SUMMER LIPPIE LOOK BOOK

I keep mentioning in my posts that I live for a bold lip, so here I am making an entire post about them. It’s June and you won’t catch me wearing a nude lipstick. I am definitely aware that some silly folks think my plump-ish lips and skin color should keep me from wearing such bright colors. And I choose to disregard their foolery and ignorance. Shana Moore on Youtube created the #thepaintedlipsproject for people of color to share lip swatches and to celebrate their skin. She found that POC expressed “gratitude simply because it is rare to see mainstream products modeled on women with darker complexions.” I may not be on Youtube, but here is my contribution to #thepaintedlipsproject.

First up is Colourpop’s Matte X lippie sticks in Jenneration X paired with their liner in Taurus.

Next is Colourpop’s Matte X lippie stick in Climax.

Now I did a pink ombre lip. Sorta fuchsia. I used Kat Von D’s Bauhau5 and put Ofra’s St.Tropez in the center. Lastly, I put a tiny amount of Ofra’s Bel Air in the very center of my lips.

For my last look, I did the purple version of the previous look. I lined my lips in the Ellarie lip pencil from Colourpop. Over that I placed L.U.V. by Kat Von D and in the center I used Las Vegas by Ofra.

I really really enjoyed doing these! I think I am gonna make it a series. Lip products are my favorite beauty products to buy and play with. My lips are dry and sad now but it was worth it!

Thanks for reading, guys! Comment below with some of your favorite lip colors! I am always looking to try something new. Until next time!!

The Power of Makeup

On my jaunts through youtube channels, I discovered the Power of Makeup Challenge. I believe it was started by NikkieTutorials and most other Youtubers followed. She made the video because she felt like makeup wearers were being shamed for loving makeup. In the video she made a great point about the assumptions people make about makeup lovers; “you do it because you want to look good for boys, you do it because you are insecure, or you do it because you don’t love yourself”.

I have encountered some of those same responses. People have said to me “who are you getting cute for” and “why are you wearing ALL that makeup”. The answer is always the same. FOR MY DAMN SELF. Makeup is one of the ways I express my creativity. And it is also a form of self expression. If I am wearing blue lipstick, chances are that day I am feeling particularly good about myself and I want to be bold. I have worked on self love for a long while. I love myself just the same, in or out of makeup. My self love comes from confidence within myself and recognizing my self worth, but I am not gonna pretend like makeup did not have something to do with that. Looking at myself in or out of makeup and appreciating all of my beauty (inner and outer) is essential to my continuous growth.

Here are some selfies I took for the challenge. I definitely enjoyed this challenge, and the meaning behind it. I plan to bring other youtube challenges to this here blog!

Thanks for reading! Comment below with any comments you have heard from beauty bashers and how you brushed them off. Until next time!

 

 

Packing Makeup, The Saga

I am not a parent so I cannot be sure of this…but packing your makeup for a trip seems similar to a parent packing up all the things a child may need. This could quite possibly be an exaggeration, but I am almost certain that parents deciding what toys will keep the child occupied during a drive is similar to me choosing which eyeshadow palette to bring.

I wanted to sit down and right this to help me process what makeup I need to bring and as a form of procrastination. I DO NOT WANT TO PACK. Let it be known, I am going out of town for two days but I don’t know what lipstick mood I will be in on Saturday!!! I am going to Charleston, SC and spending lots of that time outside. So my makeup should be lightweight but my face still needs to be BEAT.

Here goes.

1. Primer. 9 times out of 10 I wear the same ones. My Nivea After Shave Balm and Porefessional by Benefit.

2. Foundation. I know that I need the Lancome Teinte Idole Foundation for coverage and longevity but my NARS All Day Luminous is so lightweight and comfortable to wear.

3. Contour and Highlight. This is a tough one, I know I should just take a palette. I have been really loving the Cover FX Cream Contour Kit. But I don’t think I will want to do a cream contour. I am gonna take it anyway and toss in the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer with the Bobbi Brown Bronzer  (just in case I don’t even feel like contouring).

