making faces :: indispensables [the basics]

cosmetics and vanity products in general are about excess and luxury, but they can become so ingrained in your life that it's hard to picture going without them. i know how to cut back in lean times, but there are a few things that i would turn to crime before giving up. here are a few, from the category of beauty basics- everyday things i use, not including colour... i think i could deal with each colour individually ::

moroccan oil :: my mother actually turned me onto this trendy hair treatment after her hairdresser used it on her. for me, it was love at first try. i would never have thought to put oil in my hair on my own [don't you wash hair to get the oil and dirt out?], but this makes my dead follicles feel amazing. the only down side is that i find it difficult to stop touching my own hair, which gets to look a little creepy after a while. [tends to be good for getting people to leave you alone on the bus, though.]
there are a lot of argan oil [which is what moroccan oil actually is] treatments on the market and it's become very popular to bash the original in favour of its imitators. nonetheless, i can be surprisingly brand loyal when i try and i'm so happy with how soft and smooth this makes my hair feel that i get a bit nervous thinking of how sad i'd be if i got a bottle of another brand and found it inferior. i'd have to work through that whole bottle before i could go back to having a happy head again. scary stuff.

lush "cynthia sylvia stout" shampoo :: it's made with stout. do you require further explanation? well, fine then. it literally gets my hair so clean it squeaks when i'm rinsing it. squeaks. my hair runs a bit dry and i find that "cynthia" leaves it healthy enough that i can actually skip conditioner if i want to [although i do put the moroccan oil on as a leave-in]. i'm consistently amazed at the healthy shine it imparts, particularly since my hair is prone to being a little dull.

shu uemura cleansing oil :: aside from my hair, about the least likely place for me to apply oil would have been my face, up until an enterprising sales associate got me to try a small-size version of one of their famous cleansing oils. i'm sold.

i absolutely love the rosemary-y scent and the fact that it works as both an effective makeup remover and cleanser, allowing me to be lazy by accomplishing everything in one step. i'm very into stuff that lets me be lazy. it removes makeup, even mascara, pretty easily and rinses away with water. it doesn't irritate my skin [which is prone to redness and patchiness if i have to rub it too hard] and, contrary to what i might have thought, it doesn't leave my skin feeling oily at all, just soft. so i can pat my cheeks when i get bored running my hands through my hair.

the bottles are not cheap [there are two standard sizes and different formulas depending on skin type], but my travel size bottle lasted me almost two months using it every single day, so you're not going to have to make the investment that often. amortised over its life span, it's actually not a bad deal at all. and remember, it's filling two roles.

body shop body butter :: pick your flavour. personally, i'm a big fan of the nut-related ones- brazil nut, coconut, almond [although i think that might have been discontinued]- but if you're not a nut nut, there are still plenty to choose from. i'm glad to see that they've finally introduced "economy size" versions for those of us who use it every day, which i do because it is literally the only thing i've found that i can apply to my freshly shaved legs that doesn't make me feel like i've doused myself with hot sauce.


made to order vegan cosmetics "revamp" :: i should have a section of this blog entitled "cool sh*t my friends do", because one of the reasons i have things to do and write about is that i generally surround myself with people who are more interesting and talented than i am. a good example is "made to order vegan cosmetics", the new brainchild of a fellow skincare natural product lover who decided that, since a lot of her favourite products were always getting discontinued, that she'd strike out and make her own.

"revamp" is a moisturiser and after-sun treatment which is a great idea in the summer, when every night basically demands after sun treatment. there's aloe and witch hazel, which help soothe and smooth skin, but what makes this a really perfect summer moisturiser for me is that it's not heavy. the consistency is like butter and, like butter, it becomes quite viscous on application. however, it absorbs within a couple of minutes and my skin feels perfect- not like i'm slathered in heavy cream. it's become the only night cream i use over the last month.

there are a whole range of products available, exclusively [for the moment] through their facebook page [linked above] and new ones are being added regularly.

so what do you always need to have around the house? what products would you secretly harvest your neighbours' organs to buy?

