Cute Makeup Tips

There's a gift for every woman whether she is a busy mom, glam girl, or trendsetter. My gift ideas are some of the best products I've tried this year or from brands that I've loved for years. So, if you know of a friend, sister, aunt, mom, or grandmother that is a makeup junkie or is in some major need of a makeup update check out the list and check it twice there just might be the perfect gift!


1. Makeup Junkie: I'm not speaking about myself (well maybe a little) but for every woman that hoards makeup in every nook of their house! Makeup junkies love trying multiple products at a time so holiday collections are perfect! Some makeup collections I'm lusting after: Nars Night Series Mini Palette, Nars J. Mendel Lip Palette, Nars Dolce Vita Set, Benefit's Powder Pop!, Sephora's Supermodel Kit, and Stila's Face Contouring Trio.


2. Busy Mom: I call this the 'mommy essentials'. As a busy mom, I've been able to cut down my makeup application to half the time I used to (something my husband really appreciates!). Four easy things busy moms can do: even out skin tone where needed, open up the eyes, and add colour to lips and cheeks. Quick and easy and you still end up looking polished. I used to use a tinted moisturizer and it was great but then my skin started to change after I had my son. To give me more coverage without feeling heavy or cakey, I switched to Face Atelier's Ultra Foundations (LOVE! Don't forget about the 25% with Face Atelier until Dec. 31st! Enter discount code 'makeupjunkie'). Lack of sleep most of the time equals dark undereye circles. I love Smashbox's Photo Op Under Eye Brightner because it makes my under eye look luminous, diffuses fine lines and slightly conceals. Over top of it, I have to apply my YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch because it is the perfect undereye concealer (for me and I've tried so many!). I never leave the house without curling my lashes with my Shu Uemera eye lash curler (heard Billy B.'s is great for smaller eyes) and applying a couple coats of L'oreal Voluminous mascara. It just opens up the eyes and makes you look more awake. To brighten up the eye, I just add Nars' Duo Cream Shadow in Thebes, a silver and gold with shimmer, to the inner corner of the eyes and center of lid. For a little colour, double a bronzer like Benefit's Hoola as cheek colour and for an overall healthy glow. Swipe a gloss like Nars' Stolen Kisses on the lips - my favourite neutral gloss! The busy mom will think you are a life saver (or time saver). It's really a perfect collection for anyone on-the-go!


3. Glam Girl: Everyone has a glam look busy mom or not and I love to do it up every now and then. Whether you have a fetish for a smokey eye or feel sexy in a red pout, Pink Beauty Cosmetics is the perfect line for every glam girl! I just felt so pretty and girly using Pink Beauty! I'm lusting after Luscious Lip Sheer in Beatrice, a deep red and Lip Scintillate Lip Gloss in Fabulah, a rich shimmery red. Whatever your definition of glam is Pink Beauty will definitely have something for you.

Photo: Content in On Makeup Magazine!
4. The Makeup Artist: Makeup artists can be very particular about their makeup and tools. Your best bet is to just ask her what she wants but if you want to surprise her I can help you out! Some brands that makeup artist love and rave about are of course M.A.C., Make Up For Ever, Face Atelier, Billy B. Beauty (tools and brushes), Three Custom Color, MudShop, Nars, to name a few. There are so many pro makeup lines and a great resource for more pro brands is The Powder Group. Another great gift makeup artists love are magazine subscriptions and The Powder Group is launching On Makeup Magazine next February! I've been waiting for a magazine that was makeup artist related and all about makeup! The MudShop also has some really great books you can purchase for the working makeup artist or the makeup artist newbie!


5. Trendsetter: Trendsetters like to be ahead of the game and have a style all of their own. M.A.C. has always been one step ahead and is perfect for the woman that likes to stand out in a crowd. They have their amazing Holiday collections but for a trendsetter I'd get her something from the Metal X collection that will make her shine above the rest. Glitter eye liner and metallic cream to powder shadows - need I say more??


6. The Minimalist: Minimalists like no fuss multi-purpose products that they don't have to reapply during the day and don't care for a lot of makeup - just enough to look healthy and radiant. Perfect line for a minimalist is Benefit Cosmetics which is known for their quick and easy fixes. Popular items that I love: Benetint Pocket Pal, Rush Hour, Eyeliner Gilded, and Dandelion.

