Patent Leather and Lace Pictures

Hey Everyone,

A little over a month ago I posted about a boudoir shoot I worked on with Caught You On Camera and what fun it was and today I have images from the shoot. I was so excited to get them as they were a surprise to her new husband which is why I couldn't share them with you earlier. All the pictures came out so beautiful and if you follow me on Facebook then you have probably seen a few of them. As you may remember I was inspired by January Jones' Marie Clair cover. I was also very excited to see that everything came out beautifully and so classic of Caught You On Camera's style. 

Like what you see and want to schedule a boudoir shoot contact Whitney with Caught You On Camera. You can find her on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/Caughtyouoncamera or visit her website http://caughtyouoncamera.com/.


Don't forget to "Like" my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beauty-Faces

A picture is worth a 1000 words

Finally, I am getting around to posting these pictures of Megan Cotton's wedding! I had such a great time with this bride and all of her bridesmaids. Whitney @ Caught You On Camera took some excellent pictures. I really like the ones of my brushes too very good for future promotional use. 

10 Things

10 Things

1. It's Friday, bring on the weekend!!! 

2. Last night I made 3 meals and 2 desserts in an hour and half. Planning is key in my house. 

3. Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! Mexican Food is the best

4. My arms, shoulders, abs, legs, are sore from Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 Week 4 workout! 

5. Speaking of workouts, it has been almost 3 months since I started working out. One of the best decisions I have made for myself. 

6. I don't consider eating healthy as a diet but a life style change. 

7. Skincare is vital and if you don't take care of your skin it won't love you back when your older. 

8. 12 days til I go back to the beach with "The Family" and I get to see my nephews :) 

9. I need more makeup consults/appointments, I love working with people so where are all my awesome clients hiding? hehe 

10. Our neighborhood pool is finally open! 

Simple Skincare

Hey Everyone,

I want to share my review on Simple Skincare. As most of you know I have normal/combo skin type but in addition it is also very sensitive. I have a hard time finding skincare products that are not irritating to my skin. In the past I have used the high end brand Kinerase, when I got it at a deep discount or sometimes free.  These days $33 for cleanser and $110 for moisturizer at full retail just isn't in my beauty budget.  Since I finished my last deep discounted bottle of Kinerase cleanser and moisturizer, I have been searching for a replacement. Until now I haven't had any luck with drugstore brands and even some moderately priced high end brands.

I first heard about Simple Skincare on tv commercial. They claimed to be the #1 skincare line in the UK and that they were perfect for sensitive skin. The company claims their products were the first cleanser in the UK to not have dyes, artificial fragrance, or other harsh skin irritants. For me this is a selling point. Anything that has fragrance usually dries out my skin or irritates my skin. I decided to pick up the cleansing cloths (I'm lazy at night) and the Hydrating Light Moisturizer. I like for my moisturizer to be light and breathable especially in the Spring in Summer months when my skin tends to be a bit more temperamental.

Let's talk about the important stuff: INGREGIDENTS!!
We all know that companies can claim what they want on the packaging but just like food you really have to look at the back at the ingredients and facts to see if what the company claims is actually true. In cleansing clothes I always look to see if one of the ingredients is alcohol if it is, it immediately goes back on the shelf.  I already know this will irritate my skin and most skin types. The other thing I look for is if the products have oil or mineral oil in them. I do not tolerate mineral oil or botanical oils well at all. Looking on the back of the packaging I didn't find any mineral oil. I did see that it had Cetearyl Alcohol (Emulsifier).  I really was considering putting this product back on the shelf. I don't like to see alcohol of any kind in facial products but I went against my own rules and got it anyway to see if it would effect my skin. The moisturizer didn't have alcohol and had pretty basic ingredients that I didn't think my skin would react with. 

The trial began 2 weeks ago now and I have been using these wipes and moisturizer every day to clean and moisturize my face. I can honestly say that I have no had a reaction at all to either of the two products that I tested. These products have been by far the best drugstore brand I have tried and I will continue to purchase these products for my very sensitive skin. I love that they are fragrance free since that is usually where alcohol comes into play in skincare. My skin doesn't tolerate most fragrance mainly in facial products.  I have had great luck with these products and would definitely recommend them to others. If you are looking for a new drugstore skincare brand I really felt that Simple Skincare lived up to its name and was great for my sensitive skin.

BUSY

Wow! This week has been moving fast. I haven't had time to really even breathe but today I did get my house completely clean! I will be posting pictures of the wedding I did in March and also will be writing a review on Simple Skincare, all of this is coming soon.  It has been so hard getting back into my routine since coming back from Florida but I will get back to daily blogging very soon.
Thanks for all the understanding!

Bronzed Face and Eyes Tutorial

I want to give you guys a little tutorial on how to achieve that beautiful bronzed look for spring/summer. I really love using a cream matte bronzer and a pretty coral blush for the face. For the eyes I love a gold color to give your eyes a bronzed look. If you are pale you can still use gold and bronzer just in lighter shades so it isn't harsh on the skin. I'm going to take you step by step through the bronzed look.

First, Even out the skin tone with foundation and concealer. Use a shade of foundation that matches your skin and if you are concealing blemishes make sure that your concealer matches your skin tone. For under eyes use a shade lighter concealer.

