Makeup Tips For the Office

Millions of people work in an office environment. We sit inside classrooms from the time we are five years old, until we are 18+. With so much of our lives spent beneath fluorescent lighting, it is a shame just how unflattering it really is!! While candlelight may not be ideal, it sure as hell would make us all look a lot better ! On a recent trip to the doctor’s office, I was visually assaulted by the powerful, cobalt blue eyeshadow beaming off of the receptionist’s eyelids. While mildly inappropriate at 8am under most circumstances, the fluorescent lighting was not doing this poor woman any favors. If you are working in an office or attending school, these next few tips are dedicated to you!  Your makeup can still look hot despite your unfortunate lighting circumstances

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1.  Avoid Bright Pinks and Reds

Pink and Reds are enhanced much more under fluorescent lights, making you look more clownish than cute. You can still wear these colors, just opt for deeper shades! If you only wear pink blush, choose a rose colored one over a fuchsia. Is red your go-to lip color? Skip the fire-engine red and choose a darker shade.

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2. Warm up Your Face

Fluorescent lights cast a bluish-green hue onto our skin, making us look sickly and pale. To counter-act this attractive, “I’m on my death-bed” look, work on warming your skin up a bit. Choose a warm shade of foundation and stay away from really pink-based ones, which will appear muddy under the lights.

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3. But Skip the Bronzer

Even though you want to warm up your face, avoid bronzing it! Fluorescent lights enhance the orange hue within the bronzer, which will make you look like an oompa loompa. Instead, use a natural shade of blush to add warmth and life to your face.

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4. Black is Whack

Black eyeliner tends to looks very harsh under fluorescent lighting. It has the ability to make you look hard, and even add on some years!  To keep your look soft but still defined, choose a dark brown or deep green/purple liner instead.

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5. Avoid Earthy Tones

Beige, taupe, sand, and umber are all colors that should be avoided while doing your makeup for the office. When put under the harsh lights, they appear very muddy and dirty. Try warmer browns, peaches, or rose.

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6. Fake a Little Moisture

Whenever I am under fluorescent lights, I feel like my face looks extra dry, which only adds to the unhealthy look I talked about above. Using a cream blush instead of a powder can add a little bit of creaminess to your skin. I also recommend dabbing some clear gloss over your lipstick to make your lips look plump, and experimenting with cream highlighters to give your cheeks a little bit of dewiness.

What is Your Go-To Look for the Office/Classroom?

Leave a Comment!

Using Makeup to Create the Illusion of a New Nose

Rhinoplasty is one of the top five most common plastic surgery procedures performed each year! The good news is makeup can be an effective way to slim your nose instead of choosing to go under the knife.

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What You’ll Need:

• Contour Powder/Cream

You can use a product made specifically for contouring, or try a foundation 2-3 shades darker than your skin tone. Matte brown eyeshadow can work just as well too!

-I recommend Makeup Forever’s Sculpting Kit and Kevyn Aucoin Sculpting Powder. The contour shades are really unique and give off  a “shadow” color which is exactly what you want your contouring to look like,  shadows!

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• Highlight

I prefer a matte highlighter when contouring noses. A white/nude eyeshadow would work will, or try a foundation color 2-3 shades lighter than your skin tone.

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• Angled Brush

An angled brush is ideal for sculpting noses. Keep it small so that you have more control over where your product ends up.

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• Fluffy Blending Brush or Sponge

For blending your contouring. I like the Beauty Blender sponge to soften lines, but brushes work well too.

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How To: Slim a Wide Nose

Step 1- Apply your foundation. You can do your face now, or wait until the end. I would wait until the end so that you will be able to judge how your new contouring will look with your overall face.

Step 2- Dip your angled brush into your contour powder/cream/eyeshadow and draw a line down each side of your nose. Keep it light. It’s easier to build product than to take it away. (Check out the diagram above to get an idea about where to place your lines).

**Optional Contouring: Depending on Your Specific Nose**

If your nose is wide all the way up, carry your line to the bridge of the nose.

If your nose is wider at the bottom, draw a small line outward when you get to your nostrils.

If the tip is wide or bulbous (omg, I hate that word!! I had to use it though, sorry), draw a “down-facing arrow” once you reach the tip.

Step 3: Clean off your brush.