Photo: Organic Body Bar in Ocean Minerals
7. The Globally Conscious: You can still care about the environment and be self-indulgent thanks to Tashodi, a Canadian based bath and body line that is committed to producing products that are fairly traded, organic, all natural and green friendly! I received 100% Pure and Certified Fair Trade Lip and Cheek Tints in Full of Fairness Pink. It is meant to keep your lips moisturized with a bit of colour and tint your cheek to its natural hue. I prefer it more as a lip balm because it is very moisturizing and I like the sheer pink colour on the lips as well as the spearmint and peppermint flavour. Keeps my breath feeling fresh! I also got to try their Organic Body Bar in Ocean Minerals, an invigorating eucalyptus and lemon blend. I love how you can exfoliate with the Celtic sea salt and moisturize with the fair trade shea butter at the same time! And for the first time I soaked in the bath at my new house! I received their Pure Bath Soaks in Pure Lavender, a mix of pure lavender aroma and moisturizing benefits in their fair trade cocoa butter shavings. Truly a pampering experience! What's also cool about the Pure Bath Soaks is that it comes in a really nice jar that I can use for whatever my heart's desire! To top it off, the packaging and promotional material are made from plant fibers and are biodegradable and recyclable!


8. Bath and Body Connoisseur: I love having yummy smelling soft skin. I had the pleasure of trying Bobe (pronounced "beau-bee") products a few months ago and I use it every day! If you're looking for great quality products at affordable prices then Bobe is the perfect gift. I recommend anything from their line because they come in so many enticing flavours and scents! My favourite from the line is the Silken Cream body butter. And at $8 (CDN) for a 4.5 ounce jar you can't go wrong!

Hope the list will give you some holiday gift ideas and make your shopping experience stress-free! And as always don't forget to give back to the community or to your favourite charities! :) Happy shopping!

I call this a 'Makeup Artist Corner' but it's really for anyone that wants great tips on doing a smokey eye. Since my phone interview with Billy B. back in July, I had been anticipating his workshop that took place on November 25th at Industry Cosmetics. It's one thing to hear him speak over the phone but to see him in person doing what he does best is quite an amazing thing. On the day of, I wasn't feeling my best but decided to suck it up because after all it was Billy B!

When I arrived I was a little bummed and embarrassed that I had missed about 45 minutes of his seminar! I wasn't aware of a time change and Industry's site said it would start at 2:30 pm. So when I arrived, I was politely ushered in and took my seat in the back quietly. The good thing was that I was able to come away with some great makeup tips! Here is what I took away on achieving a smokey eye for editorial!

1. You want your smokey eye to be different than everyone else's. You want yours to stand out from the rest.

2. The deepest intensity should be the top eye near the lash line. Anytime you use a pencil you always need to set it with the same colour powder shadow so it will not smudge. For the shadow colour, he used a charcoal grey in the crease and lash line. Lid was in a natural beige tone.

3. Applying mascara with a short nylon brush on bottom lashes (Billy uses #9 from his Paintbrush collection). I thought this tip was really genius and I tried it on myself at home. I just loved the result - of course if I had the proper brush it would have went on a lot easier. It really gives the eye definition and makes the eyes pop. He applies mascara with the #9 brush and lays it on the bottom lashes for a very precise application. You want the intensity to be right into the root of the lash. He rarely applies mascara to the tips of the lashes and concentrates it all on the root because it makes the lashes look feathery, full, and natural. He also used this technique for the top lashes.

4. Curling the top lashes - if done properly it will stay curled all day even without mascara. First he raises the lid by putting his thumb on the brow bone. This will help anchor the eye lash curler to the base of the lash. Pulse at base a few times, walk it out to the middle of the lash, pulse, and walk it out to the tip. Interesting fact about his new eye lash curler: it was made for Westernized eyes. Shu Umera is a great eye lash curler for Asian eyes but he felt it was too wide for Western eyes.

5. Billy loves to use dual-finish powders and prefers Makeup Designory to set and blend the makeup. He also used it as a shadow colour for the lids which took another step out. For detailing, he uses his #6 Paintbrush in a buffing motion. By doing this, you are not applying a lot of product and only applying it in areas where needed. He also used this to conceal.


6. Contouring and blush - Billy uses his #4 Paintbrush to contour. I personally love this technique because it gives my cheeks definition and gives the illusion of slimmer cheeks - yay! Some makeup artists choose to use foundations to contour. But contour doesn't have to be done with an extremely dark colour. He chose a rose-beige powder blush as his contour colour. You want to concentrate the colour further back on the cheekbone. If you don't know where to contour, ask the model to smile and it's right under the apple of the cheek. The contour was very natural but still looked contoured and wearable for everyday. He then chose a peachy tone blush for the apples of the cheeks. He took a bigger brush and blended and buffed the two colours together. The result was perfectly sculpted cheeks in a natural way.

