Simple Curls Using a Straightener

Curls can turn out looking awkward and messy if not done right. You want to keep your hair looking soft, frizz-free, with a healthy shine. For soft and touchable curls, avoid using a hairspray. It’s ok for your curls to fall out a bit during the day; it’ll give you an effortless look. 

1. Start with air-dried, conditioned hair.
2. Apply an anti-frizz serum. This will serve to condition and protect your hair from the heat.
3. Brush though each section of hair before straightening it to untangle it. To prevent breakage, hold the roots of your hair.
4. Brush through the section of hair as you straighten it to get soft, untangled, straight hair. Do this all throughout your hair till it’s all straightened.
5. Clip up sections of hair. This will help you curl one layer at a time, especially if you have thick hair.
6. To start curling with the straightening iron, start with the bottom layer near your roots or middle of the section of hair, taking it all the way down to your ends.
7. Unclip and do the same with the other layers. Remember to curl to the left when curling on the left side of your hair, curling to the right when curling the right side, and curling up and out if you’re curling your bangs.  
8. Finish off with a serum spray to prevent frizz and add shine.   

Copper Shadows

As I promised, I'll mention my most used shadows of the season, Copper Craze and Made For Mocha by Maybelline including my new favorite go-to shadow Brown Script by MAC.

Colored shadows can be tricky to work with, but you can’t go wrong with shades of brown and copper since it works well with practically every skin tone and eye color. Browns are great for everyday wear since the natural shadows of your lids are a brownish red. Eyes are the first thing people notice; make them clean, defined, beautiful and not too distracting. You want people to notice you, not your heavy makeup so here’s a way to give your eyes that bit of pop it needs without being overdone. This is a great basic everyday look that can be changed up easily and worn for any occasion.

Things you will need:  

• Primer - Used ELF primer 
• Red toned brown shadow - Using Brown Script from MAC.
• Copper shadow - Using Copper Craze by Maybelline. 
• Dark brown shadow - Using  Made For Mocha by Maybelline.
  Cream shimmer shadow- Revlon eye shadow from the Adventurous Quad. 
• Blending brush – Using Ecotools. 
• Highlight brush – Using Ecotools. 
• Flat shader brush- Using Ecotools. 
• Crease brush – Using a CVS brand.
  Eyeliner brush – Using Bella Terra BB3 eyeliner brush. 
• Liquid liner- Revlon liner in Blackest Black. 
•  Brown eyeliner- NYX liner in 907 Café. 
• Mascara- Maybelline colossal in Glam Black.

MAC Brown Script, Maybelline Made For Mocha, Maybelline Copper Craze, Revlon Adventurous Quad.

Ecotools Blending brush, highlight brush, shader brush, cvs crease brush, Bella Terra BB3 eyeliner brush

Maybelline Colossal Volume Mascara, NYX 907 Cafe, Revlon Colorstay liquid liner in blackest black

1.  Start with clean eyes and apply primer all over the lid up to your brow bone. Elf Primer is a great alternative to Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. For only 1 dollar compared to a 20 dollar primer, it’s a must have.
2. Apply a red toned brown shadow all over the lid up to the crease with a wide blending brush. Mac’s Brown Script is matte and has great pigmentation with no fallout.
3. Sweep the copper shimmer shadow from the inner corner to the middle of the lid with a small flat shader brush. The middle of your lid is the highest point of the lid and will make your eyes appear larger and add more dimension once it reflects. These Maybelline single shadows have great pigmentation, don’t smudge or crease, and are affordable.
4. Apply brown shadow with a crease brush in outer V blending towards the center of your crease.
5. Use a liner brush to line the bottom lash line with the same brown shadow to define your eyes softly without giving them a harsh line a liner would. Avoid taking it all the way to the inner corners. Focus on the outer corner your bottom lash line blending it towards the middle.
6. Blend the crease shadow between lid and brown bone with a blending brush and a cream shimmer shadow to help it stand out and appear higher.
7. This next step is totally optional since this look can be worn more naturally without any liner and mascara alone, but I personally prefer liner. Apply a copper toned liner in the waterline and line your upper lash line with a black liquid liner close to the lash line, slightly winging out to elongate the eyes.
8. To finish it off, top it off with mascara on the upper and lower lashes to open up the eyes.

      This is an extremely versatile look that can be changed from day to night just by adding more brown to the crease, thickening the line of your liner, adding more coats of mascara,  or lining the bottom lash line with a shimmery copper toned shadow or a colored shadow for more drama. Enjoy playing around with this look and trying out copper tones!

Lana Del Rey Speed Drawing

Just a random drawing. I haven't drawn in so long. So glad to be back home :)

Beautista on Kouturekiss!

Im so happy to announce that I'm officially a beautista on Kouturekiss! I suggest every beauty lover to subscribe and stay tuned for beauty tips and tricks. http://kouturekiss.com/ http://kouturekiss.com/u/minzakhan

Winter Blushes!

Winter is just around the corner, December 21^st to be exact, and the holiday season is a great time to experiment with fun new colors in blushes to bring more life to your pretty face. Personally, I prefer powder blushes for the fall and winter and go for a more dewy finish with cream blushes towards summer. I’ve picked out the top four blushes that I reach for most during the wintertime. All these blushes are cool toned and range from 30 dollars to as low as 3 dollars.