4. Brows. Easy. Colourpop’s Brow Colour.

5. Eyes. I am gonna bring the Morphe 35O Palette and do some good neutral looks. Probably gonna end up throwing in some Colourpop single shadows for some pops of color.

6. Lips. Attempting to list these is a joke. I will take a couple nudes and some nice bright spring/summer shades.

7. Brushes. All of them. Duh. Or at least all of my main brushes. So, a lot of them.

These are the main face/complexion products I ended up with…plus a few others I threw in the bag.

Here are the lip and eye products I ended up with, neutral eye looks are gonna be this weekends theme. 

Okay, let me see if I can condense this anymore than I have. Comment below with your travel must haves. Thanks for reading, Until next time!

When the deepest shade is beige…

Let’s talk about shade range. I am sure there are tons of thoughtful posts about this circulating the internet, but I have yet to tackle it so here goes.

In the past year I have gotten deeper and deeper into makeup; and consequently, have become more aware of the obvious shade representation problem in the beauty community. My skin is considered medium deep. So, thats to say I can find makeup that works for me but it took me ages to find a bronzer deep and red enough for my skin tone. Others, have a bit more trouble. My friend Regina is one of those people. She has beautiful dark, rich skin that makeup companies tend to ignore. Her most recent challenge has been highlighting and contouring. The highlight shades are too light and the contour shades aren’t dark enough. Why should Regina have to forgo a part of her makeup routine because of slack makeup companies? But like most brown makeup lovers, she hasn’t given up. It’s been a lot of trial and error but she has been making it work with what she has and that MELANIN POPPIN.

This is Regina, being BAD in some black lipstick and a bold eye. I am forever jealous of her bold day time makeup choices. WERQ, boo!  IG: 1_blacqueen

There is a recent dismissal of brown girls that pops into my head. Tarte had a whole new launch. Their Rainforest of the Sea Collection. The foundation that launched with the collection, Rainforest of the Sea Water Foundation Broad Spectrum SPF 15, sparked my interest. Like who doesn’t want a light weight foundation that is full coverage…that’s ideal for me. Well once the swatches started coming out I knew it wasn’t in the cards for me. The deepest shade is like 6  or 7 shades too light for me. I am always baffled why bigger companies don’t produce more shades. I mean…like I KNOW. I KNOW. (Black Lives Matter) But from a marketing stand point it seems foolish. They are missing so many sales from darker women. And if other brown beauty lovers are like me and hold a grudge, the companies lose my sales until they begin to expand their shades. I forreal just started shopping with Too Faced again once they added shades to the Born This Way Foundation.

Side eye to makeup companies that don’t include my skin but shoutout to the makeup companies that make this glamour possible!

Shoutout to some of my favorite companies that think of the beautiful dark girls. Bobbi Brown, NARS, Lancome, Estee Lauder, Jeffree Star, and Beautylish. That isn’t all of them but just some of my favorites. Thanks for reading, leave a comment telling me your favorite inclusive companies. Until next time!

Colourpop Brow Colour!

 

Hi Pals!

I feel so neglectful of my blog, I have been incredibly busy (playing outside and enjoying the beautiful weather). So I wanted to do a quick informal post on the Colourpop Brow Colour.

Firstly, I have only used brow pencils until I purchased the Brow Colour from Colourpop. I am in the shade Black N’Brown. I have been loyal to Anastasia since the beginning of my makeup obsessed journey. And I still love their brow products. I have the Brow Powder Duo, the Brow Definer, and Brow Wiz. I used the color Medium Brown in all of them. But Youtube encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone. AND I AM OBSESSED. The Brow Colour is so incredibly creamy and long lasting. The pigment makes me want to faint. Colourpop blew it out of the water. In South Carolina the weather is already in the 90’s and ridiculously humid so lasting power is important. I haven’t used anything for my brows since I got it in the mail. I got the Brow Pencil too, but I haven’t even wanted to try it. The price point is great; the brow products are only 6 dollars. I am gonna include a couple of photos below of me in the Brow Colour. Thanks for reading. Until next time!

This is about an hour after I applied!

This was after a good 6 hours. I live in South Carolina so its super hot and humid and it lasted the heat! DIVE BAR SELFIE!

