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photo credit: najjie

Do you slick on the gloss for a glamorous pout or go for the creamy stick of lipcolor?

Me? On a desert island I totally have lipgloss on hand.

Aside from that…I’m a layer girl and I use both lipstick and lipcolor daily. Why? Well a few beautiful reasons:

Dimensional Color Applying a coat of lipstick, a shimmery lipgloss highlighter, and then full coat of clear or slightly tinted gives lips glamorous dimension. The colors enhance each other and make it more a custom look overall. You can have a lot of fun mixing and matching various lipglosses with lipsticks for different looks too!

Staying Power Pout
Then there’s the fact that you’ve got more than one layer of color making it last longer throughout the day. Just don’t mash your face into a sandwich and those lips will look lush for hours and hours. If you use a lip pencil to start then you can make that color last even longer!

Moisturizing Color
I live in a desert and my skin already has the tendency for dryness so if I want my color to not look scaly after the first half hour the layer of gloss is a must. This could also be the case for you girls in the dry Midwest, or during dry seasons such as winter and summer. I’ve also found lipgloss alone has a tendency to lose it’s own color (if it’s a tint) really quickly so glossing over the thicker color of a lipstick keeps it moist & colorful.

So it’s really not much of a contest if you think about it – Use both and you’ll maximize your beauty!

Got some favorite lip products you can’t live without? Tell me about it :) My current stockpile includes an assortment of Maybelline Lip Polish glosses – cheap, pretty and complimentary. Try them out yourself and let me know what your current favorites are.

So I went a little crazy collecting looks from my favorite shopping and fashion site Shop Style. They have just about everything from Arden B to Vivianne Westwood, designer high end to stylishly affordable. You gotta check them out and have fun window shopping and creating your own looks!

Meanwhile in the “real world” I’m preparing to walk my very first fashion show for an amazing artist friend and designer Rachael Domingo. I’m a bit nervous but also excited – and I’ll make sure to tell you all about it in the days to come!

Have fun with the Shop Style goodness!

Not sure if the trailer above does this film justice but it is definitely a must see for fashionphiles and stylistas. I recently had the opportunity to watch a free screening of it by the Sundance Institute and it really is a great film overall -- documenting the frantic whimsical process designing genius Isaac Mizrahi goes through in creating a show for his Fall fashion line in 1995.

Check it out at Netflix or get at amazon.com and add it to your media library along with Project Runway and your fave movies :)

photo credit: Jacklyn DL

Probably more than any other type of makeup, how you work your foundation can make or break your beauty look. Here’s some tips for getting it right.

DO’s
-Do spend a little extra on a good foundation – lipsticks come and go but foundation should be high quality, make you look fabulous, and last as long as possible.
-Do check ingredients – just because it says “Oil Free” doesn’t necessarily mean it is completely free of oil unfortunately.
-Do read reviews, check out recommendations, and ask the pro’s at the makeup counter for advice and assistance in getting the right tone.
-Do let your moisturizer soak in before applying – that way it won’t get all streaky.
-Do apply mineral foundation to your eyelids to prevent your eye shadow from creasing.

DON’TS
-Don’t forget to blend, blend, blend! This includes passed your jawline and along your neck so you don’t get that nasty tide mark.
-Don’t apply foundation to your hand when shopping for the right shade. Your hands are rarely the same color as your face. Check directly on your face instead.
-Don’t just check your makeup in bathroom mirror light & go – bite the bullet and look at your made up face in NATURAL LIGHT so you don’t end up looking a fool.
-Don’t let product and bacteria build up on your brushes – wash them out regularly especially if you have a tendency to break out.
-Don’t take it all too seriously – educate yourself but have fun with it.

