Glitter Eyes

a great look that can be equal parts drama and play- just trace some glitter eye liner along upper lash lines or dot inner corners of your eyes with loose glitter powder holding a tissue under eyes while applying to keep flecks off your cheeks.

Try this look in unexpected colors such as burnt orange, hunter green or cream.

Be sure to check our Jen Herem's Utah Baby Blog to read an article by yours truly and enter to win a MAC lipgloss!

Contouring

This is one of the most important and fundamental parts of doing your makeup.... and can also be one of the hardest.

Contouring is the application of makeup to highlight, define and/or mask the natural shape of your face. Contouring helps to define your cheeks, slims your nose and even shorten your chin, if need be.

The first step is to decide how your face is shaped and if it is proportionate. Do you have a long face? A large forehead? Round cheeks? Wide nose? All of these can be masked with the proper application of a bronzing or highlighting powder. A product I love that I have found works on most skin types is MAC's Sculpt and Shape Compact.

After you have applied your base and powder take your brush, this can be either your blush brush that has been properly cleaned off, or a highlighting brush such as MAC's 168 Brush ($32)- I really like to use the brush that came in my Pixi blush, flat and wide, perfect for highlighting!

Using a pale powder has always been my first choice for highlighting but liquid highlighting makeup also works well, it gives a great finish and will really catch the light because of the light reflecting particles in it, giving the softest look. Highlighting brings the area forward.

Softly apply the powder to the bridge of your nose, just above your cheek bones and eyebrows. Here is a great chart showing the areas you want to highlight in blue and contour in brown.

When contouring you want to focus on the areas that you want to "send back" or define such as the sides of your nose to slim, the hollows of your cheek to create a chiseled facial structure and if you have an extra long face and want to minimize your chin just apply a small amount just underneath your chin slowly and evenly blend upward.

To contour your forehead apply your contouring makeup to both of your temples and blend well. This will give you forehead a slimmer look.

The goal is to create "shadows" that give the illusion of a smaller, more defined feature.

picture courtesy of makeuptalk.com

creating a photo-ready look for the holidays

between sending out Christmas cards, attending holiday parties where you're sure to want to snap a photo or two and our mothers inevitably trying to get all the "kids" together for a family picture it might be a good idea to have a trick or two up your sleeve to look photo-ready in moments.. so I've given you three!

1.

do yourself a favor and put on your lips. Even if you have gorgeous, full lips likely in a photo they will look washed out and, lets be honest, a face without lips is kinda freaky. So- Step One: either use a lip liner or a lipstick. Make sure to pay attention to the natural lines of your lips, nothing looks worse in photos than lining too wide and looking like you did your makeup drunk, you'd probably be better off with the-face-without-lips option. Step Two: use a complimenting, somewhat sheer gloss ( I love MACs lip conditioner in Sweet Tooth) with your fingers, rubbing it in a bit so it isn't just sitting on top of your lips looking uber shiny and detracting from your other features. Don't forget to blot- I always use the back of my hand to prevent tiny pieces of tissue sticking to your lips.

2.

Smile with your eyes. Practice looking in the mirror and looking happy without smiling. So many of us (myself included!) show our stress, worry, anxiety, fatigue- the list is endless- on our face and in a photo it is more obvious than ever. If you can nail down smiling with your eyes you will look so much more sincerely happy in photos and happy is beautiful, plain and simple.

3.

This tip I learned from my gorgeous husband- laugh while you take pictures. Brandon always, and I mean always, giggles when people take his pictures. He says he does it because otherwise his smile just looks cheesy and, although I am usually always right and he is usually always wrong, he is right- just this once. So the next time you hear the words "say cheese!", don't! - just giggle a little and your smile will turn out so much more genuine.

C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E

It is better to by loved by yourself than loved by others.

(but lets shoot for both)

In an interview with Lily Aldridge, one of my favorite VS supermodels and a leading authority on all-over-sexiness, Lily was asked what she thought made a woman sexy and, surprise surprise, she answered confidence.

What is the difference between the fairly pretty, or even dull, and the va-va-vivacious? Why is it that some women feel perfectly comfortable wearing no makeup whatsoever and others find the need to layer it on to go to the gym? Let's examine...

Definition of CONFIDENCEDefinition of CONFIDENCE

a : a feeling or consciousness of one's powers or of reliance on one's circumstances b : faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way

So, I guess it makes sense that you would have a faith in yourself, that you will look and act appropriately according to yourself. It is not merely enough to act in a way you believe to be proper if you are concerned that others around you will not share those same beliefs and look down upon you. So, therefore, you must alway have your own approval in order to be confident. At least, thats what I believe.

I recently realized that women in their thirties are often more attractive than women in their twenties due to their own self-realization. Cecile de France from the movie Hereafter was a great example to me of this. She is a pretty woman to be sure, however, the qualities that to me that take her from "pretty" to "beautiful" are ones that are drawn from self-confidence. She is strong, she is direct, she keeps eye contact without flinching, these are traits born from a self-assured and confident woman.

Choose a woman, whom you know personally or a celebrity, and try to emulate some of these qualities and see if you can't "fake it 'til you make it".

You are beautiful,

xoxo cass

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vivacious

This week's makeup tip...

How to apply red lipstick

Every girl can wear red lipstick. I know, I know, you're thinking you can't because of the size/shape of your lips or the tone of your skin... WRONG!

Red lipstick, in the right setting, is the ultimate accessory. When worn with black eyeliner and a little blush, your look is instantly & incredibly chic, at ANY age!

• To apply:
  
• Although usually I do my lip color last, in the case of red lipstick I would apply it before your foundation in order to cover up any mistakes around the lips and to avoid the bleeding lipstick look.
  
• It is always best, but not mandatory, to wear lipstick over a primer like MAC's Prep & Prime ($14.50). Not only does your lipstick not smear but it wears all day long!
  
• After the primer, line lips with a complementary shade to your lipstick. It is not necessary for it to be the exact shade but should be something close enough to not draw attention away from the lipstick shade. With a thick line around the edges, blend towards the inside. For long lasting lip color pat with a loose powder before applying lipstick over the lipliner.
  
• To clean up your lines take stick concealer on a Q-tip carefully around the lips.
  
• Always remember to blot and the finger trick (sucking on one finger and pulling out) to avoid lipstick on your teeth... tacky!
  
• Colors: For cool skin tones (olive) a great lip color is Chili by MAC, for warm skin tones (rosy) Russian Red is FABULOUS...
• When best to wear: To a cocktail party with that Little Black Dress...
  
• When never to wear: To a wedding or funeral...
  
• Warning: If you have off colored teeth the red lipstick will really draw attention to them!!

Ycassy

photo credit: Digital Sophia (via Flickr)