Permanently Beautiful

To apply liquid eyeliner, you’ll usually want to line the eye along the lash line in one big sweep. When going for accuracy, one alternative application method is to start at the middle of the lash line and line outwards, then go back to finish the line from the inner corner of the eye to the middle. When using liquid liner for a dramatic “cat’s eye” look, just line from the middle of the lash line and a bit further than the natural outer corner of the eye.

To apply eyeliner with a pencil, first make sure you have the eyeliner pencil sharpened to a decent point. Then, line as close to the lash line as possible along the entire top of the eye. With pencil eyeliner, lining the lash line at the bottom of the eye is possible, but optional.

Many women are unsure of what type of eyeliner to commit to on a daily basis. Common pencil eyeliners are somewhat easy to use, but tend to melt into the skin or rub off and usually don’t stay put all day. Liquid eyeliners often stay put a little longer than pencil eyeliners, but can be tough to apply on a daily basis, and sometimes look a little harsh. This is especially true on fair skin tones.

If you’re looking for a way to save time, you’ll definitely want to consider permanent eyeliner. Permanent eyeliner is the perfect alternative to daily use of liquid or pencil eyeliner.

With the arrival of the spring wedding season, it’s time to pack away the heavy velvets and brocades and float down the aisle in organza and white lace.  To make sure your skin looks dewy fresh and your makeup is perfect on your big day, try these handy skin care and makeup tips:

• To prevent breakouts on your cheek and chin before your wedding, give your cell phone a swipe each morning with an anti-bacterial wipe.
• Wet a nubby washcloth with lotion to exfoliate gently while moisturizing.
• Don’t take any last-minute chances with your complexion. Skip the spa facial peel; it could leave your skin red and blotchy. Instead, make an at-home mask by mixing 1 teaspoon honey with 1 teaspoon of raw oatmeal. Apply and let set, then rinse off with warm water.
• Tweeze your eyebrows after showering while your pores are still open. It will be less painful and is less likely to leave red marks.
• Choose a pink lipstick that is the color of your gums.
• For golden legs, mix self-tanner with a dab of body lotion before applying to legs.
• Correct makeup flaws by scheduling an appointment with your permanent cosmetics artist today.

Do you want to know the secret to looking gorgeous when your new hubby kisses you asleep and when he kisses you awake? Permanent makeup. Brides in the know are turning to permanent makeup to make sure they look beautiful for their new man 24/7.

Every bride looks gorgeous on her wedding night; it’s the next morning that can be a challenge. On the  first morning of your life together, do you really want to watch the illusion die as you turn to your new husband with smudged mascara and lips that are deathly pale?  Of course you don’t. You want to turn your perfectly-lined baby blues on your man, pucker up your lush, red lips invitingly and have your way with him!

A specialized type of  cosmetic tattooing, permanent makeup involves the tattooing of medical-grade pigments into the dermal layers of the skin. Women who wear permanent makeup don’t have to get up early to “put on their face” or carry around a bag of makeup for periodic touch-ups during the day. A quick wash, a dab of moisturizer and sunscreen and you’re ready to go, looking fabulous all day — and all night!

If you’re going to be a spring or summer bride, schedule your permanent cosmetics treatments today.

Age is called the great equalizer. The natural aging of our face and body is something we all struggle with. Some people embrace their wrinkles; others banish them with Botox or cosmetic surgery. But the search for beauty as we approach and move past middle age need not be so polarized. Permanent makeup offers some attractive choices for people at both ends of the aging/beauty argument.

You don’t have to let those first gray hairs and tiny wrinkles brand you as “old.” There are a few permanent makeup tricks you can use to fool Mother Nature. To create a more youthful appearance, focus on improving skin condition, eyes, eyebrows and cheeks.

