Date Night Sexy Tips!

Date Night Made Sexy

Read these tips to learn how you can look hotter for your, um, hot date

This is a TotalBeauty.com health & beauty article Follow these steps and you'll look so gorgeous that he won't be able to keep his hands off those smooth, shiny legs of yours. Get tips

Fendi Sandal Summer 2010

(pic source)
Pardon, as I interrupt the regularly scheduled beauty. What is that panty hose? Whatevs. *Drool* I'm soooo effin weak right now! Steve (as in Steve Madden) get on it! LOL

Makeup Artist Tools: Product containers for your kit

The Ultimate Beauty Travel Pack is a flight friendly, beauty travel set that doubles as a quick starter set of small containers to help minimize products in your kit as well as organize them. This 16 piece set packs alot all in one bag. Click on the image to enlarge. Bonus: the set even has premade labels for the different containers!! Buy at Walmart. Retail $6-10. Not available online.

Mis Unas Nuevas (my new nails)

Update on the details:

The background color is a polish from Urban Outfitters, Green #5 (no name)
The purple in the "leaves" is China Glazes' Grape Pop
The yellow dots and black outline of "leaves" are acrylic paint
The yellow dots appear a bit distorted by green glitter ;)

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Dressmaker, Dressmaker +Ever Hip lipstick swatch comparisons

This is for Stephanie of Beauty and Gardens!

In my Pret a Papier review, I mentioned that I was worried that Dressmaker, Dressmaker was too similar to my recently bought Ever Hip l/s.

On the left is Dressmaker, Dressmaker (true peach, lustre) from MAC's Pret a Papier collex and on the right is Ever Hip (coral, lustre) from MAC's Liberty of London collex. I was worried that they were too close in color, but they are indeed different! (These swatches are true to color.)
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Astrological Reading for Your Lips!!

FREE Astrological Reading (For Your Lips)

See which lip color best suits your sign

This is a TotalBeauty.com make up article Your particular zodiac sign says a bit about your persona, so trying a new lipstick based on your sign is a fun, New Age-y way to find a new lip color. Get your lipstick horoscope

MAC Pret-a-Papier: Swatches- 2 blushes, 2 lipsticks and a paint pot!

Pret a Papier, MAC's latest collection of chic neutrals with a bit of coral mixed in. As boring as this could be, this excites me. Imagine how I felt when i got to get my hands on some of the collection last week?!

The blush whore I am got two of the three blushes included in this collection:

•Garb- Light golden suntan (Sheertone) (Limited Edition)

•Instant Chic- Mid-tone muted coral (Sheertone) (Limited Edition)

(Light Over Dark- not pictured, a repromoted mineralize duo that I didn't get the first go around and wasn't as interested in this time around.)

Swatches (l-r): Instant Chic, Coppertone (for comparison) and Garb

Super light right? Remember these are Sheertone blushes so they won't deposit as much color. Think Mocha, Blushbaby and the like. The description for Garb is spot on. I can't wear it as a blush with my bronzer. They blend together! Instant chic is more of a subtle coral on me. I got two of the four lippies in this collection; nude-ish lustres:
•Archetype- Sheer light gold (Lustre) (Limited Edition) (Repromote)
•Dressmaker, Dressmaker -Creamy light peach coral (Lustre) (Limited Edition)
Swatches (l-r): Archetype and Dressmaker, Dressmaker.

Archetype is Instant Gold lusterglass in lipstick form? A pale gold where you can lighten deeper lipsticks or add a bit of sheen. I didn't need this.

Dressmaker, Dressmaker.. a pretty coral and quite creamy for a lustre. I had to pull out Ever Hip from Liberty of London as it came to mind as I tried on DD. I wanted to compare and make sure I don't have two of the same thing!

The blushes on my hand are more true to color in this picture.

