Tip-full Tuesday!

Hello Lovelies!
Congratulations - you made it through Monday! To reward such, I have decided to start up "Tip-full Tuesday" - you're reward for making it through the dreaded Monday after a fun filled weekend.

To kick it off, I'm going to let you in on a few tips to prevent eyeshadow and eye liner fall out. I have received this particular question many times over the past few months; from brides, high school girls, models and designers. With the warm weather fast approaching, I anticipate the question being asked even more.

To prevent shadow fall out -
*Prep your eyelid with a base - primer is best (TooFaced Shadow Insurance, MAC Prep & Prime Eye, Sephora Eye Primer....) If you don't have a primer, foundation works as well
*Using a sponge, dab powder under your eyes - but do not blend in
*When picking up shadow with your brush, give it a  little shake to get rid of excess shadow before applying to your lid. This will help drastically with preventing shadow from falling beneath your eyes!

To prevent liner from falling or melting -
*After applying liner, use a powder eyeshadow to match the color of your liner to set it - especially important  if using a gel or pencil liner. Use an eyeliner (bent liner or angled liner) brush and retrace the liner. This will set it, making it less likely to move, fall, or "melt" throughout the day.

Finish off with a spritz of MAC Fix+ or Urban Decay's All Nighter (if you don't have either, and can handle the smell - hair spray will have the same effect...just don't use a max hold or you'll feel as if your face is glued in place).


Click here for more tips, information on new products, and special offers!

Donna

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Donna who may just be the sweetest girl I've ever met. She was cute, bubbly, sweet, engaging, thoughtful, and there's something about her that you just know that she deeply cares about people - people she's known forever, people she's just met, and people she doesn't yet know. She was inspiring and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet her!

Photo is courtesy of Digital Obsession: Photography by Frank Wise.

Vlog: Product Review: Rembrandt 2-Hour Teeth Whitening Kit

Normally I would do a regular blog - but my back is hurting pretty badly so I'm limiting my typing; so here you go.

Pros:
- $17
- available at Target (love Target)
- Definitely effective!! Almost all coffee stains are gone & since I don't really drink coffee or soda anymore that should help keep 'em white :)

Cons:
- Hurt a bit at first
- Takes 2 hours
- They're in trays & it can be a little messy

Nuetral Everyday Makeup Tutorial

Alright Lovelies - here's the look that I have received multiple requests for tutorials on and the one I tried to film this morning and failed miserably at - definitely can't wait to find the other camera!
To get this look:
Face:

1. Before anything else, apply moisturizer to a clean face and let it soak in for a few minutes.
2. Apply a face primer - like MAC's Prep & Prime. Primer is a multitasker - it will help even out redness, blot out excess oil, and smooth out the skin so your foundation goes on more smoothly. It also helps your makeup last all day!
3. Apply a small amount of foundation. Either dot it on your face with your fingers or use a foundation brush - but be careful; a little goes a long way - too much and you're face will get cakey. Using a stippling brush, stipple the foundation on being sure to blend well into your jawline, neck and hairline. 
4. Set your powder with a setting powder. 
5. Using a small blush/contour brush, contour cheeks with a powder that is 1-2 shades darker than your skin tone
6. Using a small blush brush, apply a pinky blush - start with less then add more if you would like -
7. Using a fan brush, apply a highlighter (I use Dazzlelight Eyeshadow) to the top of your cheek bones and done the center of your nose.

Eyes:

1. First things first, use an eye primer to ensure your shadow will last all day and not crease. My personal favorite at the moment is TooFaced Shadow Insurance. MAC has a good one called Prep & Prime Eye, Sephora carries a cheaper one as well. 
2. Next, using Large Shader Brush, sweep Dazzlelight (a shimmery vanilla color) across your entire eyelid and up to your browbone. This will create a base for the rest of the shadows if you didn't use an eye primer. If you did use a primer, you only need to sweep Dazzlelight eyeshadow along your browbone.
3. Using a small shader brush (you can use the large shader brush, I just like to use a smaller one for this step because my eyes are small.) sweep All That Glitters (a shimmery, honey color) from the tear duct to about 2/3 of the way across your eyelid. 
4. Then using a medium shader brush, you're going to take MAC's Smut (a dark, smokey, plum-y color) lightly define the outer V. Smut is dark, so use a little and build up to the darkness you would like. 
5. Using a blending brush blend out and up the dark color
6. Using the same blending brush, pick up a little bit of Twinks and sweep it from the outer corner of your eye to a little bit over where All The Glitter ends and blend. 
7. Using the same blending brush, use Shale and sweep just above the crease and below the browbone. This will add a little bit of coolness and will also get rid of any harsh lines from the darker color.
8. Using a bent liner brush and MAC's fluid line in blacktrack, line the top lash line and wing out and line the lower water line. 
9. Curl your lashes and apply a coat of black mascara.
10. Apply false lashes. I used Duo's black lash glue and Ardell's Demi lashes, but you can use whatever you would like or none. 
11. Curl real and false lashes together.
12. Seal lashes down with a thin line of MAC's fluid line; set liner upper lashline and lower water line with black eyeshadow (Carbon).
13. Eyebrows: Using an angled brow brush, fill in your eyebrows with a powder. I use a warm light brown to fill mine in due to the fact that I currently have reddish hair; but a general rule of thumb: if you have light hair, use a color 2 shades darker, if you have dark hair use a color that is 2 shades lighter. 

