Basic Information about Makeup

I know a lot of people think makeup is basically caking your face with zillion products, so we can fool people by making them think we are beautiful. Sorry, but that’s not true… Makeup is basically enhancing certain features. And once you know what your face is looking for, few products can do the trick.

The main thing about Makeup is knowing your skin tone and choosing the right type of foundation / concealer for your skin.

Now you will ask how can I know what’s my skin tone type, well look no further and keep reading.

1) Check Your Veins
Push your sleeves up right now and look at the veins on the inside of your wrist.  Are they blue or green? If they look more blue, you likely have cool undertones. If the veins look greenish, you’re warm. It’s worth noting, warm girls, that you’re veins aren’t actually green—they look it because you’re seeing them through yellow-toned skin (yellow + blue = green.). It could also be you are neutral and your skin is neither pink/red/blue nor yellow/gold/peach, but somewhere in between.

You have a “cool” undertone if:
• If the veins on your wrist are blue or purple
• If silver jewelry flatters your skin more than gold
• When you look at your skin in the sun, it appears blue-ish

You have a “neutral” undertone if:
• The veins on your wrist are blue-green
• Both gold and silver jewelry flatter your skin
• When you look at your skin in the sun, it appears greenish

You have a “warm” undertone if:
• The veins on your wrist are slightly green or olive
• Gold jewelry flatters your skin more than silver
• When you look at your skin in the sun, it appears yellowish

2) Know the Colour Wheel

As this will help you decide what colour will compliment your skin and which problem areas would you like to conceal.

So basically opposite colour in the wheel will help you decide what you would like to cover up or conceal. For instance If you have to cover a really dark eye circle or pigmentation (normally Blue or Blue Voilet) it can be first corrected with an orange corrector and then apply the right shade of concealer which matches your skin tone. Same goes with any redness or acne marks can be corrected with green (if you look at the colour wheel you can see Red’s opposite is Green).

Easy way to remember – Red + Green = Christmas

Yellow + Violet = Easter

Blue + Orange = No Holidays.

 

So the 1st step in knowing the right makeup is knowing what you/r skin is looking to correct without making it look Ashy / Cakey/ Grey etc

Hope this lesson helps and if you want more advices on something similar do comment 🙂

Till next time

❤ NJ

Buying Cosmetics Online

I’m sure all of you must have bought something or the other online. But some may think if its safe or not or is it just hyped for no reason.

I have personally bought some makeup online as it wasn’t available in Dubai and the major brands which are used by a lot of Makeup artist or regular people are from USA , Canada , UK.

I first started by giving Ebay a try, and it really worked well as you could shop by pay pall (which helps safe online shopping). Then I started experimenting on other sites and it worked really well too. (I will post some of my favorite sites at the end of this post)

When I post my makeup photo’s  I use most of the products I have bought from these sites and I do get questions asking to why don’t I put the details of products which are available in Dubai? To be honest the price I get online + the shipping is still cheaper than buying an eyeshadow palette, lipstick, blush etc from MAC and if you are not a Makeup Artist you do not get MAC pro discount. (During that time I was not certified as a makeup artist, so I found good cosmetics but cheaper on the pocket).

So I hope I have answered your questions. But if you still have any more do let me know and I will be happy to answer them.

As promised few of my favorite sites I love to shop from.

1) http://www.thebodyneeds2.com (This was the first site I ever bought from as they sell sample size products which you can test and if you like it can go an buy those full size products from store)

2) http://limecrime.com/ (Super Pigment lipsticks)

3) http://morphebrushes.com/ (Their eyeshadow palettes are super super pigmented and amazing, their makeup brushes as so affordable and similar to MAC)

4) http://houseoflashes.com/ (Amazing affordable lashes for all eye types)

5) http://www.shophudabeauty.com/  ( if you are looking for something local for lashes )

6) http://anastasiabeverlyhills.com/ (For all your eyebrow / contouring needs. Now they have amazing eyeshadow palettes + lipsticks)

7) http://www.alshop.com/health-beauty/make-up (Another amazing local online site,If you don’t have a credit card and would still like to buy the best cosmetics you have Alshop which allows you to pay by cash)

I hope this helps.

