Now I know what you’re thinking: How can a product that comes out white be Makeup? I thought the same thing when trying the new Almay Smart Shade skintone matching makeup. Here’s the cool part it contains Almay’s breakthrough tonemimic shade-sensing bead technology which you see inside the white formula and when you blend it on your skin it intuitively transforms your skintone to even it out and look like you’re not wearing makeup at all.
Earlier this week I announced I was one of the 5 finalists in Life & Style, In Touch and L.A. COLORS “Brush with Fame” competition. Every week I’ll be sent different challenges — the 1st was “Brush Up” where I featured my flower power nail art tutorial, and I just got my 2nd challenge: “Eye Spy!”
For this challenge I’m going to show you how I lash out. I’m a smokey eye, black liner girl — cat eye, reverse cat-eye, thick/thin black eyeliner line — you will not see me leave the house without something black in my waterline. And love them or not, no one rocks an eye like Kim Kardashian, Kristen Stewart, RiRi and Katy Perry (lets be honest, we all love Katy Perry) — or at least on a consistent basis (we’ve seen some pretty amazing looks from countless other stars). And Dita Von Teese and Lauren Conrad are the queens of the cat eye.
While these are timeless looks the trend of right now that I have been excited about is blue liner/shadow! It’s a welcomed addition to my black liner and has been everywhere from the runway to celebrities and seen on everyone from Lupita Nyong’o, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Hudson, Eve, to January Jones — which just shows you the range of skintones it looks amazing on!
So here’s how I lash out and how you can too! For a beginner look get inspired by Jessica Biel — see how great that pop of blue makes such a pretty statement without being over the top? At a very simplistic level you could create her look with L.A. COLORS Grafix Eyeliner in Black on the top lid and then smudge the green aqua blue eyeshadow shade with one of the blue shades from their 16 Color Eye Shadow Haute Palette to create that pretty under eye look. If you really want it to pop, use the their Jumbo Eye Pencils in shade See Shells (white) under your eyes and then put the green aqua blue shade on top.
I did a different variation inspired by her look with a bit more cobalt blue effect. Here’s how to recreate my eyes:
Step 1: Use L.A. COLORS Jumbo Eye Pencil in shade Pool Party on the bottom and top lash line.
If you don’t know about the Arcadia brands, I need to educate you. Based out of London it consists of Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Wallis — two brands I have not yet experienced, Burton and BHD and two we’re very familiar with, Topshop and Topman. Consisting of apparel, shoes, and amazing accessories here’s the run down — if you like affordable clothes that look hip and expensive, put Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridges on your radar. If you’re plus size, get ready to exclusively shop at Evans and if you’re more conservative, business (think upscale Banana Republic with some spunk), check out Wallis.
Having recently stopped by the Arcadia fall preview (which launches starting the end of August), and there are so many amazing two piece crop tops and skirts, jackets and fun dresses from Miss Selfridge! I am such a fan of this line, I think I like it even more then TopShop since it’s so much more affordable has so many fun pieces. Everything in their line looks like it came out of a high end hip boutique in Soho. Also these boots need to be mine come fall…
And all of their jewelry…
Dorthy Perkins has a lot of great pieces as well — I always feel like the clothes on the site doesn’t do them as much justice as when I seem them in person. NYC needs to open a story of them, Miss Selfridge and Evans stat! But how cute is this Going Out Out clutch by Dorthy Perkins? If it looks familiar it’s because I feature it every five seconds on my instagram page.
Wallis, which as I mentions is a bit older and more reserved is known for their dress coats and look at these shoes! These are great for the office!
Here at Pretty Connected, we LOVE Jennifer Walsh. She’s probably one of the most inspiring, and wonderful women I know and when it comes to the beauty industry, she’s top notch and in a league of her own — she’s beyond knowledgeable and has consulted with more beauty brands then I can count!
Well I have some exciting news! After founding The Beauty Bar in 1998 and spending 16 years on TV educating viewers, our favorite beauty veteran has a new venture. She’s launching her very own innovative skincare line, Pride & Glory. Pride & Glory is the country’s first ever collegiate beauty brand that partners with each school to give back to a local charity of that college.
Inspiration for this line came about after the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy. Though Jennifer was not physically effected by the storm, what she experienced and witnessed propelled her to get involved and she became very active in the recovery process and in organizing drives. For 6 months after the storm hit she rented a U-haul truck every week, and thanks to her supporters and social media outreach was able to fill them with donations from all over the country to help those in need.
Oh hey! Guess what!?! After scouring the nation (their words!), In Touch, Life&Style Weekly and L.A.COLORS chose me to be one of five bloggers to compete in their “BRUSH WITH FAME CHALLENGE! Every week I’ll be sent different challenges and judged against the other contestants for the chance to be featured in In Tough and Life&Style!!! Plus $500 worth of L.A. COLORS products and a dinner with their editor.
Three things I’m a fan of: 1) Lavazza coffee, 2) National Ice Cream month and 3) No Makeup Mondays. Today, I’m celebrating all three. When James and I first started dating, I’ll never forget the time we made coffee and realized we didn’t have any milk, and he came up with the genius idea to add vanilla ice cream as a substitute.
If there’s one thing my dry skin and hair loves, it’s Virgin Coconut Oil. My kitchen is never without a jar, which is why when Yes to Carrots announced the launch of their Yes to Coconut line I was all about dropping everything to try it.
You’re dying over my lashes right? I am! When it comes to wearing fake lashes, I have a policy: Go big or go home. (Or rather, go big or just don’t bother). Then again, I have naturally pretty decent ones so the last thing I want to do is glue something to my eye-lid that’s the same size. For drama queens like me and everything in between, Eylure has it all and at affordable prices – Just ask Katy Perry!
I was first turned onto to Eylure through their collaboration with Katy Perry of which she was very involved in and designed the collection to her specifications. However, after attending a recent press event the brand, I have learned so much about fake lashes that I’m so excited to share with you! (Especially for my fellow readers that are terrible at applying them on themselves.)
Last week I joined BeautyStat along with Celebrity Makeup Artist Joanna Schlip, and blogger, Aly Walansky for Physicians Formula‘s #PFSummerGlow Twitter Party. During our chat we gave makeup tips and answered participants questions as well as gave away loads of products! Since the theme was all about getting your summer glow on (hence the hashtag #PFSummerGlow), here’s Beauty Stat and PF’s top product recommendations for sexy siren eyes and bronzed bombshell skin:
I recently came home to a lovely Lemon Verbena plant and the NEW L’Occitane Verbena Frission Collection, which consists of their invigorating Fresh Shower Gel, Cooling Body Gel, Refreshing Body Mist and soothing Bath Salts, Ice Gel for Legs & Feet, and Hand Cream Gel.
