The dandy fox: urban decay

Showing posts with label urban decay. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Bridal shoot boho + classic

One thing that is almost as fun as being part of a wedding is putting together a shoot. There are a handful of photographers that I've worked with but my favorite is my very own mom. She is so skilled and talented from taking beautiful headshots of an aspiring model to capturing the intimate details of a beautiful wedding. She can take something simple and make it's true beauty stand out in a photo.

Our next shoot is in collaboration for some spring fashion trends with Random Boutiques, an eclectic boutique that travels via a vintage airstream with it's very own dressing room to try on your hearts delight. Randoms boutique, which is owned and operated by Stacy Rodriguez here in coastal north county, she works with local vendors to bring not just fashion, but beauty and lifestyle trends through her mobile events. It's so great to see small businesses, the heart of America, banding together to create opportunity with each other!

Here I wanted to portray the bohemian trend that is so big this year along with that we are also seeing classic styles coming back. Champagne and rust inspired shadow with a nude lip. Hair jewelry featuring her something blue. On the left is a boho fishtail but keeping the rest of her look with a throw bad to mid century styles. A tease at the crown, winged liner (stila's smudge pot gel liner) and a rich blood red matte lip from Lancôme, topped off with more hair accents. I love that brides are opting for a statement piece instead of a veil. For a while we saw a lot of brides keeping their something blue as part of their bouquet (mine was the ribbon on my couture garter) I love seeing it in hair!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Beauty Balm Boom

So if you are a frequent shopper of beauty places such as ulta, sephora, department store counters, you've probably noticed a lot of lines tend to come out with the same something new all at the same time. First lip plumpers, then primers, then gel liners, then...well you get the point. So this time Beauty Balms. In case you are wondering, this is what most lines are calling their "BB" Creme. It's intended to be the soft merriment of a primer, tinted moisturizer, anti aging Creme and SPF. And I've had the chance to try a couple. Everthing from Garnier to Smashbox has one. And I really wasn't too impressed.
My skin is pretty difficult to impress and as a makeup artist and acne fighter, you can imagine that I have high standards. I'm also going into my late twenties so even though I have an olive complexion, I have just a few hints of wrinkles (2 to be exact) hyper pigmentation, bigger pores and with oily skin I fight acne and blackheads.
There aren't a lot of products out there that can be oil free and moisturizing without causing me to breakout.......so I thought.
Urban Decay has once again blown my mind. Now I know it's on the pricey side (perks of a makeup artist/hairstylist) but its well worth the $34 for this Beauty Balm. They chose wisely to include it as part of their Naked line. I picked it up at Ulta and got a free gift of their 24/7 glide on black liner and their newer makeup setting spray which works pretty well too. So here's the scoop in why I love Urban's BB Creme the most.
*It only has SPF 20 which is actually healthier for you because of what needs to be in SPF to make it stronger is actually toxic to your body. So it does help provide a healthy level of protection.
* Its oil free but hydrates and helps improve proper hydration over time
* It primes so your makeup stays where it belongs and doesn't clog pores.
* It has a general pigment that will fade into any skin tone without dulling your skin so it can minimize pores, lines, wrinkles and redness
* It actually treats your skin to improve elasticity, firming and reducing spots as well!

If you are really dry naturally I would follow with your regular moisturizer. It's Demi-matte so no matte tour skin type it won't be oily. The consistency is also very liquid to Creme. Most primers are very creamy to help minimize pores and wrinkles but that doesn't work well if you are acne prone. Give it a try!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Subtle smokey eye

So a lot of people always want to know how to do a smokey eye. No matter the tutorial everyone's eye shape is different. I'm posting one for a general eye shape as it works for a broad spectrum of shapes. My eyes are personally on the almond side and are small.....so I have a medium sized palette to work with. But this will work for small eyes, hooded eyes, big eyes, you name it.
First make sure you don't have plastic brushes, having good fluffy brushes is the key to blending anything that comes out looking harsh. If you don't have good brushes....use your god given ones....your cute little fingers!! The photo below shows the my brushes in the order I use them from left to right, ending with my winged liner then mascara.

I also use Urban Decays Naked Palettes ALOT!!! These are colors I used from Naked Palette 1

1) Use the darker color shadow on the outer part of your lid and work inward, don't go too far up into the crease, it'll turn it into a more dramatic smokey eye if you do and that's where challenges and raccoon eyes are born for newbies. I used UD's Darkhorse

2) Next use your medium color shadow to blend the middle of your lid and work your way to the inner part of your lid until where your iris ends. I used UD's Buck

3) Then take your lightest color and work on your inner lid to the inner corner of your eye. I used UD's Naked.

4) Take a small smudger brush and use the same original dark shadow color and line your lower lash line. This will help keep a nice and natural flow to the smokey effect without the hard edges.

5) Last, Take your original big fluff brush (or finger) and blend all the colors across into your crease, working your way inwards from your outer eye.

A lot of people always complement my winged liner as well. I prefer Stila's waterproof eyeliner pen.

6) Get as close to your lashes as possible, don't worry, with a pen you can go back and fill in the funny spaces. Then imagine a line from your lower lash line that goes up, use this as a guide the draw your wing. This will give you that upward winged look and it creates a look of long dramatic lashes.

Voila!!!! Try not to kiss yourself,