Eyebrow Enhancer: Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz

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Creating a natural looking brow has never been easier. A flawless brow can frame your face and totally change your look. With Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, you can have well-groomed brows in mere seconds.

This aptly named pencil is ultra-fine and mimics the appearance of tiny hairs. The dual-ended mechanical pencil features pencil on one side and an essential spooley brush on the other.

The Brow Wiz is available in four shades: Ash Blonde – suggested for light to dark blonde hair. Medium Ash – suggested for light to medium brown and silver hair. Brunette – suggested for medium brown to black hair. Caramel – suggested for light brown hair with warm undertones, auburn, and strawberry blonde hair.

Application is a cinch with Brow Wiz. For optimal results, use short strokes and a light touch to fill in the brow, and extend where needed. Always blend pencil with the spooley brush for even and natural color.

If eyes are the window to the soul, then brows are the window treatments. Here are some tips and tricks from celebrity brow expert Anastasia Soare, founder of  Anastasia Beverly Hills:

· Stay away from tweezers, if your tweezing twice a week you’re doing too much.

· Make sure your brows are the right shade! Half the time a complimentary brow shade will do wonders much like hair color.

· Keep your brows close to your hair color just a touch darker if you’re a blonde, and if your brunette matching them is fine but don’t ever go too dark its overpowering.

· I love pencil for clients that have sparse brows or holes, I can use the pencil to spot touch and still keep the look natural.

· Never leave the house with naked brows. You don’t leave without mascara so don’t leave without pencil or brow gel. Well kept brows will pull anyone together in one minute and that to me is worth it.

 ABOUT ANASTASIA SOARE:

Combining her artistic interests with more technical ones, Anastasia trained professionally as an esthetician in Romania before moving with her family to California. While working as an esthetician at several prestigious beauty salons in Beverly Hills, Anastasia developed her own specific Golden Ratio™ technique behind the science of shaping eyebrows and helping to enhance the overall eye area. With her extremely loyal following and the growing buzz behind her brow shaping techniques, Anastasia opened her first full service salon on Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, named Anastasia Beverly Hills, in 1997. The success of her first salon led her to opening a second full service salon in Brentwood, CA in 2010. Her product line can be found in stores like Nordstrom, Sephora and Ulta worldwide. A highly regarded expert in the field, Anastasia Soare has dedicated her lifetime to the pursuit of balanced natural beauty through the use of innovative ingredients and techniques. Never one to close the book, she will continue to develop products that combine the beauty of Anastasia with the science of skincare.

How To: The Bend

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Perfectly – un-perfect hair is the only way to describe The Bend. Messy… “this is what I look like when I wake up” hair, that appears effortless, but takes a little work.

This look can be done simply with a flat iron, however, flat iron waves are tricky to master and never look uniform. The following technique is easy and controllable.

NEEDED:

‣ Styling Cream

‣ Heat Protectant

‣ 1 – 1.5 inch Curling Iron

‣ Flat Iron

‣ Texturizing Spray or Hair Spray

HOW TO:

‣ On second day hair, apply a styling cream to add some grip to the hair. TRY: Rusk Being Sexy Cream

‣ Next apply some sort of heat protectant to the hair; spray/oil/cream. TRY: Rusk Being Sexy Argan Oil

‣ With the curling iron, begin curling 3 inches down from the roots. Haphazardly curl entire head rotating the iron inward than outward. Don’t worry too much about shape of the curl – it will be fixed in a moment.

‣ Once hair is curled and cooled, take flat iron and straighten the ends of the all curls – at least 2 inches from bottom.

‣ If happy with the results, no need to go any further. If, however, some of the curls are “too curly/prom curls” – run the flat iron gently over them. This will remove the curly-ness and result in The Bend.

‣ Finish off the hair with a texturizing spray or hair spray. TRY: Oribe Après Beach Wave and Shine Spray.

OPTION:

The model in the picture is wearing extensions. This look is easier to achieve with some length. If you want to add some extensions, try these: SKR Hair. In a set of SKR Extensions you will receive ten wefts. One of the wefts in the set is an ingenious Quad Weft (4 strips of hair sewn-on to one strip). This piece can be worn with the other wefts or on it’s own. It is extremely comfortable and instantly adds length, volume and body.

