Viva Woman

Saw this Step-By-Step Guide to Applying Makeup Kit from E.L.F. Cosmetics which include a DVD featuring celebrity makeup artist Scott-Vincent Borba on how to prepare your skin prior to applying makeup, how to apply your eyes, lips and face makeup, along with special tips and secrets to become your own makeup artist.

Those starting out maybe interested in the DVD Starter Kit valued at US$35 but available now at US$25.  Apart from the DVD, the kit includes earth and water mascara in black, blush in glow, eyeliner in black, eyeshadow in nouveau neutral, eyeshadow in drama, moisture care lip color in maple sugar, hypershine in flirt, pressed powder in tone 1, shielding hydro tint in tone 1, blush brush, foundation brush, total face brush, eye shadow brush, tweezers, dramatic false lashes. 

For those who are well versed in makeup, you maybe interested in the DVD Expert Kit instead, which is valued at US$75 but available now at US$50 only.  It has twice the number of stuff compared to the starter kit!

Looks like a great deal if you ask me. Check it out at E.L.F. Cosmetics.

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Makeup for me is not so much to look prettier, but rather, to look younger.  Hence, part of the process involves concealing.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t pay much attention to concealing my under-eye dark circles until recent years.  But as soon as I did, I realized the amazing effect it had.  It helped me to look more awake and much fresher!  At least I no longer have the problem of people remarking that I constantly look tired. 

I hope the picture above does some justice to what I’ve stated.  As you can see, the first picture shows me without any concealer.  Second picture is where I’ve dabbed on some powder concealer.  The last one is where I have my foundation layered on top of my concealer.

At the moment, I alternate between YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch and Everyday Minerals Multi-tasking Concealer, depending on my fancy.  I’ve been applying the concealer not just under my eyes but around it, particularly on the hollow sides of my nose (the spot next to the eye socket) because I noticed that the sides were rather dark as well.   What I didn’t know until I read Bobbi Brown’s Living Beauty is that doing so actually helps to open up our eyes and make them look brighter. 

I was also glad to find out from Bobbi Brown that we shouldn’t line our lower lash line or apply mascara to the lower lashes because that would draw more attention to our bad under-eye dark circles.  I don’t do both so that works in my favor.

And according to Bobbi Brown, the best way to brighten up extremely dark under-eye dark circles is to start with a pink or peach toned corrector, then layer on with a yellow-toned concealer.  She also suggested to keep the focus on the upper part of the eyes.

Maybe I’ll experiment with Benefit Eye Bright which is pink and see if it works with my current concealer.  If it does, I’ll report back again.

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I’m hopeless with eyeliner application.  Lucky thing I have quite a big pair of eyes so I can do without it most of the time.  But I could certainly do with a proper lesson and the basic eyeliner tutorial with pencil, cream/gel or liquid made recently by blogger Michelle Phan is just excellent.

The girl emphasizes the importance of using smaller strokes for a better line quality whatever the type of eyeliner used.  This allows better control in terms of the thickness of the application and minimizes possibilities of making mistakes. 

I like her tip about using a Q-tip to gently create a taut eye rather than pulling the eyes which is likely to cause premature sagging and wrinkles.  In addition, the Q-tip is also great for blending and fixing mistakes.  It’s also interesting to see how Michelle uses her angled brush to make small even dabs and strokes when using her cream/gel eyeliner. 

Her tutorial is easy to follow and always refreshing.  Just background music, simple illustrations, words on the screen followed by a demonstration.   And she’s really beautiful!

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This makeup video from Makeup Gourmet has some rather good makeup tips to open up and bring out a more expressive pair of Asian eyes.   These are some of the important ones I remember after watching it:

1. For smaller eyes, use a brightening pencil on the inner and outer corner of the eyes to open it up. 
2. For almond shaped eyes, defining the lower eye using an eye liner is important to bring out shape. 
3. For contoured eyes, an interesting tip is to add a shimmery color under the brow bone. 
4. When applying the eye color, brush from the outer corner inwards, rather than outwards so as not to distort the shape of the eyes.

The instructions are easy to follow and because all the three models have double eyelids, these tips will likely work well for some of the non-Asians as well.

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