Lips:

1. Line with a flesh tones lipliner
2. Apply a medium pink lipstick
3. Finish with a clear or pink lipgloss

Finish off the look with a few spritz of finishing spray - my personal favorites are MAC's Fix+ Setting Spray and Urban Decay's Up All Nighter.

List of ALL Products used:
Brushes/Tools:
Foundation Brush (MAC 190 OR Sephora Professional Platinum Foundation Brush #47)
Stippling Brush (MAC 187 OR Sephora Pro #44)
Large Powder Brush (MAC 134)
Small Blush Brush (Sephora Pro Blush Brush #49)
Small Contour Brush (MAC 168)
Fan Brush (Sephora Pro Fan brush #43)
Large Shader Brush (MAC 252)
Small Shader Brush (MAC 242)
Blending Brush  (MAC 224 OR Sephora Pro #10)
Bent Liner Brush (Sonia Kashuk)
Angled Liner Brush (Sephora Pro #22)
Lash Curler (Sephora)

Products:
CVS Moisturizer
MAC's Prep & Prime Face
Face Atelier Foundation in Porcelein
MAC's Mineralize Skin Finish Powder in Light
La Femme Blush/Bronzer Pallette - 3rd lightest bronzer, 1st and 3rd lightest blush
MAC Eyeshadow Dazzlelight
MAC Eyeshadow All That Glitters
MAC Eyeshadow Smut
MAC Eyeshadow Shale
MAC Eyeshadow Carbon
Benefit BadGal Lash Mascara
Duo Lash Adhesive in Black
Ardell Demi Lashes
Flesh colored lipliner (I can't read what brand or the exact color...it wore off)
NYC Lilac Dream Lipstick
Paula Dorf Light Pink Lipgloss
Urban Decay's Up All Nighter Setting Spray

Enjoy! Feel free to send me photos of your finished look & keep sending questions and tutorial requests to: MakeupbySaraC@gmail.com !

Lipstick & Loves,
Sara

*Photos by Dave Kelley @ Studio Seventy3
**Disclaimer: I was not asked by any of the companies/products mentioned above - these just happen to be the products I like to work with at the moment.

Tutorials!?!

Hey lovelies!
I know you have been submitting questions asking for tutorials and I tried SO hard this morning to get one done, but my camera kept saying it was recording when it wasn't. So, I will post a tutorial either this evening or tomorrow with a photo of the look and a step-by-step instructions. Hopefully, I will find the other video camera soon and be able to record a video for you, but until then - keep your questions and tutorial suggestions coming!
E-mail them to: MakeupbySaraC@gmail.com

I look forward to reading about what you want to see!!

Lipstick & Loves,
Sara

Updates and Flawless Looking Skin Tips

Hello Gorgeous!
I have been busy working away at the launch of my new newsletter that features upcoming monthly specials, details on a new product launch, and a beauty tip. The first edition will be sent out today! If you'd like to sign up for it, you can either go here and click on the icon that says newsletter or you can send an e-mail to me at: MakeupbySaraC@gmail.com

I am still working on the layout for this blog - which is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated, but hopefully all the kinks will be worked out soon!

Lastly, it's a lazy Saturday morning so what better way to spend it than sharing with you tip for flawless looking skin! (Ok, it's not really a lazy Saturday morning as I have a kit to re-organize and a few other kit-keeping things I need to do before this evening's photo session with Digital Obsession: Photography by Frank Wise).
So here we go -

**Let your moisturizer sink in for at least 10 minutes before applying foundation
**You always want to use a primer before you apply any type of foundation. This will help create a smoother surface for your foundation.
**If you have oily skin or your face "melts" during the day, loose mineral foundations (as opposed to liquid foundations) will help to soak up the oil as well as feel lighter on your skin.
**Summer & hot weather are just around the corner, so if you don't want to wear full foundation, wear a tinted moisturizer instead. It will give your skin moisture it needs as well as evening out your skin. And most moisturizers contain at least 15 spf.
**Apply face products in thin layers. It's always easier to add more if needed than to remove it once it's already applied. Too much product tends to cake up on you.
**Only use enough powder to set your foundation. You don't need a lot of it - using a powder puff will help to not apply too much.
**Always use primer under your eyes if you plan on using concealer. This will keep the concealer from seeping into the lines.
**If you are having photos taken, you want to keep the SPF only in your moisturizer. Too much spf will cause the flash to reflect off your skin and you will look ghostly in your photos. In addition, you want to go for matte finish products.
**Use a setting spray like MAC's Fix+ or Urban Decay's All Nighter

Bridal: Renz & Kat

On St. Patrick's day I had the pleasure of meeting these two and contributing to these lovely photos. These two are awesome and so much fun to be around! Kat and I share the same love of changing our hair color - which is just fantastic. Last I spoke with her she had orange and pink hair and she showed up on Saturday with blue-violet. This means I instantly like her.  Renz was great - lots of sarcastic comments - which proved to keep the atmosphere funny and never dull. The photographer, Edgar A. Hernandez-Rico (EAHR), was very nice and professional - kept their photo session moving and had his own light-hearted comments to throw in. It was a great way to spend St. Patty's day and we have great photos as proof!