Do You Know Your Skin Type?

My Onyx Beauty,

Please let me lay my head on your shoulder and lament about the week I have had! Wooo!!! Well, you know that no matter the hectic week, my mind is always on makeup! An avid reader of mine asked a great question of me that I actually hadn't thought of... How do I figure out my skin type? Ladies, I cannot stress enough how important knowing your skin type is to selecting your makeup, cleansers, and makeup removers! So lets get to it... Do you have your towels and cleansers ready?

First, wash your face. Be gentle and do not over wash your face. We want to clean our faces, not scrub away all of our skin!

After gently patting your face dry, do not apply any moisturizers, touch your face, or ANYTHING for next hour. This will give your face a chance to get back to it's "normal" after being cleansed. Trust me... allowing your face to get back to it's "normal" is vital to figuring out what your skin type is!

Did you wait an hour? A FULL hour and not 45 minutes? Ok! Next take some kleenex or tissue and dab your "T-zone" (your forehead and nose)

Now we get to the good part! What type of skin do you have?

If you have NORMAL skin , you should see neither oil nor flaking skin. If you have NORMAL skin I am rolling my eyes so hard at you right now... but I still love you! ;-)

If you have OILY skin, you will see a greasy buildup on the tissue. Many individuals like myself with oily skin often have large pores and are "shiny."

If you have dry skin, your skin may feel "tight" or show flakes of dead skin. Many individuals with this type of skin often have small pores. If this is you... moisturizer should be your middle name to ensure a supple, smooth appearance.

Then there are the many individuals that have combination skin. Combination skin often shows characteristics of all three skin types. Most often, the "T-Zone" is oily while the rest of your skin may feel dry to normal.

Now that you know the type of skin that you have, you can better select which products, cleansers, primers, etc will work best for your skin type! See that wasn't so hard now was it? Have questions or topics you would like me to touch on? Leave me a comment beautiful... In the mean time, get to work!

Pumped and Primed... What's the purpose of primer?

Why hey there beautiful!!

I hope that your week has started out as wonderful as I am sure you look as you are reading this! It was called to my attention by one my readers (thank you L.W.) asked me a question that I honestly didn't think to explain... What the heck is a primer and what does it do? You had that question too? Well I'm glad you asked!

There are different types of primer out there just as there are different kinds of foundation. Now don't get scared on me now, keep reading! The purpose of primer is to help your makeup last longer, fill in fine lines and wrinkles, control shine, and prevent creases in eyeshadow and foundation. Yes. primer does all of that! Now just like foundations, you need to look for a primer that is right for your needs and your skin tone. For me, my face produces more oil than what the Beverly Hillbillies found! Just because I like a primer for my face... you may not. Primers are made for pretty much every part of your face where you put makeup. Does your eyeshadow streak or fade during the day... just like apps, there's a primer for that. Wish your favorite shade of lipstick didn't fade so quickly? Well... there's a primer for that!

With any primer, you should wait a few minutes after application before applying your makeup. Essentially allowing it to dry and do what it's supposed to do. Face primer a very light gel consistency. Now I can admit that I didn't use primer for a long while because I didn't want to add another "product" on my face but recently I found one that I fell madly in love with. The one I use is so light I almost put too much on because I didn't feel anything on my skin. (It was great!) The picture below is the one I use (Glam It! Foundation Primer). So, if you are having any issues with your makeup fading, streaking, or settling into fine lines and/or wrinkles or just want your makeup to stay where you put it... Prime it baby!!!

Step-by-step: In what order do I put my makeup on?

Radiant love,

Over the past few days in my comings and goings, I have encountered several things. I have seen women looking like they sniffed too many markers then went Ronald McDonald on their face and/or women that look like they have permanent angry brows >:-/ It made me think that in writing my precious blogs that I didn't consider that some ladies who are new to makeup are absolutely clueless about applying anything I have talked about it the first place. So I searched from one end of the web to the other and found a neat graphic on "how to" put your makeup on.

By no means do you HAVE TO apply your makeup in this order. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I actually do put my makeup in this order although I was never educated, told, or trained to do so. I just did it because it made sense to me. Before you go through the chart, let me say this:

There is no amount of makeup that will make you beautiful unless and until you BELIEVE you are beautiful and deserve to be called the beautiful rose that you are! Before you wash your face, add a primer, or even a dab of foundation, be confident in who you are as an intelligent, worthwhile, and amazing woman! Once you have that down, then take care of yourself. Not only should you take great care of your face, but take great care of your body! What you eat, consume, and do to your body manifest through your skin and how you feel. Want more radiant skin with less blemishes, make sure you are drinking your recommended amount of water daily. Concerned about wrinkles, use sunscreen, don't smoke, and always apply product to your face in circular, upward motions. No matter what advice or look tutorial I give on this blog, understand that your beauty starts with what you believe. You become what you believe... YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!

Throwing Shade... Foundation!

It is a new week and it is a new opportunity to talk makeup!!! Oh makeup, how I love thee... Sorry, I was looking at my makeup collection and got side tracked :-) Anywho, when beginning to do makeup, it is important that you start with great foundation! Not only do you start with a great foundation but you want to pick a foundation that you are the most comfortable with and provides the coverage that you are looking for. Before we talk about foundation application, let's talk about the types of foundation.

