BrandHabit

Hot New Year's Eve Makeup

By Tracey Brown

Beauty Guru

Blinging Beauty

No doubt you brought the year in with a bang, so why not go out with equal impact? For some, New Year’s Eve Partying is non-stop — music, dancing and drinking. For others, the evening may be more intimate, with dinner and a toast to the New Year. Either way, here are some makeup tips to help you sparkle and shine as you bring in the New Year.

For the party girl who plans to get her groove on way past midnight, makeup longevity is vital.  Not only is long lasting makeup of importance important, but application is of prime importance too.

Everyone can start with the basics:

1.     1.    Prep skin well with an oil free moisturizer. 

Try:   Youth Corridor Gentle Moisturizer with Green Tea

2.       2.  Prime skin for long-wearing makeup. 

Use:   Vapour Organic Beauty Stratus Instant Skin Perfector

3.    3.  Apply foundation for perfectly even skin.

• Keep it light, only applying to areas that need coverage -- under eyes, around nose and mouth. Feather out to cheeks.
• If you are oily, set with mattifying powder.
• Use:  Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation.

4.        Highlight your skin with a shimmery blush. 

Use: Bobbi Brown Bronze Shimmer Brick Compact

Put the emphasis on lips or eyes.

For eye drama:

1.        Use a two-step punch for dramatic eyes.  

•   First line top of lashes and inner rim with black waterproof eyeliner.
• Use Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Pencil in Zero. 
• Smudge into lash line. 
• Apply a shimmery metallic eye shadow from lash line to crease. 
• Try Black Radiance Black Radiance Mineral Shimmers Eye Shadow. 

2.        Finish with LOTS of waterproof mascara.  Try L’Oreal Voluminous Waterproof mascara.

3.       Apply  a nude lip gloss with slight shimmer.  Try Revlon 520 Unlimited Nectar Colorstay Mineral Lipgloss

 For lip drama:

(a la Megan Fox)

1.        Keep eyes simple and clean. 

• Apply a taupe or bronze shimmer shadow from lash line to crease.
• Use Smashbox Eyelights Palette in Smoke box.
• Apply taupe shimmer from lash to lid. 
• Apply ivory shimmer on brow bone.
• Smudge a thin line of black into lash line.
• No liner on lower lash line.
• Apply mascara.

2.       Make lips the focal point!  Use a bright long-wearing color.  Colors to try:

Clinique Long Last Soft Shine Lipstick Merlot

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl (siren red) or Damned (magenta)

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in Alarm (red)

Milani Velvet Lips in Red Carpet (orange red)

CoverGirl Outlast All-Day Lipcolor in Natural Blush (wine)

Final tips for long lasting makeup:

• Set Eyebrows, eyeliner and lipcolor.  Try BeneFit She Laq. Makeup won’t bdge!
• Carry blotting papers for touch-up. Try Boscia Blotting Linens.

Go ahead girl and get your party on! 

Check back to see how to recover if you happen to party a little too hard....

Pretty in Pink -- Shop and Support Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By Tracey Brown, Beauty Editor

aka beauty guru

So many cosmetic companies are now on board with exclusive products for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, that I feel no guilt when I buy a cute little lipgloss or compact or body wash whose proceeds benefit Breast Cancer Research.  I can’t wait to see the adorable packaging and pretty pink products that are limited editions for the month.October of each year affords me the opportunity to splurge on makeup that makes a difference.

 On a more serious note however, I have lost friends and family to breast cancer.  My cousin recently had a double mastectomy and is now a survivor.  When I was 40 I was breast feeding my youngest daughter (that’s what too much tequila in Las Vegas can do for you) so I missed that customary first mammogram at 40 years of age, but since that time I have been regularly getting screened.  Additionally I do my own breast checks in the shower.  If you are not regularly checking you breast for irregular lumps and need to learn how now.  Visit the American Cancer Society’s web page.

While working for the Marin County chapter of theCampaign for Safe Cosmetics, I became friends with Genevieve, a cancer survivor, who now works for the Breast Cancer Fund in San Francisco.  

Some startling data about breast cancer from the

Breast Cancer Fund:

In the United States, a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is an alarming 1 in 8i, and no more than 1 in 10 women with breast cancer has a genetic history of the disease.ii A growing body of scientific evidence points to toxic chemicals and radiation as factors contributing to the high rates of breast cancer.

A Few Breast Cancer Facts

Between 1973 and 1998, U.S. breast cancer incidence rates increased by more than 40 percent.iii In 2008, an estimated 250,000 U.S. women were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,500 died of the disease.iv

An estimated 80,000 synthetic chemicals are registered for use in the United States; fewer than 10 percent have been fully tested for their effects on human health.v

Emigrants from low‐risk to high‐risk regions face increased risk of breast cancer, especially those who move before age 20.vi This and other data tell us that characteristics of modern societies affect risk.

 

A great resource to insure that proceeds from you purchases are actually funding breast cancer is thinkbeforeyoupink.org.