Holy Grail: Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencil in Perversion

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Urban Decay 24/7 Eye Pencils are some of my favorite. They are creamy, intensely pigmented and have amazing staying power.

Perversion eye pencil was released as a limited-edition shade, but is now part of Urban Decay’s permanent collection. It is the richest and darkest black eye pencil, I have ever seen. With just one stroke, the matte black shade glides on smoothly and effortlessly.

The waterproof eyeliners are great for lining the waterline. My eyes are very sensitive to this technique and I rarely partake. However, the 24/7 eyeliners do not irritate my eyes as much as others. I think this is due to the fact that I only need one or two strokes of the pencil. The incredibly pigmented formula does all the work for me.

If you are looking for one black eyeliner that does it all, Perversion is it.

How To: Glitter

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Sparkle this holiday season with a little glitter.

Application of glitter can go terribly wrong… fast. It is messy and can look too theatrical if not careful. To make glitter appear chic and sophisticated, use only a small amount in a concentrated area.

Start with product. The Illusion D’Ombre Eyeshadows by Chanel are by far my favorite. They have intense pigmentation and provide a classic shimmering effect with one easy-to-use swipe. They can be used with fingers or a very dense brush for perfect application. If actual glitter is desired, loose pigments/glitter are best. Make Up Forever Glitters are soft, concentrated and finely-milled for super sparkle.

How To Apply Glitter:

➺ On clean eyelids, apply eyeshadow primer from lash line to brow bone. (Favorite: Urban Decay Primer Potion)

➺ The glitter will need something to adhere to, apply a cream eyeshadow to the lid. This can be nude or a color that compliments the glitter. (Favorite: MAC Paint Pot)

➺ Using a small synthetic brush, dip into the glitter. Tap off excess.

➺ Press the glitter onto the lid in a dabbing motion. Do not sweep.

➺ Mist a setting spray gently on the eyes and wait to dry. (Favorite: Skindinavia Makeup Finishing Spray)

✴ If this technique is still too messy, on the back of hand or artist’s palette, mix cream eyeshadow and glitter together and apply to the lid. With glitter application, fallout is expected. Make sure to do eye makeup first and face makeup second. Dab the fallout with scotch tape to clean any loose particles.

Tried & Tested: Bare Escentuals Magic Wand Brushless Mascara

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Magic Wand Brushless Mascara

Curiosity was the culprit to testing Bare Escentuals Magic Wand Brushless Mascara.

According to Bare Escentuals, their mascara claims to coat the lashes, one by one, to achieve the look of false lashes. The unique design of the brushless wand has tiny ridges etched-in to capture each individual lash. The formula is pitch black with a satin finish, long-wearing and no flakes.

Application is where there is a learning curve. Technique and patience are strongly advised. Clumpy spider lashes will be the outcome of the preliminary trials. Revert back to directions which specifically state to use soft and slow strokes. Lashes will still clump together but notice the ridiculous length. Using a lash comb (Favorite: Tweezerman Metal Lash Comb) separate the lashes and finally you have applied one coat of mascara. Add second coat if needed.

To be honest, this is a great mascara. To be frank, do you really want to spend twenty minutes applying mascara?

Drugstore Find: Maybelline Great Lash Mascara Royal Blue

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Maybelline Great Lash Mascara Royal Blue

When experimenting with bright colors and new trends, purchase an inexpensive version to test. Blue mascara is a fun and beneficial option when exploring bright colors.

Inadvertently recognized as 80’s makeup, blue mascara has come a long way. This intriguing color and technique has many benefits and uses.

Most people have yellow and red tones in their sclera (whites of the eyes). The color blue counteracts these colors to make the eyes look whiter, brighter and wide-awake. Blue mascara will also enhance any eye color. Primarily, green and blue-colored eyes but it will also bring-out the gold flecks in brown eyes as well.

Maybelline Great Lash Mascara in Royal Blue is an inexpensive option to test this technique. But, it is also simply a great mascara. I use this on just the bottom lashes for a slight hint of color. It is a beautiful royal blue that makes any eye pop.