7. To highlight Billy used his #13 Paintbrush, a fluffy soft brush on the cheekbone and all the way up to the eye and on top of cheekbone. For fair skin he suggests using MAC Pigment in White Frost and MAC Trace Gold Blush for olive or darker skin. The shimmer should not be chunky or sparkly but have more of a sheen. Before applying the shimmer on your model, swipe the brush on your hand to get rid of excess. He then took the flat part of his brush to contour the nose. If you're scared of contouring the sides of the nose with a darker colour, he suggests highlighting straight down the nose (you must make sure it's straight). He then buffed the sides of the nose with a brush to blend out the shimmer. With the residue from the brush, he used it only where sheen is pretty like the inner corner of the eyes.

8. Billy decided to add dimension to the eye by adding another shadow colour on top of the grey. He chose a deep purple which really gave it a sooty smokey look. He left the brows unfilled and suggested to emphasize brows only when it's an accessory to the look (unless it's an undesirable shape). The thing with editorial is that the makeup doesn't have to be too perfect. Filling brows in too much can sometimes look dated.

9. Billy isn't really a fan of lipstick. Sometimes lip colour is not as good as the natural lip colour. He chose a lip liner that was similar to the model's lip colour and only lined the lips - no filling in. He then softened the edges of the liner. The lip gloss he chose was a pinky-beige and added a shimmery gold gloss just to the bow of the lip.


The result: The model looked flawless and picture ready. Too bad the lighting in there was dim because my pictures turned out blurry and yellow. A Q&A was followed by the workshop which almost turned into a therapy session. Here are some interesting tid-bits I learned about Billy!

1. Choosing your battles: This question was brought on by a makeup artist that wanted advice on how to tell a customer that the dark ring around the lips was a bad choice (I too hate that look!). The makeup artist was very adamant that if she's going to stand behind her work she will not let her customer walk out of the store looking horrible. Billy totally understood this and said that some customers don't know how to look any other way. It's hard for them to break away from what they've become so accustomed to. You have to choose your battles. If you're working retail and only getting paid minimum wage just sell her what she wants. Billy talked about one client who shall remain nameless (but you know who you are!), that washed off her makeup after he was done and took the picture like that! Can you imagine??? Well, that was definitely a battle worth fighting for and he won and will never work with this actress again!

2. When it comes to applying makeup, Billy doesn't believe in rules. But he does believe in makeup that is done perfectly and not relying everything on Photoshop!

3. Billy's Paintbrush Collection is animal friendly. Sub-sable mixture of fibres. The lip brush he created for his line is a lidless retractable brush. There's no lid but there is an automatic closure to keep your brush clean!

4. Billy gets this question all the time and each time it makes him get a little teary-eyed. Awww! When asked about who inspired him the most in his career he said there are many people but the main person was himself. He grew up in a little town in Mississippi and hated who he was and desperately wanted to reinvent himself. He was determined to prove to everyone that said he was never good enough or called him names that he would work his way to the top and he has. Billy was so open and honest - I think almost everyone was in tears including the person that asked him the question. She burst out uncontrollably and said she was going through the same thing. Billy being the amazing person he is, got up and hugged her tightly and asked if she wanted to talk after. Michael DeVellis made a joke about it being Dr. Phil but with Dr. Bill haha.

5. Billy's first big break was when Mariah Carey was discovered. His agents told him that the job was for a new artist and he wasn't going to get paid very much. But when Mariah's career took off so did his!

6. Billy learned about using milk magnesium on the skin from Beyonce. It's a technique used on stage to prevent sweating. He only uses this on Beyonce.

7. Every job that he does he travels with a light (called Total Light). It's very portable and folds up. He prefers using a light because he likes to see everything when he's working and it's pretty close to the light he works in. Billy suggests to of course use day light if you're doing a day shoot outdoors.

8. Fake lashes tip: use a black glue, take a liner brush and line the lash line with the glue much like you would using a liner. Stick your lashes on and voila - no messy application! I have definitely got to try this technique! He says to cut the tip of a Q-tip because the cardboard part is the only thing that really pushes those lashes to the base. I'll have to try that as well!

9. Billy doesn't airbrush but says he'll learn at some point. He travels too much and doesn't have time to mix. Also, he likes doing things the ol' school way. Mee too!

10. Be on the lookout for packing accessories for transporting your products from Billy B.'s line!

After it was over, Michael and I exchanged hugs and I introduced myself to Billy. We hugged and I gushed about how wonderful his workshop was. Unfortunately, Billy had to step out quickly and I didn't get a chance to get a picture of us two together. Oh well! Maybe next time! But I'm glad I pulled myself together and went to the workshop. Billy is just too great to pass up! I hope you enjoyed this post and were able to come away with some great tips!