makeup

WHICH BRUSH DOES WHAT? FACE EDITION

photo + post by amy nadine, graphic design by eunice chun

These seven brushes are our favorites to perfect your skin. You don’t need all of them, as you probably don’t use cream, liquid and mineral foundation all together! We just get so many emails asking which brush does what, so we’re breaking it up into three posts: face, cheeks + eyes, and today is our face edition with our favorite foundation, concealer and powder brushes. They are an investment but last for at least a decade (I’ve had some of mine even longer!).

With all types of foundations, remember to start at the center of your face (where you typically need the most coverage) and work the product outwards to the perimeter. Also, the best companion tool for brushes is your fingers so don’t forget to blend with them as you use your brushes. And please don’t forget your neck! READ MORE…

tutorials

NEW FAVORITE!

photos/post/graphic design: Kristin Ess

I’m sure some of you have stumbled upon this little trick before, but I had never. I was sitting in my office last week and wanted to put some dots on my nails but didn’t have my dotting tool, a bobby pin or anything even close in size. I grabbed a mechanical pencil and tried to use it to make dots. I got SO excited! This was the first time I’ve ever been able to make dots that tiny and have them be perfect. It’s such a small detail but it makes all the difference! I’ve used every tool in the book, but this one, for some reason, works so much better than anything else. A week after discovering my new favorite thing, I grabbed both the dotting tool AND mechanical pencil and combined dot sizes for a tutorial. The result was super cute and “fizzy” looking. Here’s how it’s done: READ MORE…

makeup

FALL FASHION LIP TRANSLATION

photos + post by amy nadine, graphic design by eunice chun

You can translate this huge Fall trend in a small way, or really go for it! You can play with different formulas too… burgundy lipstick, lip gloss, stains, matte balms or liners paired with gold powder eye shadow, cream shadow or gold metallic lipstick. Makeup is supposed to be fun and a creative outlet, so choose by your mood that day or what you have in your makeup drawer! Here’s how we did it: READ MORE…

hair

1950′s INSPIRED PONYTAIL

photos + post: Kristin Ess

Golly gee, we love very vintage-inspired ponytail. This is what I like to call the “Barbie Pony” when talking to a client. It’s got a part, a little volume + some soft bouncy curls. This particular version is a very wearable one. If you want to get a little more dramatic, you’re welcome to put as much volume and curl as you want! There are a LOT of steps in this tutorial, but that’s only because we wanted to be as detailed as possible. Alright, here we go…

  1. Start with clean dry hair. If your hair isn’t perfectly clean, give it a little shot of dry shampoo! You can do a side part or a center part– which ever you feel is more flattering to your face shape.
  2. Make a diagonal section starting at your part and going down in front of your ear.
  3. You can see exactly where we parted here…
  4. and here. Now clip the hair from the front section up and save that for later.
  5. Give the hair a nice tease on top in your “crown area”.
  6. Smooth over the teased hair using the finer side of the comb so it doesn’t appear too ratty. At this point you can give the top a little spray if you want to!
  7. Now, put all the hair in the back into a nice, high, secure ponytail. It’s okay if you end up flattening out the teased bump a little bit because…
  8. You can use a tail comb to pull it back up. As long as there’s teased hair under there, you can get that volume back.
  9. Next we take out the front section. Take one side and drape it over the ponytail holder. Use a little spray to hold it in place if you need to.
  10. Use small bobby pins to secure the pieces you’re wrapping around the ponytail holder.
  11. Repeat the same thing on the other side. If hair falls out of this section or doesn’t reach, you can just let it fall and/or tuck it behind your ear.
  12. Curl all of the hair in the ponytail. I like to curl everything in the same direction on each side so that you get a pattern going, but you can definitely make a more messy curl if you’d rather.
  13. It’s completely up to you whether you brush the ponytail curls out or not. I personally like t0 brush them because the ponytail gets fuller and more bouncy.
  14. Check the back using a hand mirror and make sure it looks balanced. Give it a final veil of strong holding hairspray.

Good luck dolls!