A few tips on eyebrow shaping

OK so if you've been reading my blog lately you'll have seen my eyebrows have been looking a bit shabby.

I must admit that I kind of like the more unkempt look but they were getting a bit silly.  So I thought I'd give them some TLC and document it to give you some tips on shaping your own brows and how to get them as even as possible.

Here's the before & after of my brows

I say 'as even as possible' because even for someone trained in brow shaping like me, it can be tricky to get them even, without a stencil; and I'm really not a fan of that perfect, stenciled look. Eyebrows usually are not symmetrical. They say your eyebrows (and your eyeliner for that matter) should be sisters, they don't need to be twins!

So here are a few tips for making it a bit easier to map out a shape for your brows, before removing the hair.

You will need:
- clean spoolie (mascara wand)
- eyebrow scissors (if your brows are long and super unruly)
- a flesh or white-coloured eyeliner.**
- tweezers
- brow makeup such as powder, pencil, gel... whatever you like.

**Actually any colour eyeliner will do, it doesn't matter, it's just to help you map them out so if you wanna use green or electric blue - you go girl!)


I find it best to go with your natural brow shape, as much as possible. Don't try and create a vastly different shape to your natural brow or it'll look unnatural and also be harder to maintain.

So, firstly use your spoolie to brush the brows into shape.  Then you want to take something long and straight to use as your guide.  I used a brow waxing spatula but an eye pencil or ruler etc will do the job ok.

Then you want to map out your shape.  I tried to take photos of these steps but they sucked, so I had a go with paint instead...

The first line is your inner line.  You want to measure from your nostril, straight up. Then draw a vertical line on the inside with your eye pencil. This is where your brow should start.

To figure out where the tail should end, hold your spatula/measuring device on the edge of your nostril, aim it to the edge of your eye, right on the lower lash line and then draw a line over your brow. This is where the tail of the brow should end.

 

Bit hard to tell from the dolly head above, but something like this...

This is the hardest bit (and you can always get someone to help you out witht his step) but to figure out the rough position of the arch should be, look straight ahead into a mirror and place your measuring device right where the outer edge of your iris is, so right where the colour ends and draw a line verically through the brow.  This is roughly where your arch should be - but have a good look, does it look off to you? Does the arch naturally appear further up or down the brow? Move it if you think it looks wrong.

Then join the dots...

Using your spoolie, brush the brow hairs up and if any go far above the line you've drawn you can trim it with your brow scissors. I only ever do this when the hairs are really long. I didn't need to do it on mine.

Next, fill in the brow, where you want there to be hair.  So right now you should look something like this.

Then just remove all the hair that doesn't fall within your mapped out brow shape!
Gently remove all the pencil. You should now be able to see if there are a few more hairs that need to be tweezed or where it's not as even as you'd like. You should also be able to see where there any sparse areas that can be treated with brow serums (or castor oil, which is also reported to aid brow & lash growth).

But while you're waiting for these to grow in, makeup will help make the brows look fuller.  You can see that I have a few sparse patches in my brows that need treating.

  

So I just lightly fill them in with pencil or powder, whatever I feel like on the day. Here is the finished article.

The products I used were:

• Billion Dollar Brows Brow Powder in Taupe (CV) and a little bit of the Blonde powder through the inner part of the brown to soften it.
• Billion Dollar Brows Clear Brow Gel (AV)

My brows were also tinted before removing the hair, with Refectocil tint in Natural Brown (CV).

Some other brow products I love:
GOSH eyeliner pencil (I use the Grey/Brown) & Clear Brow Gel (CV)

Eyeko brow gel (V)
Anastasia Beverley Hills Brow Wiz (AV)
ELF Brow Kit (super affordable!) (V)

I also have ordered some of BDB's brow boost for those sparse areas in my brows and because one is perpetually thinner than the other! Dangit! So I'll let you know how I get on with that.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Current Favourites

Hi everyone, happy new year! Is it too late to say that? Probably, ah well.

I've had a good rest from blogging, mainly because I've been super busy but this also means I have a TONNE of stuff to blog about. So I'm working on getting the posts ready to go up over the next couple of weeks.

I thought I'd start off with a Friday Favourite post, but not just one - a bunch of stuff I'm loving lately!

My first favourite is the Bdellium 760 Liner/Brow Brush. 

I actually bought this by accident, I wanted another 762, which is an angle brush I like for eyebrows, but I grabbed this one instead and I got it home thinking, what a doof, this brush is tiny and no good for anything!  Then one day I decided to try it for eyeliner and I'm in LOVE!

It's so teeny that it gets the line really neat, something I struggle with, with a regular angle brush. And it gets your wing super clean and straight; I find this much easier with this brush that a small liner brush.

ALSO I find it easier to eyeliner on others with this! Which is a huge win, as brides always want eyeliner and I do find it a challenge, doing liner on others.

Here it is on the left, in comparison with the 762. I definitely am going to order a few more for my kit and a backup for me, because I'm a lazy person who detests washing makeup brushes!

