Valentine's Lips Don't Lie

The great celebration of smooching is almost here, so there is no time like now to get your kisser ready for a big dose of lovin!

These 3 fabulous lip products came across my desk a while back, and I wanted to share them with you intime for you to get supple, kissable lips for Valentine's Day.

Because Valentine's Lips Don't Lie

1. Ilia Tinted Lip Conditioner

By day keep your lips soft and conditioned with this soothing lip conditioner. Ilia uses all organic ingredients, and their lip conditioner comes in a variety of shades that give a sheer wash of color, but that add intensity when applied liberally.
Winter lips need extra protection during the day, and this one is just gorgeous.

Ilia Tinted Lip Conditioner in These Days

2. Nuxe Reve de Miel
This one is a powerhouse repair product for chapped and sore lips, but is also a fanatstic anytime lip balm. I use it in my pro makeup kit, but also keep tubs of it at home and in my handbag.I love to wear it to bed at night, it's so concentrated that you only use a little, and wake up with smooth soft lips.
Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm always gets 5 star reviews - I think it may be one of the very best lip balms ever.

Nuxe Reve De Miel Lip Balm

3. Lancer Volume Enhancing Lip Serum
With your lips all soft and supple it's time to plump them up a liitle with Dr Lancer's amazing Volume Enhancing Lip Serum. Not only does it increase lip volume (without any harsh irritants), but it also smoothes out the appearance of the little fine lines around the lips, making your lips look even more kissable.

Lancer Volume Enhancing Lip Serum

How To Plan An International Trip - 3 tips To Designing Your Dream Vacation

So you've decided to take your first international trip, (or your first international trip that doesn't involve a tour company or a cruise line) and you've chosen a country to go to, but now how do you figure out what to see and where to go within that country?

 You don't want to come home from your big trip and read about darling restaurants that you missed eating at, hidden treasures that you knew nothing about, secret piazzas where you could have enjoyed the best coffee in the world, fantastic sights that were close to where you were. 

Summer afternoons meandering around Pienza, Italy

Here are some ways to help you source out what to see and do when you are planning your trip. 

3 Ways To Help Plan Your International Trip 

1.) Read Books 
With my love of Italy I am always reading books by people who bought homes there and built a life in some delightful little town. My first was Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes, and I have read many many more since then. (See my reading list here) 

You will find out about cool little places to visit, amazing non-touristy restaurants where the locals eat, special places that tours never take you to. I make lists as I'm reading, and then fit bits and pieces into various trips I go on. It's fabulous! 

2. Read Travel Blogs 
I love to spend mornings with a cup of coffee scrolling through travel blogs reading about other 'real people's ' travels. You can find all kinds of amazing information about places to avoid, what things cost, incredible places to visit that aren't in any guide books - all those wonderful insider tips that you can only learn from someone who has done it themselves. I get the best, best information from travel blogs! 

PeaceLoveShea's Shea Marie in the spice markets of Marrakesh

After reading PeaceLoveShea's blogs on Morroco I cannot wait to go there! Her photos are to die for - check them out here

3. Make A Mood Board 
I always make vision boards, but now after finding the website dnariyadh.com I'm getting obsessed with mood boards.

Dnariyadh.com Portugal mood board

Dnariyadh.com Marrakesh mood board

Putting together a visual collection of things that interest you in or about a country, be it sailing in the Greek islands, taking in the view on Capri, Gaudi in Barcelona - whatever it is - will start guiding you in the right direction to designing the trip of a lifetime.
Also there is magic in vision boards and mood boards. Spending time with them everyday seems to bring you closer to your goals, faster.

another cool travel mood board, this time from Kadijah's Blog

Wedding Makeup Myths Debunked

Bridal beauty is big business. Brides all over the world hit the interwebs everyday, searching out every detail about how to look sensational on their big day. There is some great information out there, but there is also a ton of dis-information. 

I consult with brides every week of the year, and hear the same myths over and over. 

Here are 4 Wedding Makeup Myths, Debunked.

image via Phoenix Bride and Groom Magazine
hair by Will Zecco
makeup by Corinna Cooke

1.) "You need to do your makeup heavier for pictures"

No. Actually you don't.

There are so many foundation options now that give you flawless coverage, but can be applied super sheer, creating the illusion of gorgeous, perfect skin. Which after all is the goal with foundation anyway.

Cheeks should glow and look fresh, not like great stripes of war paint, and eyes should be enhanced, not overkilled.

A face full of thick, heavy makeup looks hideous, and as the night moves on it looks progressively worse. 

Beautifully applied makeup photographs beautifully.

2.) "You can't wear sunscreen on your wedding day"

Yes you can. 

You couldn't pay me to go even one day without sunscreen! There are definitely formulations that leave the skin feeling slimey, and there are formulations that flare or flashback white with flash photography, but there are plenty of others that work perfectly, giving you sun protection all day long.

Kiehls Super Fluid UV Defense SPF 50 is a sheer formula that protects you from 90% of the sun's damaging (aging) rays, and stops you from burning. It feels as light as air on the skin.

Skinceuticals Sheer Physical UV Defense SPF 50
This facial SPF has state of the art technology to keep you completely protected. The formula is super sheer, paraben free, and is ideal for all skin types, even the most sensitive. It also plays beautifully with makeup, and doesn't flare with flash photography. 
Love it. 

Remember getting sunburned on your wedding day is the ultimate bridal beauty buzzkill!

3.) " You have to use colors and styles that are in fashion"

Nope. Not true.