Step 4: Dip your brush in your highlight powder/cream/ eyeshadow and draw a slender stripe down the center of your nose. (See Diagram).

If the bottom or tip of your nose is wide, only take your highlight half-way down.

Step 5: Take a clean fluffy brush or makeup sponge and blend your lines (be careful not to blend them together though). Blend until you can’t see a “line” anymore; it should look natural. Obviously, my diagram is just for reference. Please don’t go outside looking like Jennifer Aniston in this picture haha.

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If you have followed the directions correctly, you should notice a subtle change in your nose! Let me know if it worked for you, or if you have any questions!!

Zap Your Zits With Makeup

We all get them, and for some reason it’s usually during life’s most inconvenient moments! Your wedding, prom, first date, important meeting… you know how it goes. Instead of freaking out and playing hooky, try these simple steps to cover up the monster and live your life!

1. If you have time, press an ice cube onto the offender for several minutes. Ice will help to make the swelling go down and will also reduce the redness. You can also rub a little Visine on it; Visine banishes the red in your eyes and does the same for pimples!

2. If it’s already been popped, apply some moisturizer to eliminate as much flakiness and dryness as possible.

3. Apply your full foundation. Covering up any pimples you may have is the last step.

4. Next, get out your concealer, and it should match your skin perfectly! I hear a lot of people recommending that your concealer be lighter than your skin. MAYBE for under eyes but not when covering up zits. If you use a lighter concealer, it will just bring unwanted attention to your monster.

5. Load up a concealer brush, the pointier ones will work best for this. Now, stipple the concealer onto your zit with the brush.

**Stippling means to dab the product on, rather than rubbing or stroking it over your zit. Pretend you’re doing morse code over your pimple! **

You want as much coverage as possible and stroking tends to rub off the product. No bueno.

5. Now that the product has been stippled on, blend the outer edges of the concealer into the rest of your foundation. DO NOT touch or blend the actual zit. If the concealer that’s layering your pimple looks cakey or thick, keep stippling it in, or dab the excess off with your finger.

6. Once the outer edges have been blended, set the area gently with powder. Loose powder is best but if you have to use a compact powder don’t rub it on. Take an eyeshadow brush, load it up with your powder and gently touch it to the newly concealed pimple.

Voila!

REMEMBER: Makeup can only cover up color, not texture. You will probably still see “the bump” but as long as it matches the rest of your face, it won’t be noticeable.

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Concealers I Recommend:

Makeup Forever Camouflage Creme Palettes.

Benefit’s Boi-ing Concealer

Amazing Cosmetics Concealer

A Quick and Easy Way to Add Volume to Your Hair

Voluminous hair is one of those things that girls die for! Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson and all of the Victoria’s Secret angels have it, so why is it so difficult to achieve?? Take a look at these simple steps and find out how easy it is to add some extra volume to your lifeless hair!

You’ll Need:

Blow Dryer

Heat Protectant

Round Brush

Hair Spray

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1. After your shower, wait until your hair is about 80% dry to reduce the risk of adding extra damage to it by using a blow dryer.

2. Spray your locks thoroughly with heat protectant and then flip your head over and blow dry the roots only for several minutes.  If you blow dry all of your hair when your head is upside down, it becomes poofy and wide, not voluminous.

3. Next, flip your head back up and brush it lightly to smooth out any tangles.

4. Start taking several 1 inch sections of your hair at the crown of your head and pull them up and over in the opposite direction that you want it to fall.

5. Blow dry these sections, preferably with a round brush, spray with hair spray at the root and then let them fall in the direction you want.

Tip:

Take it one step further by washing and conditioning your hair in the shower with a volume enhancing shampoo and conditioner!

Banish Dry, Flaky Lips Fast!

As it’s getting colder in some areas of the world (certainly not in LA!) lips are beginning to get more and more chapped. The colder climates cause skin to lose moisture, and our bodies to become dehydrated leaving our lips dry, cracked and peeling. Not only are chapped lips uncomfortable, they don’t look very cute either!

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Follow these simple steps to help keep your pucker smooth and moisturized!

1. Grab a bowl of hot water and a washcloth. Dip your washcloth in the water and gently lay over your lips for 30 seconds or until the washcloth becomes cool. Repeat 2 times, and then use your washcloth as an exfoliator, by gently massaging your lips with it. As you massage, the dry flakes will start to lift and come off. Keep doing this until you feel like you lips are smooth.

