BellaSugar

EYESHADOW 101: The Best Hues For Your Baby Blues

BellaSugar — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 16:27:55 -0700

Welcome back to Eyeshadow 101. The first installment was all about purple shadows for hazel/green eyes. #2 is dedicated to finding the best suited eyeshadows for all of you blue eyed beauties. Whether you have more of a sky blue tone or an oceany navy-green darker eye color; men will melt when they catch a glimpse of your baby blues.

Let's begin with a short reiteration of the basics from installment #1. The goal of wearing eye make-up is to enhance/bring attention to your eyes. The rule of thumb is to wear the opposite color eye shadow of your eyes on the color wheel so that your eyes really stand out (or POP as they say in the make-up world).

If there’s one thing to remember when it comes to blue eyes it's this: Never match your eyeshadow to your clothing or your eye color! If you have blue eyes, wearing blue eyeshadow makes your eyes look duller - and complementing your clothing has been out since the 80’s. Imagine if you were wearing red or black? YIKES!

To specifically make your blue eyes traffic stoppingly bold, I suggest colors such as: browns, greys, golds, rusty peaches or plum colors. Right now the look is more of a bold eye as opposed to the old muted "Bobbi Brown" natural eye, so have fun and play with your make-up as you would with any other accessory.

To see my product recommendations and reviews read more

As we know metallics are hot right now and they are easy to use alone. Just apply them to the lid and crease. My bronze and gold pics for blue eyes are:
"Half Baked" by Urban Decay - a really rich gold,

"Amber Lights" by MAC - a shimmery golden peachy-brown (worn by model> and

"Beach"Fluid Iridescent Eyeshadow by Chanel - the perfect combination of bronze and gold.

MAC also makes an awesome eyeliner called Teddy which is a darker shimmery bronze that looks great with any of these shadows.

If you are going for the whole shebang (lid, crease and highlighter) these are my suggestions. Typically, the lightest color is applied to the entire eyelid and to the edge of the eyebrow. Select a deeper color from the same color family to do the crease and dust a highlighter just beneath the brow.

I love Done That by Make Up By Armando for the lid,

MAC's Trax (a burgundy-plum flecked with bronze shimmer) for the crease and

Smashbox's Butter a goldy yellow as a highlighter.

Don't forget to blend well; when you think you've blended enough, blend some more! The goal is not to have obvious edges of color. Remember, lighter colors highlight and darker colors recede and add depth and shading.

Eyeshadow 101 Cont'd: Brown Eyed Girls

BellaSugar — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:22:00 -0700

Welcome back to the final installment of Eyeshadow 101: Brown Eyed Girls. The first lesson was all about purple shadows for hazel/green eyes and the second lesson covered The Best Hues For Your Baby Blues. This final installment is about choosing the best shades of eyeshadow for our chocolicious brown eyed babes.

Let's do a quick recap (I know, it's old by now for you devoted readers) for those of you who are new readers:

The goal of wearing eye make-up is to enhance/bring attention to your eyes. I've taught you, that the rule of thumb is to wear the opposite color eye shadow of your eyes on the color wheel so that your eyes really stand out (or POP as they say in the make-up world). But, brown isn't all that clearly defined on the color wheel so I called in the help of some of my FABulous make up counter experts who say (and I agree), that the best eyeshadow shade for brown eyes are bronzes and greens.

This is super exciting, because as we are well aware by now, metallics are all the rage. Here are my pics for bronze and shimmery deep brown colors for brown eyes. And FYI - these colors can be simple to use alone. Just apply them to the lid and crease.

Stila Eye Shadow in Twig which you can buy here for $14, and

Lancome Color Design Eye Shadow in Click which you can buy here for $14.50

To see additional product recommendations and reviews read more

My favorite green shadows for brown eyes are:

Senna's Metallic Eye Color in De-Vine. It's more of a rich greeny gold which you can buy here for $15.

Scott Barnes Eye Ice in Goddess which you can buy here for $25.

To specifically make your brown eyes bold, you can line both the upper and the lower rims heavily using a classic black pencil as weIl as a deep brown shadow or pencil. I suggest Shu Uemura's Drawing Pencil in Metallic Brown. It's amazingly smooth and the color is FAB. Buy it here for $18.

