What is Beauty to YOU?

A week ago, I was chatting with my brother about random things, and the topic of makeup came up because well, hello, I'm obsessed with makeup.  It was kind of strange talking to him about makeup, because he's a very straight guy and he has absolutely no interest in such things.  In fact, I believe he has only had bad experiences with makeup in his life, since my sister and I used to torture him by forcing our makeovers on him when he was little.

But aside from this, when I asked him point blank what he thought about makeup, he gave me some very good advice, from the point of view of an artist (he is an excellent artist, in my opinion).  He reminded me that beauty should be something that is pleasing to YOUR eyes.  And it's true: at the end of the day, you're the one that matters to you the most.  It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about the way you look, because your happiness depends on how YOU feel about yourself, not your family or your friends or even your boyfriend/spouse/life partner.  What is beauty to YOU? 

My brother doesn't care what other people think about his art work.  He does it because he really truly loves it, and if other people don't think highly of it, he shrugs it off because it only matters that the piece pleases HIM.  I think this is the way we should feel about the way we look.  If we do use makeup, we should do it so that we feel great about ourselves, and not try to constantly win the approval of others.  I am far from achieving this goal, but I see it as an awesome ideal, a wonderful and freeing way to live and think. 

It was a nice conversation with my brother.  He really made me feel great about myself and how I do my own makeup.  He gave me a lot of nuggets of wisdom, but below are a few quotes that I think really get his message across:

"You have to trust your own eye more than anyone else's." 

"If you only copy other people's styles, you lose your individuality, the thing you're trying to represent in the first place."

"If you don't think it looks pretty, then what's the point of doing it in the first place?"

Sigh, so proud of my brother, and I really trust his sense of beauty.  He does art work that really blows me away.  Below is an example, it's a piece that he did recently.  I think it is my favorite.  LOL, who knew that the little brother I used to torment would turn out so great?

Love,

Geneys  :o)

C, N, NC, and NW

This post kind of piggy-backs off of the post in October entitled "How to Find Your Ideal Foundation."  Besides the fact that I love talking about foundations, I think there needs to be cleared up a little mystery about the way MAC categorizes their foundation colors.  Before doing my research on this subject, I had definitely heard of NC, as many Asian women seem to belong to this category.  But while browsing through the colors that Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation had to offer, I discovered there were others, such as C, N, and NW.  What was this all about?

Well, at the most basic level, MAC differentiates their foundations based upon whether or not your skin would be considered neutral or cool, hence the N's and C's.  Remember my talk about looking down at the veins inside your wrist to determine if your ideal foundation would be 'cool' or 'warm'?  It applies here: if your veins are blue your color is cool, and if your veins are green you color is warm/neutral (MAC's neutral is considered warm). 

The complete breakdown of MAC's foundation colors is as follows:

C + Single Digits - Again, C belongs to the cool category.  The single digit means you are looking at soft golden undertones with a bit of warmth/neutral to it.

C + Double Digits - Double digits means the colors get even cooler, and these foundations are typically for skin with the 'olive' undertone.

N - Again, N belongs to the neutral/warm category.  These foundations have neutral, pink undertones.

NC - These foundations are a mixture between cool and warm, but leaning more toward the cool side.  The foundation color is golden, with a little of the pink in the NW's.  NC stands for Neutral Cool.

NW - These foundations are more peachy and pink.  NW stands for Neutral Warm.

With my skin tone being more on the cool side, I decided to try both the NC and C categories.  I have to say the color of my C30 is definitely more cool than my NC30 upon application, can you tell just by looking at the two compacts below?  The C30 is on the left and the NC30 is on the right.

I think it is awesome that MAC has these categories for people's skin tones.  There are so many to choose from that it seems nobody is left out.  But because it is so awesome that there is a wide spectrum of colors, my complaint against MAC would have to be: why have all of these color options only for the Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation?