Just throwing this in there. Mostly for the adorable puppy, but I look good too! 😉

Sisters that Slay Together…

My sister graciously provided her time and face for me to practice on another human. She was the perfect first “client” because she was patient with me and we have known each other for like 25 years or something…so conversation was easy. Makeup is mostly just fun for me, but if it became a side hustle for me I would not be mad at it. I definitely need alot more practice before I charge anyone, but I intend to borrow as many of my friends and families faces as possible.

Tristan isn’t a big makeup wearer so I didn’t want to load her down with product. We started with a bit of color correction because she has some discoloration on her cheeks. I used Mac Studio Conceal and Correct Duo in Pure Orange/Ochre to correct. Tristan brought her own foundation, she uses Fashion Fair Oil Free Liquid Foundation. She has been loyal to this brand and specific product since her high school prom. I highlighted the high points of her face but only lightly because I didn’t want to give her a drastic look. And I reverse contoured with Sacha Buttercup powder because it gave a lighter affect than my usual contour stick.

For her eyes, I used my Morphe 350 Palette and put Porter from Colourpop on the lid. I am not gonna lie, I was super nervous about doing liner on someone else. I don’t always get that right on me, so I took a little bit of an easier route. I lined her top lash line with Kat Von D’s tattoo liner in Trooper and smudged it with a black shadow to fix any mistakes. That was more forgiving. Mascara was a bit nerve wrecking too, but only because I was worried about stabbing her in the eye. BUT, it turned out fine. I put Better Than Sex on the top lashes and Roller lash on the bottom.

I let Tristan pick her lipstick. I expected her to go with a nude, but she surprised me. She chose my first Mac lipstick purchase in Viva Glam 3. Its not a bold color but its not super muted either. I think it perfectly complimented the look. On her cheeks I used a light touch of Mac Burnt Pepper and highlighted her cheeks with the NYX Ombre blush in Nude to Me.

Here are some photos of the look! As always the awesome Alexis Schwallier took them.

And here are some of us together!

 

Thanks, Tristan. You the best. ALSO. She has a self care blog, https://ownescape.wordpress.com/. If you are a teacher or anyone struggling with your self care needs you should def check it out.  Until next time!

March Favorites!

As mentioned in my previous post, I haven’t bought any makeup this month. Kind of…I exchanged some stuff at Sephora and ordered two morphe brushes during their FLASH20 sale. So like 98% less than I usually do. With this self imposed makeup hiatus, I had to dig out some old favorites. Not that I don’t have favorites that I stick to, but when you are constantly buying and trying you don’t really use the same things too often. This month has made me use several of the same items over and over again, so I feel like I can truthfully say I have some March Favorites.

So lets start with Primer. I have been using this combo religiously. The Nivea Sensitive Post Shave Balm and Benefit’s Porefessional. Y’all. Y’ALL. Let me tell you. My makeup doesn’t move. I live in South Carolina, and in March we have already reached high 80’s. And my face has stayed beat. I apply the Porefessional to my tzone and the Nivea every where else. Perfect combo for me!

Nivea shave Balm and Porefessional saving the day.

Kat Von D’s liquid lipsticks are among my favorites. They are incredibly long wearing and not too incredibly drying. I accidentally ordered Exorcism when I truly wanted Vampira. But it was a happy accident because I love Exorcism, the color is so beautifully rich and opaque. Its definitely a bold color, but I love a stand out lip.

I may be one of the few that like a subtle highlight. I think they are beautiful I just don’t necessarily like it on me. Probably because I want my standout to be my lips, always. So even if the highlight color is bold, I always sheer it out quite a bit. Colourpop has an amazing formula for their highlighters and they sheer out great! This month I have been using Most Necessary, they describe it as a “soft copper with rosy gold highlights”. It is perfect for my everyday highlight and gives me the right amount of glow.

A Most Necessary, Exorcism because these products have me possessed. Hehe, done with awful corny jokes.

Most Necessary swatched at the top and Exorcism at the bottom. Exorcism dries a tad bit darker.