making faces :: lips locked

mac :: mystic [the lipstick, not me]

well, the cycle is complete. if you've been checking in at on my 30 days of lips page, you'll note that yesterday was day 30 and i did indeed complete my objective to go a full month without a repeat- even including a couple of days where i changed makeup to go out at night. [i have to admit, one of those times i did it so that i'd be able to squeeze an extra look into the month.]

i could keep going, but i have a few new things that i'm really eager to try out, whereas i was trying to concentrate on the unsung heroes of my collection rather than the flavour of the week, which would be getting attention anyway. and i think that that's pretty much what i did.

a lot of the colours i selected have been with me a long time. i chose to end the experiment with my very favourite mac lipstick ever, mystic. it's a satin finish colour, meaning it's richly pigmented with just a hint of a sheen. the colour is a deep plum-red, not dark enough to be a really "vampy" shade, but quite intense. one of the things that i find makes it unique is the fact that, despite being a deep plum, it's not warm or brick-toned. rather than brown, it seems to have a little deep grey mixed in so that the colour stays comparatively cool. it does make a very nice nighttime shade, but i also find that it's conservative and classical enough for wear during the day or at the office. unfortunately, i guess i'm the only one who thinks of it that way, because mac has chosen to discontinue it, along with many of the satin finish lipsticks that have been part of their lineup for years. i guess that in comparison with newer, creamier, more lustrous formulas, those dusty old satin finishes just don't measure up. i wish someone had pointed out that most people are more concerned with the colour of lipsticks even more than the finish, and that it might be a good idea to make sure that you weren't removing a bunch of unique shades because the finish wasn't as popular. whoops.



if you're one of the few and proud who are mystic fans, you can feel free to chime in with any dupes you've found. so far, in my esarch, the closest i've come up with is yves st. laurent's rouge pur couture #4- rouge vermilion. it's a smidgen warmer, but it'll do in a pinch. i didn't have it to compare side by side, but i swatched revlon's colorburst lipstick in plum and that also seemed like a reasonably close approximate.

speaking of yves st. laurent, i feel like i owe them a wee apology for excluding them entirely from the lip sweepstakes this month. while i was trying to balance my choices, i did end up giving preference to mac, because they still represent the lion's share of my lip colours. but somehow ysl got ignored entirely and chanel got grossly underrepresented. ah well, no system is perfect. i've heard tell of people who use random number generators to determine choices when it comes to using items from a large collection equitably, but i really don't see that working for me. i'll spend twenty minutes flipping through songs on my iphone before finding one that suits my mood. applying tactics of randomness to clothing, shoes, makeup or anything would be dooming me to a sort of paralysis. some day, though, i am going to put together a database that can make suggestions based on me entering a few key factors- my mood, the weather, what i have to do that day... and i'll still probably reject them.

i know that over the last month, i've ended up using a lot of colours [not just mystic] that have been limited edition or that are discontinued. i didn't want to bog things down by offering alternates for all of them, but if there are any that interested you in particular, i'm happy to give it my best shot. on the other hand, if you notice that there are some i used that are now unavailable, for which you've already found a good duplicate, please feel free to share.

big, multi-coloured kisses to all. i'll have to think of a new challenge for myself.

for the moment, i'm testing out samples of mac's new "big bounce" mousse-cream eye shadows. i have a few colours to try and i'll let you know my detailed findings within the next few days.

[un]making faces ["get it off me"] :: product review

well, as with most people who like their beauty products, i tend to purchase quite a few of them. and since i've been sharing more of this part of my personality on the blog lately, i figured i'd share some of the good, bad and truly ugly experiences i've had with some of my purchases. i figured i'd kick it off with the antithesis of cosmetics, though: makeup removers.

ok, we were all young once. we all went through our twenties coming home at four in the morning and passing out with one of our boots still half on. ah, the halcyon days of youth when the removal of makeup was something that was accomplished by putting the pillowcases in the laundry. we've all most likely done the "makeup from the night before" look, thinking we looked disheveled and perhaps a little sexy. indeed. isn't it pretty to think so?

