All posts tagged: beauty

Eye Basics: Get to know your eye brushes

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Getting into eye makeup past eyeliner and mascara can be a little daunting, especially when picking out the brushes. There are so many brushes out in the market, so here’s a rough guide I cobbled up for you, to help you out. Remember, I’m just going by my meager brush stash, and show you how I use some of the brushes I have. Obviously, you can always use these brushes outside their specific intended function. Let’s hop to it! FLAT SHADER BRUSH — for basic eyeshadow application! Use these brushes to pat on eyeshadow to minimize fallout and get maximum pigmentation. From left to right: MAC 239, Urban Decay Double-Ended Good Karma Shadow/Crease Brush (comes with Naked 2 Palette), NARS No. 3 (from the And God Created the Woman Set), Charm Wet/Dry Shadow Brush (from Sonia Travel Pro Set) My favorite of the three is the MAC 239, followed by NARS (which provides a good wash of color instead). Both the UD and Charm brushes work in a pinch, though. The density—or the fullness of …

Stash Shopping No. 3

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Hey everyone! Here’s another edition of Stash Shopping, which is when I look over my current collection and commit to use some selected items for an entire week. I’m on my third week, and it’s been fun. I actually asked the last time if you wanted to see some looks I wore using the selected items and received a mostly favorable response, so before I get into this week’s “haulage,” let me share some looks I made the past week, mostly using the bareMinerals READY 8.0 Eyeshadow Palette in The Cocktail Hour (reviewed here): Just a disclaimer, I work as a freelance writer and graphic designer, so I don’t wear makeup everyday. 🙂 For this first look, I used the coral (Spiked), the taupe-y color (Invite Only), and the purple (Swanky), in that order from the inner corner all the way across the lid. I wore this to a meeting and some errands. I used the Revlon Mineral Blush (Roseberry), and the Maybelline Lipstick (Chestnut) that was also in the box, but I topped it …

Basic Eye Diagram & My Go-To Eyeshadow Technique

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I used to teach part-time, and I find that it makes more sense to talk about history first. However, I haven’t exactly finished writing that post. Heh. So, for this day of this September Special, I wanted to share a basic “eye diagram” to sort of help you follow tutorials if you find them a little hard to do. I’m also going to post about my go-to technique for eyeshadow application, which was what I basically used when I was still exploring eye makeup. I just used to interchange the colors. 🙂 BASIC EYE DIAGRAM Obviously, there may be some differences with how each person refers to these “parts” of the eye, but this is how I usually follow tutorials and explain eye makeup to people. — Brow bone: protrusion just under your eyebrow. Usually enhanced by a light eyeshadow. — Mobile lid: part of the eyelid that “moves” when you blink. The part under your crease. — Crease: the fold of the eye. — Upper lash line: where your eyelashes grow on the upper …

September’s Softly Special: All About the Eyes

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Hey everyone! For the month of September, which is my birth month, I wanted to do something special. While I like reviewing products for you guys, I do also enjoy challenges and series, just because I think that these things help make a blog more interesting. I’ve done challenges, like Mineral Madness, as well as a few series(es?), like Nosy Beauty and Made-Up History, but I wanted to do something on a bigger scale for September. I figured that since I loved doing my eyes the best, I’d talk a bit more about eye makeup! I was very tempted to do a pure eyeshadow month, but then I thought that that might be a bit too much for everyone, so I expanded it to eye makeup in general with a favorable slant to eyeshadow, light of my life, fire of my loins. So, just to kick things off, let me start by talking a bit about the little duo that started it all, bareMinerals’ The Scenic Route: I remember buying this from a Sephora at …

September’s Softly Special: All About the Eyes (Master List of Posts)

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Here is a master list of eye posts made in September 2013, during Softly Sometimes’ special eye makeup month. This will be updated as the posts go up, so do check back every so often. 🙂 WEEK ONE 1: Introduction 2: Basic Eye Diagram & My Go-To Eyeshadow Technique 3: Eye Basics: Get to Know Your Eye Brushes 4: REVIEW: Maybelline Eye Studio LuminEyes in Grey & Khaki 5: 1 Quad, 6 Looks feat. bareMinerals READY 4.0 in “The Happy Place” 6: Brow Maintenance: Products 7: Top 5 Eyeshadow Brands (Cruelty-Free)

Nosy Beauty Vol. 9: Pam

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Welcome to Nosy Beauty, a series I made up so I can creep on other people’s makeup bags and the things inside them. For this week, I have Pam, who I met on LiveJournal. 🙂 She currently works for a library as she works towards a degree in marketing. Pam loves “makeup, blogging (when I get the time), social media, exercising, and spending time with my boyfriend.” “I’m Pam, I blog over at TheMacGirl and GeekToFit. I don’t like using makeup to hide my flaws, instead I try to find ways to bring out my best features. I typically try to look natural and have a pop of color somewhere; usually on my lips and/or cheeks.” My Daily Staples “My entire makeup routine changed drastically early last year because I lost some weight and gained my self confidence back. I didn’t wear much makeup before and I felt it was time for some change. So instead of rewarding myself with food, I rewarded myself with nail polishes and makeup. Ultimately, I created a different kind …

Empties No. 1

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Hello everyone! This is my first empties post, and it’s quite sizeable. It’s mostly skin care and bath stuff, though, so if you are looking for makeup empties, feel free to skip on this! — Maybelline The Falsies Mascara: It was time to throw it out as I stretched it to 6 months, like a Josie Gross-y. I really liked this mascara, but I won’t be repurchasing as it’s not cruelty-free. — Etude House Proof 10 Eye Primer: Throwing it out because it has become too tacky for me to work with. I won’t be repurchasing as I prefer other eye primers.