My next favourite - Revolution Single Eyeshadows

Both of the ones I'm showing are matte and about 2 days after I took this pic, I hit pan on Hung Up. I've only had it since January but I literally use it every. single. day!  No matter what look I'm doing, this is the perfect transition colour. It's great whether you want to build it up and make it dramatic, or just use it for a tiny bit of definition. It's also nice for a subtle matte wash of colour over the whole lid. I LOVE IT!

Shade on the left is Hung Up and on the right is Touch Me

I mainly use Touch Me, a matte cream shade, for highlighting the brow bone and cleaning up the shape of my eyeshadow.

For the prices (£1 people, £1!!), these are fantastic and with a good primer, last just as well as more expensive shadows.

Along the same lines, my next favourite are MUA's Single Eyeshadows. These are also £1 each and I have a few and think they are pretty great. My current faves are these two; the shades are Copper on the Left, Champagne on the right.

Here is a swatch, that is a bit washed out, it is more bronze than this, but it is a very goldy/yellowy bronze rather than a more pinky one. If you have blue eyes, you need this colour in your life. It's gorge!

I have swatched it next to the Barry M Eyeshadow Pencil in shade EP2, which is very very slightly lighter but these two are really perfect for each other: the pencil makes the shadow more vibrant and last longer and the shadow makes the pencil set and not crease. WIN!  (Not all of the large eyeshadow crayons are vegan according to the website, but this one is.)

But the real winner here is Champagne.  OK please can we talk about the beauteousness of this colour!! It's friggin gorgeous!  In fact, I've mainly been wearing it as a cheek highligher, it's so shimmery and pretty. I also love it for an inner corner highlight on the eyes. 

Next up, Collection's Perrie's Little Mix Blush It.

I normally don't even bother checking Collection's blushes as they usually have carmine in but I checked this one and it doesn't. Plus it's lovely! YAY.

It gives such a lovely peachy flush and it's super pigmented! I use a Real Techniques Duo Fibre Face brush to apply this, most days, as it doesn't pick up too much product.

Next, a new (to me) foundation from Superdrug's B range: The B. Radiant Foundation. My shade is No 10, Linen, which is the lightest shade they do.

I think this is meant to be their version of some of the high end illuminating foundations. Which, as they are not cruelty free, I've never tried. But I love this one.  I have dry skin and right now it's SUPER dry. So I apply it with a damp beauty blender and just press it in and it has nice light to medium coverage, that is buildable and the finish is really nice. It's not too glowy but it definitely doesn't have a matte finish, which I am not a fan of anyway.

Also from B, their Illuminating Primer.

I was really really really hoping this would be similar to MAC's strobe cream and you know what, it is!  I had a rummage through my old drawer of makeup stuff that I no longer really use (mostly brands that are not cruelty free anymore) and I found my old tube of strobe cream.  Texture and finish wise they are SO similar. I'm pretty sure the smell is similar too, but my strobe cream is a bit past it and doesn't smell too good anymore.

Here's a comparison for science or something's sake.  Top is the B. Primer, bottom is strobe cream.

Other way round on this swatch, strobe cream on top, B. primer on the bottom. Not sure if this really shows up in the pic, but the effect is really quite similar.

I have a bunch of other stuff I'm loving right now too but there's some that just need their own posts, so look out for those coming up next week.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON LOVE-LIPSTICK.BLOGSPOT.COM

Friday Favourite - Graze Box!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS....

Are you excited for Christmas / Holiday season everyone?  Besides that song being stuckin my head pretty much 24/7 right now, I am! I really freaking am!!  

I probably won't have another post up before my Chrimbo food post so I thought I'd pop in with a cheeky Friday Favourite!

I know Graze boxes are kind of old news and I stopped getting them a few years ago but my workmate started them recently and I was jealous! haha, no not really.  I just thought they looked awesome. So I went on the site and reactivated my subscription.

I like that you can search by dietary requirement so basically you can 'bin' anything that isn't vegan, so if you try and add anything to your try list, it tells you it's not vegan! YAY.

This is what I got in my first box: funky dried veggies, Jaffa Cake mix, Dark Rocky Road, and PB dippers. I've tried the pb dippers, they are pretty good! (My workmate wasn't a fan so they were slung my way! :) )

Today I had the Jaffa Cake pack, which is basically chocolate, orange-flavoured raisins and hazelnuts.  All stuff I love and that went well together. The chocolate was really good too, I'm picky with dark chocolate because it can be really bitter but it was lovely.

 

Excited to see what next week brings!

If I don't speak to yous, have a fantabulous Chrimbo if you celebrate it and I'll catch you on the flipside. 

Laterz

xXx

If you don't follow me on FB or Twitter yet? WHY? WHYYYYYY?  J/K.... Come talk to me though - links to the right or leave me a comment below.

Party Makeup Series: Gold Smokey Eyes and Red Lips

My next party look is a classic smokey eye, with a bit of gold added and a glam red lip.  This look is pretty easy, you just need a bit of patience to get it blended enough. Especially if you add a bit of black like I did, as that is tricky to work with.

