Winterize Your Beauty Game ~ Makeup And Lingerie

I love beautiful lingerie, and let's face it - what woman doesn't?

Blue lingerie set from AdoreMe.com

When you are moving through your day wearing gorgeous underpinnings you walk with more confidence (which is totally sexy) your clothes drape beautifully on your body and you just feel fabulous.

One of my favorite purveyors of intimate apparel is Adore Me.
(Find them at AdoreMe.com)
They have a cool quiz you can take that helps profile your personal lingerie loves, and from there they direct you to styles that work your particular shape, size and style. Its awesome.
You can buy as you go, or you can sign up for a monthly delivery.
And what's not to love about that??

Adore Me has just made 4 fabulous pairings of super sexy lingerie for winter, and the perfect makeup looks to go with them.
They asked me for my product choices to help you create each look.
As you transition your makeup look from fall into winter here are some key makeup items to add to your makeup bag. They will not only look fabulous with these lovely lingerie items, but also with your winter jeans and sweaters, little black dress, business suit, or whatever else you are wearing!

Look 1: Nataleigh Unlined

I am obsessed with this color. The deep cranberry tone of this lovely lacy set is so moody and beautiful!
To create the metallic eye and bold berry mouth start by lining the eye and then smudging the liner to take the harsh edges off. Instead of black, try Charlotte Tilbury Rock' n' Kohl liner in Marlene Midnight. When you have it nice and smudgy go over the eyelid with a soft metallic shadow. Instead of the metallic golds and bronzes we played with over the summer months, give yourself an icier feel with a grey metallic like Chanel Illusion D'Ombre in Mysterio. The key is to keep your application light and blend away the edges.
To play up the deep berry hue of this gorgeous set you need a great lip game. My favorite new lip for winter, that looks equally killer with a soft creamy sweater and jeans or with a little black dress is the combination of MAC Lip liner in Beet and the power shade of matte lipstick in All Fired Up. I am wearing this lip every day. 

Look 2: Alicia

This look requires a red lip, which can feel really overwhelming if you don't normally wear red lips. I posted about my favorite red lips for the holidays a couple of weeks ago with a series of bright, bold, in your face red lipsticks, but not everyone wants a red lip that fierce. If you want a red lip that is less fiesty try cult favorite Lipstick Queen semi sheer Medieval. When you want to fire it up and make it bolder just use a bolder lip liner, when you want to keep it more subtle just pat it on with your finger. 

Look 3: Mandy

To pull off this look you need a deep, dark, inky eyeliner. I love Makeup Forever's Ink Liner. It's jet black, and the applicator has a calligraphy tip that lets you apply it with razor sharp precision. 

One of the best ways to offset red - be it red lingerie or a red dress, is with a nude lip. This season I'm loving Tom Ford Lip Color in Blush Nude. This is a great color as it doesn't wash the skin out, its pretty and luxurious and goes with everything in your closet. It plays beautifully with a bright red as well as a scarlet red, like the bra pictured below. Which, by the way, I am also obsessing over.

You can find it on the Adore Me website

The Shopping List:

Makeup Forever Ink Liner
Charlotte Tilbury Rock ' n 'Kohl Eyeliner in Marlene Midnight
Chanel Illusion D'Ombre metallic shimmer eyeshadow in Mysterio
Mac Lip Liner in Beet
MAC Matte lipstick in All Fired Up
Lipstick Queen Medieval
Tom Ford Lip Color in Blush Nude


Check out the Adore Me Holiday Gift Guide in the video below:

How To Brighten Up Your Look For Winter

Are you trying to brighten up your ashy pale winter makeup? Maybe you're feeling washed out, or just bored with the dull, cold winter days?
Don't fall down the rabbit hole of trying to juice up your pallid winter complexion with bronzer - it will look orange against your ultra white skin. Instead follow these 10 steps to brighten up your look for winter.

makeup at Jean Paul Gaultier A/W13

Here’s what you do:

* Start by gently exfoliating. Dry, flaky winter skin will make makeup look dead, so we need to get the complexion clear first.

*Next use a really emollient and hydrating moisturizer and give your skin a good long drink. Cold weather and indoor heating strip the skin. Once we have the skin exfoliated and super moisturized makeup will look brighter anyway.

*Use a luminizer to add a little glow to the upper cheekbones before you put on your foundation.

*Stay away from crushed mineral foundations - they make skin look dead and dry. Instead opt for a silicone based foundation like Makeup Forever HD or Face Atelier Ultra Foundation. Both of these will make the skin glow and look alive.

*Make sure you choose a shade that matches your winter color, not your summer color. A foundation that is too dark will make your skin look muddy.

