More Makeup Stuff from Audrey

OK, I'm a bit behind in providing some updates from the makeup-loving side of Audrey. So here we go!

1) A few months ago, I emerged as a budding freelance makeup artist! I have a lot to learn but I've been having so much fun in the meantime.

2) I have lots of new homes on the web in support of my makeup artistry "biz"

- Model Mayhem Profile: Model Mayhem is a really great networking site for photographers, models, hair stylists, makeup artists, etc. I find most of my "gigs" through this site
- Makeup by Audrey: Just my own personal Makeup Artist site. Looks nice, right? :) Made it for free using wix.com
- Facebook Fan Page: It feels weird to say I created myself a fan page but it's basically a more accessible way for my friends to see what I've been up to. I pretty much post all my pics here which includes several that don't make the other websites.

3) In addition to my personal twitter, I also have a separate, public one strictly for makeup talk :)

Follow @makeupaudrey on twitter!

4) And finally, I did another guest post for the Makeup and Beauty Blog. My first post was back in May and I was thrilled to be able to contribute again. Click the pic below for the post!



Hope you guys like the stuff I've been working on!

Making the most of my palette

So it has come to my attention that perhaps not all of my readers are as anxious as I am for November 20th to get here and actually aren't all that interested in Twilight. (the horror!!!)

And since I did declare this to be both a pop culture and makeup blog, I should talk some makeup, right?

As most of my friends know, I am a MAC addict. Although I am an equal opportunity "product whore" (stole that title from a biz card of another makeup artist), I have a special place in my heart for MAC Cosmetics.

Especially their eye shadows... I have two eyeshadow palettes both completely filled plus a bunch of their other eyeshadow compacts from some of their various collections (I realize this actually isn't that bad compared to most other MAC junkies). I recently picked up three new shadows with no home for them. I could buy a new eyeshadow palette but 1) why spend the $$$ and 2) why add one more thing to lug around in my already busting to the seams makeup bag(s).

Below is my cool/color palette. (The other one has my warm/neutral colors.) As you can see, there is currently no room at the inn.



I decided to copy some of the Youtube makeup people I follow and just take the tray out of my palette like so. It wasn't too tricky, you just have to be careful not to break the whole tray in half when snapping it out.



And voila! Now I have room for my three new shadows plus a whole bunch more :) For now, I organized them by splitting the shimmery shades from the matte ones but I'm sure that will change as I pick up new colors.



As you can tell from the pics, my new additions to my collection are white, yellow, and orange - all mattes. I got them for a look I did today which I am absolutely thrilled with! My best creation to date, if I do say so myself, heehee! See if you can guess what kind of look it was (except for those who are privy to what shoots I have this week!) and I'll reveal a pic in a later post.

Sephora Candy Color Look

So... It's been awhile since I've done a makeup look on this blog. I feel my makeup skills are getting a little rusty (out of practice these days) so I'm going to try to do these more often.

There's a look I've been wanting to do for awhile so here it is finally! It is the "Candy Colors" look from the recent Sephora mailer. As soon as I saw it, I thought, ooh I want to try it. I noticed a lot of other Youtube makeup gurus had the same thought. You can see some other really well-done interpretations here and here.



And here's my version. Yes, I cheated and only did half my face. It wasn't intentional. I didn't like the light blue shadow that I originally applied on the first eye so I tried a different one on the other eye. I liked that one better and just kept rolling with it. Plus I didn't go out with this look so why waste that extra makeup, right?



As usual, the eyeshadows are a bit more vibrant in person than in these pics but I'm happy with how these came out.

Here's what I used:

EYES
Too Faced Eye Shadow Insurance
NYX Milk Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencil
MAC Steamy e/s (blue-ish color, applied with Shroom on top to make it more pastel)
Urban Decay Ransom e/s (purple)
MAC Shroom e/s
MAC Brule e/s - under brow
Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner
MAC Spiked eyebrow pencil
Andrea Modlash #33

FACE
Mary Kay medium coverage foundation in Beige 400
MAC Stark Naked blush

LIPS
MAC Subculture lip pencil
MAC Angel lipstick
MAC Love Nectar lustreglass

Urban Decay is having their 30% off sale again

August 10th through 20th, save 30% on all of your favorite Urban Decay products. Just use coupon code FNFF1 at checkout at urbandecay.com.

