, first up: the color in the shiny gold tube. I found this when I went to get some shampoo and came out with this lipstick as an addition. This is called Violet Volt by Milani. Creamy, shiny, and it has shimmer in it. If you are not a fan of the frosted, it is not for you. Here it is on me:

Next color in the neon colored tube is called Brazen Berry from Maybelline. I actually found this two minutes after I got home while digging for my phone in my purse. It’s a replacement tube–I lost the first one I bought. Had I found this beforehand I probably wouldn’t be in this dilemma. Now this one is glossy, but has no shimmer:

Often when I wear Hot Plum, it’s mistaken for this third color, clad in the iconic black packaging: Heroin by MAC. Here’s the thing. I don’t normally do matte lipsticks because they make my lips drier than they normally are. But I put this on and OMG. I didn’t even do a gloss after it…which is odd for me. But it works:

So, from a makeup artist to you,my wonderful readers if you have a lipstick at home that you love, but you see a similar one…okay, go buy it if you want. 🙂 But if you want to save a dollar, here’s how you spruce the one you have up easily.

If you want it frosted (glitter), add a sparkly gloss to it. You can do it with or without color, as the look you’re going for dictates. If you want it matte, tap (sparingly!) a little bit of translucent powder over the top of your lips. This will give you matte without having to search for matte colors.

Sidebar: if there was a way to do a matte gloss like they do a matte topcoat for nails, companies would make a killing. Just sayin’.

And of course, if it’s matte and you want it shiny, do a glitter free gloss over the top. Simple!

Or, you could do what I end up doing…buying the same color in three different finishes accidentally (maybe on purpose? *shifty eyes*)…and keeping them. Whichever works. No judgment here! 🙂

Updates! And a Public Service Announcement

Hello my lovelies!

So, I didn’t intend on taking a break from writing while taking a break from the day job, but perhaps I needed to unplug just a little bit. I wanted to give y’all a quick update on the birthday things while I wait for my sunscreen to sink in.

PSA: please make sure if you’re using a chemical sunscreen (ahem, that stuff on the back of the bottle you can’t pronounce too well), that you give yourself 15-30 minutes for it to sink in so that it can do its thing. If it’s a mineral sunscreen (titanium dioxide or zinc oxide are the most common) as soon as it’s dry you can head out. Reapply every two hours if you’re sunbathing, swimming, etc. I don’t want you sunburned now that we actually have some sun!

Now that’s out the way: my birthday week’s been awesome! The day of was rained out but I was armed with wine and Netflix, Thursday I slept all day long (GLORIOUS!), and Friday I had dinner with a friend.

No, not THE dinner. It’s coming, though!

Today is gonna be spent buying new makeup brushes and crafting supplies. And I’ll be back in full swing Monday–I got some new subscription boxes and goodies I can’t wait to share with y’all.

And here: have a pic of me with day off makeup on (it’s rare, but it does happen!)

It’s neutral because I had on blue and purple (and I was going lipstick shopping.)

Enjoy the rest of y’alls weekend, and I will see you Monday! 🙂

“Why Do You Put That Stuff On Your Face?” or, My History With Makeup

One day, when I was in high school, I was in the bathroom, getting ready to head to the movies with my friends. My little brother watched me put on my makeup, carefully doing my eye shadow and mascara (I hadn’t yet gotten into liner or brows.)

He looked at me and said: “Why do you put that stuff on your face? It makes you look fake.”

My response was to push him out of the bathroom and close the door.

Honestly, at the time I didn’t have much of a response outside of “I’m supposed to, right?”

My relationship with all things cosmetic started at 16, formally. Even when many young girls start to experiment with makeup, digging into their mother’s stash, I was hooked on Lip Smackers. Specifically, the Dr. Pepper kind because it left a slight red on my lips that I liked. Other than that, I couldn’t be bothered.

My mother would let me have all of the neutral colored lip gloss I wanted. I stuck with browns, mostly. I couldn’t do foundation or anything till I was older, so I was a tomboy with great manicures and lip gloss. Interesting combo, right?

When I was able to do full faced looks, I did foundation and eye shadow. Blue, mostly, because it’s my favorite color. Now, most girls my age were doing a single line of white on their lids, lining their lips with black eye pencil, and wearing clear gloss. I thought that was odd, so I did my lid with blue (lid only, no highlight under the brow) with no eye liner. I did like mascara, though. And I stuck with brown lip glosses.

