Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Eye BROWsing! How I learned to not fear change..

So.. For the longest time I took pride in my eyebrows..don't let that statement mislead you- I still take pride in them, I have just learned how to let them survive on their own and to let their natural shape guide me in my plucking. I had the most gorgeous plucked, clean arched eyebrows in the world. The were my calling card..the best part about my face. Or so I thought. My eye shape is not conducive to arched brows, but advice be damned, I was arching my brows! My eyes, as I may have mentioned before are hooded, deep set and droopy. not super droopy,  more puppy doggy, like Camilla Belle's and the late great Audrey's. Now when you imagine their eyebrow shape it is full and straight, with the slightest of arches and it works(ed) for them both. I fought this brow shape tooth and nail, insisting that arches were the way to go. One day I was doing a replication of an Audrey Hepburn look and filled in my brows to her exact shape. I knew when i looked in the mirror after the look was finished I would be appalled by the caterpillars that would be resting where my eyebrows once were. SO WRONG!! I had wasted so much time arguing with the best makeup artists advice pertaining to my eyebrows that I felt like I had robbed myself of years of looking fabulous! This eyebrow shape was PERFECT for my eye shape! I looked young, classic, refined and outright pretty. Not to mention with the rest of the make up, the short fringe and the ponytail I did a damn good job of converting myself into Audrey Hepburn. I was so taken aback at how perfectly suited these eyebrows were for my face that I began to analyze every detail as to why they were so right and my wonderful, perfectly arched brows were soo wrong. First of all, I have a heart shape/rounded face. It appears soft and sweet, so the dramatic arch I had competed with my face shape and took my softness into "sinister villain" territory. For the next point I need to describe my eyes in detail: they are deep set and hooded. They highest point of my lids hits almost immediately then slopes downward, almost like a comma laying on is side. Now by arching my brows in this same manner all I was doing was replicating the droopy deep set look. In order to disguise and hide this shape, I needed to bring my eyebrows almost straight across, and therefore lessening the harshness of my droop.Since my eyes are hooded as well, by arching my eyebrows I created more space in between my eyelid and brow that basically screamed "LOOK AT ALL THIS EMPTY HOODED SPACE!!" Overall the straight fuller brow works best for my eye shape. Now I will not completely put away my arched brow stencils! I will occassionally still arch my brow, just not so dramatically. Sometimes what looks best or works best for your brows isn't necessarily what you think should work. Just study your face, your eye shape and your eyebrows and try out different ways to wear them. Thin drawn on super arched or super rounded, like a half circle, ARE NOT OPTIONS. Seriously. If you are one of the ladies who draw on your eyebrows in that manner, stop right now. put the pencil down, pick up a stencil, some wax and some brow powder and learn a new technique. I say this lovingly. Another thing to consider is your age. At my age my face is changing-drastically-and I have to learn to adapt my make up routine with the newness of my face: the lines, wrinkles, sagging skin and all..( not a pretty picture, I know) If you are willing to compromise with your face when it comes to make up, the you will be a winner every time. The subject for my next blog is going to be exactly that topic. How to adapt the latest trends and hippest colors into your make up routine for women forty and over-and how to not look like your trying too hard to remain young and fresh. You know who you are ladies..still shopping in the juniors department, getting your beauty advice from your daughters teen magazines and MTV shows and flocking to the drug stores to try the cool new neon shades of glittery eye shadow and refusing to buy any foundation with the words "anti-aging" on the bottle.....