Application recap: If you are going for the whole shebang (lid, crease and highlighter), apply the lightest color (shimmery taupe or bronze) to the entire eyelid all of the way to the edge of the eyebrow. Use a deeper color from the same color family (i.e. deep brown) to the crease and dust a highlighter (a pale, shimmery, neutral or brown) just beneath the brow.

And don't forget to blend well. Just when you think you've blended enough, blend more, more and then some more! The goal is not to have obvious edges of color. Remember, lighter colors highlight and darker colors recede and add depth and shading.

Bella Interview: Chad Hayduk, Co-Founder of Three Custom Color Specialists

BellaSugar — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:00:01 -0700

Now that you've taken my quiz to determine if your undertones are warm or cool, I thought it would be, er, cool to delve into the topic a bit deeper. In my three-part series, I'll be featuring tips and tricks from Chad Hayduk, co-founder of Three Custom Color Specialists.

Perhaps one of the best services offered by this nifty cosmetics company (see a tour!) is its adeptness in customizing blends - whether to help you recreate a beloved discontinued shade, or whip up a batch of your own perfect hue.

Another one of its specialties? Taking the guesswork out of the oft-posed question, "Am I a warm or a cool?" Look for more color-specific lip, cheek, and eyeshadow choices from Chad later this week. In the meantime, check out some helpful tips from Hayduk below. read more

On determining your undertone

The easiest way to tell is by taking a gold and silver lipstick or eye shadow to see which one melts into your skin. If the gold disappears and the silver is icy, you are a warm. If the silver melts and the gold is dramatic, you are a cool.
Also, ask yourself what happens when you are in the sun. If you burn and/or get a rosy-red tan, you're a cool. If you get a golden tone, you are a warm. Eighty-five percent of the population is warm.

On mixing and matching warm and cool colors

There is no reason why you can't mix warms and cools. Cools can look really dramatic on warm tones and vice versa.
To look the most natural, choose colors that are more appropriate for your tone.

About how neutrals fit into the mix

Just because it's taupe, camel, or brown, that doesn't mean it's a neutral. "Neutral colors have equal parts warm and cool," Chad says. "Think of true red and champagne, which is equal parts of gold and silver."

On color selection choices

For cools, "Think of the colors of ice - silvers, whites, and blues," Chad advises. Look for jewel tones like sapphire, ruby, emerald, and amethyst.
For warms, Chad says, "Think of the colors of fire - golds, bronzes, coppers, russets, khaki green, and chocolate brown."
Once you get the knack, you can then start using these guidelines to pick out optimal colors in other areas such as clothing and even your house paint choices, so you'll look best in many aspects (and lighting) of your life!

How-To: Penelope Cruz's Oscars Makeup

BellaSugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:00:39 -0800

At last night's Oscars ceremony, Penelope Cruz looked positively stunning with her lightly smoky eye and clean, fresh face. I got the scoop from Rachel Goodwin, her makeup artist for the evening, on how she created Penelope's glowing red carpet look.

Rachel was inspired by Penelope's simple yet chic dress, but wanted to add a flair to her look with the makeup. To find out how to recreate the look at home, read more.

Face: Start with clean, moisturized skin and apply a touch of foundation primer to the apples of your cheeks, forehead, and chin where shine tends to show up. Apply light foundation with a tapered makeup sponge. Rachel used Chanel Teint Innocence Foundation in Soft Honey.
Eyes: Penelope's eyes are the centerpiece of this gorgeous look. To start, Rachel created a navy cat-eye with Chanel Precision Eye Definer in Blue Jean, then smudged a navy shadow from the Chanel Quadra Eyeshadow in Bleu Celeste on top of the liner to create a smudged, smoky line.
Cheeks: The key to a smoky eye is going easy on the rest of the face, so for this look Rachel kept the cheeks practically bare, a light dusting of bronzer for definition is all you need.
Lips: Ditto on the lips; bare is best with this look. Rachel enhanced Penelope's natural lip color with Chanel Rouge Allure in Naive.
Et voila! Rachel set the look and added a luminous glow with a light dusting of Chanel Poudre Cristalline.

