Blush | Beauty and Fashion Tech

Apr 9, 2013

2013 Spring Makeup Trends

April 9, 2013 By Carleenp 4 Comments

Spring is upon us. To celebrate the escape from winter doldrums and launch into a fantastic year of beauty of fun, pay attention to the latest trends in make up.

5 Must-Do Make Up Trends for Spring 2013

Here are five things to try this spring.

Play with color

From eye shadows to liners and tinted lip balms, strong colors can be applied with a subtle touch. Try a strong purple lightly heathered in the crease, just below your brow bone. Directly above your lash line, add some sparkle with a nude shimmer. When night falls, reapply your dark purple shade and add a thick line of black above your lash line. Better yet, get precise with a violet liner and trace the thick black line, highlighting your love for spring.

Tightlined Lashes

Before you go out and add that thick line of eye liner, try tightlining for the work day. To tightline your lashes, gently lift your upper eyelid. Using your eye pencil of choice, lightly color in the pale places between your lashes. That's right: you are filling in your upper inner eyelid with color. This technique adds a thickness to your eye lashes that leaves your eyes open and fresh.

Get New Foundation and Bronzer

Spring is all about a new beginning, so show off your best layer of skin. Revisit your foundations and bronzers. Throw out the old ones and only use those that match your skin perfectly. Go for something a little lighter as a foundation. Using a large blush brush, skim the skin with a warm bronzer that includes reds and pinks. Focus on the apples of your cheeks and carry it up to your temples. Don't forget your nose and chin! Sun kissed and awake is your goal and the sun kisses all of you (not just your cheeks).

Get Beautiful Spring Lips

Lips should never be ignored. Pale pinks and nude shades will brighten your face and create a welcoming look. This look is always in for spring. Another spring 2013 trend is vivid lips using bright lipstick shades. Also, keep your lips moisturized and protected with SPF!

Liquid or Cream Blush

Looking for a good blush to bring it all together? Choose a liquid tint or cream blush but don't smear it on; instead, rub your index and middle finger into the blush and then tap your cheek bone lightly and rapidly. Layer this way until you achieve the look you want. This slightly flushed look is a perennial spring trend.

Gear and up and get ready! Spring 2013 is almost here! Follow these tips and you are sure to look your best!

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Filed Under: Blush, Bronzers, Eyeshadow, Makeup Tagged With: Blush, Bronzer, Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Makeup

Apr 1, 2013

Makeup Wars: Unique New Spring Trends

April 1, 2013 By Carleenp 13 Comments

Press Samples

There are some really unique and fun spring trends this year and this week the Makeup Wars bloggers are featuring their favorites.

One of the more interesting trends to gain traction this season has been the retro Rockstar Barbie look, especially with women over age 40. The trend started when designer Allan Sherwood used the look to showcase his new 80’s inspired line during New York Fashion Week. From there, actresses Sandra Sisso and Ana Suarez jumped on the bandwagon, wearing the makeup look from the line to the Academy Awards. Given that women over 40 love these actresses and also remember the original looks well, it is no surprise that variations of it are being worn again by that age group.

Below is Sandra Sisso’s Oscar’s look.

Ana Suarez recently wore the look yet again when she posed for a particular magazine. I can’t show you the full picture on this one, so you can guess the magazine!

In case you don’t remember her, here is the original Rockstar Barbie. Given the rich culture, talented musicians, and inspiring fashion of the 80’s, I am not at all surprised to see these influences coming back as the latest trend.

To create an 80’s Rockstar Barbie look, all you need to do is grab pastels. A lot of pastels. MAC is usually pretty good for this (I think these were all press samples given to me for review).

I did a look up using various MAC items. Here it is. If you are going to do this look, don’t forget to add a fluffy scarf. It is a key element of the look. Also, although it is quite bright, women are wearing this as a daytime look, even wearing it to the office.

Another key to the look is to not blend your eye shadow and really play up the blush and lips (I am wearing MAC Matte Candy Yum Yum with a bit of sparkly lavender gloss over it) . Focus instead on strips of color. MAC paint pots work quite well for this.

Previously only younger women would go for looks like this, perhaps for parties or clubs. But now it is all the rage for women in the 40-60 age range. If you are a teen, show this to your mother. She will know all about it! If she doesn't, she will want to try it!

So, have you tried this look yet? If not, what are you waiting for! You can also see some great new trends for spring at the links below.

Update: April Fools!

Filed Under: Collections and Looks, Eyeshadow, Lip Products, Makeup, Makeup Wars Tagged With: Blush, Eyeshadow, Lip Products, Looks, M.A.C., Makeup, Makeup Wars

Mar 15, 2013

Purely Pro Cosmetics Swatches and Review

March 15, 2013 By Carleenp 1 Comment

Purely Pro Cosmetics offers some quality and attractive makeup items. The company sent me several products to try and I was happy with all of them. Right off, I love this travel bag. You can see it featured in this recent Makeup Wars feature on how beauty bloggers travel.

The company provides cute shadow palettes and some really nice cream highlights, which Purely Pro spells as Hilites.

This eye shadow palette, the Glamazon Palette, has 5 neutral/nude shades and is very pretty.

The shades are neutral, perhaps ever so slightly on the warm side.

Below are swatches of the shadows. All had decent pigment and wore well for me. I got full day wear with no creasing.

The hilites were my favorite items. Here they are in Flirty and PopTart. The Hilites have enough pigment and are buildable that I can wear them as a blush on my fair skin. They also work well applied lightly as a true highlight.