Beauty News: The Shopping Channel Features CARGO Cosmetics October 7!

Calling all CARGO Cosmetic junkies! Tune in to The Shopping Channel tomorrow October 7 at 11 am, 3 pm, 6 pm, and 10 pm to get your shop on. I'll be working behind the scenes with Annesley and CARGO's National makeup artist, Renee Ryan, who I am uber excited to meet! Happy shopping! 

www.cargocosmetics.com
www.theshoppingchannel.com

Beauty News: Benefit's Annual Beautiful Brow Event!

Are your brows going through a hairy situation? Benefit would like to cordially invite you to their first annual Beautiful Brow Event happening exclusively at Holt Renfrew locations across Canada on October 15 - 17! 

The first 100 to book an appointment will receive a free lip gloss. To top it off, spend $50 worth of Benefit products and you will receive a Benefit Beauty Gift (may include a brow service)! View poster below for more details. 

Click poster to enlarge

http://www.benefitcosmetics.com

Fall Trend 2010: Zoya Cheryl

The colour brown can sometimes get a bad rap for being "boring". Zoya's Cheryl ($7 USD) from the Fall Wicked collection is anything but! I instantly fell in love with this rich, jeweled, smokey brown. It's a shade I definitely don't have in my nail polish stash. I love the mix of brown, copper and gold shimmer. It's one of the decadent shades just perfect for Fall!

Taken the morning after application. Without the flash, the shade is deeper and more rich.

Have you tried Zoya Cheryl? Love it? Hate it? Want it?

www.zoya.com

Makeup 101: Flirty Plum Eyes With Bride-to-Be Erica!

I love that we're going into the second week of October and bridal season is still going strong! Meet Erica, one of my gorgeous brides-to-be! She's a natural beauty with lovely green eyes and long lushes lashes. I instantly wanted to play up her green eyes so we decided to go with a neutral base and plum accents in the crease. Plum, being one of the big trends for Fall, is a perfect palette for this November bride! (Quick shout-out to Naomi for inspiring me to do this post! Thank you!)

Here are the star products: 

Skin: 

Cargo blu_ray High Definition Mattifier Primer (t-zone)

Make Up For Ever HD Primer (rest of face)

Face Atelier Ultra Pro Foundation #2/#3 mixed (all over and under eyes)

YSL Touche Eclat #1 (under eyes)

Make Up For Ever HD Powder

Bailey Cosmetics Foundation Duo in Tan (contour)

Eyes:

CoverFX EyePrep FX

Bobbi Brown Caviar Eye Shadow (brows)

M.A.C. Vanilla and White Frost (brow bone)

the fake lashes were not glued on for the trial which explains why it is falling off the left eye!

1. NARS Rajasthan Duo Eye Shadow ($32 USD):  I love this duo. For this look I only used this metallic almond shade as her lid colour. I also applied this on the lower lash line. Even though we were using plum shades, we still wanted the overall look to be fairly neutral. I have used the metallic almond colour on just about every skin tone and every result is beautiful. I will definitely do another feature using both the shades because the navy-grey is a sexy alternative for a black smokey eye. 

2. M.A.C. Sketch Shadow ($17.50) Sketch is an oldie but a goodie! This burgundy-plum shadow with red shimmer is deep and gives the eye a real sultriness to it. I added this shade in the outer crease to middle of the lid and over top of UD 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Crush. This shade was also applied on the lower lash line.

3. Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Crush ($17 USD): I've had a love affair with these eye pencils for a few years. This is actually from last Fall's collection. Crush is a deep plum with teeny silver glitter. I love using cream bases like an eye pencil to bring out the hue of a powder shadow. Plus, it helps enhance the staying power of a powder shadow. Thankfully the glitter does not fall off onto the skin and gives the hint of sparkle appropriate for a grown woman. I also used UD's Zero black liner to line the top lash line. She didn't want a heavy line so I smudged it into her lash line and dipped an angled brush in black shadow to help lock it in. 

L'Oreal Black Mascara (bride's own)

4. Quo #803 Lashes Shopper's Drug Mart Brand ($7.99): I adore Quo lashes. I do not love the glue but their line of fake lashes has never disappointed me. There are a variety of styles to choose from and all are made with 100% natural human hair. One of my favourite styles from the line is the #803. The hair is longest at the center and shorter on the sides which makes the eyes really pop. The feathery quality also gives it a flirty quality and looks very natural against her own lashes. Erica already has long lashes but these falsies just enhanced them even more. Tip: I don't always like to add an obvious line with liquid liner to hide the band. Since she doesn't want the liner to look thick, I will use a flat synthetic brush dipped in black liquid liner and smudge it right onto the band of the fake lashes.