Coral Crepe! A new paint pot!! MAC can we get another paint pot collection like Painterly?? Coral Crepe is described as a soft coral. So this one is not as shimmery as Delft or Bare Study, but has a slight sheen that keeps it from being totally matte... Satin if you will, almost metallic? (Just checked the site. Apparently, it is Satin. Didn't realize they had finishes identified for the paint pots.) Up the amp on shadows like Paradisco or Expensive Pink with this one!


Check out more images and info over at Temptalia!

Hmmm, don't know if I should have gotten Garb blush. I also picked up a Chromagraphic pencil. I got the lighter of the two, but me thinks I should have gotten the darker one. The gold nail polish would have been great to get as well as Fold and Tuck lipglass. I'm also on the fence about Gazette Gray eye shadow.

What do you think of the collection? What are you getting?

Teen Yummy411: Eyelashes and Eyebrows

Practice makes perfect... or nearly there. That's what I preach to the lil sis. She's already mastered a few skills: cornrowing, a mean DC wrap (hair style), even managing her little nephews. While she can get hair pointers from her other sisters, we work on beauty. I'm happy that she's tweezing her own brows (and even bleaches them sometime!)

I just wanted to show you guys what we do from time to time when she's in the mood. Here are two short snippet videos where she's practicing tweezing her brows and applying false lashes. (A little anecdote for you: My older sister started practicing arching eyebrows , with a razor nonetheless, on me when she was sixteen! She began doing weddings by 20 years old!)


**Teen Yummy411 wants to ask that you all pardon the condition of her nails before you begin viewing the vids, lol!

Her tweezing technique is one I showed her loosely based on the white liner trick as Michelle Phan demonstrates in her Basic Eybrow Tutorial.

I've learned the easiest way to apply lashes was with a tweezer. I wanted the little sister to learn to use the tweezers as she learned to apply lashes. Pretty good, huh?

If she keeps practicing, she'll be nearly perfect at this!

Here is a nice lash tutorial that shows how to apply lahses with tweezers, removing them and maintaining them by JulieG713.

Have you all mastered brow tweezing and lash application? Any handy tricks you want to pass on?

Three Thoughts and Ramblings

1. Birds and Berries strikes again! That's what happens when you don't change up your makeup bag. But then again, we should have an opportunity to enjoy our makeup... not look at it once and move on to the next. Anywho, I'm still loving that shadow and my Revlon Teal eyeliner. To show the liner more love. I put it on the top lid and bottom lid! I also added MAC's Industrial liner on the bottom lid. Add that blue liner to my line up of favorite blue liners!

2. Don't call my nail polish For Audrey (China Glaze), it's definitely Orly's Gumdrop... even if they are identical!

3. MY left brow is my usual cork shadow mixture to fill in my brows. MY right brow includes some Lingering eye pencil. Don't judge a pencil by the swatch on your hand! It looked so pastey and gray, but it's perfect with my cork!

Here's another FOTD with my favorite liners!

(This is a little oompa-loompish, but 'long hair, don't care'.) :D

I'll put up details soon!

New NARS Multiples

Move over MUFE HD blushes! There are some new NARS Multiples in town! And I am swooning!

Bright, but sheer colors (or tints): Cadaques (fuchsia), Beverly Hill (red) and Turks and Caicos (orange). All will be $38 when they debut in May!!

Are you all as excited about these as I am?

Hair Update 4-16-2010

No new hair style or color, just a retwist and a check on the length. I'm loving this stage and length. I continue with my same regimen of washing and conditioning. Then, my sister twists my new growth with brown Ampro gel. Most lockers despise the stuff, but it's the only product for me that holds my twists long enough. This is important especially since I don't do my own hair and need my style/twisted new growth to last as long as possible. I've only added grease, Natural Oasis, and some oils and serums for dry hair to the regimen. One day, I will sit long enough to give my hair a hot oil treatment.

Click here for my hair story (the big chop, transitioning, feelings on being a newbie with locs, length comparison pics and more!)