Source

How to Create a Smoky Eye

BellaSugar — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:50:43 -0700

If you're going out for a night on the town and you want to look your sexiest, the surest way to achieve that look through makeup is with a smoky eye. The standard smoky eye look is created using heavy black or dark charcoal colors, but now cosmetics companies are also creating deep hues of blues and purples to play up your eye color and really make you look irresistible. (Tune in later today to read about the best smoky eye kits.) Here's how to get the look.

Start by applying an eyeshadow primer to your entire eyelid, then sweep the lightest color in the palette all over your eye.
Next, apply a medium eyeshadow shade from your lash line to the crease of your eye and blend well.
Then, use your crease brush to gently apply the darkest to your crease. Again, blend well.

For the rest of the tips, read more

If desired, dab a light amount of sheer shimmer shadow to your brow bone.
Draw a thin line with your eyeliner very close to your lashes. For a smokier look, smudge the line, or leave it untouched for a more defined effect.
For a finishing touch, line the inner rims of you lower eyelid.
Finally, add two coats of black mascara to really smoke em' out.

Keep in mind that when you have a heavy eye, you'll want to aim for light, flawless skin with a touch of bronzer and pale blush. Also, be sure to downplay your lips by using a light, nude lip color.

Makeup Brushes, Part IV: Angled Eye Shadow Brushes

BellaSugar — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 12:00:25 -0700

Welcome back to BellaSugar's detailed look at make-up brushes. Today's installment: angled eye shadow brushes. (To read the other installments, click here.) Angled eye brushes are favored by many makeup artists, because they help achieve depth, definition, precision, and blend-ability in your crease area. When shopping for this type of brush, I find that natural-hair bristles work best.

To use, gently dipping your bush into the color and tap off the extra color. Then, in a windshield-wiping motion, blend back and forth. For more eye shadow tips, check out our Eyeshadow 101 series with tips for green , brown and blue eyes. Here are my picks for the best angled eye shadow brushes.

The Trish McEvoy #23 Angled Contour Brush may be the best brush I've ever used. Never before have I noticed such precision and comfort in a brush. This tool is designed to help guide you into just the right crease area of your eye. Buy it here for $32.

The Laura Mercier Angled Eye Colour Brush is a 100 percent natural brush designed for blending. The bristle surface is cut at an angle that allows you to hold the brush in such a way that you can see exactly what you are doing. Buy it here for $29.

To see the rest, read more

The Paula Dorf Eye Contour Brush is perfectly angled to fit naturally above the crease of your eye, making application easy and mistake-proof. Buy it here for $28.

Tarte Angled Brush is made out of soft pony bristles. Its handle is just a little bit shorter than the traditional makeup brush, making it great for travel. Buy it here for $26.

Trial-Sized Beauty: Three Ways to Take Color for a Spin

BellaSugar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:00:19 -0700

It's always fun to play with new makeup colors and products, but sometimes it's hard to shell out the cash for a color when you're just not sure how it's going to look when you leave the store. If you don't live near a major shopping mall or a Sephora, it's even harder to make color choices online. To help alleviate this problem, I've picked out three pretty beauty sets that allow you to try a range of colors for each product before you decide to splurge on the full-sized version.

Thinking about experimenting with a turquoise blue eye shadow, but not quite sure if you can pull it off? Try these Cargo Eyeshadow Color Cards ($24). This set contains 28 single-use sliding tins that can slip right into a pocket or a purse and allow you to test out six different shades of Cargo eye shadow colors. If you find one you like, you can purchase the full-sized version.

To see ways to sample colors for your nails and lips, read more.

Lip color is another one that can be tough, since things you try on in the store look different once you're outside in natural light. If you're not positive what looks best on you, this LORAC Glam Glitz Lip Polish Collection ($25) gives you eight miniglosses to choose from, all for less than the cost of two full-sized versions. So if you're wondering whether you can pull off a bright coral or a sultry burgundy lip, this is a good way to find out without breaking the bank.

Nail polish is something that can also be tricky, and besides, who really ends up using their whole bottle? Instead of shelling out up to $19 for one color, test drive a few different colors with a mini nail polish set, like this OPI Little Jewels Mini Pack ($10). For just a little more than the cost of one bottle of OPI polish, you can try three of their new Spring shades and snag a mini top coat to boot!