*Use a cream blush, and choose a rosy shade. Cream blush naturally brightens up the skin, and a warm rosy shade will add a nice flush to the skin.

Brighten your winter makeup

*Accent the eyebrows. The are like punctuation marks on the face. You can get a lift and brightening to the face just by defining the brow.

*Keep eye shadow sheer and choose a shade opposite your eye color on the color wheel. This will brighten the eye and make your color spark. Pale eyes look great with pinky peachy tones, every color looks great with a soft berry tone. Add a little shimmer just on the eyeball itself, not all over the eye.

*Curl the lashes to wake the eye up, and use several coats of a luscious, glossy mascara.

*Use a bold, bright color on your lips, like a punchy fuchsia. Fuchsia is bright and fun and lights the face up. It also makes the teeth look whiter and will make pale eyes totally spark, bright and alive.

5 Tips To Wake Up Your Winter Makeup

If you are anything like me then you have a major dose of the mid January blahs.
The fun and excitement of the holiday season is now firmly ensconced in the rear view mirror, your waistline is resplendent with holiday carbs, and the face in the mirror is reflecting grey skies with makeup boredom and stressed out mid winter skin.

Need a little makeup pick-me-up?

Here are 5 tips to wakeup your mid-winter makeup

image via Oprah.com

1) Make sure skin is well hydrated before you apply your foundation -  dry/sensitive/irritated winter skin doesn't hold makeup well. If you are wind burned/extra irritated from cold weather + central heating try Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream or Rhonda Allison Grape Seed Oil to help smooth skin and provide a barrier.

2) use a silicone based foundation like Makeup Forever HD Foundation to help skin glow. Apply sparingly with a duo fiber brush to get a sheer smooth cover.

image via www.taaz.com

3) Use a cream blush to make complexion look alive and vibrant.

4) If you're feeling washed out, use warm tones on the eyes. Bronzey/warm golds warm up a lifeless complexion. Silvers, greys and blues can leave you looking ashen and cold.

5) If you are looking pale make a statement with a strong lip color. Red is always exciting, this year I am wearing a punchy fuchsia to liven everything up.

How To Do Glitter Eyeshadow

The holiday season is here, which means party season is here too!

Glitter eye shadows are so fun to wear to winter festivities.
They look so vibrant and alive against the bleak, dreary backdrop of the colder months, and they also play well against crisp white snow.

Candle light and open fires pick up the sheen you've added to your shadow and make your eyes sparkle and look so pretty.

But if they're not executed correctly, glittery eye shadows are just a sparkly mess all over your face.

So here are my tips for 

How To Work With Glittery Eyeshadow.

1. Neutralize your complexion
To pull off a good glittery shadow you really need to have a good, smooth foundation, evening out your complexion. 

2. Keep The Shine Only To Your Eyes.
Its easy to make the whole face look too shiny when you have a high shine eye. Tone the cheek down a little, and don't add sparkle anywhere else. Sparkly or shimmery highlight paired with a glittery shadow will detract from the effect of the eye shadow and can end up making the face look oily.

3. Soften The Lip
If you are making a shimmery eye the focus of your look, help it out by toning down the lip. 
Most people can't carry off a big eye and a big lip at the same time. Go for something a little more neutral, and keep it either matte or just a low sheen. A big glossy lip with a glittery eye makes the face look too shiny and too busy.

4. Use Your Glitter Shadow As An Accent
Dont try to build your entire eye with a glitter shadow. 
Build the shape and drama of the eye in neutral creamy finished eye shadows (glitter adheres better to a cream base), and then bring in your shimmery/glittery product as the final event.
Bare lids won't hold sparkles.

5. It's all In The Application
To make this deal work, and not have glitter all over your face, you need to apply it correctly.
I like to dampen my brush by dabbing it into a tiny amount of Makeup Forever HD Primer (it binds and holds the product without being too heavy) and then pick up my glitter /shimmer product and gently press it onto the area I want to accent.
Don't try to paint the eye or sweep a glitter product over it, as the particles will flick all over the face and can be tricky to get off. You want to isolate the glitter/shimmer just to the eye, and the area of the eye that you are accenting.

Shimmer vs Glitter

6. Shimmer or Glitter?
I prefer a product that shimmers to a product that is super glittery. My favorites are Makeup Forever Star Powder and 
Face Atelier's Shimmer. The particles are smaller, give more of a shimmery effect, and stay on the eye rather than all over the face. You can carry off more sheen to other areas of the face with a shimmer shadow instead of a glitter.
If you want to use a glitter look for one with smaller instead of bigger particles.

7. Repair Job
If you wind up with particles of glitter on your face use a piece of sotch tape to gently lift it off