Try avoiding harsh dark blushes on the apples of your cheeks, this will only weigh your face down and make you look older. You want to try to go with a natural flush and use a light shades like Cargo’s Blu-Ray Blush/Highlighter in “Pink” to brighten up the face. Don’t be fooled by the color in the pan, it actually comes out a bit darker on skin. This blush has a bit of shimmer but is not overpowering and reflects softly, giving the appearance of naturally glowing and youthful skin. I applied this blush with my Elf completion brush to the apples of my cheeks, taking it up to my cheekbones for a nice wash of color and subtle highlight.

Another light pink shade is from a mineral brand online called Sweet Face Minerals called “Sweet Cheeks”. This is basically the slightly warmer, loose powder version of the Cargo blush in “Pink”. You can get this in its original 20 gram jar from their online store, but the one I have is the 5 gram jar from their starter kit, which by the way would make an awesome holiday gift. Like the Cargo blush, I like to apply this to the apples of my cheeks and blend it up to my cheekbones and a little touch to the nose. This neutral light pink blush goes on flawlessly and gives it that perfect wintertime flush. Light blushes go great with a dark winter lip shades like reds and plums. Don’t go overboard and avoid going heavy on both cheeks and lips.

Fuchsia Fusion is a raspberry toned pink with sparkle, not shimmer, but chunky sparkle. Not to fear though, the sparkle won’t show up on your face which is great. I like to apply this near my cheek bones and in the hollows of my cheeks like a bronzer since it’s a darker shade. For a 3 dollar blush, the color payoff is great, similar to that of “Angelika” blush by Nars. With great pigmentation, price, and Nars-like packaging, this is hands down the best buy of the season.

Mac- Breath of Plum

Mac’s sheertone blush in Breath of Plum has been my go-to blush this fall and will carry into this winter. The formula is so smooth and finely mild. Although it looks darker in the pan, it goes on much lighter and has buildable color. I go lighter on the apples of my cheeks and blend out to my cheekbones where I build up the color. This plum shade is not too light or too dark and gives the perfect soft and sophisticated plum winter look.

 Look forward to every day to try out something new this winter and don’t be shy to experiment with new shades and looks. With Christmas and New Year parties on the way, don’t forget to blush it up this holiday season!

Sweet Face Minerals blush in "Sweet Cheeks"

Top picture in natural lighting, bottom picture taken with flash. Left to Right: Cargo blush in "pink", Sweet Face Minerals blush in "Sweet Cheeks", Elf blush in "Fuchsia Fusion", Mac sheertone blush in "Breath of Plum"

Deep Plum Runway Lips For Less

Wine lip trend- Burberry Fall 2012

I've been on a hunt for the perfect fall plum lip color. Now I purposely stay away from dramatic colors and stick to natural mauve and  neutrals for a day-to-day look, however I realized I was playing safe with the purples I do have. Colvergirl's Divine Divine is probably as dramatic as my purples get.

So then the hunt began, finding a deep flattering plum that wasn't too glossy. I don't mind if the formula is too matte because that's an easy fix with some chapstick. I don't mind lipsticks that stain either because even if it rubs off during the day, I wont need to touch up since there will be a light wash of color still there.

I heard and read reviews on Alabama by NYX, a deep red berry shade and I fell in love! Too bad the drugstores nearby didn't have NYX products but Urban Outfitters had some shades in NYX matte lipsticks including Summer Breeze and True Red. Neither of them were appealing. Summer Breeze was too bright and made my skin look dull and dirty and True Red is a beautiful shade but was a bit too bold for the look I was going for and too close to NYX's Amsterdam Soft Matte Lip Cream which I have.

I haven't gotten anything from CVS besides stuff I need for the house all semester but one day walking through the aisles in CVS a NYC product caught my eye! A perfect deep plum shade with no shimmer and only $1.99 (NYC- 320 Mahogany). The angles came out and starting singing....yup this ones a winner.

I came home and tried it on and I loved it but it was a bit glossy for my taste. I simply pad it down with a Kleenex and it looked great. The next time I went back to CVS had restocked their lipstains, one of them being a deep plum shade (their darkest lipstain) called 499 Forever Mine Wine for. I tried it on at home and my first impression was wow...this is dark! I also noticed that since this is a dark shade it settled into the cracks of my lips and emphasized the dryness.

A tip to making this work, apply a thin layer of chapstick, not too much or else the stain wont absorb into your lips. Apply the stain on your lower lip and rub lips together to transfer the color. Most makeup artists like to line the lips before filling them in, I feel this stain is too dark for that and would leave you with an ugly dark rim all day, so concentrate the stain in the middle and use the NYC Mahogany lipstick to line the lips, moisturize, and leave a smooth dark runway style finish.

Lip Stain with NYC Mahogany lipstick

NYC- Forever Mine Wine Lip stain alone. Focused on the middle of the lips before applying NYC lipstick over it

UP NEXT: Maybelline eyeshadow singles perfect for fall and winter (225S Made For Mocha, 260S Copper Craze

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