Makeup Breakdown - Asin Thottumkal on the Cover of Jade Magazine

Asin Thottumkal, otherwise simply knows as Asin, from the hit Bollywood movie Ghajini, is on the cover of this month's Jade magazine: 

I don't know too much about her, but I just love her fresh look and the playfulness in her eyes. This is a great look to wear just about anywhere and so I wanted to do a makeup breakdown:

Face:

1. Apply a light-coverage foundation that will even out the skin tone, like Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF 15. 
2. Apply concealer only to areas that have any discoloration, and hide under eye circles. 
3. Lightly apply a neutral colored blush like MAC Cantaloupe (PRO color) to the apples of the cheeks.
4. Set makeup with a dusting of translucent powder like the Makeup Forever HD Microfinish Powder.

Eyes:

1. Cover the lid in a neutral satin finish shadow that matches your skin tone. I like MAC Kid or Arena eyeshadows if you are medium toned. 
2. Apply a slightly darker color in the same color family in the crease and blend so it looks like you have natural depth to your eye. I recommend MAC Texture or Saddle eyeshadows. 
3. Use a brown eyeliner pencil to draw a thin line on the outer 2/3 of your upper lash line. Get super close to the base of your lashes so it gives the appearance of thick lashes, not eyeliner. Do the same on the lower lash line but draw the line all the way in. I recommend Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Bourbon.
4. Curl lashes and apply your favorite mascara.

Lips:

1. With a light hand, line and fill in your lips with a orange-red lip pencil like MAC Lip Pencil in Redd. You want to create a base for the lip color, not create a mask of color. 
2. Use a lip brush to apply an orange-red lipstick. Be sure to choose a color that is not too dark but still has pigmentation, like the new MAC Viva Glam Cyndi lipstick. 
3. In the photo she is not wearing any gloss, but if you prefer a glossy lip feel free to top off with some clear gloss.

Such looks are great for so many occasions and you can easily glam them up by adding a darker lip color, or a darker shadow in the outer corner of the eye. What do you think?

Wedding Adventures Post #2: Looking Your Best On Your Big Day!

Every bride wants to look her best on her wedding day. Our wedding day photos are going to be enlarged and forever fastened to the walls of our parent's homes. Those albums will be viewed by relatives, friends, coworkers...every person who will stand around long enough for your mom/dad/grandparent to show off to. Not to mention, you want to look great for your hubby-to-be!

To read about my bridal beauty regimen and product recommendations, check out my second post at Maharani Weddings. 

Benefit Velvet Eyeshadow Swatches and Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner Swatches - New Colors for Spring

I was feeling very springy and wanted to check out the new spring colors of the Benefit Velvet Eyeshadows.

Colors:

Mermaid                      Shamrocker

Bo Peep                       Buns

Fancy Pansy                Nice Melons

These shadows are true to the name "velvet." They are so incredibly smooth and buttery! The new spring colors epitomize spring time and remind me of pink bunnies and hunting for Easter eggs. My fave is Fancy Pansy, because it is such a unique shade of lavender, and has a bit of duochrome in it, though the duochrome doesn't show up in pics. The greens are also very gorgeous and very wearable. The neutrals Buns and Nice Melons are also great shades for work or a everyday neutral eye.

My all-time favorite Benefit products are the Creaseless Cream Shadows/Liners. These little pots of color are the creamiest, silkiest cream shadow I have every used, and I have tried a lot of them. Since they are so creamy, they spread easily on the eye, with a brush or a using fingers, which means you don't have to tug on your eye lid to blend the product. I love MAC Paint Pots, but the product doesn't even compare to these Benefit cream shadows in terms of creaminess and blendability (yes that is totally a word...hehe). The Benefit ones are a dream to apply, and the best part is they have the same durability as their competitors, lasting the whole day without fading or creasing. 

Here are a few of my favorite shades:

RSVP, Skinny Jeans, Get Figgy, Strut, Stiletto, Busy Signal

The only negative with this product line is that if you keep if for a long time (a year plus), the color tends to dry out and shrink. The product itself is still creamy and usable, but the moisture starts to evaporate so the product becomes less. Therefore, you have to use them up and not save them forever. My only other issue is that they don't have a large selection of dark colors, so I never use these as liners, only as shadows or bases. I hope the expand the color range soon as these are a definite keeper in my stash. 

