Best Possible You

I love wedding season. I am hardly the romantic type but bridal beauty at its best makes me all giddy inside. A wise makeup artist once told me that the perfect bridal makeup is when the bride looks like the best possible version of herself. Even if you don't wear makeup on a daily basis you want to make sure that when you do YOU the makeup and the makeup does not wear YOU.

My friend Sarah, who's beauty regimen consists of chapstick and the occasional application of tinted moisturizer is a good example of this rule. For our faculty formal, we enhanced her high cheekbones and fair complexion with a combo of blush and bronzer and used eyeliner with champagne-coloured shadows and a generous coat of mascara to bring out her eyes. Finally, I polished her natural wayward waves with flat iron curls.

FITS: Bronzed & Beautiful

The warmer than normal temperatures are making me pull out my summer makeup regime earlier than expected. This is the first post of my FUN IN THE SUN series (FITS).  Although bronzer is something that some wear all year I like to save it for the warmer months. Here are a few of my faves:

1. CLINIQUE Blushwear Cream Stick in Glow Blush
Even though creamy makeup formulas are avoided in the hotter months, its cream-to-powder finish lasts all day. If your skin is extra oily just set it with a little translucent powder.

2.  URBAN DECAY Baked Bronzer in Gilded
For nighttime, the bronze effect would not be complete without a little shimmer. The golden flecks baked into this tan bronzer gives the perfect glow.  Because this formula is  baked it is highly pigmented-what does that mean? Use a light hand when applying it and you can use it an eyeshadow too (just moisten your brush with a little water).

3.  RIMMEL LONDON Natural Bronzer in SunBronze or SunLight
For every high end, 24-karat gold, diamond encrusted luxury product on the market there is always a thriftier alternative. You can find this gem in drugstores that carry the Rimmel brand. The finish is lives up to its name with its subtle formula. The best part? Its under $10.00.

WHAT ARE YOUR GO-TO BRONZERS?

Seeing Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Right now, I'm sure many of you are sporting green tongues ( I know I am). Tonight, green makeup are going to be used and abused.  Show your Irish(ish) pride with a sweep of minty green eyeshadow. It's suttle, yet very fresh for spring. Using a fluffy brush wash a metallic pale green shadow over the entire lid. Add dark green or black liner to the lashline for definition. Don't forget a good coat of mascara.

The Oscars: Aging Young Hollywood

Any actress would be lying if they said they didn't want to win an academy award. However, someone needs to tell some young hollywood starlets that dressing like you're as old as Judi Dench isn't the best place to start. The upstyling and long trains on the painfully pale dresses of Miley Cyrus and Amanda Seyfried aged them at least five years. I keep forgetting that Miley Cyrus is only 18! Whatever happened to youthful toustled hairstyles?  I'm well aware that nude is the colour pallette of the season but while i'm still in my youth I'm going to embrace neons and other shockingly bright hues while its still age appropriate.

Split Ends

A haircut can be an emotional experience. For myself it is usually a monthly clean up to get rid of split ends because I am too chicken to part with my long layers and I am deathly afraid of blunt cuts. My dear friend, Stefannie Flannigan is fearless when it comes to her hair choices. Blonde, red, brown, long and short Stef has done it all. For the past two weeks, we have been filming a short film entitled, Split Ends. It showcases a woman's attempt to remove memories of her reckless past, regrets and a bad breakup with a drastic new haircut. In this short film, Stef goes from shoulder length hair to a Carey Mulligan inspired pixie cut.

This film is as low budget as they come, so rather than getting a pro to do it she trusted me with a pair of kitchen scissors--and I must say it turned out pretty sweet.

Fresh haircut hair without the haircut?

HerCut is a new product line being carried at Sephora stores and online. It promises specialized care for different types of haircuts. It also promises to enhance the longevity of your haircut and keep your hair feeling clean for up to 3 days after washing and using their products. If any of you have tried any thing from the HerCut line let me know.


I hope this does what it says it does.  I can't wait to try this out once I've finished with my never ending litres of Aveda's Clove Shampoo and Color Conserve Conditioner.

Viva Glam gets even more glam

Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga are the new faces of Viva Glam for M.A.C. Click here to check out the Lauper/Gaga inspired lipsticks. Simply gorgeous. All proceeds go to the M.A.C. AIDS FUND.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! <3

Pretty Peeve: The Return of the Poof

This Jersey Shore thing is getting out of hand but when my friends asked if I could turn them into guidettes for a Jersey Shore party I couldn't resist. Kathryn and Alanna wanted to go as Sammie and Snookie. Kathryn already had Sammie's long straight brown hair so that wasn't as much of a challenge as making Alanna look like a dark, tanned, Italian girl with long black hair. But we made the best of it.

 

MAC's Warm and Cozy Collection

Anything by candlelight just seems sexier. MAC's new Warm and Cozy collection does just that with their shimmery mineralized skin finish powder, lotion, shadesticks and tinted lipglass.

New to the MAC family is the Mineralize All Over Lotion

("formulated with M∙A∙C’s exclusive diamond-infused Charged Water technology")

and Care Blends essential oils for the face and body. Rumour has it that these babies drop in stores today! Happy Boxing Day!

Pretty Boy: Jared Leto

Can he BE more beautiful?

Rihanna: Golden Performance and Golden Locks?

This past Saturday, Rihanna was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Rihanna and comic genius, Andy Samberg, starred in a hilarious SNL digital short.  I think that one of SNL's biggest challenges is to make pretty girls funny without alluding to sex or making dumb blonde jokes and they definitely succeeded with this one. I'm not a huge fan of Rihanna's new do though. She rocked the graduated bob and the super short pixie cut but I don't know how I feel about this blonde half-mushroom thing she has going on. Thoughts?