Cheeks:

5. Benefit PosieTint Cheek and Lip Stain ($28 USD): Another beauty crush. When it first came out I tried it on in the store and wasn't too impressed. A month ago, one of my bride's asked me to use it on her underneath a powder blush. I fell in love! I finally decided to pick one up and can't get enough of it. I love cheek and lip stains especially since I wear minimal makeup for everyday. I love it on its own or layered underneath a pink or coral-pink blush which is what I did with Erica. It's creamier than the original, Benetint, and gives a true girly flush. On my skin tone, I need about 2 layers on my cheeks and 3 layers on my lips but once it's on it stays on. I applied this first then dusted a translucent powder to set it.

NARS Douceur Blush (dusted over top of PosieTint)

M.A.C. Mineralize Skinfinish in Shimpagne (cheekbones)

Lips:

M.A.C. Dervish Lip Liner (all over)

Beaute Cosmetics Luminous Volume Gloss in Paramour

6. YSL Rouge Volupte Perle Lipstick SPF 15 in Stellar Pink ($34 USD): This bride is a gloss junkie but I think I've made a lipstick convert out of her! Stellar Pink is a soft pink-beige from the Fall collection and is a shade that is "your-lips-but-better". This luxurious, creamy lipstick is packed with pigment but the glossy finish keeps your lips ultra moisturized. It's not a long-lasting lipstick but if you don't mind reapplying you'll love how it just cushions your lips!

What do you think of Erica's bridal look? Have you tried any of these products? Love 'em? Hate 'em? Want 'em?

Most products with the exception of Benetint PosieTint, Quo #803, and M.A.C. Sketch Eye Shadow were sent for editorial consideration.

Fall Trend 2010: Zoya Kelly

Meet the new black. Kelly is a deep grey shade with undertones of purple and blue. Sometimes a straight black shade can seem boring and and a little harsh against some skin tones. If you're in a gothic mood but don't want to go halloween-black, Kelly is a nice alternative. Although, I didn't love it or hate it against my skin tone. It was just alright for me. However, on fair-skinned beauties it would be lovely!

Taken on Day 3 with some minor chipping. This was taken with flash. Without flash it's a lot darker.

Have you tried Zoya Kelly from the Fall Wonderful collection? Love it? Hate it? Want it?

www.artofbeauty.com

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils: De-Sticking, part 1

I finally attempted to de-stick my Milk pencil into a little pot. I took some pics of the results, so here they are!

Here's the pencil after I melted out all the product. You can see it kinda got all over, lol. (The end looks all jagged because I'd tried to sharpen it... didn't work. >.<)
You can see through to the other side! :)

As you can see, my pot was a little bigger than was necessary. I don't know what size this particular jar is, but I think it's under 2.oz. After the amount I'd already used, plus loss of product from sharpening and melting, the rest only filled about half the container.

It's still creamy and easy to apply. I tried applying some to the back of my hand with my finger, and it went on like silk. ^^

Now I'll explain what I did:

First I used a tool to pull off the metal tip at the bottom of the pencil. (Pliers would work; I didn't have large enough ones, so I used some garden clippers, clasping it around the end of the metal thing, with the blade fitting in the groove between metal and pencil. Then I wiggled it until it came off.)

Then I tried standing the pencil point-down in the jar, which was inside a ceramic mug, to keep the pencil upright. I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, just to see what would happen. I was paranoid about the jar melting since our microwave is pretty powerful. It didn't do anything at first, so I put it in for a bit longer, but the jar started sticking to the bottom of the mug, so I took them out. (By this time the mug was very hot!)

I then took everything to my bathroom to try the hairdryer method. I held the pencil point-down over the jar again. (The area around the pencil gets quite hot while pointing a dryer at it, so wearing a glove or holding the pencil with pliers or something would help keep your hand out of the heat.)

I'm not sure how long I held the dryer to the pencil, probably no more than 3 minutes. The dryer was set to hot temp on low, (it's an old dryer). At first the product just dripped tiny drips into the jar, getting on the sides and on my sink and hand as well! (Beware hot melted product!!) It was very liquidy and the air kind of blew it all over the place if I wasn't careful; thankfully I discovered how messy this was while using my white pencil on my white sink! Next time I'll put down some paper towels or something for easier clean up.

After a minute or two, there was still product inside the pencil, and I was beginning to wonder if it was all going to come out...
But I kept up the heat, and then all of a sudden, the rest of the product slid out in a tube-like shape. Yay, success! :D

I left the jar on my windowsill to cool for a few hours, and now I have a cute lil jar of product that I can use with my finger, a brush, a scoop, whatever. It's almost like having a whole new product! x3

I hope this was helpful to anyone who might be considering doing this to their NYX pencils. I'll eventually be doing the rest, though probably one or two at a time. Hopefully I'll develop a science for it so it will go faster and not be as messy, haha. Thanks for reading! :)

Some Shoots I've Been Working On

So I really do promise that I am not dead, but this is the time of year when senior shoots are CRAZY and I am swamped. Just thought you may want to take a peek at the latest =). Check out more at my site!!!