A Mini Beauty Seminar…

This week we had a fellowship group to gather some ladies and my big girls and I enjoyed sharing some of our make-up tips and secrets with the ladies. We had so much fun! So I figured I would go ahead and share with all of you the handout that we gave them and at the end of this post I would list some of my favorite and easiest products to use. You can also follow me on pinterest and keep an eye on my board marked “beauty” as the girls and I regularly add to it any fun tips, products, or tutorials we come across. Of course I understand that we should not be overly concerned about our outward appearance, but in truth, I find most moms not concerned enough. Many times, we represent our Heavenly Father, our earthly families and our beliefs by the only thing most people ever have time to notice about us as we go about our day past them—outward appearance. So what we can do to help that out, we should. Not obsessively, but intentionally. ‘Nuff said.

Everything listed here is covered in detail on The Beauty Department. 

Sunscreen/Moisturizer Combo

Sunscreen is the first step, which you spread over your face and neck to protect and moisturize.

Neutrogena Age Shield, Oil Free 110 SPF (Target)

Boscia Sunscreen

Shesheido 65 SPF

Eye Makeup

All eye makeup is done next, so that if you drop eyeshadow all over your face or make any mistakes while drawing on eye liner, you can wipe it off with baby wipes or Q-tips without taking off any skin makeup. For inspiration and easy tutorials, visit www.thebeautydepartment.com. It’s our favorite website.

The steps for putting on eye makeup are:

1: Eyeshadow primer

Eye shadow primers make the eye makeup stick to your eye lid all day, so the eyeshadow won’t drop or fade. You take a small bead of primer and apply it to your entire eye area, from the lid up towards your eyebrow–everywhere you want to put eyeshadow and liner.

Too Faced Eyeshadow Primer (Sephora)

Urban Decay (Sephora)

2: Eye shadow

Eye shadows accentuate the shape of your eye. They can be used to brighten up your eye area, making you look more awake, or they can be used to darken your eye area, adding drama. You can use a skinny brush and eyeshadow to fill in or enhance your eyebrows. Sometimes you can use colors to make your eyes match the clothes you’re wearing for the day. The options are endless.

Maybelline

Revlon

Smashbox (has tons of wonderful big eyeshadow pallets)

Kat Von D Eyeshadow

Too Faced Eyeshadow

Sephora

3: Eye liner

Eyeliner outlines your eyes. The purpose of this is to thicken up your lashline, making it look like you have more eye lashes, or to soften your look. They come in all colors. Eyeliners come in a gel form (which we’ve never tried), a dry form you paint on with a damp skinny makeup brush (which works like eyeshadow), in the form of a pencil (which is easy), and in a pen/marker you use to draw it on (a little more complicated). You always want to get as close to your eyelashes as you can, if you’re using black or brown, for a natural look.

Maybelline (for pencils, gel liners, dry liners, pens/markers)

Sephora (for pencils, cream liners, dry liners, pens/markers)

Kat Von D Tattoo Liner (Pen/marker)

4: Mascara

Mascara darkens and accentuates your eyelashes. There are so many kinds of mascaras out there, but honestly, the best brand we’ve found yet is Maybelline. The Maybelline mascaras work better than any of the expensive ones.

Maybelline mascaras that are specifically our favorites:

The Colossal Volume Express Cat Eye

The Falsies Volume Express

The Rocket Volume Express

The Falsies Big Eyes

5: Foundation Primer

Foundation primers make the foundation you’re about to put on stick and last all day. They also minimize the size of the pores in your skin, making your skin smoother. (You don’t need to use it, however, if you are using a Cream Foundation.) To use, you take a small bead-sized amount and spread it around your face on your fingertips, covering everywhere.

Poreless by Too Faced

Smashbox Bare Minerals Primer

6: Foundation

For tutorials on how to put on Foundation, see www.thebeautydepartment.com.

There are three kinds of foundation:

Powder foundation, which is very easy to use and covers up just about ANY skin blemishes or discoloration. It’s applied with a big puffy powder brush.

Bare Minerals Powder Foundation

(This is one of our all-time favorite products with amazing full coverage. You can buy a kit which includes brushes, finishing powder, and bronzer for a very reasonable price range.)

Liquid Foundation, which is easily applied with a sponge.

Kat Von D “Tattoo” (very thick, full coverage, great for melasma)

DIOR

Cream foundation comes in the form of BB Creams and CC Creams, which you’re supposed to apply with a flat-headed liquid brush (but your fingers work really well to blend it in too).

Maybelline

Too Faced BB Cream

Sephora BB Cream

Sephora CC Cream (This “Color Corrector” works as a moisturizer, sunscreen and pigment corrector all at the same time. Just wonderful!)