Alright, hope that helps you stay beautiful ;) Got any beauty questions or tips? Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Happy Pretty Making!

photo credit: Lil Larkie

Since I just got back from Florida, a land of sun and surf I thought I would give all you gorgeous girls the rundown on mascara. And what does mascara have to do with the sunshine state? Well ladies…first lemme explain with a great rule of thumb:

Remember W is for Wise…not just Waterproof:
So choose your mascara wisely and apply your daily coat accordingly. Why? Here’s the lowdown: the ingredients in waterproof formulations make it particularly tricky to remove at the end of a glam day. This means you’ll mostly likely be tugging, pulling, and vigorously rubbing at your eyeballs just to get this stuff off of them. Later on this can mean you lose way more of that lovely fringe than you’d like to. Instead go for non waterproof formulas. Trust me unless you’re a big cry baby there really isn’t much running and smearing going on each day.
If you must go the waterproof route use it VERY infrequently. Actually I decided to break the no-waterproof rule during this recent trip to FL. My reason being I planned on jumping into the ocean with a cute guy and would rather not have any runny peepers. Afterword, to get this clingy type of goo of my delicate little lashes I baby *oiled the crap out of them making sure to be as gentle as possible in the process (NOTE: *mineral oil is fabulous for removing stubborn makeup). Then I went back to my usual non swimming pretty routine with daily non-waterproof mascara to keep my lashes intact.

Drugstore vs. Department Store
Where to shop for the best brands is the next small challenge. I gotta confess I’m biased towards drugstores, mostly because I know it makes sense. You can stay beautifully on budget by forgoing the the cosmetics counter in purchasing this particular beauty product. Mascara is something drugstores have an awesome selection of. You should save your hard earned dollface dollars for foundation, brushes, and color at MAC, Bobbie Brown, or otherwise. Cheap is beautiful okay? Just because it’s $20 and vibrates doesn’t mean it’ll coat those lashes any more amazingly than just grabbing that $6 tube while you get groceries. My choice for last weeks vacation? Maybelline The Colossal Volum’ Express in a happy bright yellow tube.

Spidery or sweet? You choose!
To coat both top and bottom lashes or not? That is the question! I love big fluffy spidery eyes myself so I coat both. If you do too you might want to change it up by coating just the top lashes sometimes – you might find doing so can give your eyes a girlish and classically retro sort of look to your overall makeup design. This might also be a better strategy to minimize losing any lashes should you choose to be a beauty badass and go for waterproofing them for those watery events like funerals and swim dates.

Speaking of application what’s your mascara application strategy? Go ahead and answer this week’s pretty little question: Do you apply mascara to both your upper and lower lashes or just the top? Why? Leave your comment below, I’d love to hear about it.

Until next time and Happy Pretty Making!

Ok kids! First I want to apologize for my lack of posting the last week or so. Things are busy here in the really real world and I’m making some changes. Rest assured there is still awesomeness to be had here (& elsewhere with the 365daygirl project) and I LOVE for you to be a part of it.

So today, with this #makeupmonday I want to ask you a couple things :) If you will indulge me. That means it’s quiz time…er poll taking time! Woot! So please take a minute (or less actually) and check off your answers below.

Thank you so much for answering and commenting – it really helps me make this blog & the 365daygirl project good for you and an enjoyable experience :) Keep your eye out for the changes and more great content to come :)

Keep it Really Real!

Fashion blogger gives her website a truly stylish makeover

I look at a lot of websites – many of them from fashion and beauty bloggers. I’ve seen a variety of website design from the clean minimalism of The Sartorialist to ijustine’s punchy and dynamic blog formerly known as “Tasty Blog Snack”. I’ve also seen a lot of bad design from enthusiastic fashionistas and style mavens. *And when I say bad I don’t necessarily mean ugly…just “unfortunate” because too often the layout just doesn’t do a good job of representing the real life eye for design these folks genuinely have. This was the case the first time I visited the blog of one of my favorite fashion tweeters @LadyMpresents. Great content…rather unfortunate looking blog.

I felt bad. Here was a stylish jet-setting gal who out of the blue sent me such charming and supportive tweets about my own blogging endeavors & I was having a hard time just reading hers. You’ve been there before haven’t you? Like you’ve got this wonderful friend and family member that wears a color that doesn’t suite them but you don’t know how to tell them. Happens all the time in real life AND the web I’ve noticed.