Blonde of the Moment: Liz Trinnear

I know the blogosphere is burning up about this already but I'm going to rave about this anyway. Just yesterday, UWO student, soon-to-be MIT alum, and friend Liz Trinnear was crowned the newest MuchMusic VJ!  So proud! Check out Liz and her icy blonde locks in this sick commercial. HD television definitely agrees with her.

(Photo: MuchMusic)

Where Afros and Lingerie Make Magic

In Paris, a rumoured 6.5 million Euro fashion show was launched for designer Sonia Rykiel's lingerie collection for H&M. The extravangant show featured models on floats, with swings and even a parade of live geese! The models were sporting larger than life afros, it ALMOST makes me wish I had one.  The collection will be in H&M stores worldwide this Saturday. Check out this clip from the show:

Joe Fresh has Makeup?

Apparently, this stuff has been in stores for a while now. Where have I been? Joseph Mimran, the owner of Club Monaco has managed to bring that same luxe look at a cheaper price point through grocery store boutique label, Joe Fresh. The true test is if they can do this with their makeup. Lipstains (above) and lipsticks for as low as $6.00 and eyeshadows and blushes for $4.00. Is this too good to be true? Do you get what you pay for? Next time I go to Loblaws to get groceries, I'll make sure to look into it. Has anyone tried anything from their beauty line? If you have, let a girl know.
(Photo: Katie Ennis)

The Shiniest Time of the Year

I just calculated that I'll be home for the holiday in exactly 8 days! That's right. Be jealous.  Besides family, food and presents, I love the holidays because everything just seems so much shinier. Glitter is in full effect this season. Here are 3 of my favourite ways to rock glitter this holiday and not look like a Las Vegas showgirl's Christmas tree.

1. LOCKS
Bejeweled hair accessories can make any outfit instantly more opulent. Curl you hair and brush out the curls for a glamourous old Hollywood look and push your hair backward on one side with a jeweled comb.

 2. LASHES
For nights out, false lashes with subtle glittery accents are super fun. Just make sure that the rest of your make up isn't flashy. These babies draw enough attention on their own and are perfect for a New Year's Eve bash.

3. LIDS
Shiny eyeshadows work best on the inner corners of the eyes, balls of the eyes, or on the browbone. Shimmery formulas have the tendency to crease faster than matte formulas so make sure you use a primer. I like Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion with Make Up For Ever's Diamond Powder in White Gold to highlight.

Pretty Peeve: Matchy Matchy

Matching your eye makeup to your clothing is only okay under the following circumstances:

1. It's Halloween or some sort of costume party
2. It's Homecoming or St. Patrick's Day
3. You are a performer in Cirque du Soleil or Dancing with the Stars
4. You are just trying to spite me and this blog post.

A Damask Lover's Dream

For anyone who knows me, I am obessesed anything that comes in a damask pattern. As tacky as it sounds, if I could I would have every room in my house in that pattern. M.A.C. has made my dream one step closer with their new Baroque Boudoir collection.  The Sheer Mystery Compact goes on the top of my wishlist this Christmas.

Blog Me Fabulous

People go to blogs because its a more authentic voice, its a citizen voice and not a so-called expert voice. But wouldn't you want to know that the person isn't just making things up? That's the risk we run when getting our information from blogs rather than print sources. It has come to a point where bloggers are revered as much as newspaper and magazine journalists. This is particularly evident in the fashion industry where—in the words of Heidi Klum on Project Runway—“one day you’re in and the next day you’re out”. The instantaneousness of fashion blogging feeds fashionistas the trends of today and tomorrow. The blogging medium has catapulted young bloggers to A-list journalist status in the fashion industry. From New York to Milan, the front row seats during Fashion Week usually reserved for editors and the glitterati, are filed with these young, fashionable, internet sensations.

Fashion and beauty go hand in hand, and when I'm not knee deep in beauty blogs I like to frequent some fashion sites too. Here are my faves:

1. The Sartorialist
2. Jak and Jil
3. Style.com
4. Style Rookie
5. Bryan Boy
6. Sea of Shoes
7. Garance Dore
8. Polyvore
9. Looklet

YouTube Brings Beauty to the Small Screen

The popularity of video is growing exponentially. Through sites like SlingBox and other services that stream online video conventional television is becoming less popular. Like radio, television is threatened by the need to eliminate commercials and pick and choose content on demand. Television shows can be streamed online, downloaded on iTunes or illegally via file sharing sites like BitTorrent. Even though TV reaches over 70 million homes, on YouTube alone, 40 million videos are viewed daily. The beauty industry has capitalized on this trend by having their own TV channels online to advertise their products. Rather than having a television show, companies like Smashbox  take the more economical route by posting tutorial videos on YouTube. Among the thousands of beauty tutorials online, videos put out by large companies have the authority of CNN over citizen vloggers. At the same time, this free access to television outlet puts everyone on a level playing field, giving bloggers, like myself, the opportunity to freely share my knowledge and my passion.

Lady Gaga: Better Blonde or Brunette?

Lady Gaga wasn't always the platinum blonde sensation she is now. Back in the day, she used to rock long, dark brown locks. Below are two vids: one from a talent show when she attended NYU in 2005 and the other the music video for her newest hit from her album The Fame Monster, entitled Bad Romance. I'm a huge fan of LG's avant-garde hair and makeup choices but which do you prefer. Blonde or brunette?