SO, I hope that someone is reading this blog..If you are, PLEASE leave a comment so I know what topics you would like me to talk about and what tutorials you would like me to do once this blog leads me into YouTube (which will be within a month) If you like how I write, let me know! If you don't like how I write or what I write about, let me know that too!
Remember..Its About finding yourself, Its About relaxing, Its About loving yourself and your look,            and as always..Its About Face

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

So, summer is winding down. To me, this is the best time to bring out the bronzers. I know they are huge in the summer because the sun is the devil and faux tans are safest, blah blah. I wear spf 10,000 but my freckles pop out in under 5 seconds. For this reason I do not wear a lot of bronzer in the summer because I love my freckles and would not want to hide them. Plus when you put a bronzer on heavy freckles it looks like a bad make up job from far away. So- for me my drug store Bronzer is the same as everyone else.. NYC Sunny. I love the finish, the matte-ness and the color. Great all around product. For a high end bronzer I love the Estee Lauder Goddess Gelee pure color collection one. I like the shimmer factor-not too sparkly, not too shiny, and I love the texture and consistency and for a department store brand, it may be a little pricey-coming in a $42, but hell, its over half the price of the Tom Ford bronzer. Someday I will purchase the $90 TF product, but today is not that day. If I used bronzer everyday, twice a day maybe, but I don't, so its a no go. Let's see..So , summer is winding down. Oh, wait. Said that. On to fall. I love fall. I love crisp cool weather, jumpers, leaves, jackets, and HEAVY MAKEUP! No "no make up make up" in fall. Its dark lips, dark eyes, heavy contour..I love it. I cannot do this in the summer because, how to say this like a lady..I sweat. I do not perspire, glistening, glow..I frickkin' SWEAT. I love the temperature as soon as it dips below  70 because I can wear a foundation, blush, contour, highlight, primer, shadow, liner, mascara,more contour, a pop of more highlight and lipstick and it will go NOWHERE! Ah yes..I love fall. I am currently going through every September issue magazine so that I can bring to you all the fall trends. Why I spend $50 on all of them when one will do-they all say the same thing. What I like to do is break out the Sept. issue from the year before to see what's changed and whats the same. For this year..not too much. Dark colors like ox blood for garments, prints, patterns and heavily textured fabrics. Peplums, riding boots, trench coats, fur and denim-and that was all last year, For this season re-read the previous sentence. This Fall does bring back (oh, I hate saying "bring back"-when does a dark lip EVER out of style?) the dark lip and dark eyes combo of the late 80's, late 90's and now. But basically fashion wise its a repeat of the last 3 falls before it. Except I think that fur vests are an"out" for this season. Other than that throw nothing away from last year.
    Products-The fall air is less humid than the summer's so moisturizer is a must must must. One that I have been loving is Vichy AqualiaThermal. It has that "your mother's" lotion smell, but it is a 24 hour moisturizer that really sticks around. Its creamy, but not too heavy, and for the effect the price is A-OK. Another line of products I go gaga over in the fall...Avon. That's right. I love Avon products. For some reason I tend to go for them in the fall more than any other season. I think that Avon products are sooo under-rated! To me they are all top quality with the price being so reasonable its ridiculous. Their foundations and blushes are amazing- especially the color ranges- but I am speaking more (in this blog) of their skin care products. The newer of the ANew products, Genetics, does wonders for my skin. In just one week my hubs could see a difference. I have switched out my Lancome Genifique for it, and so far so good. I mix it up during the day, with Genetics in the morning, the ANew Luminosity during the evening, then Genetics again at bedtime. Try it. If you don't like it Avon will take it back. (this post was not in any way sponsored by Avon, nor do I rep the Co.) By the way, please be patient with this blog- I know I jump around and have no swatches yet, but I promise I will get better. If you are reading this please COMMENT! Just so I know someone is reading it! Another thing you might not think to change up in the fall is your shower care routine. Summer can really dry out your skin, and with that lack of humidity fall can do some damage as well. Make sure you are applying moisturizer RIGHT OUT of the shower, before you towel off! If it helps keep your lotion in the shower with you, or put it on top of your towel so its the 1st thing you see. Johnson and Johnson make a great Baby Oil Gel, in 3 flavors-cocoa butter, aloe and lavender and all 3 are amazing for locking in moisture.
I am getting to the length where readers will lose interest soon- so remember-This fall where what you did last year, pair a wine lip with violet eyes and moisturize like your skin depends on it! Tune in later to hear me say..You want to shape my eyebrows HOW??!!

Also remember
its about family, its about friends, its about time and as always, its
AboutFace!