Till next time

xoxo

NJ

 

Switch Between Eye Shadows (DIY)

I know its been so long I haven’t posted anything, but recently while browsing I found this amazing technique which will help us Switch between eye shadows. So I am posting my 1st small video tutorial on the same

Some of us has that one particular brush we use for the entire look, most of the times we clean the shadow with the tissue paper or a wet cloth and wait for it to dry so we can move on to the next colour. I know how important it is to switch between eye shadows while doing a smoking or transitioning between colours.

Being a Makeup Artist for me this is like the best thing as it saves so much time – like for example we use a pencil brush to smoke out below the water line with one colour and need to switch to another colour for a soft transition using the same brush.

So here it is a simple affordable technique – I am sure everyone would be having a donut bun at home if not you can purchase it from any hair accessories or apparel shop I know H&M has it.

All you have to do is wiggle the brush on the donut and voila you have a clean brush to switch to another colour.

Here is a small tutorial that will make it easy to understand – Switch between eyeshadows  ( if you see I am using a different product – but basically its the same material as the donut bun (main thing is that material). Cleaning is also easy soak it in soap water for few minutes and dry)

Let me know what did you think about it? if you use this technique do tag me 🙂

PS – do use a fresh new donut and not the same you use for hairstyling LOL just making it clear 😉

Till next time

♥ `•.¸.•´ ♥ NJ

PS – credits given to – pursebuzz on youtube.

November Favorites

November Fav

As you must have all read in my last months post that I will be starting a new post which I will be updating my monthly favorites so here is my 1st post for the Month of November.

I have 10 products which are my favorites for the month of November. I am sure out of these I will be repeating few products again and again (LOL).

Brows – We all know how essential it is for our eyebrows to look tamed and sometimes we do need to fill in some gaps and give it a clear crispy look. I use the E.L.F eyebrow kit in Dark. It has a wax and a powder after sketching the outline and filling in with the wax we can set it with the powder so it remains intact the whole day without needing to retouch it and avoid it from smudging.

Eyeshadow Palette – Urban Decay’s Naked one palette. If you are more of a fan of natural tone eyeshadow’s I would say this is the best as it has Golds, coopers, pinks, browns and grey. It will really accentuate the eye and its perfect for any Indian skin tone and occasion as we do love playing with Golds and Coopers 🙂

Eyeliner – All time favorite Inglot gel liner in Black number 77.  I haven’t seen anything as black as this gel liner I call it JET BLACK. Other best thing about this product is waterproof.

Concealer – I do have really dark under eye circles and if I don’t do any makeup I do have to at least conceal them. I use MAC orange studio finish corrector to counterbalance the deep bluish hues and after buffing it well I use the MAC Select cover – up in NW 35. I prefer the concealer to be same colour as our skin tone and not too dark or too light just to give it a natural look. As too dark can make it look as if we had a bruise and too light can make the under eye look to greyish or ashy.

BB cream – I have tried so many BB creams (samples) from MAC to Garnier to Body shop but couldn’t find the right colour as most of them are pink undertone and I have a wheatish complexion I need a yellow or orange undertone for it to look more natural. Some BB creams can be really oily as its a mixture of moisturizer and SPF. But finally I found a really nice BBcream which suites my tone (I am a NC42-NC43) and its’ not that oily too. Ponds Age miracle in Beige (They have a Pond white BB cream too if you are not looking for an anti aging product). First when you apply it you might feel it a little light but it takes few minutes to settle down and once settled it matches your skin tone.

Ben Nye Banana Powder – I really love the texture of this powder you can either use it to set your makeup or just set your concealer (can be used on your T-Zone also) this can be used as a highlighter too. I remember reading an article in which they mentioned that Kim Kardashian uses this as a highlighter under her eyes.

Blush – Tarte Amazonian clay blush in Flush is my absolute favorite and I find my self using this product every time. I just love how the colour looks. If you need a little OOMPH to your checks rather a rosy fresh look (Its not rosy tho its a pinkish purplish colour) this blush is the best. It is perfect for Winter and Summer.

Highlighter – If you require a little more glow and want to make your face look fresh NYX Illuminating bronzer in Narcissistic is the best. If you have been checking my pictures on my Facebook page you would have noticed that I use only this highlighter.