Out of all of my sisters, I'm the one that has no skills with hair. Even the little sister, Teen Yummy411, got cornrowing, braids and some hair care down. So, I'm proud to say that I retwisted my sister Jess' hair and she was pleased with what I did! Look at her growth.

Ins & Outs

My Ins&Outs: What I'm obsessing over and those things that I'm "so over" right now!
IN
Nautical inspired fashions- maybe it's the light and dark contrasts I'm loving with colors including navy blue, white, black, sky blue, silver , gold. seafoam green and instead of the typical red associated with the nautical scheme, i'm swapping it for coral!

L'Oreal Magic Perfecting Base- smooth and soothing giving a blow of airbrush softness!

Fruit Smoothies

Gray boyfriend jeans

MAC Pearlglide liners

Blush/rose, nude, gray, creme, tan accessories!

Chic floral designs

OUT
Obsessing over these redundant candy/icecream colored collections.. it's been going on since last year with MAC's SugarSweet collection! (MAC, Revlon, Maybelline, China Glaze, Orly and more have been on this bandwagon!) Im a big fan, but soo many products and comparison shopping is giving me a headache!

Dark ,vampy nails (Deep, dusty is okay, just not black and almost black!) I swear this has been on my out list before.

Huge, face engulfing eye wear/seeing eyeglasses. Shades, okay; to see daily... ugh!

Not too many outs. However, there was so much more I could add to the IN category! What are your Ins and Outs right now??

Under Eye Brightening Solutions: Laura Mercier's Secret Brightening Powder and Ben Nye's Banana Visage Powder

These two products have been raved about around the beauty blogosphere as under eye brightening miracles. Here's how I weigh in:

Ben Nye (Banana) Visage Powder
"Ultra fine, sheer translucent, perfect soft finish"

Heralded as the best highlighting powder, it stands up to the claim! It's a light weight powder that sets concealer and brightens the under eye area without the cakiness. The powder comes in a small range of colors, but will be able to fit most for the purpose of highlighting.

My take: Since I prefer highlighting under my eyes as opposed to just concealing my dark circles, this powder has the pigmentation to give a brighter look as well as be translucent enough to not over do the job by being a second foundation; no cakiness. The pigmentation is key here as it will set the concealer and highlight (helps with oilies too!). So glad I have this in my kit. Ben Nye is my choice of setting powders for clients. While this is a good powder, I actually take any powder (decently milled) that's a bit lighter than my regular setting powder and use a fluffy brush to apply as it will soften the application.

Laura Mercier's Secret Brightening Powder
Laura Mercier's Secret Brightening Powder is a lighter-than-air powder used to set Secret Brightener, Secret Concealer and Secret Camouflage, while adding an invisible lightening boost.
LM's powder is lighter than air and will completely set concealer, not necessarily LM's trio of coverage in my case, but concealer nonetheless. This powder comes in two colors- #1 a white powder with silver sparkle and #2 an ivory powder with golden sparkles

My take: This brightens as one of the infamous HD, white translucent powders would brighten. That's not particularly the way I would like to brighten. The color comes off a bit off white with little to no detection of the sparkles. I would have to use this uber sparingly to not get the white cast. Unfortunately, I prefer a highlighter, so this isn't my cup of tea exactly. A little goes a long way, so I have more than enough to use up!

How do you weigh in? Have you tried these products? Prefer one over the other as I do? Let me know!

Chela's Blush

'Hi Chela!'

Meet Chela. Chela is my sister Jessica's BFF. (And the glam girl behind the fashion site The Glamour Commander!)

She looked so bright and blushing when I saw her last that I had to know what she was wearing (in reference to makeup of course!) especially that blush that glowed from her rich chocolate complexion. Can you guess what it is?

