Softly Romantic

About 95% of the time, any makeup that I'm wearing has been picked out by my partner. I'll lug out my kit and say "pick a color". She'll point to something, usually something easy, and tell me "that". Sometimes she'll throw in a curveball and pick out totally random colors, just to force me out of my comfort zone.

Yesterday, she gave me an easy look to do. I brought over my ULTA shadows and asked her to pick something. She pointed to these reds, pinks, and browns that I've never used. I had to laugh because I was silently sending messages to pick those shades.

See, a little history on Joanna... I always wear dramatic. I've either got super smokey eyes, or super bright eyes. OR I go totally opposite and do as neutral as I possibly can. Those are my lazy days. I'm not prone to wearing something so... romantic looking. I WOULD enter this into all of those Valentine's day contests going on all over the 'net, but I have an ace up my sleeve for those. :)

So here's my totally out of my comfort zone Softly Romantic look... let me know what you think!
















(Those are my new Tiffany & Co glasses!! Love!!)



I used ULTA shadows - Seashell in inner corners, Firework on outer part of lid, Mystical in crease, and In the Buff for a highlight. MUFE kohl liner in 1k for the liner. Smashbox Full Exposure for my mascara.

I think I may attempt a full-on matte look today. Maybe. Possibly. I'm too addicted to shimmer.

Trix

Sometimes... sometimes we create beauty, us makeup fiends. Sometimes we do things that are within our comfort zone and we excel.

And then... sometimes we go "ooo I want to try THIS!!!" and wind up creating something that looks like we faceplanted onto a MAC counter.

This is one of those looks.

I had a bowl of Trix for dinner and was totally inspired by the beautiful colors. I should have left it at that, but no... I had to go and try to create a look based on this damn bowl of cereal.

Nothing was working in my favor. See, here in Jacksonville, it's sunny and warm. This means the trees are confused and are creating pollen. This means that Joanna's allergies go berserk and wreak havoc on the sinuses. My eyes kept watering while trying to apply today's look. I was using old makeup that I think I may have paid less than $5.00 for. I didn't apply a base like I normally do.

Needless to say, the stars were misaligned for me today LOL.

I only have two photos to show today and both are of the same eye. Enjoy! ;)

...but first a photo I took of my bowl of cereal.







Maybe I'll try this look again when the odds aren't so stacked against me. ;)

Thanks for looking! <3

Deep blue sea...

Hi beauties! I hope your January is going well so far.

Mine? It's going amazing. Like... I can't ask for a better way to start the year. 2011 was so off because of so many reasons and I'm truly hoping that this year fares better. I'm even sticking to my resolution to maintain a 365 Project. Granted, it's only day three, but still. My normal attention span is about an hour LOL.

So while I was thinking of ideas for today's look, I realized that I had this gorgeous Inglot navy blue that I've only used once.

Ok guys, sit down, grab a bag of popcorn and let's talk about Joanna's visit to Vegas in February of 2011.

I went to Paul Mitchell school here in Jax and we had an opportunity to sell our way to Vegas. We had these bags of product we had to sell. Nothing stood between me and that trip and before I knew it, my name was on the board of people who made their way. EVERYTHING was paid for (except for food). We stayed in Caesar's Palace and had an amazing suite. There were three other girls and myself. It was pretty amazing.

One of the girls that had gone and was in my room was a good friend of mine who knew Vegas pretty well (she'd gone out there numerous times for work conferences). She said there was a mall underneath Caesars (who knew?!) and that there was a giant MAC store. Cue angels singing and harps ... harping? now.

So we took our second day to head off in search of this MAC store. We had the famous Paul Mitchell white party that evening and I wanted to find some good makeup. It was way early when we went traipsing about so we grabbed food. On the way to grab food, we both noticed (at the same time) Inglot tucked into a corner. We both had heard about this little unknown brand at a three-day makeup conference we had attended just a few weeks prior. We grabbed our food and patiently stalked the store until it opened.

I created a beautiful little five-pan palette for myself with my favorite colors for smoky eyes (plus two highlighters). I used the navy blue that evening, decided I hated it, and never used it again.

Until tonight.

So, long story short... here's my deep blue sea look :)


The color in the pan... don't mind how dusty it all is.


My pup, keeping a close eye on things. Mind you, he stayed within a foot of me the whole time while I was doing my makeup.




I'm not sure what's going on with this one. I blended and blended and blended some more for good measure, but the picture kept picking up this weird... arc thing. It's not there when you look at the eyes in real life, so maybe it's just a way my skin is folding over plus the camera. Who knows.


I really need to STOP arching that brow LOL.