Not sure what to get? Check out Audrey's Favorite Urban Decay Products.

Five Minute Face

How long does it take you to do your makeup? I know I definitely cannot do 5 minutes. Maybe if I skip the eyeliner part because that seems to take the longest.

This YouTuber, Emily, decided to take on the 5 minute challenge based on a book by Carmindy from "What Not to Wear". What I found even more impressive was that she managed to convince her boyfriend to participate in helping her with this challenge. What a man!

As a side note, Emily is a local newscaster which she alludes to in her video.



Can you guys do the 5 minute face? I might try it but if I do, I might replace the highlighter step with filling in my brows. That's usually something I do everyday.

Friday night look

Random, insignificant comment - sometimes, I like to match my eyeshadow with my accessories.

OK, this was the first time I did it.

And I liked it.



Yay for crazy bright colors! I think it was actually more obnoxious in person. This pic was taken at the end of the night.

The main color is Steamy from MAC and was part of my loot from the recent 25% off sale.

Friend Makeover Time: Smokey Eye Look

My good friend Pam has been in town this weekend and she mentioned that she loves the smokey eye look that Gwyneth Paltrow wears. She agreed to play guinea pig and let me try to recreate the look on her!

Here's the inspiration pic:


And here's my interpretation with "before" and "after" pics:


Doesn't she look fab? I tried to keep the smokey/smudginess to a minimum so I didn't scare her. (heehee) Pam also said she preferred a nude lip vs the pinkish one that Gwyneth wears.

Here's what I used:

EYES
MAC Blackground paintpot
MAC Gorgeous e/s (from 2008 Smokey Eye Holiday palette) - lid
MAC Carbon e/s - crease
MAC Shroom e/s - highlight and inner tear duct
MAC Smolder eye kohl - lower lash line
Bobbi Brown Black Ink gel eyeliner - upper lash line
MAC Cork e/s - brows
Loreal Voluminous mascara

FACE
Mary Kay medium coverage foundation in Ivory 104
MAC Stark Naked blush

LIPS
MAC Love Nectar lustreglass

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for letting me play, Pam! :)

Hopefully I will be posting more makeover looks soon...

All About Eyeliners

Eyeliners... I personally think it's the trickiest thing to apply when it comes to makeup but also makes the biggest dramatic impact from looking dull and bleh to polished and well, awake! :P

If you're looking for some helpful tips, here's a great video by YouTuber MakeupbyTiffanyD that breaks it all down for you from using pencil eyeliners to liquid liners to gel and cream-based liners. (In general, I'm a big fan of all of her make-up videos so if you like this, you can see more on her YouTube channel.)



For my upper lashline, I personally like using the gel and cream-based liners and I bounce around between ones from Bobbi Brown, MAC, and Clinique. I think I like the ones from Bobbi Brown the best because they seem to glide on easier and are rich in color. (They're also the most expensive, too, unfortunately.) As for brushes, I used to use the MAC 266 angled eyeliner brush but am now using a teardrop paint brush I got from Michael's for $3-4. I haven't tried the bent brush like the one used in the video so I may give that a try as well.

For my lower lashline, I always use a pencil eyeliner, typically one of the MAC Powerpoint pencils but I like the ones from Urban Decay as well.

What are your favorite eyeliner techniques?

My MAC F&F Order!

Remember that MAC 25% off sale? Well, my order arrived today! Look at all the fun stuff I got:



I got a couple of lipsticks, a blush, a mascara, another 239 brush, and a whole bunch of eyeshadows! (Can you tell eyeshadow is my favorite?) I'm excited because I got a good mix of both neutrals as well as bold colors. I'm most excited to try out Steamy (the bluish one) and Sumptious Olive. If I come up with any good looks with my new purchases, I'll post them here.

MAC Friends & Family Online Sale ends today!

Today is the last day of the MAC Friends and Family sale - 25% off everything, online only, with the exception of the Viva Glam products.

