Pretty Pretty Pretty

Herald speed-beauty tips - some naff, some good November 10, 2008

This from the NZ Herald:

Pressed for time but don’t want to compromise your look? You don’t have to. Try these shortcuts from industry insiders.

1. Want the smoky-eyed look but have no time to build up layers of shadow? Line the rims of your upper and lower lids with a black eyeliner pencil. Smudge all the way around with a cotton bud

2. After applying lipstick, take a generous dab of clear gloss and place it in the middle of your top and bottom lips for a quick lip plumper. Your lips will instantly look fuller.

3. Make your decolletage stand out by brushing a light bronzer over your cleavage. For a more natural look try a paler shimmer-powder.

4. When brushing your teeth, also brush your lips to sweep off dry flakes. Next, swipe on a gloss with SPF, such as Clinique Long Last Glosswear SPF15 ($40) - you’ll get moisture, protection and colour at once without needing a lipstick, liner or even a mirror.

5. Makeup mogul Serge Lutens’s speedy must-have is Shiseido’s Fards a Levres from the Necessaire de Beaute collection: “It’s pointed like a pen. And if I could choose one colour it would be Mise a Mort [`put to death’] _ it’s the most lively red, despite its name.’

6. Spread a shimmer cream or powder across cheekbones, at the temples, on eyelids and over shoulders to give lustre.

7. Before applying mascara, wipe the wand with a tissue to get rid of lumps so they don’t end up on your lashes (where you’ll spend time getting them off).

8. Before applying eye makeup, pat concealer over lids, brow bone and, most importantly, the corners of eyes. This lightens the eye area and ensures your eyeshadow stays put.

9. Set up an area on your dressing-table to spread out your makeup tools, rather than spend time hunting around for them in the dark abyss of your cosmetics bag. Or invest in a clear plastic makeup bag.

10. Your eyebrows are sisters, not twins - so don’t spend hours trying to make them look identical or you’ll run the risk of overplucking. For instant grooming, brush them with a clear brow gel.

11. Make hair last longer between washes by sprinkling your brush with a light dusting of talcum powder. Turn your head upside down and gently brush from the roots, before finishing the style as usual.

12. Work a dollop (golf-ball size) of mousse through just-washed hair before blow-drying it, or allow it to dry naturally. The alcohol content of the mousse speeds up drying.

13. After applying your body lotion or hand cream, smooth any excess over your hair to tame flyaways.

14. If you want to revive lacklustre hair the decadent way, apply perfume to your hair brush and comb through. Your hair will shine and smell absolutely divine.

15. For an instant hair-colour boost (which knocks off hours sitting in a salon chair) try Matrix Shade Memory Color Enhancing Foam Conditioner ($21). Apply for 10 minutes after shampooing, then rinse. It will brighten and refresh the tone.

16. If you have only a few minutes, blow-dry just the top and front sections of your hair around the hairline. No one will be able to tell that you’ve ignored the bottom layers.

17. For va-va-voom volume, flip your head upside down, spritz the roots with hairspray, lift your head up then massage your scalp for a few seconds.

18. When washing your hair in the shower, lather with warm water, then rinse in cool. Rinsing in cool water helps add shine to your locks when you blow-dry and, more importantly, it stops you dilly-dallying in a chilly shower when you’re in a rush.

19. When you want to wake up fast and fake an energised glow, dunk your face into a sink of ice-cold water.

20. Pressed face powder is easier and less messy to use than loose powder, and gives good coverage quickly. Best of all, it will fit into the slimmest clutch bag.

- Detours, HoS

In the news: “Beauty Machine” prettifies any face

This from io9.com (I recommend a read of the comments on io9.com too, very interesting):

Beauty is not the stuff of poetry anymore; it can be quantified and generated automatically via computer. At least, that’s the claim of a group of researchers in Israel who have built a new software tool that can convert any face into the face of a supermodel. Computer scientist Daniel Cohen-Or, lead researcher on the project, said:

Beauty, contrary to what most people think, is not simply in the eye of the beholder. Beauty can be quantified by mathematical measurements and ratios. It can be defined as average distances between features, which a majority of people agree are the most beautiful. I don’t claim to know much about beauty. For us, every picture in this research project is just a collection of numbers.

But Cohen-Or’s mathematically-precise beauty is based entirely on subjective standards. He his research team surveyed 68 Israeli and German men and women, aged 25 to 40, asking them to rank the beauty of 93 different men’s and women’s faces on a scale of 1 to 7. According to Science Daily:

These scores were then entered into a database and correlated to 250 different measurements and facial features, such as ratios of the nose, chin and distance from ears to eyes. From this, the scientists created an algorithm that applies desirable elements of attractiveness to a fresh image.

