a new Look

I wore my favorite new necklace for date night with my husband and decided on a whim to borrow its colors for my eye palette — a bold choice, considering it was topaz and teal! With such bold color choices, be sure to use a light hand when applying (as you can see from the eye close-up below). I used the standard eye application found on my Personal Website, plus I added a second accent color on the outer corner of my eye. I customized my eyeliner by layering eyeshadow on top of the pencil eyeliner (using an eyeliner brush), then toned it down with another light layer of pencil eyeliner. As always, I used black brown mascara and brow liner.

Also featured: my NEW mineral powder foundation! Doesn't it look fantastic?





Contact me if you'd like to know which colors I used!

We All Scream for Eye Cream!

I used to use one moisturizer all over my body and face — including my dry, crépey eye area. After getting educated about skin care through my company training, I realized that I needed to use a moisturizer specifically designed for the eye area. Regular facial moisturizer (especially anti-aging) is designed to plump the skin. What happens when you plump your eye area? Puffiness.

The skin in your eye area is about ¼ as thick as the skin on the rest of your face (using your ring finger or pinky, pat the skin under your eye, then pat the skin of your cheek to compare). It doesn't have any oil glands and is the only skin on your body not connected to a muscle. All that to say, the eye area is very delicate and needs to be treated with care. You should only use your ring finger or pinky when working in your eye area, because they're your two weakest fingers. When applying eye cream, try to remember to start at the crow's feet and pat in towards your nose to avoid tugging the fragile skin outward, which can exaggerate crow's feet and saggyness over time.

We current offer a range of products for eyes, but today we're focusing on eye cream (we have two). They are both in our anti-aging line, so their benefits will increase with continued use over time. A lot of people like to use the lighter cream in the morning and the thicker cream at night, but it's okay to use the same one twice a day (I do). At night, you can apply it both underneath your eye and on your eyelid (lash to brow), as well as in the crow's feet area. When you're doing makeup in the morning, however, avoid putting eye cream on your eyelid as it can keep eye shadow from sticking well.

The lighter cream is a lightweight moisturizer that dramatically minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in the eye area. For those of you that need more help (like me), the thicker cream offers twice the benefits in a slightly richer formula. In addition to the moisturization and age-fighting benefits, the thicker cream both firms and brightens the eye area. Where concealer and highlighting pens just cover up dark circles, this eye cream can actually help them fade away with continued use over time.

One of my customers had an appointment with me in March where we took before-and-after makeover pictures. At that appointment, she purchased the thicker eye cream. Two months later, we got together for another makeover. Here are her two "before" pictures (with a bare face) from two months apart, showing the results to her eye area after two months using this cream.

a new HOLIDAY Look

I thought you might like to see the new limited edition eye quad in action. One of my favorite aspects of the eye quads is that each set includes a little card that gives suggestions on how/where to apply each of the colors for both daytime and evening looks. I've tried both suggested applications in the past, but today I did my own thing: I put the 1st highlighter on my browbone and the 2nd highlighter at the inner corner of my eye, the midtone in the crease, and the accent on my lid. As always, I used black brown mascara and brow liner.



If you're interested in which colors I used, contact me!

I love how purple really makes green eyes pop!

Pshaw. Who needs eyeliner?

Most people fall into one of two camps: those who swear by eyeliner and those who think it's unnecessary. I tell my clients that eyeliner both helps to define your eye and helps make your lashes look thicker by providing a solid "base" at your lash line. Since my redhead eyelashes are invisible without mascara, I thought I'd do a little comparison test to show how much of a difference eyeliner really makes.

On the left, I'm wearing mascara and eyeliner. On the right, it's mascara alone.

Here's the step-by-step "progress report" of what I did:

• For the first picture, I simply applied black brown mascara using upward strokes.
• A lot of women aren't comfortable using pencil liner, so in the second picture I used dark brown eyeshadow with my eyeliner brush instead. Applying powder with a brush is a lot less intimidating than using pencil eyeliner!
• For the final picture, I employed my custom bag of eyelash tricks and techniques!

For in-person lessons on any of the techniques used here, contact me for a FREE consultation!

Lines, Lines, Go Away...

I don't like wearing sunglasses. They leave those nasty marks on the sides of my nose and make it all shiny so I have to retouch my makeup. Since I don't wear them as often as I should, I squint a lot riding shotgun in my minivan...and all that squinting leaves two deep lines in my forehead.

I don't care so much about the wrinkle aspect, but I do mind having two crevices that noticeably collect foundation (I'm probably putting on too much if it's settling into wrinkles, but sometimes I'm focused more on my toddler than on how much I'm squirting out of the tube). I'm pretty pale, so having two white lines of foundation running across my forehead is kind of obvious. Since Botox (ick) is definitely not an option, I use a line-reducing pen before I do my foundation.

Our pen firms and tightens lines and wrinkles, but without inhibiting facial expression (and without needles, of course). The coolest part is that you actually see results within minutes! It's designed to benefit the forehead and crow's feet, since that's where most people need help with expression lines and wrinkles, but you can also use it on other places on your face. Since it's in our age-fighting line, it also delivers lasting benefits with continued use over time.

I took these pictures this morning at 11:13 and 11:24 a.m., before I did my foundation. No Photoshopping! If you're a skeptic like me, contact me for a free sample and try it on yourself! (Of course, buying it is risk-free anyway because of our awesome guarantee.)

Click on the picture for an enlarged view of my results!

a new Look

Today, I decided to branch out and try a new eye look. I initially created it for a green-eyed customer but thought it might be a good idea if I tried it on myself, too. I used the standard eye application, plus I added a little highlighter at the inner corner of my eye. As always, I used black brown mascara and brow liner.



If you're interested in which colors I used, contact me!

Eyeliner: Liquid...Liqu-ego...Liqu-super-ego?

I learned a new trick last week watching What Not to Wear that will make putting on liquid eyeliner a lot less scary! Instead of trying to keep a steady hand all the way across your eye using that in-cap applicator, put a gobby smear of liquid eyeliner on the back of your non-dominant hand. Using a good eyeliner brush, pick up a thin coat of the liquid eyeliner and apply it in short strokes across your eyelid, staying as close as possible to your upper lash line. If desired, wing the line up just past the end of your eye (continue the curve of your lid).

I haven't tried this yet, so if you have liquid eyeliner and a good eyeliner brush, try it and Comment to let me know how it works!