Review: Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer

I love this stuff!

Every blemish on my face disappears beneath this stuff. I bought the sand color, and even though it's a bit lighter than my skin my powder foundation does an amazing job of evening it out for me. I have never been happier with a liquid concealer. It still takes more of an artistic hand than blending my stick concealer, but with the breakout problems I have been having lately a lady cannot be too picky. I not only use this for my face, I also use it to cover my tattoo when I wish to hide it from people but still want to wear a specific outfit.

Definitley worth the price!

Sorry for the Delay in Updating

I've been hitting a delay in updating my page due to travels over the summer and a back up of work needing to get done. I will be continuing to update as close to daily as possible from now on. Now that I have gathered my materials for the rest of this year and decided what to give feedback on I will be more frequently posting reviews of products and hopefully posting more looks.
By tomorrow I will have another review up for a product, and I will also be posting a new look later this weekend.

Classic Cat Eye

Created this look in about 20 minutes with no prior experience or practice. Perfect for a chic night out look, or casual day time wear.

1. Use a black liner to draw in the wings. Start from about 1/3 of the way in from your outer corners. You can make them by following your crease some of the way down to create a slight curve on the top where it will meet your bottom line, or you can simply draw a straight line from one end to the other creating a triangle. Your wing points should be about even with the end of your eyebrow and your eyesocket, and the bottom portion of your wing should start just barely into your lower lashline.
2. Line your top lashes with black liner. Don't worry if it's not perfect, you'll need to touch it up some after you finish your makeup anyway. Make the line thicker as it gets closer to the outer corner.
3. Take a small eyeshadow brush, I use a round crease brush, and fill in the black wing starting from the outer tip and working in to get a good gradient. Make sure that your color curves from the start of the top line to the 1/3 mark of your lid line, creating either a 'C' or a backwards 'C' depending on which side you are working on.
4. Using a flat brush, preferably a different one than the first to avoid mixing colors, brush on a brown eyeshadow that is a shade or two darker than your skintone. From the crease to the black wing, trying not to overlap the two too much.
5. Using a clean brush, smudge the rough edge of the gradient into the center portion of your eye over the brown. to that it blends.
6. Touch up your liner, and smudge the bottom line of the wing underneath of your eye to the 1/3 mark.
7. Line your waterline, and extend it up into your upper portion of your waterline for a more dramatic look.
8. Apply false lashes if you wish. (I did for this look.)
9. Apply 1-2 coats of mascara to your upper lashes, and a coat to the outer corner of your lower lashes, concentrating on where the liner is the darkest.
10. Pick out a muted tone of lipstick or lipgloss to avoid dual attention grabbing. (I chose a peach lipgloss from Avon that I've ranted about in past posts, rather than my typical fire red lipstick.)

**Always remember to remove any fallout of your eyeshadow from your face before putting on any foundation or primers.

Makeup Tips: Part Two

Blush and Bronzer:
1. Buying a contouring blush kit not only gives you the option to experiment with contouring, but it also gives you three shades of blush to mix and match for your ideal look.
2. Using a bronzer should be a daily addition to your foundation in the summer, and if you need that "just off the beach" tan use it every day of the year.
3. Your bronzer should be applied to your temples, underneath your cheek bones, and across the crease of your chin blending out into your jawline.

Eyeliner
1. Use a liquid or gel liner on your upper lid. It allows for more control of the thickness and dries on to avoid smudging on your crease and eyelid.
2. When buying a liquid eyeliner, buy one with a brush, not a foam or felt tip applicator. The brush type does not dry out as you begin to run out of liner, as I have found that the foam and felt tips do.
3. Lining your upper waterline is a challenging feat, but it makes your lashes look darker and may give you the option not to wear mascara during the day. Or you can add the mascara with the liner to get an even bolder look.
4. Line the outside edge of your lower waterline and smudge it into the edge of your lower lashes, try to keep from lining too far back, as it will just simply end up in your tear duct after you blink a few times.
5. Using a red liner around your eyes, just peeking out between your eye and your actual liner, attracts attention to your eyes, and makes the color of your iris stand out.
6. Using a white eyeliner in the inside corner of your eye around the edge of your tear duct and lightly swept below your eye will counteract dark circles and make you appear more awake.

Eyeshadow
1. Always use a gradient of shadows, never just one solid color all over. A gradient adds dimension to your eyes.
2. Extending  your shadow beyond the crease of your eye elongates the shape of your eyes.
3. Use the brightest/lightest shade of eyeshadow on the inner third of your eyelid. Cover the last two thirds with a medium shade, and shade the outer corner and crease in with the darkest shade of your color palette.

FAQ: Stick concealer brand

I received some questions recently about what type of stick concealer I recommend. Sorry it took me so long to answer!