So this is the look, I wore this for my work Christmas Party, hence the dramatic lashes!  You could skip these though or go for something more subtle.

    

I started by priming my face with this primer from Neve. I don't know if I love this yet, or if it actually makes much of a difference.  Jury's out!

 

Then I went onto eyes. I primed with Limecrime's Eyeshadow helper.  Then I mainly used shadows from the MUA Undress Me Too palette. For the crease I used B's Cinnamon eyeshadow but you could just use the Mate Brown from the MUA palette instead.

I just took a fluffy brush (bdellium 785) and put this in the crease. Doesn't have to be neat, just blend it well. This is our transition shade.

All the way through as I'm doing my eyeshadow, I just use my finger to clean up a bit if I take it too low.

Then I took the darkest brown from the palette on a flat brush (Furless PM2) and patted it into the outer corner of my lid.

 

Then back to my crease brush to blend away the edges. I repeated these steps a few times until I was happy with the colour.

Then I changed to a fluffy but flatter brush (I used a Furless Bronze Blending brush) and picked up some of the black.

I put this into the outer corner and pulled it out a bit at the side, into a bit of a wing shape, you can see that better a few pictures down! :o)  I went back to my blending brush to blend out harsh edges and repeated, as above, until I was happy with the colour.

Then the gold. LOOK how pretty!! This is Sugarpill's Goldilux pigment

I wiped off my flat brush and picked up some pigment from the lid of the jar. Then packed it onto the lid, in the centre and inner portions.

I then went back to the blending brush to blend and kept repeating these 2 steps until I was happy.

Here you can see the sort of shape I created.

Then I went back to my original crease brush, with a bit more of the transition colour and blended until everything was soft.

Then I lined my upper and lower waterlines with black waterproof eye pencil (this is actually an old NYX one but as they're not cruelty free anymore, I'd recommend Barry M's or GOSH's Velvet Touch Liners, I just could find a black one! Doh.

Then I picked up the lightest matte (ish) shade from the palette

 

And blended it under the brow with a bdellium 776 brush

At this point, I did my foundation, & concealer, bronzer and blush and filled in my brows with Anastasia Beverley Hill's Brow Wiz in Ash Blonde. The products used and the steps for the face were exactly the same as in THIS post.

Then, back to the eyes...

I picked up some of the black from the palette on a Barry M Angle brush and used it to set my waterline and put it right up under the lashes on my lower lash line.

Then used a small fluffy brush (Real Techniques Shading Brush)  to blend this out with some of the matte brown shade from the MUA palette.  Take your time with this and blend it out really well, so that it is soft & smokey. And join the lower corner up to the upper corner.

Then I wiped off the brush and used it to put the lightest, shimmery shade from the palette into the inner corner of my eye.  I also added a bit of mascara (Barry M Lash Vegas Fibres)

Then I took Collection's Glam Crystals glitter liner in Funk and put a small amount on the tear duct and right up under the lower lashes, for a bit of sparkle.

I added some lashes, these ones are from Superdrug, their Volume Edition 21.  I used Duo Glue to attach them rather than the glue that comes with and I trimmed them a wee bit to fit my eye first.

Then I lined and fully filled in my lips with GOSH's Velvet Touch liner in Simply Red

Then added B.'s lipgloss in Belle over top

Then my lashes were bugging me, as there was a bit of a gap between the inner corner and the lash, so I added a bit of my black eyeliner pencil to fill the gap and smudged a bit along the lash line too.

Finished eye look!

Hope you enjoyed!  My next one is going to be a full on glittery eye for Christmas (or New Year's Eve) and I'm thinking of a super dark/black smokey eye for New Year. But if you want to see anything specific, please let me know in the comments or talk to me on social media - links to the right!

A full list of products is listed below, otherwise I'll see you next time.

Love & Stuff
Sal xXx


Full list of products used:

Eyes:
Limecrime Eyeshadow helper (V)
MUA Undress Me Too Palette (AV)
B. Eyeshadow in Cinnamon (V)
Sugarpill Chromalust pigment in Goldilux (V)
Barry M Waterproof Black Pencil (V)
Collection Glam Crystals Liner in Funk (CV)
Barry M Lash Vegas Fibres Mascara (V)
Superdrug Volume Edition 21 Lashes (V)
Duo Lash Adhesive, Clear (CV)

Face
Neve Bio Primer (V)
B. Youthful Foundation, Shade 10 - Linen (V) ... mixed with....
SEVENTEEN Skin Wow Highlighter (CV)
MUA Pressed Powder, Shade 1 (AV)
Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, Shade 2 (CV)
Revolution Ultra Blush Palette, Sugar & Spice (AV)
Revolution Baked Hilighter, Peach Lights (AV)
Revolution Finishing Spray (AV)

Lips
GOSH Velvet Touch Liner, Simply Red (CV)
B. Lipgloss in Belle (V)


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