Miss USA's Emerald Eyes!

 

As I am sure most of you know, the Miss USA 2011 pageant was held on Sunday. All of the contestants were absolutely stunning and flawless! I could willingly spend hours scoping out every single girl's makeup for the show, but unfortunately that would take entirely too long. So, instead I'm going to highlight the big winner, Miss California, Alyssa Campanella. I loved her entire look, and I love her feisty auburn hair, even if she is a natural blonde.

Very smokey eyes were a pretty solid trend for the pageant this year, and I can definitely see why. Smokey eyes bring out the best in everyone. It is a sultry look that brings on the hotness! Alyssa's take on it was perfect too. Her dress was a beautiful emerald color, so she followed that through in her makeup. It's not a strong green though, just a hint to make everything come together.
As usual, start with a primer (Urban Decay is my faithful fav) all over your lids and up to your brows. Then I would cover the entire lid with NARS shadow in Night Porter. It is a deep greenish-black with amazing emerald glitter. If I were to do it, this would be my main color for this look. You can always go lighter or darker to suit your taste.

Follow this with any black shadow. I would probably pick a matte to offset the lid and highlight color, but anything will work. Place the black shadow in your outer corner and make sure to blend it really well. Take a small brush and apply the same black on the outer lower lash line. Connect this up to the crease and blend it up into your brow bone for a cat eye effect. I would use the Night Porter again and apply it over the rest of the lower lash line and into where you placed the black- just to make sure everything blends together. A little dusting of Urban Decay's Urb on the inner corner would really make your eyes pop. It's a perfect light green!

MAC's Blanc Type, or any matte beige will go great as a highlight on the brow bone. I definitely would keep it matte for this- anything else will be too overwhelming.

Top all of this off with black liner on the upper lash line. Sweep it out a little to go along with the cat eye. I would probably use liquid, like Urban Decay's Liquid Liner in Perversion, but anything that is blackest black will do. A curl of the lashes and two coats of DiorShow mascara would finish this fabulously!

Image Sources: www.crushable.com, www.polyvore.com, www.sephora.com, www.urbandecay.com

Beach Bumming!

I am spending this week in Naples, Florida for vacation.. spending my days at the beach and loving life! Going to the beach is fabulous, but you can't relax too much! You still want to keep your skin and hair healthy. You also want to keep your makeup routine at its simplest! Here are a few of my favorite beauty products to have at the beach or on vacation-

1. Supergoop 30+ Everyday Face & Body Sunscreen- SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN, SUNSCREEN! I can't stress sunscreen enough. I use a moisturizer with SPF protection everyday, but being at the beach calls for extra measures. Lather this on your face before you go out in the sun and reapply about every hour.

2.Joico K-PAK Intense Hydrator- Using a mask or extra hydrator every other day while you're at the beach is a super idea! Your hair can become dry and damaged from the sun and chlorine in pools. To help keep my hair shiny and smooth this is my go-to product. I use it after I shampoo and leave it in for about 4 minutes. I rinse and follow up with my regular conditioner.

3. bareMinerals SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen Powder- This product is great if you have a few blemishes you want covered up but don't want to cake up your face with makeup. Its a simple powder that you buff onto your face. It contains SPF 30 and comes in different shades If you want light coverage during a day out this is great too!

4. Pond's Morning Refresh Towelettes-  There is nothing worse to me than a grimey dirty feeling face after being at the beach or in the pool all day. These easy towelettes are perfect for a quick clean up that is refreshing and isn't too harsh on your skin!

5. Burt's Bees Sun Protecting Lip Balm SPF 8- When you're going to be in the sun you can't forget your lips! I pretty much use this balm throughout the whole summer. There is absolutely nothing worse than sunburnt lips!

5. Floppy Hat- Floppy hats are great for the long summer days! I have one that I have been wearing at the beach and it's perfect! It keeps my face from getting burnt and also blocks the sun so I can see my book, magazine, or cellphone sooo much better!

 6- Sunglasses- You can't forget your sunglasses! I have wayy too many pairs, but for the beach I highly recommend using a cheaper pair. This is because sand can easily scratch up your lenses, and you don't want to ruin your expensive pair! I have been wearing a pair of peach colored sunglasses from Forever21. They were only $5 and are so fun! I love colored sunglasses, but if I am coughing up any larger amount of money I always tend to stick to neutral colors. This is a great opportunity to go out on a limb with colors and styles since they are super cheap!

A Slight Change- MakeupTalk Writer!!

       As some of you may have been noticing, I haven't been posting every single day like I have in the past. This is because of a really exciting opportunity I have been given. I applied and was chosen as one of MakeupTalk's blog writers! For those of you who don't know, MakeupTalk is a makeup and beauty forum website that has some AWESOME reviews and conversations about every product you could possibly imagine! If you haven't already, you should totally check it out HERE.  I am beyond thrilled about this, but it's going to cause some slight changes around here. To fulfill my job "requirements" I have to post 15 times per month, or every other day. My goal is to continue to blog every day but with one day on here and one day for MakeupTalk. Of course there will be occasions when things don't go as planned.. but I'm going to try my hardest! I am still doing my giveaway of course :) So please invite people and spread the word! I will add one entry into the giveaway for each person you get to follow me! Just have them comment on a post saying they were referred from you! I'm still so excited about this giveaway along with my new "job" and where it will take me! Please Please Please follow the MakeupTalk blog HERE! The most recent post about Marilyn Monroe's makeup look is from yours truly :) So please follow, you will be missing out on sooo much information from me if you don't. The majority of my posts on there will be celebrity geared, so if you enjoy that type of reading you should definitely check it out! The other cool thing is not only are you just getting info from me, there are tons of posts of quite a few other writers as well. It's like one blog for a group of incredible bloggers!