So, I knew I liked my NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation but I didn’t realize how much I loved it! I have been on search for a different foundation since December and finally decided on Makeup Forever’s Ultra HD. I bought it in early January and used it consistently up until two weeks ago. I had no reason to reach for the Nars besides the fact that I felt like it. And I am glad I did, maybe I wasn’t applying it well or was using the wrong brush but however I applied it that day gave me the most beautiful finish and I haven’t turned back since. I used my Morphe E44 brush and buffed it in.

And I had to save the best for last. SACHA! The Sacha Buttercup has been my ride or die since I got it late last month. Like I can’t even with it. The color is perfect for my skin tone and the texture is so smooth. It mattifies, prevents creasing, and highlights. I literally have nothing bad to say about it. I need about 50 more jars, stat.

Sacha in all her glory with NARS All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation. Shade, New Guinea.

 

Makeup Geek, Contour Powders

Makeup Geek just launched (Jan.27) their contour powders. And they are BOMB. I never thought I could be a contour girl, bc they always looked so severe on me. Or maybe I wasn’t doing it right, which is totally possible. But these powders are perfect! First of all, Makeup Geek thought of everyone and everything. They have four cool and four warm tones in varying shades. Makeup Geek’s CEO, Marlena, made a swatch video of all 8 shades. I love that they’ve expanded upon the idea that all contours don’t have to be cool tones, because those types of shades didn’t mesh will with my undertones and I would look muddy. I ended up getting Warm Medium and Warm Deep. They look a lot lighter in the pan than on the skin.

Warm Deep left. Warm Medium right.

Warm Deep left. Warm Medium right.

Warm Deep left. Warm Medium right. These photos were taken under direct light.

SWATCHES, Warm Deep is on the left and Warm Medium is on the right.

In this photo of the pans, warm medium on left and warm deep on right

Warm Medium right. Warm Deep left.

For reference, I am NW47 in MAC and have medium deep skin with mostly red undertones and very little yellow.

These powders are silky smooth and blend out like a dream. Literally, after applying with one swipe of the brush you could almost be done. But, I like a more diffused look so I blend mine out. I use the Warm Medium for a daily subtle contour. When I am going for shock and awe and want leave every passersby gagging, I use the Warm Deep. It gives me nice definition without looking like I am wearing layers and layers of makeup…even though I obviously am. My only complaint about them is that you need to have a Z Palette or something like it. They only come in the pans. 10 out of 10 recommend. Makeup Geek, y’all did that!

Nice to officially meet you.

So like, my best friend is a photographer (alexisschwallier.com) and when I decided to do this blog I needed some bomb pics. She agreed and was paid in Reese’s and salad. I was going for a bronze smokey eye and bold lip. And I think i did it, y’all! Please, enjoy my face and general awkwardness.

OK, so quick review on this lipstick. It was Colourpop’s Ultra Matte in Rooch. I really really loved the color. But it started crumbling immediately. And this one dried quicker than all my other colourpop lippies. I am used to them drying down super fast but this one was like 1!2!3! I am gonna give it another try and see if it was just me. We shall see.

Makeup Details:

Eyes:
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
Kat Von D tattoo liner
Too Faced Better than Sex Mascara
Benefit Roller Lash Mascara
Urban Decay Bitter in Crease
Urban Decay Delete in outer corner
Colourpop Super Shock Shadow in Stereo on lid
Colourpop Swerve Gel Liner in waterline
Becca Champagne Pop in Inner corner

Brows:
Anastasia Brow Definer in Medium Brown
Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Brown

Face:
Nars All Day Luminous Weightless Foundation in New Guinea
Nars Creamy Concealer in Amande
Ben Nye Banana Powder
Makeup Geek Contour Powder in Half Hearted (YASSSSSSSSSSSS!!!)
Nyx Ombre blush in Nude to Me
Black Radiance Artisan Color Baked Blush in Warm Berry
L’OREAL True Match super-lendable powder neutral in Cappuccino

 

NOW FOR THE FOOLERY.

 

THIS IS ME TRYING TO BE GRACE JONES. But I just look a mess. AH, Well.