Friday, January 18, 2008

Mistakes women make with their makeup

Top 10 Makeup Mistakes


#1 Dark lip liner paired with light lipstick

Quick Fix: Choose a lip liner that is close to the natural shade of your lips. If you DO use a darker liner then fill in the entire lip and top with a shiny clear gloss, not a light lipstick.

#2 Lip liner that extends beyond the natural lip line. While many seem to think this will make their pout look plumper it actually just makes it look sloppy.

Quick Fix: Line your lips to that the lines actually hug the natural lines of your lips. Line just the border. Add a lip plumping product (there are tons of them out there now!) Finish with a dab of shiny clear gloss in the middle of your bottom lip. It will reflect the light and give the elusion of a fuller pout!

#3 Drawn in Eyebrows! There is no way to make this NOT look clownish.

Quick Fix: Don’t worry, you don’t have to have that permanent surprised look of drawn in brows!! If you have very light or hardly there brows, use an angled brush with brow powder. Use the brush along the natural line of the brow all the way to the edge of the eye.

If your brows are super thin, try using short, feathery strokes with a pencil and then topping the brows with powder. This will give you a more natural look rather than the clown affect.

#4 Eye liner drawn WAY out beyond the corner of the eye.

Quick Fix: We all love the look of glamorous cat eyes, but you have to be careful not to go overboard! For a perfect eye, draw a line along the root of the lashes from the inner to outer corner. Slant the line upward slightly as you reach the outer edge. Do not extend the line any farther than a quarter inch pas your eye. Use your eyebrow as a guide, don’t extend any farther than the natural end of your eyebrow.

#5 Clumpy mascara. Is there anything worse than big chunks of mascara hanging off our lashes or your lashes clumped into only THREE lashes??

Quick Fix: To avoid these terrible clumps first wipe the mascara wand against the opening of the tube, this will get rid of any excess mascara. Then apply to lashes from the base of your lashes to the tops, wiggling the wand from side to side. This will give you a more even application and will avoid those annoying clumps! Before the mascara dries, use an eyelash comb or you can save some money and use an old toothbrush to comb thru your lashes to separate them and get rid of any excess.

#6 Blush clown cheeks.

Quick Fix: Blush shouldn’t be that obvious. It should give you a flushed natural glow. First thing to do is throw out that terrible little brush that comes with the blush compact! You will want a nice big fluffy soft brush which will distribute color much more evenly.

Dip the brush into the blush and then knock it gently on the back of your hand to get rid of excess powder then SMILE and apply in short, upward strokes right on the apples of your cheeks blending up to the hairline and ear.

If you apply too much? Don’t worry, just try a light dusting of translucent powder to tone the color down a bit.

#7 Bright Blue Mascara

Quick Fix: Don’t think that you CAN’T do a blue mascara, because it can be very polished and chic if done right.

Dark blue mascara such as a navy or indigo can help to brighten up the whites of your eyes which is great if you are tired or your eyes are bloodshot.

#8 Caking on foundation over bad skin.

Quick Fix: Caking the foundation over the problem skin isn’t only bad for the skin but it directs attention to the problem areas. If fine lines are your problem then try mixing a big of moisturizer in with your foundation. This will help the foundation to avoid defining the lines because it won’t seep into the lines. For blemishes try a mineral foundation which gives great coverage for those problem areas without drying and caking to the problem.

#9 Foundation line on your jaw.

Quick Fix: The first fix is to start with the right shade of foundation. This can be difficult and the best way to determine this is to head into the makeup counter in the department store so that you can actually TRY the foundation on before you buy it. Have the sales person help you pick a shade and try two to three colors out on your cheek and step out into the natural light with a hand mirror to see which color is right for you.

Always apply your foundation with a sponge. Your face and neck are often times different colors and a sponge will help you to blend the foundation in seamlessly to avoid that foundation line.

#10 Half lined eyes.

Quick Fix: Lining your eyes correctly means the difference between having big sexy eyes or dark small ones and in the case of half lined eyes, just plain silly looking eyes!

You will want to line your eyes all the way around, however a strong, hard line all the way around can make your eyes look small and close together. A softer line makes eyes look bigger and is the perfect solution.

Start by lining the top and bottom lids at the inner edge of the iris and extend the liner out to the corner of your eye. Smudge the liner gently in toward the inner corner of your eye to create a softer look.



Are you guilty of any of these makeup crimes?? Makeup can be tough and learning what is good on you and how to actually apply it can take time and practice.



Young, Carly. Are You a Cosmetic Clown?. Life Script. 22 Dec 2007. http://www.lifescript.com/

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Prada, Chanel, Too Faced and More

Got in a HUGE ship yesterday and have been working on it like a mad woman!!! GREAT stuff came in!! Too Faced eyeshadows...LOVE the duos!! I would love a job naming cosmetics...or just colors. Some of the colors I got in are Suzy Ho Maker and Hollywood Ho Down! Who comes up with these names? It has to be a fun job!!!

I just uploaded 90 listings! Took me over 8 hours yesterday to do it! Business has been slow so hopefully it will pick up soon!

I am running a huge sale 35% off selected items in my store www.belasboutique.com I need to make room for new stuff in my warehouse!!! So hopefully this will help to sell some items that I have alot of.

I had someone file a dispute against me today. I have been working with this customer, they are in Thailand and their items it seems must be lost in the mail. It is very frustrating because it always feels like Ebay and Paypal are on the side of the customer. I realize the saying " The customer is always right" and I adhere to that but there are some instances that are out of my control. The United States Postal Service is one of those things that are out of my control. I am very careful with my packing, I ship within a few days most times next day after payment, but once I had the packages off to the mail lady, I really have no idea what happens to them and I cant help how they are handled, if they become damaged, lost or stolen. I encourage EVERYone to purchase shipping insurance. I have even gone as far as to now subscribing to a third party shipping insurance company because you can not insure 1st class international shipping thru the USPS, so with this company I can, I even upgraded my subscription last month to make the shipping insurance cheaper but everyone still declines it. So how can I be held responsible for something that happens in the mail? I have proof that I purchased the mailing label...why would someone spend the money for one and then not ship the items...I have incredible feedback, I am a very reputable seller, but now I have to wait for ebay's decision and which I am sure will go to the buyer, that seems to be what everyone says happens and I will not only be out the money but also the product. I understand why ebay does what they do, there are plenty of bad sellers out there that just take everyones money but its just really frustrating when I have been selling for as long as i have and my reputation doesnt seem to matter much. I have only had ONE other package go missing in three years of selling...I think thats a pretty good record and I have never had any sort of disupute filed against me. So we will see what happens.

I have been taking classes on how to improve my store. I have gotten it redesigned and I am now getting my About Me page redesigned along with my custom pages and my ebay blog. I am always looking for new ways to get my store up there on the search engines...hence the blogs!!! lol...I should just write in here about everything...its cheaper than a shrink I guess!

Anyway thats it for now!