What are your favorite Benefit products?

Kiehls Ultimate Strength Hand Salve Review - Banish Scaly Hands for Good!

In my experience Kiehls is one of those brands that makes great products, but often gets overshadowed by more commercial brands like The Body Shop. I have had the opportunity to try a few Kiehls products and have really liked all of them, including the Ultimate Strength Hand Salve that I have been using recently.

I usually don't like salves because they are thick and greasy, and don't absorb in to the skin. This product is indeed thick, but it is not very greasy, and what I like is it does get absorbed! It takes about 2-3 minutes for the product to get absorbed, but that is totally worth it because the effects are wonderful. I usually apply this at night and in the morning my hands are so incredibly soft and supple. And the effect lasts all day! I don't apply hand cream throughout the day, and using this one product at night is all I need to keep my hands soft and moisturized.

Kajal Couture Overall Rating: A

Kajal Couture Overall Opinion: This is a great hand moisturizer for winter, when your skin is dry and in desperate need of moisture. It takes a few minutes to absorb, but once it does, it does not feel greasy or uncomfortable, and makes skin feel incredibly smooth!

My Newest Blogging Adventure - Maharani Weddings

Amidst all my wedding planning and keeping up with my passion for makeup, I have taken on a new adventure. I have just joined the crew of Ranis (bridal bloggers) at the fabulous South Asian bridal website Maharani Weddings and I will be blogging about my wedding experiences!!! To read my first post and stay updated on my journey from Miss to Mrs., check out the RANIS page over at Maharani Weddings!

If you are a bride to be or just like weddings, I highly recommend checking out the site because they have so many great features, like the inspiration board pictured above.

How to Highlight Your Face - Tutorial, Tips, and Tricks

Last week I told you about a couple of my favorite highlighters here. As promised, here is a tutorial on how to highlight your face. Highlighting is used to draw attention to areas of the phase that you want to emphasize and bring out. Most highlighters are a vanilla, white, silver, or gold color, that can easily blend into the skin tone. Many highlight products can sometimes be too glittery, so when choosing a highlight, aim for something that blends into the skin but gives off a nice healthy sheen. Highlights should not be obvious, but they should enhance. On the other hand, contouring de-emphasizes areas of the phase you do not want to draw attention to. Highlighting and contouring are methods of adding angles to the planes of the phase, creating visual interest, and allowing you to create more definition to some areas of the face.

#1: The first place that most people highlight regularly, and probably don't think of as "highlighting" is when you add a highlight color to the eye area. 

You can simply apply the product to the browbone and blend so it does not look white or garish. In the diagram above, I did not indicate it, but highlighting the inner corner of the eye (the tearduct) is a great way to add brightness to your eyes and helps close set eyes look a little more balanced. 

#2: Higlighting the temples and above cheekbones

 

Highlighting above the cheekbones (blue drawing above) is probably the second most common area to highlight. Adding a highlight here creates the illusion of higher cheekbones and gives a nice glow. Usually I apply my blush first on the apples of the cheeks, and then add my highlight right above the blush, above the cheekbones. I usually follow this step by highlighting the temples (purple drawing above). Let me tell ya, this might seem insignificant but it looks sooooo good! You want to create a "c" shape around the eye. This should be subtle and glowy. If you can see it on, you probably have too much product on. The highlight should just catch the light, so if you are looking in the mirror and turn your face, you should see the light reflecting on the highlighted area. This looks great especially on all skin tones and just adds an extra special touch, especially if you are going out to a party or a wedding. 

#3: Higlighting around the mouth

This is something I don't do very often on myself, but I like the effect. Highlighting the cupid's bow (above the mouth) is very flattering and really emphasizes the lips. You don't want to put too much product on, just a tiny dot in the middle of the cupid's bow, and blend outwards on each side. You can also highlight the chin area, especially if your chin and cheeks are in the same plane and you want to add more angles to your jawbone and chin area. 