• Skin condition. Light, airy moisturizers were wonderful when you were young, but skin becomes drier as we age. Switch to a heavier, creamy moisturizer with more plumping power.
• Eyes. Expertly-applied permanent eyeliner adds crisp definition and youthful sparkle to your eyes. 
• Eyebrows. Thick, dark, luxurious eyebrows are a sign of youth. Permanent eyebrows can restore rich color to age-faded brows and fill in thinning brows, giving you a more youthful appearance.
• Cheeks. When we’re young, our cheeks are naturally rosy. A subtle blush of permanent makeup across your cheekbones restores the rosy look of youth.

If your makeup drawer has turned into an impossible jumble, it’s time to tackle the beast and organize your makeup. Steel yourself! If you’re an inveterate makeup hoarder who’s kept every tube of lipstick you’ve ever owned, things could get ugly. Resolve to get tough with yourself and purge! You only want to keep makeup that you know makes you look fabulous.

1. Sort your makeup by type: all foundations in one pile, lip coloring (tubes, sticks, pots, stains, gloss) in another pile, etc.
2. Go through each pile and throw away everything that is outdated, especially if it smells or looks funky. Old makeup, particularly mascara, can be loaded with unhealthy, infection-causing bacteria. Don’t risk it; toss it out. Makeup experts recommend replacing makeup on a regular schedule to prevent bacteria build-up and maintain color and consistency. Toss or replace makeup according to this schedule:
   ~ Foundation: 1 year
   ~ Concealer: 12-18 months
   ~ Liquid eyeliner: 6 months
   ~ Pencil eyeliner: 18 months
   ~ Mascara: 3 months
   ~ Eye shadow: 18 months
   ~ Lipstick, lipstain, gloss and other lip products: 18 months
3. Throw out any makeup you haven’t worn in the past 12 months. Styles and colors change; embrace it!
4. Don’t keep makeup you don’t like or that doesn’t make you look fabulous. So-so isn’t good enough. Only keep makeup that, like permanent makeup, makes you shine! 

A New Year means a fresh start. Time to change your life, lay old habits to rest and set new goals. We feel invigorated on New Year’s Day when we resolve to change our ways and improve our life. A week or two later that initial burst of enthusiasm can start to flag if we haven’t set ourselves up for success. Too often, New Year’s resolutions fall by the wayside, killed by lack of organization.

January’s dreary days are the perfect time to get organized and start fresh. Go through your wardrobe and cull out clothes that don’t fit or you never wear. Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of TLC’s What Not to Wear say you should surround yourself only with clothes that make you look and feel fabulous. The same is true for your makeup. Most of us are still hanging onto cosmetics that are years old, sometimes decades. Who doesn’t have a tube of lipstick or pot of blue eye shadow that’s been rolling around their makeup drawer since high school?

Makeup colors and styles change just like fashions do; but while we’ll get rid of outdated clothes, most of us hang onto out-of-fashion makeup until our cosmetics drawer is crammed full of tubes and pencils and bottles, making it impossible to find what we want. It’s time make a change and resolve to organize your makeup bag — or chuck it and wear permanent makeup!

Next time: Makeup organization tips

It’s fun to go a little wild with your eye makeup on New Year’s Eve. From glamorously exotic to eye-popping Gaga, these eye makeup looks will attract attention:  

Golden Eye. Gild your lids with soft, powdered, metallic eye shadow, sweeping it from lash to crease. Place an extra dot of shadow at your inner eye and edge your bottom lashes with a narrow line of glittering shadow. Choose a gold-toned shadow for warm skin tones; silver, for cool skin tones. To go Gaga, paint your eyelids with bright, liquid, metallic shadow or cover lids with gold or silver sequins for a startling flash every time you blink.

Cat’s Eye. Give retro 1960′s cat’s-eye makeup a sleek modern update. Beginning at the inner eye, brush a pale neutral shadow over eyelids and up to your brow line. Line bottom lashes with a thin line of black liquid eye liner. Along upper lashes, start with a medium line of eyeliner, gradually thickening the line as you reach the outer corner. Finish by extending liner about 1/2 inch beyond your lash line, ending in a curving point. Leaving your lid pale, brush charcoal shadow along your crease, extending it into a curved point that parallels your eyeliner. To go Gaga, create a more vivid contrast by brushing lids with medium rose and using bright turquoise in the crease. You can use any color combination that appeals. Try mixing pale yellow with bright orange or purple with bright green.