Generally for my concealer I stick to mainstream brands like Loreal or Maybelline. However recently I went on an emergency concealer purchase spree. Not wanting to shell out a bunch of money to get a concealer I decided I was going to go for the cheapest one I could find. I  went for the Wet 'N Wild concealer, which under any other circumstances I would have walked right past, and I was infinetly happier with it than I thought I would be.

I recommend buying this concealer if you can't bring yourself to shell out five bucks for that little tiny stick of concealer, but my favorite concealer will forever remain Rimmel London's Hide The Blemish.

Thanks for the question!

How I Do My Makeup: Tips From an Amateur Makeup Artist- Part One

Here are the rules at which I live by, some of them are more of personal rules, and other's are things I've picked up along my way and from friends:

Moisturizer
1. Always buy oil-free lotion specified for facial use. A built in suncreen is also a nice idea to think about.

Primer
1. Before you prime, always moisturize. It will make all your makeup brighter, and help it blend into your skin easier create a flake free environment.
2. Primer is your best friend on a hot summer day. If you prime your makeup, it won't run when you sweat.
3. Buying an eyeshadow primer is a must. It helps prevent creases and fading of your makeup, and it will also add shine.

Concealer
1. Buy a concealer a shade lighter than your skin tone. It's useful for covering dark circles under your eyes as well as brightening up eyes and any other darker spots.
2. Investing in a second shade of darker concealer allows you to mix them if your skin tone changes slightly.
3. Never use a liquid concealer. They go on cakey and require much more blending than a stick concealer.

Foundation
1. Always apply your foundation after your eye shadow to avoid fall out from your eyeshadow caking or smudging into your foundation if there's any on your skin.
2. A liquid foundation is better for your skin if you need heavier coverage to hide blemishes, scars or dark spots.
3. If you have oily skin you would be better off with a powder foundation, because it will help cut down on makeup run off.
4. A finishing powder is a nice addition to set your foundation, but it is not necessarily a must. It's an acceptable idea to reapply if you decide.

Grin And Bare It

For the longest time now I have not had the time, or the will-power to make the time, to do my makeup. So, for the first few months in what has probably been years, I am indeed bearing all my natural, makeup-less, flawed, beautiful skin for the world to see. I must say it has been a weird feeling to suddenly have it all out there for everyone to see my every flaw and scar on my face, but eventually I will overcome it, or overcome my inability to put my makeup on every day. As for which of these will come first, your guess is as good as mine is.

I have plenty of idea of what I could do for makeup, just never enough hours in a day to do it. Send me a message with your go to look or product on a cold winter day and you may find yours posted in my answers page.

Unnatural - The Expected Letdown

I tried out a newer product today with the intention of seeing how it worked and how it looked. The Natural shade of Almay Smart Shade blush was somewhat unsurprisingly a huge letdown. This was such a disappointment in fact that I will be returning to my old blushing ways of using my own palette to mix my color myself. The first time I tried to apply this product I saw no visible indication that it had even been put on my skin. To be thorough, I tested it on my other cheek and this time, after using the same amount as before, it turned my cheek a horridly noticeably, clown-like shade of mahogany. I was skeptical of this product's ability to "transform its shade to go with you skin tone" to begin with, but now I am moreso. I plan on giving this product one more chance to prove to me that it was worth the huge amount of money I paid for it (compared to my usual pressed powder palette that cost me almost half of this cream).

Product Of The Day 2

Devil's Club Salve

From: Tlingit Rx

Made In Alaska

I have fallen in love with this product! It is useful on bruises, irritated skin, and even minor cuts. It helps relieve pain and muscle aches. And, it REALLY does work! I get this product shipped straight from the source in Hoonah, Alaska, from a little one room store on the Inside Passage. My biggest, baddest bruises (and let's face it, I am a dancer so I have a LOT of them) are gone in half the time it takes normally, and the same goes for cuts.

Not many people have heard of this plant, but while I was on a tour in another part of Alaska, our tour guide explained that this plant can be used in many way. You can take the stem and remove the bark, soaking the rest in boiling water and make a tea if you'd like, but I find that the salve works good enough for me. The Tlingit tribe has always used it, and our guide swore by it (he was a Tlingit). For the price you pay to get it shipped, it is most definitely worth it. I have had the smallest jar (1/3 oz.) for five months, and I have barely made a noticeable dent in it.

 I will warn you that this product has not been tested by the FDA, but I use it for almost anything. If you have allergies to certain oils I would suggest e-mailing the store and ask them for the ingredient lists for the products you are buying. They will be more than happy to help you with your concerns. All products are natural and made for this store.

You will not find this product outside of Alaska. If you want to try it you will need to ship them in, but I promise you that you will be shipping them in for yourself and others for a long time once you use your first one.

Here's the link to the site for those of you who want to get this product:
http://www.lisasartstore.com/Botanicals.html