the fact is, it's not a good idea to wear your mascara until it flakes off and the oils on your skin do not make a good cleanser. whether you're like me and have reached an age where your face isn't going to forgive you for a few nights of too much wine and bad decision making, or you're part of a generation that realises it's not always wise to take your youthful good looks for granted (smart folks, you), it's important to find things that are going to get the makeup off your face and let nature preserve you as best it can.

here are a few reviews of products i've tried in the past to help guide you on your way. since this is a personal blog, i'm dealing exclusively with products i've actually bought and used, so it's by no means comprehensive. this is just my accumulated knowledge thus far (accumulated only since i stopped falling asleep every night with my makeup still on). prices and availability are for the canadian market.

CONTINUE ON TO THE REVIEWS/ RECOMMENDATIONS



body shop camomile waterproof eye makeup remover :: i grew up on the body shop. i was the kind of kid who really warmed to their earth-friendly, people-friendly message and grew into the kind of consumer who stuck with them because i liked the idea that they stood for good things. i'm always a little nervous about trying "natural" products around my eyes, but this one is a real winner. i think i could seriously pump it directly into my eye without any harm being done. it's gentle enough that i've never found it irritates my skin and i don't find it leaves a heavy, oily residue. unfortunately, like a lot of cream products, this one doesn't do terribly well at removing mascara. it takes a lot of effort to get all the black crud out and even then, there seems to always be some dark smudges the next morning.
price :: $14.50
availability :: body shop stores and on line

body shop vitamin e gentle cleansing facial wipes :: ok, this might be cheating a bit, because it doesn't actually say that these are to be used for makeup removal. nonetheless, they are "cleansing", so i figured i'd give it a shot. learn from my fail. these are too rough and dry too quickly to be used to remove makeup. in addition, vitamin e is one of those things that, while unquestionably good for skin, is something that often causes a bad reaction around the eyes. these are wonderfully light, but they really aren't built to remove makeup- more like a quick refresher after the gym (assuming you're one of those energetic people who hauls your butt to a gym and doesn't just sit at home sipping wine and working on your blog). the wipes are not terribly moist and have a tendency to dry out before you finish the package.
price :: $14 for 25 wipes
availability :: body shop stores and on line

yves rocher micellar cleansing water :: this is another wonderful company for feeling good about yourself and what you buy. they have a long tradition of using natural products ("botanicals" in their terminology) and, since they supply many of their own key ingredients, they don't have the taint of unfair trade about them as many others do. unfortunately, after trying this for about a week, i had to stop because my skin was starting to break out. the product was reasonably efficient at removing makeup (although it still took a fair amount of rubbing) and its watery, rather than oily or creamy, consistency made it really nice to use (no residue!). unfortunately, although it has no sign- such as heavy perfume- that it might cause a reaction, it did. i'd recommend this one only if you're willing to spend some time removing makeup (i'm impatient) and if your skin doesn't often react to new products.
price :: $19
availability :: yves rocher stores and on line


cliniderm gentle eye makeup remover :: having fallen completely in love with their spf 45 sunscreen last year (seriously, my holy grail sunscreen- absorbs well, feels light, doesn't make me break out and protects me like a samurai guard), i really wanted to love this product. in fact, it's not bad. it has a heavy cream texture, but it absorbs fairly quickly, so it feels moisturizing rather than greasy. the entire cliniderm line is methodically purged of irritants, meaning that, no matter how sensitive your skin, you're seriously unlikely to have a reaction to anything in their line. it does a decent job of removing eye makeup, but it's not great. i tried applying it, waiting a few minutes and then wiping it away, which is really how these products are supposed to work (rather than applying and wiping or rinsing right away) and it removed some makeup, but there was still plenty left (particularly mascara, the bane of all makeup removers). although it stung a bit in my eyes (kind of hard not to get some in there), i had no reaction whatsoever and it actually seemed moisturising.
price :: $19
availability :: most major pharmacies