So the algorithm simply reproduces the biases of a fairly small sample size of people, asked to rank beauty in a fairly artificial way. But apparently, at least according to the researchers it “works” in that most people think the photographs that go through the beauty machine are hotter than when they went in.

Biggest vintage sale ever!

Mad Men-inspired hair November 9, 2008

Jo went to a ‘Mad Men‘ election party last night and I was privileged to do her hair and make-up. She wanted a Joan Holloway look, so I searched youtube for how to do foxy ’60s.

There wasn’t a lot on youtube, and as usual the best advice is on pursey.

So I went with an up front pouf (here’s my vid on how-to) and chignon at the back (here’s my vid on how-to). Hope you liked it Jo!

And I found these interesting videos on an official Mad Men site about the hair and make-up on the show.

Spring scarves November 8, 2008

I love scarves. They add colour and cool to any outfit, and hide chocolate ice cream stains on your blouse. And a good dowsing in your favourite perfume adds to its charms, especially for those whose skin is sensitive to perfume.

And they can be cheap as. Recently, I bought a pretty tasseled little scarf from the Ezibuy store. It was about $15. I’m still deciding on THE best way to wear it.

You can’t really go wrong with scarves, but here’s some tips on how to wear. (hat-tip to pursebuzz.com)

Winners and boobies courtesy of Torrid November 7, 2008

Remember how Torrid had gold Obama necklaces, and silver McCain ones? They were totally right. But if you need to stock up on a Halloween costume. how about this Palin Posse tshirt? It’s 75% off! Or maybe you need some Boob Lube by Save The Ta-Tas to go with your Man Junk? Apparently it’s for breast examinations, and 20% of profits go to Breast Cancer Research, but mostly I just love the name.

Oh yeah, and clearence is currently 50% at Torrid, but with the NZ$ at .59 of the US$, I’d be very very careful if I were you.

Oh and also, if you’re a New Zealander, please vote tomorrow. And please vote for a party that you think will do good things for women. The Hand Mirror has done an excellent job of asking candidates questions about issues that concern women, and they make for some important reading before you make your decision.

Shiseido sale at Farmers November 5, 2008

UPDATE: Sale includes Napoleon Perdis - one day only. It’s a good time to stock up on their Auto Pilot skin primer. I thoroughly recommend it.

The lady at the Shiseido counter at Farmers said that Sheido and Clarins (and maybe others, she couldn’t remember) have a 15% off sale tomorrow. That’s a decent discount and Shiseido has some beautiful eye shadow colours and Clarin’s Wonder Volume mascara was a winner in Consumer Mag’s best mascara study.

Review: Eliz Arden 8 Hour Cream November 4, 2008

Everyone’s raving about Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Skin Protectant - on the net, in books, mags, friends. It’s a classic skin care product, around since the 1930s, that I’m just cottoning on to. And I managed to get a pretty good deal when I decided to buy. A lot of EA beauty counters have a gift pack on sale at the mo which includes an 8 hour lip balm, hand cream and make-up bag with the 8 hour cream.

The ‘Cream’ is not really a cream at all. It is like Vaseline, which isn’t surprising as the only active ingredient in the 8 Hours is petroleum jelly. Hence it does not soak into skin and has a greasy feel.

It does have a number of great uses though. It protects skin from drying, like any barrier cream. It can be used to sooth chapped lips. You can slick your brows with it. Apply after waxing or shaving to help heal. And use its shine to highlight cheek bones or eyelids.

But don’t try it as a face moisturiser - I was shiny, like really shiny, all over my face for 10 hours when I tried it. And it’s no good as a hand cream either as it’s greasy.

It has been great relief to my legs (which get itchy after waxing or shaving). And is great on any dry patches.

My only irk (besides the smell) is that the ingredients are quite basic (other main ingredients are lanolin, mineral oil, castor oil, and so on) and may not justify the high price. I wonder if Vaseline or baby creams like Amolin work just the same. (Vicky, I think ’baby cream’ was a tip from you for dry lips).

I do love the lip balm and hand cream it came with though.

MAC holiday collections November 3, 2008

MAC’s Holiday collections are now available in Australasia online or in stores. I am loving the look of the ‘Red’ She Said pictured. I am so tempted to splurge - I’ll let you know if I go through with it.

Pursebuzz has a review of this collection and video about application from a MAC artist.

DIY Halloween prosthetics October 30, 2008

This from lifehacker.com

DIY web site Instructables gets in the Halloween spirit with a detailed tutorial for creating realistic (and gory) facial prosthetics using liquid latex and some common household materials. The guide is very detailed (complete with tons of photos and a video demonstrating application), and the results are impressive. If you’re looking for more last-minute Halloween costume techniques and decoration ideas, be sure to check out our DIY Halloween roundup or our homemade Halloween costume photo gallery.