So, how to tell someone with great style that their website just…doesn’t? I’m no snarky Perez Hilton in virtual or real life so I have a hard time being blunt. Thankfully I didn’t get a chance to dole out a harsh critique cause M was totally on the ball. Exhibit A:

Now I would have loved to show you, dear fashionable readers, the transformation in all it’s amazing drama with a “before” pic – alas I wasn’t on the ball enough to get a screen capture. At any rate I am floored with the look of her new site and happy to spotlight it on my own blog! It does her and her brand gorgeous justice. It also really allows her writing to shine (she SHOULD be a fashion reporter!) I love a good makeover – don’t you?

This amazing website was created with the help of uk design company Torpedo Juice Ltd.. And they did just a bang up job of it didn’t they? So much so that Lady M thanks just had to give them props on her “About” page.

So for my clothing, accessory and shoe obsessed bloggers out there here’s a question for ya:

How much “style” does your blog have?

How well does it represent your own signature style? If it don’t…get that makeover and your own readers will come in droves :)

photo credit: Brandon Christopher Warren

“It is the unseen, unforgettable, ultimate accessory of fashion that heralds your arrival and prolongs your departure.” -Coco Chanel

So I’m late today with my #fashionfriday post – “fashionably late” I could say since my social and business activities have led me all over the place both on the web and in the “really real” world. Apparently a mark of genuine “coolness” is having a full schedule with a string of engagements that take you from one gathering to the next. If you are prompt at a party well you just don’t have enough going on! Showing up 10 to 45min after the fact well that’s damn fine socializing!

Trying to “look” cool of course is an ever present challenge which I’m sure also influences the “lateness” of some stylish folk. It sure does for me. These style challenges have me making dresses out of skirts so that I can go from lunch to cocktails and then dancing without having to haul around a briefcase full of extra clothes.

This busy schedule is also why my purse bulges with dozens of random accessories that wrestle with my keys and laptop cord. It’s a jungle in there! But if I give myself a moment to detangle and can produce something cute while I’m dashing too and fro well that gives me a bit more of a memorable edge.

This gets me curious – what random fashion items do YOU have on hand during your daily adventures? Do you have a bag full of the week’s bracelets and earrings that pop out with your change? Or do you have an emergency kit of safety pins, mini lint roller, & stain pen to combat any pesky wardrobe malfunctions?

Tell me about it by leaving a comment :)

Okay, gotta run!

This week I want to give some props & web lovin to one of my favorite local companies: POPS Cosmetics.

POPS is a really fun and flirty makeup line that’s very similar to big brand cosmetic companies. Their shadows and liners come in a SUPER rainbow of colors that make a girl quite giddy. In fact the variety and formulations remind me a lot of MAC, with a few distinct extras! One of these is the price. Each regular sized POPS compact costs less than a MAC eyeshadow of the same size. Another awesome extra is the large sizes of basic colors like matte black. This makes it easy to stock up your beauty kit. And of course there’s the fact that purchasing POPS means you are supporting a small but awesome business.

Using these makeup line has been a joy of mine for a number of years now. I especially love using their shadows & eyeliners for fantasy inspired designs such as the “Ravergirl” look above. I used a POPS eyeliner in white (inner corner & at the outer edge of eyebrow), as well as their Ultra Pearl eyeshadow in “Mermaid” (the pretty green in the center of my eyelid). The result was fabulous!

I’m also a huge fan of their lip pencils which also come in a dizzying assortment of shades. If you check out my review on Thisnext.com you’ll understand the depths of my devotion to a particular shade of pink. Just click the photo below for the full review. And lucky for you web savvy glamazons you can easily order this makeup line for yourself via theGot Beauty website! So get on it girls ;)

The Full Spectrum is a gorgeous clothing design I found a couple days ago while searching the web for this week’s fashion Friday awesomeness. Created right here in my own hometown by Sonya Evan’s it features a lovely collection of intriguing screen print designs that are truly unique and I must snatch some items up from her Etsy store ASAP.

Anyway I was so excited about her clothes I wrote about her for Examiner.com so check out my Salt Lake Budget Fashion article on her for the full story on The Full Spectrum!