mac cosmetics facial wipes :: i guess i'm saving the best, or at least my favourite, for last. i am already a fan of mac, but i hadn't thought about trying their cleansing products until one of the associates at my local store pitched them to me. i figured that it couldn't hurt trying. mac have a lot of makeup removal products, but, as the associate promised me, these are the bomb when it comes to getting crud off your face. a single wipe clears away everything (although it does sometimes take some rubbing) and leaves my skin feeling fresh and soft and toned (never irritated). if your skin is normally oily, i'd venture to say that you don't need anything else on a nightly basis. it fulfills my tendencies towards sloth by allowing me to accomplish everything in one quick step, but it doesn't leave me looking like i neglected my beauty-duty. unlike virtually every other wipe on the market, these ones are plenty moist, but to keep that moisture circulating, it's best to store the package upside down, so that the liquid doesn't collect near the bottom. the wipes are biodegradable and the package can be returned to mac through their "back 2 mac" program, which allows you to get a free lipstick, gloss or eye shadow for every half dozen empty packages you return. and if that's not good enough for you, the wipes come in a convenient bulk size that actually make them more affordable than most competitors, while sacrificing nothing in quality. oh, and if you want to keep an extra pack around, they are exceptionally good as quick cleansers/ toners for leather footwear. (i'm not joking. as the cute guy with the spiky hair at the bay said "it makes sense. leather is a skin.")
price :: $21.50 for 45 wipes or $31 for 100 wipes
availability :: mac cosmetics stores, mac counters at the bay or on line

one more little tip. if, like me, you are lazy and choose to remove makeup, cleanse and tone in one fell swoop, it's important to understand that you're only removing the surface dirt from your skin. there's nothing wrong with that, but remember to give your skin a good deep cleansing- preferably with an exfoliant- two or three times a week.

so that's my advice on the subject. i realise there are about a hundred million makeup removers i haven't covered, but this is what i've tried. if you have comments on things that you've tried, speak up! feedback is always welcome.

on that note, wish me luck, because i'm off tomorrow to have someone else do my makeup for me. this is something that i've tried only a couple of times, with mixed results. this time, it'll be one of the makeup experts at nars who'll be deciding what to do with my face. one way or another, the results will be up here forthwith. perhaps i'll try a makeup remover?

making faces :: smoke gets in your eyes

classic smoky eye #1

ah, the smoky eye. it's probably the most discussed and searched makeup look on the internet. you can find countless tutorials on how to give yourself this sultry regard in many ways, from basic to intricate, subtle to dramatic, in all sorts of colours, for all eye shapes and colours, every race and skin tone. it seems like something that every girl who enjoys wearing cosmetics has to try at some point.

the original "smoky" looks go back as far as the use of cosmetics itself. women in egypt lined their eyes with kohl, as art of the time records. in modern times, the look of dark-rimmed eyes became popular with screen vamps like theda bara and then with the thoroughly modern flappers who used makeup to declare their flaunting of ladylike convention (discussed earlier).

dramatic smoky eye

there are good reasons why this particular look is so popular. first of all, it can be done pretty simply, with two colours- dark and light- blended together into a gradient from lash line to brow and it doesn't require the precision of other looks. second of all, it's a clever way to disguise fatigued eyes- the darker colours camouflage circles and draw attention away from puffiness. when i lost my cat morgan after almost nineteen years, i cried for days. any time i had to leave the house, the smudgy smoky look was my friend. third, darker colours around the eye (and smoky looks are distinguished by the fact that they surround the whole eye, top and bottom) contrast with the whites of the eyes, making them appear brighter. fourth, while the look is often seen as something reserved for an evening out, the ever-broadening palette of colours and textures available in eye shadows mean that it can be extraordinarily versatile- a look done with soft neutrals is perfectly appropriate for an office, while a heavier look in black is striking for an night out.

see details on the smoky eyes pictured and more options!

