Eyelash Mojo

Hello, faccia bellas!  It was a long, trying summer quarter in grad school, but now I'm back and blogging with vengeance.

I have been all about mascara lately. I've been testing some different ones and my eyelashes have got some major mojo going on. I'm batting them all over South Jersey.

"Deanna," you say. "Please tell us the secret!"

Here's my arm. Twist it. Alright I'll tell you! (said in Danny Zuko fashion).

In my quest for getting the longest lashes possible, I found the absolute BEST mascara in the whole wide world. I didn't find it at Walgreens. I didn't find it at CVS. I didn't find it a Target, either. My discovery came at Sephora (big surprise). It was recommended to me by a sales girl (sorry, I don't have an entertaining story about it), and it is worth every penny of the $23.00 I spent.

"TWENTY-THREE DOLLARS FOR MASCARA!" some of you may be crying.

My response, "IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY!"

It's called They're Real! Mascara by benefit, and the first time I put it on, I actually saw my eyelashes lengthen before my very own eyes. It got the name because people will not believe that you aren't wearing falsies.

Click here to read reviews on Sephora.com. I found out yesterday that Ulta carries it also.

Now, if you do not want to spend $23.00 on mascara, that is understandable. My drug store suggestion?
L'Oreal Telescopic Carbon Black, as recommended by one of my favorite beauty gurus, Carli Bybel. Walgreens sells it for $9.99 and L'Oreal makes a couple different versions of it, but I found that it lengthens the lashes very well.

If you'd like to see for yourself how it works, click here to see Carli Bybel's tutorial. I do not put on as many coats as she does, but it gives you a good idea of how the product works.

I use both of these products and can attest to their lengthening abilities. Both also claim to add volume to your lashes, and I guess they do, but not enough for me. So I discovered a trick. Another one of my favorite beauty blogs is Makeup Geek.com and Marlena loves to use L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black. Based on her recommendation, I purchased it at Target for $5.89.

Does it add volume? Absolutely. However it does not lengthen at all. When I put it on, it was a big let-down in the length department. But because I'm a grad student, I decided to combine the use of the They're Real!/Telescopic and Voluminous and now my lashes are long, full and pretty, the way I like them.

Finally, I owe my eyelash mojo to another great product -  Maybelline Great Lash limited edition colored mascaras.

If you reading this and thinking "that's for 15-year-olds", hear me out. I picked one up at Walgreens for $5.99 the other day just to see how this would look. I was afraid it would be too bright, too Halloween-looking. I was afraid I'd look like a woman trying to look 15, but I chose Vision in Violet to make my brown eyes pop. The Verdict?  LOVE IT!!!!  Here's why: this is perfect for brightening your eyes without having to wear any eyeliner. If you are a low maintenance kind of girl and don't have time in the morning to do up your eyes, this is a great option.  It doesn't come out super-bright, which pleased me. In fact, I put a bunch of coats on to get the look I wanted. I also like the brush because its small enough to get the lower lashes without smudging all over your lower lid. And you can't beat the price.

So there you have it. If you want your eyelashes to have mojo, I recommend all of the above. If you try one or any of these, please let me know your thoughts. If you have your own eyelash mojo, please share your recommendations in the comment section below.

Loved it, tried it! My first attempt at recreating a look I love!

Hello, dahlings! A couple of weeks ago, I posted the link to one of my favorite makeup blogs, The Beauty Bybel. Check it out on my new blog roll on the right side of the page. I just added it this week. (I'm starting to get the hang of of this here blogging thingy!) Carli Bel also has an extensive video collection on YouTube, where she demonstrates how to achieve certain makeup looks.  She has inspired me to come up with the segment of my blog entitled: Loved It, Tried It.  Periodically, I will try to recreate looks that I love based on pictures or videos that I see. Hopefully they will not turn out to be like the epic fails on Pinterest. You know the stuff that people try at home because Pinterest makes it look so easy, but instead it looks like this:

 

 

Let's hope I have some better luck.