Offer code is SAVE25 with free shipping of orders of $60 or more.

Not surprisingly, I went a little crazy with this sale, despite the fact that I definitely do NOT need any more of this stuff. But I can't resist a good sale!!! Ah well...

This info is a little late, but if you were thinking about getting some stuff, here are some suggestions below. These are some of my favorite neutral shades that should go with anyone's coloring.

Audrey's MAC Picks

Eyeshadows:











These were actually the first MAC eyeshadows I bought and I often see these on other people's "must have" lists. I typically wear Shroom & Satin Taupe together and Ricepaper & Woodwinked together but you can always mix them up. And if you want it more dramatic or more of an evening look, I'd add some Carbon in the outer corner. You could also use Carbon with a liner brush to line your eyes instead of eyeliner.

I also prefer buying pans vs pots - pots on the left, pans on the right.



Then I would just buy a palette to store the pans and I find that easier to manage and tote around. Plus it's more economical. A pot eyeshadow is $14.50 and a pan eyeshadow is $11. A x4 palette is $3.50, so a pot eyeshadow is the same price of a pan e/s + the x4 palette and you'd still have room for three more pan eyeshadows. If you think you'll be collecting more, there's also a x15 palette.

Lip stuff:

Bare slimshine lipstick


Love Nectar lustreglass (like a lip gloss)


I'd also recommend the Viva Glam V lipstick but that is not included in the sale, but still worth checking out.

Brushes:

These are my two favorite eyeshadow brushes.

The MAC 239 brush is a flat shader brush and is really great for packing on color on the lids. Because it's thin, you can also use the edge to line your eyes with shadow.



The 217 is more of a fluffy brush and is good for putting color in the crease or the corner and just blending out the color for a softer look. You can use it with either creams or powders so I have one just for eyeshadows and one that I use to blend out my concealer.



OK, those are my main recommendations for now... do you guys have your own favorites? Please share!

Loving The Cosmetics Company Store...

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that my interest in make-up started with watching YouTube make-up videos (tutorials, reviews, hauls, etc). That's pretty much where I learn everything (for good and for bad) and one of my favorite discoveries through YouTube is this wonderful place called The Cosmetics Company Store. (I'd link a website, but they don't appear to have one.)



This is a chain located at various shopping outlets. (You can find all their locations here.) I guess they primarily sell the Estee Lauder line which includes not only Estee Lauder but their other brands like Clinique, Prescriptives, Bobbi Brown, and my personal favorite - MAC!!!

The beauty of this place is that not only do they sell discounted makeup but they all sell discontinued products as well. And since MAC has so many collections that include limited edition products, you can really score at these stores. They also sell some of their permanent products. I typically only purchase the MAC stuff and from what I can tell, they are usually priced at about a 30% discount (awesome, right?).

Below is picture of a portion of the MAC display at the CCS in Maryland. This is just a small portion - they also had a whole wall rack of their skin, eye, and cheek products. But check out all those palettes on the bottom shelf - those are from past collections that aren't available at stores today.



The offerings vary from store to store. The one near me doesn't really have too much compared to the ones I went to in Las Vegas and Maryland.

Here are the fun MAC products that I got in the Las Vegas CCS:

• Sweet & Nice Tendertone (Limited Edition, came out in June 2008)
  
  
  
• Love Nectar Lipglass (Permanent)
  
  
  
• Dipdown Fluidline (Permanent)
  
  
  
• Fafi Eyes 1 Quad (Limited Edition, came out in February 2008)
  

I was excited to get this quad because all the colors are pretty plus I've been meaning to buy Vanilla as a standalone eye shadow anyway. Here are all the colors included:

Top Row (L-R)
- Pink Venus: Washed pink (lustre)
- Vanilla: Soft pale-peachy-ivory flecked with shimmer (velvet)
Bottom Row (L-R)
- Hey: Neutral tan with white pearl (veluxe pearl)
- Howzat: Deep grey with silver sparkle (satin)

I couldn't wait to try it out so here's a look I did using all the colors.



I wore Hey on the inner third of the lid, Pink Venus on the remainder of the lid. Howzat in the outer V and Vanilla as the highlight color under the browbone.