 

My Shop Pink Picks

 

1.  Sonia Kushak BCRF Brush Up on Pink 4-pc. Purse Set, $12.99.  15% of sales from each item goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Available at target.com.

Sonia Kushak Brush Set

2.   Jane Iredale Christina PureMoist LipColour, named for cancer survivor Christina Applegate.  $19  Two dollars of each purchase goes toward a minimum donation of $25,000 to Living Beyond Breast Cancer. 

 Jane Iredale Christina Lipstick

 

3.  Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Moisturizing Bar Soap $4.  Available at avonfoundation.org.

 

Avon Soap

 4.  L’Oreal  Color of Hope Cosmetics Bag , $29.95 at drugstores.  $5 from each cosmetics bag sold goes to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. 

 

L’Oreal Color of Hope Cosmetics Bag

 

 5.  Du Wop Purse Your Lips, regularly $23, now $17.25 at Beauty Habit.  10% of proceeds go to Cancer and Careers.

 

Du Wop Purse Your Lips

 

 6.  Estee Lauder Evelyn Lauder Lip Set, $22.  $500,000 goes to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

 

Estee Lauder Pink Ribbon Collection

 

7.  Bobbi Brown Pink Ribbon Collection, $40.  $35,000 goes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Bobbi Brown Pink Ribbon Collection

 8.  Smashbox PHOTO FINISH LIPSTICK TO BENEFIT SUSAN G. KOMEN FOR THE CURE , $22.  A portion of proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Smashbox Phto Finish Susan G. Komen for the Cure Lipstick

Happy shopping and I’m sure you will be pretty in pink while supporting breast cancer research!

 

More Beauty Tips at Blinging Beauty

Easy Makeup -- From Office to Happy Hour in 5 Steps

By makeupchica

It’s Friday, and if you live in a cubicle, no doubt you may be headed to your lovely or not-so-lovely watering hole after work to wind down after a long work week to enjoy gossip and a cocktail with your friends.  Make mine a Belevedere martini with a twist.  MMMMMM……

But who wants to look like the girl they were when they came into the office at happy hour?  Or worse yet, the girl who has toiled for hours behind her computer or for her cranky boss?  Try these few quick steps to give your makeup some punch (not like you have been punched) and get you noticed!

1.  Clean up!

I keep a couple q-tips in my makeup bag.  Dip a q-tip into foundation, concealer or moisturizer and remove all traces of the day’s makeup around your eyes. 

2.  Re-apply concealer or foundation around eye area.

This give you a fresh clean canvas around the eye area. My favorite concealer these days is Lorac Double Feature, concealer and highlighter in one.  It’s a 5 bling product!

3.  Give your eyes a lift.

I keep a couple liners in my makeup kit.  Re-line your eyes with your liner of choice.  Then smudge a bit of shadow into the line to set it.  For a little more drama line under eyes too and remember to smudge with your shadow.  The bond of powder to the wax in your liner makes it last a bit longer.  Touch up mascara.  Add a sheer highlight to browbone. My Lorac concealer highlighter works for this step as well.

4.  Give cheeks some glow.

Add a touch of color to your cheeks.  Nothing says “My blood is rushing through my veins” like a cheery cheek.  You can’t go wrong with NARS or Laura Geller blushes.  NARS Orgasm and Lovejoy work for everyone as does Laura Geller’s Sunswept and Golden Apricot.  They are pigment potent, deposit color and give the most subtle glow.  I sometimes layer these -- Lovejoy and Sunswept.  Yes, I’m a blush freak.

5.  Gloss up lips.

Unless you are doing a dramatic red lip, gloss up your lips with your favorite.  I love Stila lipglaze.  They are shiny yet tacky enough to last awhile. Try Brown Sugar a shimmery gold nude or Banana, a shimmery gold.

Toss your hair around for that carefree look and order up your Cosmo!  Your look is 100% blinging.

Orignially posted at Blinging Beauty

How to Control Oily Skin -- 5 Easy Steps

Posted by Makeupchica

Is your face a grease slick? By mid-morning do you feel like you have just sprayed a can of PAM on your face?  Fear not!  5 simple steps based on your skin care can keep oil in control.  Ladies if you are reading these tips, they are perfect for the guy in your life as well. 

 1.  Cleanse

 Oft times oily skins over-compensate in the cleansing category by stripping their skin.  In search of that “squeaky-clean” feel, the skin is left with no natural moisture on the surface, causing the sebaceous glands (oil producers) to step into overtime.  Avoid that catch 22 by using a cleanser that cleans without stripping.  I love Ole Henricksen Aloe Vera Deep Cleanser. $30 for 12 long-lasting ounces.

