beautyhack: bb cream contour

Now I love a good contour just as much as the next beauty junkie, and there are a ton of different ways you can achieve a contoured face. You can use matte powder bronzers, cream bronzers, darker foundations and concealers etc. I have tried everything and realized there are pros and cons to all of those options. While they all give you the chiseled cheek bones, powders can tend to look unnatural in texture on your skin, especially in daylight. I’ve noticed a few crème bronzers look a bit orangey or muddy, and that using a dark foundations or concealers can cake up your face. So I’ve gone in a slightly less conventional route in the search for a natural looking contour that will let my skin breathe and that I can wear in the sunlight without feeling insecure.

This is when I noticed a bb cream in my makeup drawer that was too dark for my skin tone and a little light bulb shaped like a well-defined cheekbone went off in my head. Using a bb cream is perfect for a more natural contour because it’s meant to be a subtle tint of color without heavy coverage. It wont cake up your face or leave a powdery and unnatural finish on your skin. It just blends in perfectly, but creates the shadow affect you want from a contour. I use this everyday as either just a bronzer for my cheeks and forehead or use a little more product and concentrate it where I want to create a shadow and chisel out my features. 

The BB cream I’ve been using is the Maybelline Dream Fresh8-in-1 Beauty Balm Skin Perfector ($7.59) in the color Medium/Deep. It gives the perfect tint of color without caking up my face. The brush I used to apply was the Real Techniques Contour Brush. Its the perfect size to concentrate the product in the small contour of your cheek and the tapered synthetic bristles blend the product out to a beautiful and natural finish (the brush comes as a part of their "core collection" set of 4 brushes for $18.00).

Shop the rest of the brushes. They're all perfection! http://realtechniques.com/

:) ttyl,

madeleine

a guide to beauty guru’s & blogs PART 1

I have been an avid reader of beauty blogs for several years now and have come to know “my girls”, as I affectionately/creepily/pathetically refer to them, quite well in terms of their personality, writing tone, and tendencies in terms of what types of products they write about. With this sage beauty guru knowledge, I feel as though I have a responsibility to spread it ‘round to those of you who may have only just discovered the magical treasures the beauty blogosphere hold. So here it is, a user’s guide to beauty guru’s & blogs! (disclaimer: this is all in the name of personal opinion).

Since there are quite a lot of beauty guru’s I wanted to include, I am going to make this a bit of a series. I tried to think of a particular order or category for these parts but it got a bit overwhelming so this is in no particular order.

Essiebutton- Estee is a funny and endearing Canadian living in London. She writes about a wide range of products, from drugstore (high street) to luxury. She talks in plain language too, not using too many big scary scientific words when talking about formulation and she gets her point across well, while being entertaining. Since she is based in London, she uses mostly European brands but they are all recognizable and well known. Overall: she is good for a laugh and an easy read with solid knowledge to share.

Her Links: http://www.essiebutton.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/essiebutton 

It’s Judy Time- Judy is a mother of one (soon to be 3!) living in a suburb of Seattle, WA. If you are curious about a product, but don’t know if it’s worth buying Judy is the one to go to. She is the queen of reviews, mostly drugstore products particularly foundations. But she does also do high end product reviews as well. Her video reviews are the best. She shows her impression from the moment she puts the product on the back of her hand ‘til when it’s 12 hours later. Overall: she gets to the point, doesn’t fuss around and does great and informative reviews.

Her Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/itsjudytime , http://itsjudytime.blogspot.com/

Glamlifeguru- Tati is a professional makeup artist living in Los Angeles, CA. She has great Youtube channel (not a blogger) where she has a range of content, from hauls, “hot or not” reviews, to hair and makeup tutorials. Since she is a professional you can tell she is a lot more knowledgeable on how the products actually work and can give you really trustworthy information as opposed to a general opinion. She talks about mainly beauty but also goes into hair and skincare products. Overall: great reviews and tutorials, trustworthy formula information, slight allegiance towards drugstore products in terms of reviews.

Her Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/GlamLifeGuru

Vivianadoesmakeup & Lily Pebbles: Now I know these women are individuals and have their own style and personalities and I do really love them and their blogs, but I’ve grouped them together because they are quite similar in terms of their content. They both live in London and focus on mainly luxury products, with a few drugstore items every once in a while…Oh and they’re bffls. But I like that about them. They discover so many interesting European skincare and body care brands that I’ve never heard of but now instantly NEED. They also do videos for a Premium Youtube channel called Daily Mix with other well-known British beauty bloggers, aside from their own respective Youtube channels. Overall: both very charming and passionate about beauty. Discover unique luxury products of a wide variety, although mostly European.

Ana’s Links: http://www.viviannadoesmakeup.com/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/ViviannaDoesMakeup

Lily’s Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/WhatIHeartToday , http://www.lilypebbles.co.uk/

Pixiwoo- British sisters Nic and Sam Chapman are professional makeup artists and Youtube veteran goddesses. They’ve been in the YT grind for years and give the best makeup tutorials from natural looks to celebrity inspired looks and just crazy fun looks with a new eye shadow palette they found. Regardless the looks are always beautiful and they do a lovely job of walking you through the look and also just chatting to you while they do it. They have a great amount of product knowledge and because they are professionals, they really know what they are talking about. They also have an awesome makeup brush line that I love called Real Techniques. Overall: unique and fun tutorials, pretty much use only high-end luxury products, trustworthy and very useful knowledge.

Their Links: http://www.youtube.com/user/pixiwoo, http://www.pixiwoo.com/,  http://realtechniques.com/

Tanya Burr: Tanya, formerly Pixi2woo is the girlfriend of Sam and Nic Champan’s younger brother. She also happens to be a makeup artist who blogs and has a Youtube channel. Her blog has a mish mash of topics from recipes and pictures from her vacations and adventures to makeup swatches, reviews and tutorials. She is very endearing and funny (without trying to be) to watch and always posts really wearable and pretty makeup looks. She doesn’t post terribly often on her blog, but her Youtube channel is all about beauty and she uploads at least once or twice a week. Overall: fun to watch, wearable tutorials, uses both high end and low end products.

Her Links: http://www.tanyaburr.co.uk/ , http://www.youtube.com/user/pixi2woo

Look out for Part 2 Next Monday Jan 27!

:) ttyl,

madeleine