Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Icy Summer Look


I love this look for the summer.  It’s a soft, feminine, cool look.  The pale colors used on the eyes and lips are just right for the summer.  On my lips I used White Russian gloss by buxom but of course I always offer a lower cost duplicate (a.k.a. dupe).  The Buxom gloss retails for $18 while I found a similar look using E.L.F.’s Ballet Slippers (retails for $3).  One of the keys to this look is the highlighted cheeks.  Bronzer is important but as you can see there’s a glow to the cheeks created by a product called (aptly named), highlighter.  I will admit that I chose two products to create this look that are not budget friendly but I can assure you, they are a great investment.  I used the Bronzed & the Beautiful bronzing palette.  I’ve used it daily for over a year.  Perhaps I’ve held onto it past its prime (since it’s not sold as a trio palette anymore), however the items in the trio are still sold separately.  I’ve seen it on Amazon.com for $27.99 but since I haven’t purchased it from there so I can’t tell you if it’s the real thing.  This bronzing palette has worked well for every skin color I’ve used it on.
On my eyes, I used several powder blue and silver colors as well as a stila eye liner in Indigo which I received as part of my Birchbox.  I’ll explain that in a minute.  I’d prefer to talk about the harmony of the colors instead of the exact colors I used so that you can focus on the concept instead of the replication of the look. Although I’m happy to give instruction, I’d like to encourage experimentation as well.  All of the colors used were pale, from the shadows to the cheeks to the lips.  In the picture I took the eye shadow all the way around the eye instead of just on top.  Try this and you’ll see how it really makes the colors pop.
Back to the Birchbox.  This is one of many monthly beauty subscriptions.  It’s only $10 per month and I always end up with at least one product I’ll use (usually more) that’s worth way more than $10.  For example, that Stila eye liner came in the box and it’s worth $20.  It comes with about 5 products to try and although some are trial size, there’s usually at least one full size product.  If you can afford the $10 per month, it’s a great value, not to mention it’s always fun to get new beauty products in the mail.  So as always, keep…

Staying beautiful,

Makeup Maverick