2. Rub in a creamy lip balm like Aquaphor, or try Petroleum Jelly. Let this soak all the way into your lips. This will deeply moisturize. (PS. Aquaphor is amazing!!)

3. Once your lip balm is absorbed, apply a regular chapstick. Chapsticks are a little bit more waxy and therefore provide an awesome barrier to your hard-earned, moisturized lips!

Also Remember:

Drink Lots of Water!

Staying hydrated is one of the #1 ways to prevent chapped lips.

Avoid Licking Your Lips!

This may provide (very) temporary relief, but it is only making your chapped lips worse!

Shaping The Perfect Eyebrow For Your Face

Megan Fox (The hair on her head is a bit of a mess but her eyebrows are flawlessly groomed)

It’s no secret that I am obsessed with eyebrows. More often than not, eyebrows are overlooked. Many women really underestimate the power of amazing eyebrows. I’ve already listed my picks for the best celebrity brows and now I’ll give you the steps to making your own eyebrows red carpet worthy.

Shaping-

Creating perfect shape can definitely be the most difficult part of your perfect eyebrow quest. “Do I tweeze, wax, thread, shave?” are the first questions that always come to mind. Personally I prefer tweezing, but please DO NOT shave your eyebrows. Ew.

If you decide to go the “do-it-yourself” route by tweezing, follow these easy steps to creating a great brow shape for your face!

1. Start noticing which type of brows you like. Looking through magazines, and watching celebrities are excellent ways to get references for your own eyebrows. Check out my list of Best Celebrity Eyebrows here for some great examples.

2. To start the shaping process you will need a brow comb, or spoolie, and a good pair of tweezers. Comb your brows to lay all the hair in one direction and smooth it out. If you have never shaped your eyebrows before, they might be a little out of control (I know mine were!),  so this step is important.

3. Next, you need to determine where they start, where they end and where your arch should be. Take a look at the Megan Fox picture above. Line “A” shows you where your eyebrow should start. Take a pencil, or anything with a straight edge and align it straight from the corner of your nose up to your eyebrow. Wherever the pencil hits your brow is an indicator of where you eyebrow needs to start. However: Notice Megan’s eyebrow does not start where the line ends. Her eyes are more wide-set, so she can get away with having her eyebrows start closer it, and it even makes her eyes look closer together.  Remember, beauty tips are not set in stone, if you feel that something may not look right on you, alter it!

4. Now, it’s time to see where you should place your arch. Take the same pencil and look straight ahead in a mirror. Align the pencil diagonally so that it starts at the corner of your nose, and skims the outside of your iris (not literally!). See Line “B” on Megan’s face. This is where your arch should be. When creating your arch, make sure you keep in mind what type of brow you are going for. Making too much of an extreme arch will make you look constantly mad or surprised.

5. To find out where your brow should end, take your pencil, start at the corner of your nose and place it diagonal, this time skimming the very outside corner of your eye. See Line “C.”

6. Now that you’ve got your dimensions down, it is time to start plucking! Hold your tweezers at a 45 degree angle and go to town. A good tip is to take a white eyeliner pencil (wet and wild makes a really cheap one, 99 cents), and trace an outline of how you want your brow to look. Then, whatever you do, do not pluck inside the white lines! If you want to forget the white pencil, start plucking random strays, making your way up to the brow. Go slow, and pull one by one. You might need to step back half way through and see how it looks from other angles. Don’t forget your uni-brow, if you have one!

Tip: DO NOT GET TOO CRAZY WITH IT! lol. The first time I held a pair of tweezers, I plucked my intense catapillar eyebrows into skinny, barely there worms. I thought it looked amazing at the time, but I was 10. Now, I’m still regretting that day because my eyebrows have taken years to grow back, and they still have much more work to do.

Some Things to Remember:

• If you have naturally thick, unruly eyebrows, it’s probably best to keep them full. If you make them too thin, you will have a hell of a time keeping up with it.
• If you’re new to tweezing, slanted tip tweezers will probably work best. You have more control and lessen the risk of pinching yourself.
• There is a myth out there that you shouldn’t pluck above your eyebrow. This is not true. Plucking above is as important as plucking below, if you need it.
• Make sure you have enough light!
• Do not overpluck!!