Last but not the least Lipstick – I am not a fan of lip glosses since college days I only use lipsticks and my 1st ever MAC lipstick was my 1st BOLD PINK lipstick in MAC Girl About Town. Pink never used to suit me until I found the perfect Pink and trust me I haven’t seen such a beautiful pink ever. I might be more attached to it as it was my 1st lipstick that I bought with my own money ❤

That’s all folks till next time

❤ NJ

NYX Pigment Review

Hi Friends

Today I will be giving you my feedback on Nyx pigment eye shadows which I recently bought.

Before the review I would like to tell you what pigments are , they are actually a powder form of eye shadow with a very intense colour than normal eye shadows.

I normally love using this as its very easy to blend different eye shadows and its an easy application, few might find it difficult in the 1^st due to a lot of fallouts but once you get used to it you will love it

You can use this in 2 ways

• As it is the powder form
• Mix It with a mixing agent (will write it in another article)

Pictures are attached below

The bottle size is below very good quantity for the price of AED 26 in sale (without sale its AED 36)

The below is direct from the bottle and see how dark the pigment is with just 1 stroke

The below is when u smudge it

My Final Verdict – 5/5  I love the product so much that I might go pick up more colours, you can find this product in any Lifestyle stores in City Center Sharjah, Sahara center Sharjah 🙂 🙂

IF you have used it let me know your feedback 🙂 😉 cheers till next time

Mixing Agent

Mixing agents are most commonly used now days by makeup artist, they use it to mix with glitter or power eye shadow so we dont get a lot of fallouts and its easy to mange and mix with other eye shadows.

I will be showing a tutorial to make this mixing agent at home.

Things you will need is

• Glycerin or rose water (Glycerin -can  be found in any pharmacy and rose water in any Indian grocery shop like Datar, Al Adil)
• Boiled Water (as it will be clean and bacteria free)
• Empty bottle (which can be found in Diaso a set for 6 or 7 dhs – Lamcy Plaza)

Procedure

• Fill half the bottle with the boiled water (after it cools down)

• Add 3- 4 tablespoon of Glycerin or rose water (I took only 1 depending on the size of the bottle and quantity you want to make)

• Close the bottle and mix it
• Now take your eye shadow brush and dip it in the mixing agent and tap the excess before taking the powder eye shadow and apply as normal

• And see the difference of the colour of the yellow powder pigment – red heart is with the mixing agent and black heart without the mixing agent

This is the most easy way to create your own mixing agent if you don’t want to spend a bomb on the same, or else these are available in MAC, Inglot and many makeup stores for 80-100 Dhs.

Hope you liked this tutorial let me know your comments

My style Sophie-I technique

Hello My Gurlies

Hope you all are fine today, I will be showing you my style of the Sophie-I technique eye makeup which I had done for 1 of my friends wedding.

The colors I used were NYX Pigments and eyeshadow

• Black – Any black kohl pencil will do
• Yellow – Picture attached below (Canary)
• Silver – Picture attached below (Queen)
• Green – From the Caribbean Palette, but you can use any dark green. (picture attached)
• 3 coats of Mascara

For the face

• MAC foundation NC 42
• MAC compact powder NC 44.5

For the Checks

• MAC blush Early Morning

For the Lips – Its from the Glitter and Ice collection which I got as a Gift from 1 of my dear friends 🙂

• Petite Indulgence
• Rages to Riches

Now to start with the procedure (real steps of the Sophie -I technique also attached end of this article)

Prepare your eye with a concealer so you can neutralize the dark area’s to get a smooth finish and now put a Primer (I used Urban Decay) to the entire eyelid

• With the black Kohl pencil from the corner of you eye draw your eye shape and leave it till half the eye

• Now blend it properly with a pencil blending brush.
• Go in with Nyx Green eyeshadow on the same area with MAC 275SE brush and blend till it mixes with the black

• Take your yellow Nyx yellow pigment and go in the empty area and then blend it on the top and side properly so you have no harsh lines.
• Take the silver Nyx pigment and put it as a highlighter and blend little bit ( use like the below blending brush)

• Now put the eyeliner on top of you eye and with the same black kohl pencil go inside your water liner
• Take the yellow Nyx pigment and with a pencil brush go below the black kohl on the water liner
• Clean the fall out’s if you have any and finish the look with the blush and lipgloss

The final look is attached below and now you are ready for the Evening.

Let me know if you have enjoyed this look and dont forget to leave your feedback’s 🙂

Attached also the original Sophie -I guide