I can’t say, looking back on it, I had the most savvy makeup sense. But I was supposed to wear it, right? I’m a girl!

By the time I left for college, I was still struggling to keep my skin clear, so I would do full makeup only a few times a week, sticking with a little powder and gloss the majority of the time. I kept it simple, figuring less was more.

And then? I started working, and makeup became my livelihood. And my makeup routine? Took a left!

So, I went from next to nothing to full face and loud eye shadow colors. I discovered Urban Decay and bought as much product as my small paycheck would allow me. Lips still neutral, rarely did a lip liner unless I had a bright color on (never.)

And now? I am a manager, and I do makeup consultations all the time. I tell my clients that I am the laziest makeup artist I know, because my face routine is so low key. These days, foundation, powder (if I remember), liquid liner, brows, and mascara. Lip balm if I have it on me, bright lipstick if I find it in my bag. I do the extravagant eyes when I am headed to see my bosses or training.

With all this history, I still find it hard to answer why I put this stuff on my face.

The honest answer? I love the idea of what makeup can do. It can build someone’s confidence, change an outlook, or give another means of self expression. I tell people that anyone can learn how to do makeup; while many of my coworkers have been formally trained, I have no training outside of getting to work and realizing my look is NOT the best. Makeup isn’t an exact science, and it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be an obligation either. It should be fun, a means to express yourself in yet another way, to add to one’s uniqueness. And that’s pretty awesome.

Also? I love showing off some of the looks I come up with now, too. For fun: me in an awesome dark lipstick (Cargo Cosmetics Bordeaux), wearing my dearly departed specs:

This is how you’ll see me at work, most of the time.

But off the clock? Naked face and lip balm. Old habits, you understand. 🙂

So, Before the Snowpocalypse Came…

I attended a wedding and got to dress up!

With my work schedule, it doesn’t happen often, so I decided to take as much advantage as I could. I had time to shop a massive sale at Lane Bryant and picked up some dresses. The dress I wore in yesterday’s New Year’s post was one dress, and this was the other one I picked up:

I had to add a cami underneath (because, helloooo, boobs! also, cold), and put on a wrap (because sleeveless, and, again, cold). It’s black with copper dots on it, and it’s so pretty.

It’s a rarity for me to get to wear heels too, because retail+heels=bad day for Char. So, I picked up these beauties:

Got ’em from Payless! Copper, gold, and a smidge of green, so pretty!

And I’m gonna take a minute here to vent a bit: hi, shoe stores? Some of us wear 10 1/2 to 11 shoes. Some of us also want said 10 1/2 to 11 shoe to be PRETTY, dammit. Don’t be giving me clodhoppers because I have big feet. There is NO reason for that. Please to have that in stock, for the love of all that is glittery. Thanks.

The day’s makeup: neutral as usual. But I love how it came out.

The best part was I finally got to use my Urban Decay Vice 2 palette. The lip is a Sephora lipstick that’s probably past it’s prime but I love it so.

And finally? The nails, of course! There’s no way I go to a wedding and not have them done! But again, nice and neutral:

Apparently, this outfit was all about the black, brown, and metallic. Whole mani is Julep, and I’m sure you’ll recognize the gold flakes as Gianna. I have gotten more mileage out of that polish than I thought I would. It’s an awesome touch of sparkle where you need it.

And there you have it! I’m gonna go bury myself under the covers until it thaws outside (or until I have to get dressed in the morning. -_-) Until next time, stay beautiful!

Happy New Year!

Hi Lovelies!

So, my work load caused me to take a two week hiatus. Sorry about that. But! I live! And I have pictures of my New Year’s nails and makeup looks.

Never mind I wore them to work. I still was all sparkly while I did my thing. 🙂

First up: the face!

Maybe I hit selfie overload, haha!  The eye makeup is Stila’s Dare to Bare palette, and lip gloss is Vera Moore Cosmetics’ Fuschia. I’m wearing this dress and this pair of earrings; both from Lane Bryant. I looked bright and festive!

Oh, and my nails?

Disco balls! I am wearing a gold Orly polish underneath the golden holo glitter from Julep (it’s called Paris.) So basically, I sparkled from head to toe. Just like I like it. 🙂

I wish for all of you, my readers, to have a lovely and prosperous 2014. Here’s to achieving all that we wish!

Until next time, stay beautiful!

Quick Hit: I Bought some Goodies from BH Cosmetics!