I later went to a CCS in Maryland and bought a couple of eye shadow brushes that are part of the permanent collection. I totally do not need them but I have some weird addiction with collecting MAC brushes. That's why I absolutely love these discounts!

Next time you're outlet shopping, make sure to look for The Cosmetics Company Store!

Guest Blogging on Makeup and Beauty Blog!

One of my favorite beauty websites is Makeup and Beauty Blog. The blog author, Karen (a very cool chick), is currently vacationing in Hawaii (jealous!) so she graciously allowed me to do a guest post on her blog while she soaks up the sun.

Check out my post here!

Another Youtube inspired look...

So I decided to try a new look that I caught in a Youtube makeup tutorial since I had most of the colors used. Here's the tutorial:



And here's my take on it. Mine is a little more toned down since I was just looking for a more daytime wearable look. For example, I normally don't wear any shadow or liner on my lower lashline during the day (mostly because I'm lazy - haha).





I really like this look! Normally, I wear shimmery/frosty eye shadows on my lid and this look is mostly matte. It's subtle but pretty. I also really like using Texture (described as peachy-brown with light shimmer) as a crease color because it gives it a really natural look. Overall, all the colors are relatively neutral so I think this would work well as an every day look.

Here's everything I used...

FACE
bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation in Medium Beige
MAC Stark Naked Blush (instead of Gentle)

EYES
MAC Yogurt e/s (instead of Rose Blanc)
MAC Shale e/s
MAC Texture e/s
MAC Sketch e/s
Bobbi Brown Black Ink Gel eyeliner
MAC Carbon e/s (on top of eyeliner)
MAC Cork e/s (brows)
Maybelline Full & Soft mascara

LIPS
NYX Thalia lipstick
MAC Love Nectar Lustreglass

Your Guide to Everything MAC Make-up

Photo from Temptalia.com

One of my favorite beauty sites, Temptalia, just compiled an awesome collection of info on anything you could possibly want to know about MAC make-up.

Check out Your Guide to Everything MAC Make-up!

Find out things like:

• MAC Cosmetics 101
  
• Must Have MAC glosses, eyeshadows, face products, etc
  
• Swatches of products
  
• Info on upcoming collections

Good site to bookmark!

Urban Decay sale - 30% off

Ooh... this is a good one, you guys! UrbanDecay.com is having a Friends and Family sale (30% off) from April 6-17th using code FNFS9.

It looks like they have a bunch of other promotions going on as well - free shipping for orders over $50 and free lipstick sample for orders over $35.

Not sure what to get? Here are some of my favorite UD products:

Deluxe Shadow Box, $38

See my full review here.


Eyeshadow Ammo Shadow Box, $36

I like this palette a lot as well... the only thing I don't like is that 4 out of the 10 shadows have that chunky glitter that I can't stand! (I just hate having that glitter fall out on your face that you can't remove. What's worse is when you get the glitter everywhere else as well!)



Eyeshadow Primer Potion, $17

This seems to be a staple for a lot of people. I personally firmly believe in using an eyeshadow base (click here for why) and this one works great. Although cool looking, some people complain about the packaging because the wand applicator can't reach all the product in the bottle. Unless you cut it open and scoop it out, you end up wasting a lot of product. Another popular alternative is Too Faced Shadow Insurance which comes in a tube. As a side note, I have heard UDPP is better for those with oily lids - although I think I have oily lids and I don't really notice a difference between that and TFSI.


24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil Travel Set, $29

These are great if you like "samplers", like I do. These aren't my everyday eyeliners but I like them when I want to mix it up and add some fun color accents. I have the "Velvet Rope" set which is the one in front that has more of the neutral colors. The "VIP" set has the brighter and more colorful pencils. Here are the colors in each set:

- Velvet Rope: Yeyo (metallic white), 1999 (plum w/ teeny gold glitter), Zero (zealous black), Bourbon (brown w/ teeny gold glitter), Stash (dark green/gold)
- VIP: Zero (zealous black), Lucky (brilliant deep copper), Covet (peacock green), Electric (bright aquamarine), Lust (plush purple)


Happy Shopping! Let me know if you pick up anything.