classic smoky eye #2

the idea with this look, at its base is to give a diffused colour around the eye, almost so that it appears as if seen through a veil of smoke. classically, the smoky eye is made up of the colours you would think- greys of all sorts, usually with black or charcoal closest to the eye itself. however, they're now done in purple, green, brown, blue... anything, really. you just need a couple of shades (the number is up to you) within the same range that go from dark to light and a couple of brushes to apply them. (learn from my fail- do not mess around for years trying to apply makeup with your fingers or sponge-tip applicators. you will use far more makeup than you have to and the result you get will be either near-invisible or look vaguely like you were drunk when you applied it. a few good brushes pay for themselves in product and time saved, plus they make you look better, which is, after all, the point.)

here are a few smoky looks of various sorts that i've come up with during my experiments; first, the three looks in the photos above:


"classic #1"
the eye shadows in this look actually all come from a palette expressly intended for smoky eyes. many companies routinely release these multi-colour palettes for this purpose and, most of the time, they're a much better deal than buying individual shadows. for instance, four eye shadows from mac would retail for about $70cdn, whereas the palettes generally retail for $44. the greasepaint stick is a very useful product from mac for doing smoky eyes. part eyeliner, part shadow, it's a perfect way to get a deep contour around the eyes. they're released in limited editions, but mac repromotes them regularly.


face
prolongwear foundation nc15
prolongwear concealer nw20
mineralize skinfinish natural light

eyes
next to nothing e/s
smoking e/s
satin taupe e/s
showstopper e/s
dirty greasepaint stick
smolder e/l
brown dazzlelash mascara

cheeks
perfect topping mineralize skin finish (highlighter)
fever powder blush (great for a deep natural flushed look)

lips
mellow flame l/s

dramatic
this was a look i did for a summer night out, where it was hot and sweaty anyway, so i figured i might as well go out looking kind of messy. the idea with this is to have everything kind of shimmering and glow-y to begin with, so that any perspiration sort of gets blended into the look. the key to this, product-wise, is the use of a "paint pot", a mac product, which is a solid, cream-like product that can be used as an eye shadow on its own, or, like it is here, as a base for other colours. putting a black base under the black-gold shadow (gilt by association) makes it super-dark and intense, plus it helps the colour stay put in a humid environment.

face
studio fluid nc20
cover f/x concealer c10

eyes
family silver mineralize e/s (white silver/ pewter grey)
blackground paint pot
gilt by association mineralize e/s
smolder e/l
bad bad black opulash mascara

cheeks
body shop bronzer #1
lightscapade mineralize skinfinish (best highlighter ever)

lips
bronzilla l/s

"classic 2"
this is one of the easiest smoky looks ever, because it's done chiefly with one product- one of those marvelous greasepaint sticks i mentioned earlier. whereas the other "classic" look was made up of warmer brown-greys, this one is silver with touches of white and black, so i paired it with similarly cool colours on the cheeks and lips

face
studio fluid nw15
prep & prime setting powder

eyes
zinc zone greasepaint stick
crystal avalanche e/s
black tied e/s
plushblack plushlash mascara

cheeks
azalea blossom blush ombre

lips
bubblegum l/s



and, for good measure, here are a few looks using other colours to create a smoky look:


"purple"
face
studio fix foundation nw15
mineralize skinfinish natural light

eyes
charred mauve greasepaint stick
fertile e/s
little minx e/s
crystal e/s
smolder e/l
bad bad black opulash mascara

cheeks
perfect topping mineralize skinfinish (highlighter)
strada powber blush

lips
viva glam v l/s

"bronze"
i'm kinda proud of this one, because it's not really a look i've seen done before (i'm sure it has been, but i haven't seen it, i made up this one by myself).