Second, use a cream matte bronzer to contour your face. I suggest using the brozer in the hollows of the cheeks to bring out the cheeks bones and then contour from the bridge of your nose down to the nostril.  Next, contour your forehead right at the temples. This will not only give your face some demention but some bronzed color as well. Then take a translucent powder to set the cream bronzer and foundation.

For blush I would use a cream blush in a coral or peach color and apply directly to the cheek bone.  I apply with a regular foundation brush and then buff out with a blush brush. This will give your cheeks a beautiful sheen.  You may or may not want to set this with powder blush depending on what look you are going for and your skin type.

Moving on to eyes, I suggest using a light gold or gold shade on the lid remember your perfect shade depends on skin tone. I like Urban Decay Baked or Half Baked for my gold shadows. I use Baked all over the lid and Half Baked in the inner corner. You can stop there and apply a smudged black/dark brown liner to the top lashes and the water line and adding a few coats of mascara. You can also apply Twice Baked to the outer corner for a deeper more dramatic eye.

Finish your lips with a nude or light pink lip for a very natural but sexy look.




Here are some products that may help you get that bronzed look:

Bare Minerals, Bronzed and Brilliant $32 at Sephora

NYX Cream Bronzer, $6.75 nyxcosmetics.com or Ulta

Urban Decay, Get Baked (Discontinued Palette) but you can find it on Ebay and also get these shadows individually. 

ELF Products Review

Hey Everyone,

I went to Target about 2 weeks ago and decided to pick up a few ELF products for review.  I picked up the eyebrow powder, HD powder, black liquid liner, makeup setting spray, and an ELF brush. These products are very inexpensive so they are perfect for college girls or if you are just watching your beauty budget. I have really been a fan of the line for awhile now but I never got around to trying these products and as more of the line is being sold at Target I can really try a lot more from them.  I picked specific products to see if they could be considered dupes for high end products from name brands like Smashbox, Makeup Forever, Urban Decay and Sigma.  

I am happy to report that all of the products really passed the test for dupes I am especially happy with the brow powder which I consider a great dupe for Smashbox Brow Tech and Anastasia's brow powder and wax. The Elf Studio brow powder and wax really kept my brows looking great all day. I purchased the medium shade and it is a great shade for brunetts and maybe dark blonde.  The powder actually comes in 4 shades for different hair colors but Target only had the medium which I found to work great even with my dark brown hair. This is a great buy for $3 you can't go wrong. 

The ELF HD Finishing Powder I found to be a great low cost dupe for the Makeup For Ever HD powder. While the ELF Finishing Powder isn't 100% Silica like the Makeup For Ever HD Powder it is one of the main ingredients and I didn't find it to show up even on my tan skin. I felt this product was great if not better than the Makeup For Ever powder. The ELF Studio Packaging tends to be very big and bulky leading you to believe you get more product. They compare in amount of product rather well though the ELF powder has .28oz of product and the Makeup For Ever powder contains .35oz of product. The ELF powder is $6 compared to the Makeup For Ever powder that is $30 or the trial size that is $15. I found the ELF HD powder to be a big bang for your buck.

The next product I tried was the ELF liquid black liner.  If you like Urban Decay's liquid liner you will really love these.  They don't come in a lot of colors but everyone needs a basic black liner for a winged look. I was pleased that this liner didn't have a felt tip instead it is the old brush kind which is more precise and applies more product to give you are really great thin line.  I prefer my liquid liner to be wet looking instead of matte and also to last a long time without flaking or smudging.  This one did everything perfectly. This wonderful black liner was only $1 so if you are in Target any time soon pick it up and try it out I know you will really like it. I had to also try the ELF Makeup Setting Spray because I have been looking for a dupe for Urban Decay, All Nighter.  I mainly want a dupe because the Urban Decay setting spray is $12 and that is for 1.7oz of product the large bottle is $30! That is a little expensive for this girl so I have been looking for something comparable and I do think that ELF has a good comparable product with their setting spray it was $3 for 3.5oz of product and it contained some of the same ingredients as the Urban Decay spray.  I felt like it did a great job of setting my makeup and with the Tea Tree extract it helped keep my face feeling fresh.  Perhaps not my favorite ELF product but for what it is, it works well!

Lastly, I want to mention the ELF brush I tried.  I usually use Sigma Brushes, in my opinion I think they are pretty awesome and they have a wide range of brushes that are also priced well.  I consider myself to be pretty picky about brushes I don't really like brushes that shed or are skimpy on the hairs.  I have a couple different sets that I use for different things.  I wanted to try out the ELF brushes because who could say no to spending just a $1 on a Detail Brush. I was a little skeptical but I found that the brush I purchased is pretty great. It is the Small Concealer Brush however, I don't like to use that to apply concealer I like to use it for applying a tiny bit of shadow to my inner corners and tear duct area to really open up my eyes and making me look more awake.  I didn't stop there though this brush also works great as a liner brush and smudging brush. The brush is made of synthetic hairs just like any other concealer brush and the hairs don't shed.  I was really impressed with this brush and I will be trying out some of their other face brushes to see if they work just as well.

I was very happy with all my ELF purchases I may have spent about $15 on all the products and that is really nothing for makeup products. I am looking forward to trying more from this line and see what new things they come up with. If you are in Target check this line out or if you like to buy online www.eyeslipsface.com is their website. The prices are the same at Target as they are online.  The offer great prices and well pigmented products.  I never feel like these products are cheaply made or that they can't stand up to the high end brands.  I think that the more expensive brands should watch out for this line :).

Thanks for reading!