Sugarsweet-inspired Look

I saw a fun post on Makeup and Beauty Blog with a MAC Sugarsweet Face of the Day. I decided to do something similar however I only purchased one item from the collection. I substituted other colors that seemed similar.



Here's the one item I did purchase - the Lollipop Loving lipstick. It's considered a glaze so it's actually pretty sheer and coral in color.








Here's my Sugarsweet-inspired look:


I tried to use eyeshadows that were similar to the ones that came out with the collection:


EYES
MAC Shroom - Similar to Sugarshot e/s
MAC Creme Royal (from Hello Kitty Lucky Tom palette)
MAC Paradisco (from Hello Kitty Lucky Tom palette) - Similar to Dear Cupcake e/s
Dior Greenish Brown (sorry - this is from the Chic Palette and I can't figure out what the name is of the shadow) - Similar to Club e/s
MAC Graphblack Technakohl Liner
Maybelline Full&Soft Mascara

FACE
MAC Petticoat Mineralized Skinfinish

LIPS
MAC Popster Tinted lip conditioner
MAC Lollipop Loving lipstick

Benefit Sale & MAC Sugarsweet collection

In addition to Bobbi Brown, Benefit Cosmetics is also having a sale - 20% off purchases of $50 or more. Enter HOTCORAL at checkout (expires at 11:59PM PST tonight).

I was thinking about ordering a couple of things, but when I thought about it, they seem to be very similar to products I already own so I actually stopped myself from continuing with the check out. So proud of myself!

But in case you were wondering, I was planning to purchase the following:

smokin' eyes: sexy eye & brow makeover kit


hoola: bronzing powder


And one product that I absolutely love and highly recommend is this one:

big beautiful eyes palette: an eye contour kit


I bought this awhile back before I really got into make-up. This was my go-to eyeshadow palette - love it! The colors are really subtle and neutral but work so well together for a very pretty, work-appropriate look. The little box even came with instructions on where you should place the different colors to contour your eyes. Perfect for newbies, like me! I loved this kit so much that I used it all up within a few months. I'm on my second one right now and I've pretty much hit the pan on that one, too. The concealer isn't bad, either, but I usually don't wear that on a daily basis. The best part is that the mini brushes that come with the kit are pretty decent brushes! Not sponge applicators like you get in other high end kits. You get two and one is double-ended so you actually have three brushes: a basic eyeshadow brush (soft, too!), a liner brush, and a concealer brush. I bought one for my sister as well and she loves it, too.

*****

Anyway, the other reason I refrained from buying Benefit is because I plan to stop by MAC tonight to check out the Sugarsweet collection that just launched today. I know I said I wouldn't get anything but I am really intrigued by the Lollipop Loving lipstick - the shade looks so pretty!

As usual, I got the lowdown from one of my favorite sites, Temptalia.com. If you're interested in what the collection has to offer, check out her very informative posts with product photos, swatches and reviews.

Random make-up tips from a make-up novice

Thanks for the comments on my last post! I wanted to respond to some of them so I'll just post them here.

For Marcy: I have bald patches in my eyebrows too! My brows are naturally thicker on the outside and kind of sparse on the inside (I have scary high school pics to prove it.) I also have some uneven patches from times I went a little overboard on the grooming. So now I always fill in my brows with eyeshadow - it's subtle but I think it really improves the overall look. I take a small angled eyeliner brush (ex. MAC 208 brush) with a light brown eyeshadow (ex. MAC cork e/s) and fill in my brows use short, light strokes starting on the inside where it is the most sparse and working my way out. Now I have jet black hair and used to use a darker eyeshadow, like a darker brown, but then a MAC make-up artist recommended using the lighter color and I like it so much better! Otherwise you can look kind of scary if your dark brows are screaming at you.

Now for the look I just posted, I actually did try to make the brows a little darker and more defined than normal since I had darker lips and thicker eyeliner. For this I also used a brown eyebrow pencil (ex. MAC Spiked brow pencil) to sort of outline the brows and fill in the baldy areas. Sometimes I go a little overboard so then I use an eyebrow brush to lightly brush out the brows and soften the look.