Hint #1: The swatch
Hint #2: The pan o' blush

Belive it or not, sis is rocking Nars' Angelika blush! Yes, shut the front door! If you have ever thought like me or have seen evidence--check Karla Sugar's swatch and review--that this blush was only for our fairer sisters, think again. Yes, I asked her to reapply in front of me because I was in total disbelief. That's what I get for not even giving the poor blush a chance. It totally transforms on her! Here is Chela pictured with flash so that you know this really isn't a hoax. Gorgeous right?


The rest of her pretty face includes:
MAC Face and Body foundation in N6
MAC Mineralized Foundation in Deep Dark
Lips are lined with Magenta lip liner and Up the Amp lipstick

Thanks Chela for sharing or for "letting me hold you hostage" for this makeup post as Jessica says.

Have you tried Nars' Angelika blush?

What's Your Ideal Smokey Eye Look?

What's Your Ideal Smoky Eye Look? Find Out!

Take this quiz to find the perfect sultry eye makeup for your eye shape

Smoky eye makeup is hot almost every season, but especially for spring, so answer these questions to find out how to make the look work for you. Take quiz

Cosmo's Sexiest Beauty Secrets: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Gorgeous

One of our favorite beauty and lifestyle publications, Cosmopolitan gives us a handy guide to being sexy and gorgeous. Covering all areas and topics such skin care, flawless foundation, eyes, lips, hair styling, tanning, pampering and more you are sure to find some helpful tips compiled with some of the basics you already know and probably forgot.

As the editors give you the low down on sexy beauty, they also grab tips from celebrity makeup artists (Jemma Kidd and Molly Roncal are among the contributors) and artists/creators of some of our favorite makeup brands like Urban Decay, making this book a comprehensive tried and true beauty resource.

The book is easy to read and navigate, just like a Cosmo mag- Q&A's, charts, recommendations by skin tone, statistics with sexy secrets mixed in. The book is equally entertaining as informative.

"Blot your face with a tissue after moisturizing and before foundation." "Vitamins and Omega-3 rich foods" should be part of your beauty routine. "The best blond for dark skin is (a la Mary J. Blidge)....??" Ok, ok! I won't spill all the fun if you haven't read the book. Definitely crack the book open for a fun sexy read! Your Bf may enjoy the book's images of sexy women!

Do you own this book? Interested in checking the book out?

*This book was provided as a sample to me by PR for consideration for review!

New Fragrance: Baby Phat Dare Me by Kimora Lee Simmons

(image source)

Intro and Notes: Kimora has added a fifth fragrance to her Baby Phat fragrance line called Dare Me as her Spring 2010 release. Yay to that as I'm a big fan of KLS and JLo's celeb creations. Golden Goddess is a Fall staple for me, but this fragrance shows another side of KLS. The juice features top notes of magnolia, coconut milk and neroli; middle notes of red vanilla orchid, honeysuckle nectar, and blackberry creme; and bottom notes of creme de musk and sandalwood. Sounds sweet!

First Impression: When I spritzed myself, I was unimpressed by the tanning lotion coconut smell, but it lingered and began to appeal to me. As my warm spring day turned to night, I could only think of tanned gams falling beneath a cute cover up, sipping coladas on a beach and swaying to rhythms of steel drums. For a Spring day, this floral woody musk screams Summer. It's not too musky, but all exotic, sweet tropical, minus any spice.

Is this one like the others?: In comparison to some other fragrances, Ralph Rocks (orange bottle, turquoise writing?) comes to mind. I didn't read any notes of coconut in RR's description, but I'm not the only one that thinks it's coconutty.. Robin of NST thinks so too.

I've also been reading comparisons of Dare Me to Beyonce's Heat. While there might be some similar notes, Heat's city sexy notes of amber and peach turns Dare Me's coconut headiness south to the tropics. These two are definitely different.

Get yours!: I snagged my bottle from Target for $16. The 15ml bottle is perfect for the fragrance collector in me. It can be found at most mass retailers (Target, Wal-Mart and the like) in 30 and 15ml portions; $16-28.

Sniffed Dare Me yet? Love it? Leave it?