New Year’s Eve is the time to unleash your inner Lady Gaga and go a little wild! This is the night to glam it up with bold, sparkling lips and glittering, attention-catching eyes. It’s a night to sprinkle fairy dust across your face and dance in the moonbeams! 

New Year’s Eve makeup runs the gamut from eye-popping bizarre to head-turning gorgeous. There is no “right” makeup on this magical last night of the year. New Year’s Eve is a night to indulge in color, sparkle, fun and flash; a rare night of self expression when anything goes. If you wear permanent makeup, simply apply special holiday effects over your permanent cosmetics. Whether you wind up on the Lady Gaga or Scarlett Johansson end of the beauty spectrum is a matter of degrees.

Lips. No need wait for midnight. Make your lips lusciously kissable with deep red lipstick. Add a dab of shiny gloss or go Gaga with a heavy sprinkle of glitter.

Cheeks. Apply blush with a light hand to avoid clown cheeks when you heat up the dance floor. Go Gaga by pasting a triangle of crystal stars on the upper ends of cheekbones.

Face. Use a body lotion with a slight gleam to add a subtle sparkle to your face or go Gaga and dust your face with glitter.

Next time: Eye-popping eye makeup

Dressing up for the holidays is part of the fun! If you want to look fabulous for family photos around the tree or casual get-togethers with friends, get into the holiday spirit with these camera-catching makeup tips:

• Jolly Old St. Nick won’t be the only one wearing red this Christmas. Red lips are always popular at Christmastime, but stay away from fire engine orangish-reds, warn professional makeup artists. Choose a blue-red lip stain with a subtle gloss. Matte lipstick can look too flat in photos and high-gloss too shiny. For a picture-perfect look, lips should look moist with a slight sheen. Make sure you choose long-wear lipstick so you don’t embarrass your nephew when you plant one on his cheek.
• For family photos on Christmas morning, let your lips take center stage and go natural with the rest of your makeup. If you have beautiful skin, go bare-faced. If your skin needs a little help, apply a thin film of matte foundation. Make light use of a concealer that matches your skin tone. (Tip: mix concealer with a dab of foundation.) Photo flashes will make overly light or dark concealer unattractively obvious in photos. Finish with a very light brush of powder. Blot your T-zone with an oil-absorbing sheet to reduce shine before your family starts clicking.
• Use minimal eye makeup in natural tones and skip the blush.

If you wear permanent makeup, you’re always ready for the cameras!

Next time: How to glam up your makeup for New Year’s Eve

Who knows if blondes have more fun; but without that swirl of dark hair framing their faces, blondes do have to hurdle a few more makeup challenges than their brunette or red-headed sisters. Because your hair acts as a frame for your face, it’s important to match your makeup palette to your hair color, say professional makeup artists. This presents a particular challenge for blondes whose pale hair color lacks the instant drama created by darker locks. Blondes must rely on their makeup to create facial drama and definition.

“Blonde” refers to a wide range of color tones from Christina Aguilera’s s nearly white platinum to Blake Lively’s sun-kissed gold to Jennifer Anniston’s earthier beach-streaked locks. Each blonde shade requires a slightly different color palette to accentuate and harmonize with natural skin tones.

Copper undertones, silver neutrals and cool colors favor platinum blondes. Golden blondes need a warmer palette: pinks and peaches with touches of gold.  Warm honey and caramel with champagne highlights favor beach blondes. Permanent makeup artists like Melany Whitney are expert in determining the most beautiful color palette for each individual’s face. Permanent cosmetics take the guesswork out of makeup decisions and ensure that you look your very best every day.