The goal here isn't to make you look like a fashion victim - it's to make you look like the most gorgeous version of you. Your wedding day makeup should be timeless and beautiful. When you look at those pictures on your wall in 10 years time you don't want to be haunted by colors that make no sense or that have dated, statement brows that now look silly ( instagram eyebrows are the worst offenders!), you want to see yourself looking radiant and lovely and timeless.

4.) "You need to wear big false lashes"

I am all about lashes. I love them to death. But there are many things to take into consideration when selecting lashes for your wedding day, one of which being the light that you will be photographed in. Most brides have their wedding pictures shot outdoors in natural light. If you have a bright sunny day a big strip of lashes or a dense strip of lashes will act like an awning poking out over your upper eyelids, casting a huge shadow below. Light will grab hold of the black strip and make you look like you are squinting in all your pictures.

A good makeup artist will not be married to one lash, but will have an assortment of lashes with her, and select the right one for that day.

I adore strip lashes, but often use individual lashes in my brides as I can accentuate the lashline without chugging down the eye.

A girl's gotta have options...

Midweek Wisdom #6 Vintage Images of Celebrities In airports, With A Quote

I never get tired of looking at pictures of Audrey Hepburn.
She is iconic, timeless, the epitome of femininity and a very approachable beauty.
I love her body of work, and I love her body of good works.
I also love her quotes. I have one for you below.
I believe...

Audrey Hepburn, Rome 1968



I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner.
I believe in kissing, kissing a lot.
I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong.
I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.
I believe that tomorrow is another day and
I believe in miracles.

How To Apply Your Perfume

You know it was the PR coup of a lifetime when a reporter for Life Magazine asked Marilyn Monroe what she wore to bed, and she replies "Why - Chanel Number 5 of course!"

Do you have a signature scent? A fragrance that defines you, that makes those that love you think of you when they smell it anywhere in the world? 
Dior believes that a woman's perfume is as important as her handwriting. I believe it's more important.

1953 Marilyn Monroe in bed

But just as important as the fragrance itself is the way you apply it.
A gorgeous perfume can be hideous if you overdo it, so here are the guidelines for How To Apply Your Perfume

Marilyn Monroe applies Chanel Number 5

* Spritz fragrance onto a couple of your pulse points ~ wrists, throat, behind the knees, inner elbows and behind your ears. There's magic when the beating of your heart meets with some body heat and your fragrance. Just don't put it on all your pulse points in one session.

* If you are wearing perfume you just need a couple of well placed drops.

* If your are wearing eau de parfum limit it to three cleverly placed spritzes

* If you have eau de toilette limit yourself to four spritzes, but make them count.

* Over time you become a little desensitized to your perfume, but everyone else can still smell it, so don't double up because you can't smell it!

And finally, with Valentine's Day just around the corner, a quote from Coco Chanel:

A woman should wear perfume wherever she wants to be kissed...

Beauty Tip Of The Week

What a crazy week it has been!
Here in Phoenix we have had both the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament and the Super Bowl in town.
I have been working with both, day and night. Some TV, but mostly celebrity glam. (which is invariably the juiciest glamming of all!)

One constant this week has been everyone needing some extra love under the eyes, me included.
I have gone through an unbelievable number of eye gels, which brings me to my Beauty Tip of the Week


**Keep a couple of pairs of eye gels in your beauty stash, at all times! If you are looking or feeling dehydrated, exhausted, if you wake up with puffy under eyes, or maybe just want to juice things up before a big night out, give yourelf 10 minutes of quality time with a set of under eye gels.

Doutzen Kroes and Lindsay Ellingson wearing Skyn Iceland Eye Gels backstage at Victoria's Secret runway show

The ones I use are super cooling (which is a glorious depuffer), they hydrate like crazy, which minimizes fine lines and wrinkles, and they firm up the skin. They make your makeup go on smoother and they leave you looking rested and gorgeous.

I use them on movie stars, I use them on regular folk and I use them on myself.

There are two brands that I use both in my pro makeup kit and in my personal stash:

Skyn Iceland Hydro Cooling Firming Eye Gels

and Tatcha Deep Hydration Revitalizing Eye Mask

4 Makeup Tips For Super Bowl Parties

Super Bowl is here in Phoenix this year.
I've been working non stop on Super Bowl events (and the Phoenix Open too - its also here this weekend), in fact until Monday I am eating, sleeping and breathing Super Bowl makeup.

A couple of years back I was at a spectacular Super Bowl party in Scottsdale, and was stunned that so many of the women there were so ridiculously overly made up. They almost looked like caricatures of themselves.
A full face of makeup looks silly at a Super Bowl party, so how do you do your makeup and feel pretty but not look overdone?

Here are my 4 Makeup Tips For Your Super Bowl Party

Kate Upton in gorgeous makeup

1. Ease up on the foundation. A thick cakey foundation, or a dried out crushed mineral foundation look equally out of place and totally overdone. Let your skin glow and look fresh with a BB cream instead.

2. Step back on the liner. Black eyeliner is too harsh for a Sunday afternoon. Use an expresso brown instead, smudging it into the lashline so that it enhances the lashes but doesn't draw too much attention to itself.

3. Give yourself a rosy glow. It's easy to look flat in the middle of winter. There's no sunshine bouncing off your complexion and the world around you is grey, so light things up with a rosy glow to your cheeks. Bring the color forward a little to give yourself a slight flush.

4. Lighten up on the lip. Super Bowl parties are all about drinks and finger foods. If you are sporting a bold lip or a dark lip, it will end up all over your fingers and all over your glass. A strong lip also breaks down and looks tacky if you don't keep it maintained.
Opt instead for  lighter or softer lip.
(If you really can't go for a softer lip use a longwear formula but check it often!)