*****

For Jackie: First of all, thanks for stopping by and I hope you return! For me, I needed a lot of practice with the gel eyeliners. I love them because they don't budge and are a little darker compared to pencils but aren't too sharp and defined like liquid liners. I think the trick for me is the brush, the amount of product you put on your brush, and how you apply it.

I've experimented with a lot of brushes and I personally like angled eye liner brushes the best. Currently, I use the MAC 266 brush. I try to be careful with how much I get on the brush - I usually try to get enough so that I can do one eye without re-applying product from the pot. Now for the application... I always point the angled tip of the brush out. For example, I start with the outside of the lid first, with the point of the brush at the outer corner and line the lid to the halfway point, staying as close to the lash line as possible. Then I flip the brush so that point is now facing the inner corner. I continue lining the lid from the halfway point toward the inner corner although I usually only line to the midpoint (i.e. I don't usually line the inner 1/4 of the lid). For the second half of the lid, you shouldn't have as much product on your brush so you should be able to sort of thin out the line from the halfway point. And yes, sometimes the line isn't so clean, so I'll just take the brush (with most of the product gone) along the line to try to clean it up.

Anyway, hope this helps! Usually I just play around with different techniques to see what works best for me. If you want an even thinner line, you might want to try one of the more pointed brushs like the MAC 209 or 210.


Update:

By the way, there's a 25% off discount for all Bobbi Brown cosmetics, only good for online purchases using code "Instant". Free shipping for $60 or more. Ends on March 19th.

Another make-up look... Bronze-y eyes with red lips

So this post is for my friend G who I boogied down with this weekend. I tried out a new make-up look and G liked it and was curious about what eyeshadows I was wearing.

Well here you go, G! (This gave me an opportunity to play with my new-ish Photoshop elements software which I am still getting the hang of... the whole layers concept always throws me off.) These are all MAC eyeshadows.



And here's the pic without all the graffiti:



Open eye... I tried to add a little bit more of a dramatic "tail" to my eyeliner. And don't you just love my non-existent eyelashes?



Face shot!



Products used:

FACE
Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation in Beige
MAC Select Moisturecover Concealer in NW25
MAC Mineral Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus
NARS Orgasm blush

EYES
MAC Brule e/s
MAC Ricepaper e/s
MAC Woodwinked e/s
MAC Mulch e/s
MAC Texture e/s
MAC Smut e/s
Bobbi Brown Black Ink Gel eyeliner (although the MAC version is lower cost - Blacktrack Fluidline is $15 vs Bobbi Brown's $21 for the same amount)
MAC Smolder Eye Kohl (waterline/lower lash line)
MAC Carbon e/s (on top of Smolder)
MAC Cork e/s (brows)
MAC Spiked eyebrow pencil
Maybelline Full & Soft mascara

LIPS
MAC Burgundy lip pencil
MAC New York Apple lipstick

By the way, I can't stress enough how much I love primers! I took the pics above *after* a night of sweating on the dance floor and only had to re-touch the lipstick. For the eyes, I used Urban Decay Primer Potion (although I just got my hands on Too Faced Shadow Insurance so I'll let you know if that's any better) and Smashbox Photo Finish Light primer on the face.

Preview of MAC Sugarsweet collection

* sigh *

First, MAC had to collaborate with Hello Kitty. My wallet is still on fire from all the purchases I made from that collection.

But now MAC has to go and do a Sugarsweet collection??? AGH!

Don't they look delicious?


Picture Source: Temptalia.com

I think I can refrain from indulging though... I took a closer look at the collection, and while everything is super cute, nothing was a screaming must have.

(Of course, this may change if people start raving about certain products which is how I got sucked into the Fun & Games blush, the She Loves Candy lipglass, and the Pink Fish tinted lip conditioner from the Hello Kitty Collection. Which, by the way, I don't regret because I love all of them!)

Anyway, you can see more pics of the MAC Sugarsweet Collection on Temptalia.com, one of my favorite make-up sites. I think the collection is supposed to come out on March 19th.