face
studio fix fluid nc15
mineralize skinfinish light

eyes
nanogold e/s
aztec brick e/s
time and space e/s
twinks e/s
plushblack plushlash mascara

cheeks
salsarose powder blush

lips
magenta l/l
victorian l/s

"neutral"
it's still smoky, but it's super-soft... i've included a close up so you can see the eye properly.
face:
prolongwear foundation nc15
prolongwear concealer nw20
prep & prime finishing powder

eyes:
dazzlelight e/s
nars ashes to ashes e/s
satin taupe e/s
french quarter greasepaint stick
dazzlelash brown mascara

cheeks:
by candlelight mineralize skinfinish
so ceylon mineralize skinfinish

lips:
gulabi l/s

making faces

i remember someone i used to work with commented on my eye makeup one time saying with a certain surprise that i always did it differently. i guess i understand the perspective, because some people- a majority, most likely- choose a particular look that they feel emphasises their best features, they've found a mask that represents them. personally, i change the mask i wear every day for the same reason i wear different clothes every day- because i generally feel differently every day. perhaps some day i'll discover a singular look that sums me up, but i generally find that there are just too many mes waiting to get out and play.

trust me- i'm understated

there are times when i'm forced to tweak my appearance. when i'm looking for work, or starting work, i cultivate a sort of muted, restrained look, the kind of thing that most people seem to associate with maturity and responsibility. and i generally keep that up until such time as i feel comfortable pushing the boundaries. (i don't think i'd last long in any place where i felt that the boundaries truly could not be pushed.) i think that everyone has that sort of persona that they drag out like an outfit reserved for special occasions. this is the face that makes me seem like a rational, trustworthy sort. i just usually have to wait a while for it to sink in that i am those things, no matter what i look like. it's a quiet version of me, but it has its purposes.

as i mentioned last week, there are certain associations with strong, red lips. so that's something that i crack out when i need or want to command attention. as a result, when wearing my bossy lips, i tend to leave everything else played down. no need to set up competing teams on your face. this is a very straightforward mask, no complexity to it. and no, it's not like i wear this only when i have to do a presentation, or yell at someone, or have an important meeting. but it helps.

is it hot in here?

of course, sometimes, it's more about the eyes. it's never been a mystery to me why dark-rimmed, smoky eyes came into fashion. it's actually an incredibly easy look to do (you can make it as complicated and layered as you like, but you can accomplish the effect with literally one dark colour smudged all around your eye) and because the contrast it creates with the whites of the eyes is wonderfully striking. personally, i have a variation on this that i keep as a mask for summer nights when i'm going out. it involves combining a lot of smudgy, dark, sparkly eye makeup with warm, shimmery colours over the rest of my face and lips. the idea is that, if it's hot and i'm going to be somewhere packed with people, i'm going to be glistening with sweat and my makeup is going to get messy anyway. i might as well look like i did that on purpose.

this is my happy face

conventional logic holds that you should choose to emphasise either eyes or lips but never both. i have the same respect for that little nugget as i do for other bits of lore that are accepted just because lots of people say them. yes, the fact is that it will look a little extreme, if for no other reason than it's not what people are used to seeing. but sometimes, extremity is what you want. sometimes, exaggeration sums up your mood. and aren't all masks on one level or another an exaggeration of some part of you?

really, i just rolled out of bed

even what looks natural can sometimes be carefully constructed. the entire advertising industry is built on this. we know, each of us, what we look like when we are completely unkempt, unadorned and there are people (how many people varies from one to another) who we allow to see us that way. really, this is another face we put on- the one that expresses ease and comfort. in my case, i don't think it's any more or less genuine than any of the other faces i have. it has its audience, like all the others. but of course, i always keep a natural-looking mask around as well, because you never know when it might come in handy.

many believe that masks imply a certain cowardice, that they are something behind which one hides. i'm sure that there are instances where that is the case. but i tend to takea more expressionist view. my various masks aren't things that are constructed, that i use as cover, but things that i draw (double entendre!) from inside that are small expressions of whatever part of me is at the forefront at that particular moment. so yes, what i look like can change, sometimes dramatically, from one moment to another. i just happen to think that all the mes i have deserve their time in the spotlight.

feel free to share descriptions and images of the yous you love to share as well.

i won't go through all the details, but i had help in creating the masks i'm modeling (plus many others) from mac cosmetics, nars, dior, guerlain, chanel, bobbi brown, lancome, armani and others...

how do you like me now?