Hi Lovelies!

Thanksgiving week (the week of the infamous Black Friday sales) I took advantage of some awesome BH Cosmetics deals. I got a huge haul for a good price.

No seriously. I got a HUGE haul:

What you see there is a 66 color lip palette, 120 color shadow palette, 18 color baked shadow palette, 30 color eyes on the 60s palette (and it came with the pink brush set as a bundle!), nail decals, and a set of false lashes.

Are you ready for how much I spent?

Are you?

$50! All of these goodies for $50. They always have a great sale going on the website, and while you’re there, sign up for their email. That’s how I got the scoop on the Black Friday sale.

I’m new to trying this brand (although it’s all over YouTube), so I can’t wait to put some looks together. Y’all know I’ll report back with the details. Until next time, stay beautiful!

Adventures in Shopping: Black Friday Haul

Hi Lovelies!

Whew! It’s been a long morning. I just got back in from my Black Friday Shopping, and am having a cup of coffee before I peruse the online shops.

I was going to make you a huge post of sales, but time just escaped me (I had a full 10 hour day at work yesterday…happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate!) However, Marie Denee at the Curvy Fashionista has an awesome roundup of sales and deals for the curvy girl. Go here and look at the great deals!

Now, if you feel like you need to get out and get the blood circulating after yesterday’s meal, here are some of the deals I hit up today, most of which continue through the weekend.

Since I’m a bit clumsy, I have managed to break all of my wine glasses. And while there’s nothing wrong with sipping out of whatever cup you have handy, I figured I ought to have at least a couple of proper wine glasses for company. So, I went to Pier 1 Imports to find some nice glasses, and lo and behold they have a 30% off sale. So I got these:

So pretty! I got two for about $12. It’s nice to have a couple of fancy glasses to show off. From there I went to Ulta. I swear I should own stock in the company! Anyhow, by the time I got there most of the doorbusters were gone, but I still was able to take advantage of the gift with purchase they had for fragrance:

A five piece serving set! So now I have nice glasses and nice dishes for company. I picked up some Eternity Aqua, more nail glitters and rhinestones from Red Carpet Manicure, a lipstick in this screaming pink from Urban Decay, three OPI polishes (they were buy two, get one free!), a set of three (!) palettes from Stila (and the whole set was $30!), and one of the new (cheaper) nail pens from Sally Hansen (not pictured). I am working on a gold/white version of the 50 Shades of Grey manicure for a bride, so I’m hoping that first OPI on the left will do it! I’ll have the swatch of the new look soon.

And finally, I had to get some clothes. Old Navy has an awesome sale going on this weekend. Today everything in the store is 50% off (tomorrow is 40% if memory serves), so I went to get two wintertime staples: sweaters and leggings. I was not disappointed!

I got 5 sweaters, 4 pairs of leggings, and a long sleeved shirt (not pictured) for under $100! Not a bad haul today. I am also super happy that people were being civil to one another today.

I can’t say I’m done shopping for the weekend just yet, though. Cyber Monday is coming, and I’m looking forward to the awesome deals there. Should I have time, I’ll do a post with coupon codes for y’all. Until then, stay beautiful!

Quick Hit: Selfie in New Lipstick!

Hi Lovelies!

Expect a Thanksgiving nail look tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to show off my new lipstick I told y’all about a few days ago:

I couldn’t be bothered to edit out the lens glare from my glasses. 🙂  It amazes me how much I love this lipstick on my lips, and not as fond of the same color on my nails. But it’s definitely a color I’ll be rocking this winter.

Currently working on my manicure. Stay tuned to my Instagram for first pics! Until then, stay beautiful!

Quick Hit: New Lipstick!

Hi Lovelies!

I am typing this while sipping on my coffee, trying to figure out my makeup for the day.

And then I remembered: I have new lipstick!

I tend to not fool with lipstick so much, as I love to change lip color often. I tend to stay with gloss because that’s easier to switch out during the day.

And then, I met this:

That there is the new Cargo Essential Lip Color in Bordeaux and it is fabulous! High pigment, creamy feeling and moisturizing (I have the flakiest lips ever so this is a huge plus), and it lasts for hours.

Ok. I have to be out the door to work in about 10 minutes, so let me finish my coffee (and makeup) and get moving. Until next time, stay beautiful!

Disclaimer: the company I work for sells this item. However, I was not compensated for this review nor did I receive the product for free. It’s just that fabulous!