7: Concealer/Highlighter

In order to make your makeup look more natural, and not all one flat color, you need to highlight. And if you have any spots or blemishes, concealer will cover them up for you. You buy your concealer 1/2 shade lighter than the color of your foundation, so you don’t end up looking like you have a flat face. www.thebeautydepartment.com has many photo tutorials on WHERE and HOW to apply this.

Concealers come in sticks or in tubes. You dot this over your dark spots or blemishes to make them disappear and lighten that area. Your concealer is also used as a highlighter.

Apply:

1) under your eyes (to get rid of the bags under your eyes)

2) above your eyebrows, under your lips and on the ridge of your nose.

(If you’re using the Bare Minerals Powder Foundation, use concealer, before you put on foundation, right after you use the primer.)

Maybelline

Too Faced

Sephora

Erase Paste (Mom’s favorite, Sephora)

There are also fat pencils which highlight without concealing, if you don’t need it.

Anastasia Brow Pencil (double sided) is a fantastic highlighter

8: Bronzer

You use bronzer to add depth and shady color in the right places. You define your cheekbones, your jawline, and your temple with a medium shade brown color using a blush brush (without ANY blush on it). Anything that is a good, warm color of brown will do. It’s like an instant facelift for your cheekbones and jaw. Visit www.thebeautydepartment.com for tutorials on this.

Target has some wonderful brown powders that last

Bare Minerals Bronzer (comes with the foundation in a kit)

Smashbox Bronzer

Sephora Bronzer

9: Blush

Blush adds a pop of color to the apples of your cheeks, and often, you use a shade of blush that will match the lipstick you are going to wear. Unlike the bronzer, which goes specifically along your jawline, you apply blush only to the apples of your cheeks.

There are two kinds of blush:

1) Powder blush, which you use a powder blush brush to apply

2) Cream blush, which you use your fingers to apply. (Lipstick can be doubled as blush and applied to cheeks also.)

Covergirl

Smashbox

Too Faced

Sephora

10: Lips

First, you need to line your lips with lip liner. If you don’t, your lipstick will bleed, and you’ll end up looking like a lioness after a kill. The options and colors are limitless, but generally you use a slightly darker liner to define and line your lips. There’s also a wonderful clear lipliner, which doesn’t leave any line, is waterproof and acts like a barrier. If you’re unsure how to line your lips, The Beauty Department has many tutorials on how to line all shapes and kinds of lips. It is not necessary to purchase an expensive liner.

Revlon

Maybelline

Sephora

Second, apply your lipstick. There are many finishes, styles and colors of lipsticks, such as long lasting lip stains, tinted lip balm, and liquid lipsticks such as Lip Tar. Apply your lipstick inside the liner.

Revlon Lipsticks (great color)

Loreal Infallible (very long lasting lip stain)

Maybelline Lipsticks

Sephora Lipsticks

Buxom lipsticks, lip stains (Sephora)

Many drugstore brands now have lipstick “chubby sticks” which are also longer lasting than regular lipstick. And lastly, you can add a nice shiny coat of lipgloss overtop. Feel free to mix the colors and match it to your outfit.

Revlon

Mabelline

Sephora

Buxom Plumping Lipgloss
There are lots of tutorials on YouTube, The Beauty Department, Sephora, and for fun product selections and tutorials follow LYETTEREBACK on Pinterest.

Ladies, if all this is overwhelming to you, take a deep breath. God made you beautiful. Period. He doesn’t make ugly people. And I’m not sayin’ you gotta go blow a bunch a dough to gussy yourself up to win people’s approval. Here is a short list of somehelpful, easy products that perhaps over time you can add to your little box of beauty supplies:

Bare Minerals starter kit includes brushes, foundation, finishing powder and bronzer and can be found on sale for around $40. BARGAIN.

Smashbox “the Master Class Pallett”—This products has eyeshadows, eyeliners, blushes, bronzers, contour powders, and highlight powders. All in multiple shades. And for around $60, it is some quality stuff that goes with just about your entire wardrobe. You could buy this, foundation/sunscreen, mascara and lipstick and be set for well over a year. As much beauty balm as I apply daily, this palette has lasted me over a year. And that’s sayin’ sumthin’.

Mascara: the “Rocket” by Maybelline. Well priced little miracle in a bottle.

Loreal Infallible Lip stains…lasting, beautiful colors. Drug store prices. Awesome.

And you need proper applicators: Sponge applicator is used for liquid foundation, proper brushes for applying eyebrow makeup, eyeshadow, and contour brush, blush brush and blending brush. Folks, proper tools truly make all the difference in the world.

Anyhow, much love to all of you. I pray you’ll see yourself as the beautiful woman in Christ that you ARE. And I also hope you’ll go have some fun at the makeup counter and experiment before your sweetheart comes home!