#4: Higlighting the nose

#4: I really love the effect of highlighting the nose, but you want to be sure you don't look like Rudolph, but with a white nose. The product should be applied at the end of the nose and blended upwards on the bridge of the nose. This really adds a nice glow, but you want to be careful, because if you have an oily T-zone, you don't want to be glowing like a lightbulb. 

When highlighting, be cautious of your face and your skin type. If you have oily skin, highlighting certain areas like the nose and chin can make you look greasier, and worsen your appearance. Practice a few times and you will get the hang of it. Like with all makeup applications practice makes perfect. I recommend that you try these techniques with a friend around, so you can apply the highlight and if you can't tell whether you have too much or too little on, your friend should be able to tell if you look sparkly or natural. Highlights should allow the light to bounce off your face, but not in an over the top way...just naturally...like you have model-esque skin. 

Stay tuned, as I will soon be doing a post on my favorite brushes for highlighting. Till then, hope you all are doing well and enjoying what is hopefully the last few weeks of winter!

Springtime Coral Look of the Day

Hello lovelies, sorry I haven't posted very often in the past week, I have been so busy with my fiance, as we have been trying to do wedding stuff, and we also attended a wedding this past Saturday.

I recently did a springtime look of the day using some golds and corals. My photos actually turned out quite well, until I uploaded them to blogger. I realized that blogger is reducing the quality of my pics, and therefore the color intensity of my makeup is not showing through. I used a very intense coral in my crease and it looks so subtle in these pics! So now my mission is to figure out how to capture the same color intensity when uploading pics to the web. If any of you know, please feel free to help me out!

Here is my spring, coral look of the day:

I used all MAC: Goldmine on inner third of the upper and lower lid, Expensive Pink on the middle and outer portions of the upper and lower lid, and Coral (PRO color) in the crease. I used Blacktrack fluidline on the upper lashline and am sorta embarrassed the line is not very straight in the pic below....just pretend you don't see that....heehee.

I have lots of posts I have been wanting to do so hopefully I will have more time this week to let you in on my beauty thoughts and random ramblings. =)

Favorite Highlighters of the Moment

Right now I am LOVING my Stila highlighters. I go through phases where I uses certain products obsessively, and right now I can't seem to do my makeup without one of these:

Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer in Shade #1

Stila Illuminating Finishing Powder in Rose Gold

The Liquid Luminizer is a gorgeous silvery, off white color, that gives your skin a healthy glow. It really does give your skin a luminous, natural looking glow, without making you look shiny or greasy. The packaging is like nail lacquer, in that the product is to be brushed onto the skin. I like this much better than one large opening because I have better control of how much I apply.

This stuff is very strong and a little goes a long way. I do a thin swipe above my cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose, then rub the product into the skin with my fingers. I find this gives the most natural look. Some days I even apply a tiny bit to my browbone to highlight, and it works perfectly! You can also mix in a tiny drop with your foundation or moisturizer to give you a nice glow to your entire face. Because of the size of the brush, it is easy to apply a lot, so you will have to play with it a couple times before you get it just right. Less is definitley more with this one. That is also a good thing because this bottle will last you for ages!!

In the swatch above, I did a slight blend, so you can see the color. If you blend thoroughly, the product does not appear so shiny and white. Shade #1 is great for skin tones like mine (around NC30 - NC35 in MAC) or lighter. If you are darker, then I recommend trying out Shade #3 which is a golden color.

I am also a fan of the Illuminating Finishing Powder in Rose Gold as a highlighter because it is a soft highlight and not at all glittery like the MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes. Highlights should enhance the natural curves of your fave, not draw attention to them like a disco ball. This shade is flattering for all skin tones and I think it is the most natural looking of all the shades offered.

One thing to remember with highlighters is to apply a little, and if you feel that nobody will notice it, that is probably all you need. When you look in a mirror or in sunlight, you should be able to tell you have applied it, but to others it should look like glowing, natural skin. I am going to do a post on where and how to apply highlighters so stay tuned for that!