Now. I do wear contacts. I also wear glasses, mostly when I'm working, because it hurts when I get hair and product on my contacts. So I'm thinking that from now on, I'm going to include pictures of what the makeup looks like with glasses on. This is for all the girls out there who want to wear fun makeup, but are afraid to because their glasses might block their eyes. Wear them with pride, near (or far) sighted ladies!





Products used:

Eyes:
*Too Faced Shadow Insurance
*Ulta's navy eye pencil all over lid
*Inglot 428P (navy) all over lid
*Sephora Swimming Pool No 37 in crease
*Ulta Deep Sea & Key West in "upper crease"
*Inglot AMC35 (shimmery white) in highlight, tearduct area, and to blend the crease
*Makeup Forever Crayon Kohl liner (black)
*Covergirl LashBlast fusion (black)

Face:
*Revlon ColorStay foundation in 180 Sand Beige
*Bare Minerals Mineral Veil (only because I'm out of my regular powder [I sound like a broken record LOL])
*Ulta bronzer, Afternoon Delight blush and Infatuation blush all mixed together to contour as well as blush
*Ulta Super Shiny gloss (there's no name on the tube *pout*)

Needless to say, I think I've fallen in love with this navy color! Definitely using it again!!!

Neutral How-To

I was asked recently to create a look for a friend who wears OMG BRIGHT red glasses. Seriously, these glasses are pretty amazing. The only problem is, though, that when you have killer glasses, you can't pull off too many looks.

I asked her what her preferences were and she said she loves neutrals. My Urban Decay Naked Palette popped into mind (swatches can be found here).

I decided I wanted to take the neutral look one step further and showcase how you can take it from day to evening. This is a very simple and easy-to-wear look. Enjoy!

Products used:
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Matte Creme Primer
Urban Decay Naked Palette
Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Sand Beige
Bare Minerals mineral veil
No-name palettes for my blush and to fill in my brows
Ulta mauve lip gloss (it doesn't have a name on the outside, and mauve is the closest color it appears to be)
CoverGirl Lash Blast Mascara

Start by priming your eye:


Use a flat brush and apply "naked" all over lid:


Use a fluffy crease shader brush and fill in the crease with "buck":


Using the same fluffy crease shader brush, blend "half baked" above "buck". Also, use "virgin" to highlight underneath the brow:


Now, this should be where I took full face shots so you could all see the daytime look. I, however, fail at remembering things, and got really excited and kept going. So I'll just type out what I did next LOL.

I applied my foundation, powder, blush, filled in my brows, and put on mascara and lip gloss. This would be an awesome daytime look. Like I said, though, I got really excited at showing how you can take a daytime look to evening and went full speed ahead.

Take a brown pencil, line the upper lid close to the lashline, and smudge. Also, line water line, lower lashline and smudge as well:


Then take "darkhorse" and, using the flat shader brush, gently pat it all over lid (concentrate it more on the lashline) until you get the desired effect:


Apply a little more eyeliner, closer to the lashline, reapply mascara and voila!






Here's how it looks with glasses on, although mine aren't epicly bright. :)





I love this look! This is a really fast, easy look that can be dressed up or dressed down. This can be worn with any color lipstick. You can also use either a brightly colored eyeliner or an angled brush with a bright eyeshadow to bring a pop of color to the lower lashline. Have fun, enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

Work Neutrals

Good morning beauties!!!

Since I work in a salon, I get to wear some crazy makeup. Sometimes, though, I just want to wear something a little more neutral.

Today was one of those days... It started out with my desire to FINALLY wear a winged liner look. (Yea, I made it to 30 without ever being able to successfully create one LOL.)

Normally a look like this would be paired with red lips, but since my lips take up a good portion of my face, and I feel like a clown with red lipstick on, I skipped it and went with a pinky gloss.

(All photos were taken in sunlight outdoors - hence why my brows are a little furrowed LOL)







Products used:
*Benefit Stay Don't Stray
*MAC Matte Creme
*Revlon ColorStay Makeup for Combo/Oily Skin in 180, Sand Beige
*bareMinerals Mineral Veil (I normally used MAC Mineralize SkinFinish Natural, but I've run out. Don't worry, it's on my Christmas wishlist!)
*No-name blush/bronzer and eyebrow powder
*Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser in Neutralizer
*Inglot 467 DS all over lid, up to brow and in inner corner of eye (this is a beautiful shimmery peachy shade)
*Lorac 3-Debut in crease
*Makeup Forever Kohl Liner
*Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara
*NYC Liquid Lip Shine in Cherrywood with a Jordana gloss over the top

That looks like a LOT of product now that I look at the list LOL. This look took me 15 minutes total time to create (and that was with waiting for my primers to dry and settle in). The only reason it took that long was because of my attempt to get the wings just right. What do y'all think?