 

For this week's look, I posted a link to Carli's video below. I know this is more of a look to wear in the fall, with the gold and brown, but I wanted to try it out and see if I could do this.While I did not use all the exact same products that she used, (I made due with some things I already have), I did follow her instructions step by step. I will list the products that I used below, and after that you can see my first video I have ever done, showing you the results.

View Carli's video here.

In order to recreate this look, I used the following items:

Maybelline EyeStudio Quad in Give Me Gold

MAC Eye Shadows from left to right: Black Tied, Bamboo, Nylon

Revlon Photoready Eye Primer and Brightener

Loreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara

Milani Shadow Eyez in Green Safari

Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black

First I primed my eye lid with Revlon's Photoready Eye Primer and Brightener. I sometimes wear this even when I don't wear eyeshadow, because it does brighten up around my eyes and helps hide my dark circles. Just like Carli, I used the Maybelline Eyestudio quad in Give me Gold. I used the gold color all over my lid. Following her steps, in the crease I used MAC's eye shadow in Bamboo. Then I used MAC's eye shadow, Black Tied in the outer "v" crease, instead of the black eye shadow pencil she used. I then used the bronze color from the Maybelline quad in my crease to blend. I then used MAC's Nylon eye shadow to highlight my tear duct and brow bone. I did not add any additional gold sparkle or the fake eye lashes, although I'm a huge fan of eye lashes. I think they really add drama to the eyes and I always wear them for special occasions.  Instead of the green eye shadow, I used Milani's Shadow Eyez pencil in green safari, I drew it on my lower lash line and blended it with an angled brush. Maybelline's Eyestudio Gel Eyeliner was used on my upper lids.

 

My thoughts on the outcome? I have to say, it looks much better in person than it does on my video below. I don't think you really get to see the green on my lower lids, but I think that is because of the lighting - something I'll have to work on for future videos. The look was easy to achieve, and like Carli mentions in her video, more appropriate for a night out. And I definitely need to get some glittery pigments for that extra sparkle. So check it out and let me know what you think!

See my final look here

Put Some Lipstick On

Hello! Welcome to my first official blog post. I thought I would introduce myself and give you a little background into why I chose to blog about makeup.

Growing up, I was introduced to beauty products at an early age.  My mother was my biggest influence because she always took care of herself - her hair was always done, her nails were always painted and she always wore makeup. To this day, she looks fabulous and she's in her fifties. Here she is:

 

So, growing up with this goddess, you might imagine that beauty routines were a staple. I can remember being dragged to salons while she got her hair and nails done. Eventually, I think it was fourth grade, I was allowed to get my first perm. Ah, yes, the good old perms from the 80's. They ruined my hair, but I digress.

I've heard a lot of women say they weren't allowed to wear makeup until they were 16 years old. I think I was around 13 when one day I came downstairs and my mother said, "You're going out like that? Go put some lipstick on!" I was the lipstick queen from 8th grade on. I remember one day in the locker room after gym class, one of the girls asked me how my lipstick stayed on all day. I stood in front of  the mirror and gave my rigorous application instructions to about 12 girls.

Here's me, at 14. Not the greatest picture, but the red lipstick is noticeable.

I eventually graduated to eyeliner and mascara and as the years passed, my girlfriends would ask me to do their makeup for proms and weddings. I was not a makeup artist, I was just the only one out of my friends that wore makeup daily. I was also the only one of my friends who would get their makeup done professionally for weddings and not rub it off in the car on the way to the church. (Yes, my one girlfriend did that.) Once I was asked by my friend, whose idea of bridesmaid makeup was Bonne Belle lip balm, "Why would you get all that makeup put on your face?" My response was, "I want to look pretty in the pictures, don't you?" I mean, come on, even supermodels look different without makeup.  Victoria's Secret supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio is gorgeous without makeup, but it definitely helps enhance her beauty. Don't you think?

 

Listen, I'm not a makeup maven. I just take the time to put makeup on everyday and learn more about it as much as I can. This blog is for the novice. I'll talk about basic tips and tricks, try out different looks and review drugstore makeup, as well as some higher end brands from MAC and Sephora. Maybe I'll teach you something, maybe you'll give me some suggestions of things to try, and I'll learn as much as I can. The idea is to share what I know and what I learn, so you can enhance your own faccia bella.