Sunday, May 25, 2014

How I conceal my under eye dark circles (Best Under Eye Concealer!!!)




Without makeup/With makeup
 

Throughout the years I have searched for the best undereye concealer. I've purchased dozens of concealers from high end to drugstore, you name it I've bought it. But I've had issues with this concealers, they were either too thick, they would crease, they wouldn't last all day, they wouldn't have enough coverage, or the worst not the right color!! Finding the right color is so important when it comes to finding the right undereye concealer. Everytime makeup artist tried to match me for concealer they would pick colors that were my exact color which for blemishes or other parts of my face that is fine but not for my under eyes. I would buy light concealer, but when you get a color that is too light you end up looking crazy in photos. I've even tried pink concealers! Nothing seemed to work.

One day I was at a CCO, and saw the Estée Lauder section, and I thought I would give their concealer I try, I was intrigued by the color, it was light but it seemed to be yellow based. 


Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer in the color 08 "Warm light medium"

 

This concealer is truly my holy grail under eye concealer!!!! It's perfect! I've used up two tubes and I will continue to repurchase. And I set the concealer with Laura Mercier's Secret Brightning Powder. It gives me the best cover have and a beautiful glow under my eyes.Below is my process for covering my dark circles...

Dark Circle: No Makeup
My entire life I have suffered from under eye dark circles, it was a great gift that was passed down to me by my paternal grandmother. I would get made fun of because of my dark circle so once I got into makeup I became obsessed with finding the right product to help conceal them,                         
 

                          

I dot about four dots using the dome sponge applicator from the concealer.

                             

I then use a dense angled brush (this one is from real techniques brush) to blend the concealer, I am very gentle in this area and I do a stippling and patting effect to make sure it spreads and blends well. 

                        

To set the concealer I then use a white translucent powder (Laura MercierSecret  Brightening Powder) using a fluffy blending brushing and sweep it gently under my eyes. 

                        

And here is the end result (please excuse the rest of my face! I have no foundation and had just come of the shower :/

Eye on the left no concealr
                         

You can really see the difference in eyes. I just love how this process and products provide a glow under my eyes. It photographs well and dosen't me look like a raccoon. Here are some selfies and you can see how natural it looks, and no dark circles! 


                                


Natural looking under eye...No dark circles!
                                 

So in all I highly recommend Estée Lauder's Double Wear concealer as well as Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder.

Thank you for reading!!!

Xoxo J


Friday, May 23, 2014

I'm back...for now


Long time no blog! I honestly thought this blog got deleted by Google for the lack of post and log-ins from me. As I have said in many other blogposts where I take a hiatus and come back, my life has changed! I am now a college graduate and I am a preschool teacher!!!!! 😄 I love my job, it's truly a dream come true. My life now consist of creating curriculum, running around chasing 4 year olds, settling arguments over sharing and teaching my kids how to write there names and count in Spanish. I truly wake up every morning with enthusiasm to start my work days. My weekends include sleeping in, and shopping (or window shopping) This school year was my first years as the lead teacher of a classroom of 18 students, I was so blessed and estatic to have been given such an amazing opportunity, and although it was challenging at times, I'm happy to be where I am.


As for makeup, I've become OBSESSED with makeup!!!!!!! My makeup collection is so ridiculous, it went from being in half of my makeup vanity drawer to an overflow and exaggeration of makeup. And unfortunately my taste and interest in makeup has gotten more expensive 😁 I went from drugstore products to super high end, making me broke, products. I will TRY to do more post on my recent favorites and what I love and don't love.


Current Face products 
Here is a picture of my current favorite everyday makeup products.

Foundation: IT cosmetics CC cream: my new favorite foundation, I don't use any primer or moisturizer before, it's an all in one product. I don't even know how to describe it, but this foundation/moisturizer/correcting cream does wonders to my combination skin.  And it has SPF 50! It's medium to full coverage. But honestly it feels very lightweight, I always get compliments about my skin when I wear this product.
I set the CC cream with BareMinerals original foundation, I've been using this product for years it's an old favorite that really gives my skin that great finishing touch.
Concealer: For blemishes and redness I use the Sonia Kashuk concealer palette, another product I have been using for years, it just does a great job at covering up my imperfections, and it dosn't hurt that it's from Target so it's cheap! For my under eyes, I discovered an amazing product from Estée Lauder, the Double Wear Concealer. I picked a much lighter color for me and it's honestly a holy grail product. It gives my under eye a beautiful light glow and also covers up my ugly dark circles. I set the concealer with Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder, it is a white powder with tiny specks of what seem to be glitter but it's very subtle. This powder gives my eyes that beautiful "glow" under my eyes.

Primer: Urban Decay Priner Potion in Sin, I LOVE this! It's so worth every penny, as I've had the same tube for 3 years! It's a champagne color that gives my eyeshadows an extra pop and it makes my eyeshadows stay on all day!

Brows: I've discovered a wonderful woman... Anastasia, if you haven't met her, you need to, your eyebrows need her! She is a famous brow artist for celebrities and has created a line of makeup. Her eyebrow products are the BEST! I use her Brow Powder Duo in the color Dark Brown. It makes my eyebrows look natural, I've let my eyebrows grow over the years so I no longer look like my tweezers won the battle of plucking.

Mascara: Too Faced Cosmestics has really become one of my favorite makeup brands, from the packaging to the names and even the smell?! I just love this brand. For mascara they suckered me into buying a mascara that claims to be "better then sex" as this is the name. And I must say that this mascara is great(not as great as sex 😊) it gives my lashes length and volume two important things I look for in mascara. And the packaging is pink, you can't beat that!

Bronzer:  Too Faced cosmetics wins again!  Chocolate Soleil has been on my wishlist for years, I was intrigued with the name and the smell, yes it actually smells like chocolate! It gives me the perfect bronze look, a little goes a long way witn this product.

Blush: Hourglass recently came out with the most fabulous blushes! I got the color Radient Magenta. It's the perfect for my tan skin tone, it gives me a natural flush glow.

Eyeshadow: and Too Faced Cosmestics is the winner. When I saw numerous videos about the Chocolate Bar palette I was suckered into buying it, because God knows I don't have enough neutral eye palette 😁 first of all, it smells like chocolate and it has the most pigmented and beautiful colors. I really like it, especially the chocolate bar packaging 😋 it helps give me great eye looks.

Highlight: I recently purchased the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette and it's so beautiful I honestly hate to use it because it's so pretty lol it gives me a subtle highlight.


Okay, that's a lot! But I really hope to keep up with more posts, I have so many beauty related things I want to share!

Thank you for reading

Xoxo