1) Pressed Powder- this powder is shine-absorbing, usually oil free and works well with all skin types. It provides a natural matte finish. If you don't like to use this as a foundation, you can use this in combination with another type of foundation as a blotting powder.

2)Liquid Foundation- there are various types of liquid foundation. Often, liquid foundation offers light to medium coverage and may contain some level of SPF. Some liquid foundations are also formulated for different skin types; oily, dry, normal, etc.

3) Paramedical Kamaflage (offered by Glam It! Cosmetics)- This type of foundation is for scarring, freckles, bruises, burn scars, birthmarks, age spots, rosacea, and varicose veins. This heavy-duty kamaflage cream works to cover every skin flaw or is great for those who like heavy coverage.

4) Tinted Moisturizer- this is hydrating moisturizer that adds a touch of color to the skin. Depending on the brand, it can also offer SPF protection and can be used by all skin types.

5) Two-Way Foundation- These are foundations where the liquid and powder are combined into one product making application quicker.

Now beautiful one, please don't go to the nearest Sephora and pick the foundation that "looks" like it's the right one for you! You will come out with 1 of 2 outcomes, you will look ashy and freshly ready for the casket or you will look like you tanned your face only! The best practice to find the best foundation color for you is to try "swatching." First place a color on the back of your hand, see what blends in (as if you have no makeup on that area.) Once this has been accomplished, try that color and one shade lighter and darker on your jawline. With the colors on your jawline, walk into or look at the colors in natural light. The shade that "disappears" is the right foundation color for you! Keep in mind though that with the changing of the season, we have changes in our complexion. The shade you may use in the summer may be too dark for you in the winter, so plan accordingly.

Below is a nifty little graphic I found on pinterest. This is all about application!!! Read through it and practice! I will have a concealer post up soon but for now... Get to work!

Drawing the line... Eyeliner!

Radiant beauty it has been a week!

Please forgive my tardiness in getting this post up but when I say it has been a week!!! Woooo!! Enough about me and my hecticness, let's get down to makeup! Let's talk eyeliner! Eyeliner can add spice, intrigue, and sass to your look. Now before you go and try any of the liner looks below... PRACTICE!!!! I really don't want to hear stories on the 6 o'clock news about women poking their eyes out or walking around looking like crows pecked their eyes in a remake of the "Birds!"

There are several materials that one can use as an eyeliner. You can use a eyeliner pencil, liquid liner, gel liner, cream liner, or you can use eyeshadow. Knowing that there are so many types that can be used can be overwhelming so I will not go into all of the pros and cons of each. It is best to try them for yourself. Although I personally can't seem to get my lines looking flawless with a pencil to save my life, it is the easiest to start with. Once you get comfortable doing a basic outline of your lash line, then try the more complicated looks and try those looks with different types of liner.

For the more advance, cream/gel liners are amazing! Cream liners make smudging easier and many cosmetic lines have colors that are simply out of this world! Using eyeshadow is wonderful as well but it does not last as long as gel, cream, liquid, or pencil. For applying cream or gel liner, it is best to use a flat liner brush. It will help make application smoother and easier! Remember beautiful, practice and you will have eyeliner down in no time! Now get to work!

Ohh La La... The Ombre Lip!

Well hello love!!

I don't know if you have been aware of this new trend but I am in love! The Ombre lip is simply using 2 (or more depending on the look you are trying to achieve) shades of lipstick or gloss along with lip pencils to achieve a gradient effect on your lips. When done properly,  this can give your look a classic, sheekness! First, I am going to post the "how" of doing this look. Later, I will post some photos of how to do this look with various colors. Can you see my excitement?!?!?

Throw Away Makeup? Whhaaaa?!?!?

Now we all know that in order to get that perfect look that you strive for whenever you put on makeup that you need to have a clean pallet (face.) What many of us don't think about, and I can definitely admit to this myself, is we don't consider keeping our makeup "clean." Many of us will keep our makeup for eons because... well... great makeup is not the cheapest thing in the world and who wants to throw away their favorite eyeshadow or foundation when they're not finished with it!!

Well after the research I've done, you just might want to rethink keeping the eyeshadow your mom brought you 6 years ago. Due to some of our basic human behaviors, simple oversight, and things done out of habit, our makeup can be a breeding ground for bacteria. This bacteria can have very harmful effects to our health and skin. For instance, do you reapply your lipstick or lipgloss after eating? Oh go ahead and admit it! Of course I, I mean you do! Well did you know that by reapplying your lipstick or lipgloss immediately after eating can leave deposits on the surface of your lipstick or in the tubes of your lipstick or gloss? Those food deposits breed bacteria... Disgusting right? To combat this, make sure you wipe your lips completely to ensure that food does not end up playing footsie in the tube! 

Now this next tip is why I advocate strongly that you have different brushes to accomplish the different steps of makeup application and cleaning those brushes regularly. Do you use the same brush to apply different products (use a foundation brush to apply foundation and blush)? Using this method which your brushes can end up redistributing the different oils in your skin to different products. Just think... do you really want your face to have natural look and your cheeks to look like your blush was made at the Crisco factory? I didn't think so! Below is a handy little list I found on how long you should keep every piece of makeup in your arsenal. So study hard ladies, make corrections, and enhance your beauty!