Makeup Tutorials

If you are interested in learning new makeup application techniques or want to try and do makeup for the first time, YouTube is a great resource! My friend has a makeup tutorial channel that you can check out. Best of all, it's free! Plus, you will learn something useful, instead of just watching videos of cute kittens.
Watch and Subscribe!




xoxo

Picking Up the Pieces

A good friend of mine recently recommended I watch the video below. While watching I realized something possibly more profound than what the video itself implies. Not only can God pick up the broken pieces and turn them into something beautiful and new, but He can do much more. He can return the broken object to its original form.
Alone, we can try to glue back the pieces, mend the tears in our relationships, erase those words we wish we never said, rewind the tape on that last fight, etc, etc. However, alone, it never comes out perfect. That glass vase you tried to glue back together, will always have a leak, will never look as perfect as it did before it fell onto the floor and smashed. It is damaged both in it's usefulness and in it's beauty.
God is the only one who has the ability to take a broken vessel, and repair it to its original perfection. He can take away all of your sin, guilt, and pain. He can mend your relationships. He can make you perfect again. Without Him, we end up like broken pieces of glass on the floor, we try to put the pieces of our lives back together again, but alone, the pieces don't match up, and we feel a void, and we can never fill the leaky holes.
I know that was a lot of symbolism in one blog, but I hope you understand my comparison. The main point is to understand that without God, we try to fill voids in our lives with other things to give us happiness, and it never works. The only way to feel the relief of guilt, shame, hurt, abandonment, whatever you are feeling, is through Him. There is nothing else in this world with as lasting effects. Be blessed. I hope you like the video.

http://youtu.be/gT-QWSxV0Hs

xoxo

Beauty Must-Haves for 2012!

Great recommendations on a few of my old and new favorites!

Lips:

• Urban Decay Lipstick in Sellout (nice natural lip color and smells amazing!)
• Stila Long Wear Lip Color in Exhilarating (hot pink matte long wear, bold color!)
• Sephora Collection Cream Lip Stain in Always Red 01 (perfect matte red for any complexion, long wear!)
• Nars Velvet Matte Jumbo Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl and Damned (Dragon Girl is an amazing bright matte red, and Damned is the perfect berry for medium to dark skin tones.)

Cheeks:

• Smashbox Halo Highlighting Wand in Gold (easy to use, beautiful, shimmery highlight, doubles as an awesome eye shadow primer!)
• Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Blissful and Flush (Blissful is the perfect peachy coral blush that works on any fair to medium skin tone. Flush is perfect for very dark skin tones that like a pop of pink on the cheek. Great pigment and long wear in all of the colors.)
• Guerlain Terracotta Light Sheer Bronzing Powder in Brunette 02 (slightly shimmery, zero orange pigment, multi-colored for a balanced bronze)

Eyes:

• Stila Prime Pot (thick, long wear, crease-proof eye primer in two shades for your skin tone)
• Smashbox Photo Op Eye Enhancing Palette (3 different palettes based on your eye color, rich velvety, high-pigmented shadows, 6 shades in each, some matte and some shimmer.)
• Givenchy Phonomen'Eyes Mascara in 1Black (unique sphere brush catches every lash and gives length, curl and volume!)
• Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner in Black (Best liquid eyeliner ever! Never smudges, easy marker tip applicator, amateurs welcome!)
• Smashbox Limitless Eye Liner Pencil in Java (dark brown, almost black shade gives definition without being harsh, waterproof, and smudge proof, comes with a sharpener built into the cap for sharpening on the go.)

Complexion:

• Too Faced Primed and Poreless Face Primer (makes skin super soft and fills fine lines and pores for a smooth finish for your foundation, increases the wear of your foundation, also is slightly tinted to even skin tone.)
• Lancome Effacernes Waterproof Concealer (full coverage in a smooth, skin-like liquid formula)
• Nars Sheer Glow Foundation (good for drier skin types, huge range of colors, skin-like finish, medium coverage)
• Makeup Forever Duo Mat Foundation Powder (good for more oily skin types, medium to full coverage in a oil-absorbing powder)

Skin care:

• Ole Henriksen Truth To Go Wipes (your all in one wipe for when you are too tired at night to go through your regimen, these are makeup removing, cleansing, brightening, firming, moisturizing, all in one all-nature wipe and they smell delicious!)
• Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser (removes all makeup and dirt and oils, from an all-natural line)
• Algenist Concentrated Reconstructing Serum (resurfaces the skin for a youthful more radiant look)
• Clinique All About Eyes Serum De-Puffing Eye Massage (2 extra hours of sleep in a magic tube! You can feel it cool and tighten the under eye in the morning after too little sleep!)
• First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream (great moisturizer for dry skin)
• Murad Oil-Control Mattifier SPF 15 (great for oily skin)
• Peter Thomas Roth Sulfur Cooling Mask (great as a blemish spot treatment or for large breakouts, dries up pimples fast!)
• Ole Henriksen Micro/Mini Peel System (3-step facial at home on your day off, all natural line, leaves skin glowing!)

Hope you give some of these products a try! Come into Sephora at 5 Times Square, NYC for a complimentary consultation on any one of these products!

xoxo