 This powerful cleanser goes to work on excessively oily skin with breakout problems.  Fabulously invigorating with  foaming action and loaded with aloe vera, chamomile and vitamins.  Aloe Vera Deep Cleanser proves that you can have ultra-clean skin without stripping and dehydrating. Oily skin will become addicted to this cleanser

 

 

  2.  Treatment

Bliss is well known for their smart products that treat skin problems with efficacious  ingredients.  Blissworld Steep Clean Mattifying Toner Pads are the perfect  mattifying, moisturizing toner pads for oily and combination skin.  Besides the “feel good” factor, these pads decongest pores and reduce inflammation, gently exfoliate to prevent breakouts, hydrate the skin to restore moisture balance and control oil where needed without drying.  With salicylic acid, smartsponge technology (self activating oil-control spheres), and dead cell digesting enzymes. Steep Clean Mattifying Toner Pads are the ideal touch-up post work out, so throw a jar in your gym bag.  Give your guy a jar to keep in his desk drawer for mid-day touch-ups as well.  $38 for 50 pads.

 

 3.  Control

 Keep oil at bay all day with a spot treatment for your oily areas.  Clinique Pore Minimizer T-Zone Shine Control is the answer.   This multi-tasking oil-free gel controls oil and shine all day. Mattes the T-zone area, minimizes the look of pores. Leaves a velvety-soft natural finish, under or over makeup. For maximum oil-controlling benefits, apply before makeup.  Apply throughout the day over makeup to help prevent oil breakthrough.  Priced at only $14.50 you can afford to keep one in your purse, one in your desk and give one to a friend!

4.  Hydrate

 A common misconception is that oily skin does not need moisture because it’s oily.  Not true.  It doesn’t need added oil, but moisture is a necessity.  In fact, well-nourished skin needs a  proper balance of water and oil.  I am such a fan of products that have multi-benefits, and Murad Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer SPF 15 is a lightweight, oil-free, hydrator that diffuses excess oil while delivering potent, broad-spectrum SPF 15 protection. Contains Murad’s powerful Energizing Pomegranate Complex with artemia to stimulate healthy cell function and pomegranate antioxidants to guard against environmental damage so skin stays healthy. 

  5.  Makeup

Choose either a light-weight oil-free liquid or a powder that has oil control properties.  Prescriptives has both options in a wide range of colors.  Virtual Matte Oil-Control Makeup SPF 15 offers medium to full coverage.  Oil-control complex with bontanical extracts absorbs surface shine and when used daily, actually helps reduce oil production over time.  Natural exfoliants smooth skin while anti-oxidants and SPF 15 protect from enviromental damage.  1 oz $32.50.  If you need to powder over your foundation, try Prescriptives Virtual Matte Oil-Conotrol Pressed Powder. $28  Only apply sparingly in the T-Zone or oily areas of your face.  Do not make the mistake of adding more powder as the day goes on.  That is just one mistake that makes your skin look like you just stepped out of the Sahara.  Instead for touch-up, try oil blotting sheets or a super sheer oil absorbing translucent powder like Laura Geller Matte Maker.  Matte Maker looks scary becuse it’s pure white, but it goes on translucent and sheer.  Apply as often as needed throughout the day for break-out oil control.  Best application is with a fan brush. 

Hope these tips help you cut the fat oil!

This information was originally posted at Blinging Beauty where you can find many more skin care and makeup tips!

Beauty Junkie meets Fashionista

by makeupchica

Well, this is my first blog for BrandHabit, and I'm pretty darn excited.  I'm a beauty junkie to my bones.  I can even get excited walking by the Clearasil  in Walgreens.  And I am more than mildly obsessed with red lipsticks. Yes, red lipsticks, plural. I have several dozen.  Okay, slight exaggeration, but I luuuuvvv my beauty booty.  You know how on your profile here at BrandHabit it asks you how many bags you own?  Try how many lipglosses you have in your purse.  If you have over a dozen, you made the grade -- beauty junkie.

In my estimation, the beauty junkie and fashionista are kindred souls.  We gotta have it.  You know that urge to plunk down plastic on a fabulous fashion find?  Well, I can spend a pretty penny in a beauty emporium.  I'm not choosy.  Sephora, mall store, neighborhood beauty supply, Safeway, the recesses of my BFF's uber chic handbag -- they all have a goodie to offer.  Same as all you fashionistas.  We all know that you can mix a steal from Tarjay with a designer number and no one would be the wiser.  Remember Sharon Stone with her then husbands Gap shirt and Vera Wang skirt at the Oscars?  Absolute perfection.

I think the lesson here in our time of economic turmoil is that we can mix the new with the old, the splurge with the save.  It's perfectly fine, as a matter of fact it makes sense.  While fashionista's love the detail of a well made garment, and a beauty junkie loves the weight, click and status of a $25 lipstick tube in her hand, let's make a promise for less excess.  For me that means I have to use my last drop of eye cream before I buy a new one. No lipgloss until I toss a used tube.  In my closet that means buy a skirt, lose a skirt.  Charity or resale, it doesn't matter.  Come on now, make the pledge -- no more excess, no more excess.  That is of course unless it's last call at Nieman Marcus...

I say whether you love fashion or love cosmetics, we are one.