If you take a look at their website (www.MacCosmetics.com), aside from the Studio Fix Powder Plus Foundation, all of the other foundations MAC offers are categorized by either NC/NW or Light/Medium/Dark/Etc. (except for their Face and Body foundation, which contains only N's and C + Single Digits).  It would be nice if they could include all of the colors for all of their foundations.

Let me know what you think?  Hope this information helps you understand MAC's foundation color system better.

Love,

Geneys  :o)

Don't Shave Your Arms!

One time, I was making my way past another woman, I don't remember where or why, but I do remember that it was crowded, and I also remember walking away feeling as if I had scraped my arm against sandpaper!  What the heck??  I was confused for a second, but then quickly came to the conclusion that the woman had shaved her arms, and some stubble had grown back.

This is the reason why I always insist that people not shave their arms.  It's an unpleasant feeling, and oftentimes, you can tell just by looking that people shave their arms.  Hair grows back, and especially after you have shaven it, the ends of the hairs are very sharp.  Sharp and short is a bad combination for your arm hairs.  

People's hairs grow back at different rates, too.  I once had a friend who showed me the stubble on her legs during a class in high school.  She said, "I shaved an hour ago, and look at my legs now."  I looked down, and to my horror, I saw that all over her legs there had already grown long, dark stubble.

Maybe it is this way for you, and maybe not.  And even though you might be thinking, 'But Geneys, people don't touch my legs!' I would argue that it is worse for arms because for certain, people will touch your arms.  Many people, when communicating with others face to face, are 'touchy,' and this makes your arms a prime target.  If they touch or feel your arms, then they could be in for a nasty surprise.  I just wouldn't risk having a situation such as this.  I can imagine that it would be very embarrassing. 

So why not just let your arm hairs grow out?  From my experience, touching someone's arm and finding that it is a little hairy is less of a shock than finding out someone's arm feels like a cactus.  And I have not seen anyone's arms to be this way, but if your arms are like Sasquatch (with long, dark hair that drapes off your arms), then I would suggest a depilatory cream.  The hair would grow back with softer ends, and so if you do have any stubble, it won't be so sharp that it stabs other people's hands.

Personally, I will admit that I do not have very hairy arms, I think this is something I can be thankful for from my dad, the hairless-ness.  (Actually, if you look closely at the picture below, you could probably spot a couple).  But I can still speak from my experiences: I would much rather touch your arm if you had a little hair, than to be grossed out by the fact that I have scraped against your stubble.  So if you can help it, just let it grow.  Everyone knows arms have hair.

Love,

Geneys

Makeup For Your Body

On one of my sister's visits, she brought me a gift from The Body Shop.  I'd never shopped there before, but wow, I can tell this is one place I need to visit!  The Cranberry Body Shimmer my sister got me is just sooo lovely, I went back to the website to buy a back-up one, and it seems they don't carry these anymore!  What a big bummer, but this one item makes me excited about what other wonderful things they may carry in their store. 

What is a body shimmer?  Well, by the looks of this product, it seems it is a powder that makes the skin of your body sparkle.  But in actuality, although this product comes with a powder puff for application, it's not really a powder.  I would say it's more of a cream.  And the shimmer isn't too garish, it's more of a gentle sheen that it adds to your skin. 

I think that this is perfect for when you are wearing tank tops.  But since the weather is colder nowadays, this might work great for just your declate, and especially with the holidays coming up.  It's true, you don't want to attract too much attention away from your face, but I believe this product helps add that little something to make you glow during these festive times--not to mention, the smell is just so heavenly!  Seriously, I could just sit around sniffing this stuff all day!

Again, I was not able to find this product online, but I would strongly recommend making a visit anyway, to their website or an actual store.  I know for sure that they have shimmer lotions, along with many other things that are cranberry scented.  Gosh, I don't know how to tell you how good this smells, I am at a loss for words!  And you could probably tell by now that I am very wordy.  Trust me, it smells that good.

When you have a chance, check out The Body Shop at www.TheBodyShop-USA.com.  They are a great place to do your Christmas shopping.  And besides, it's a great cause: The Body Shop supports fair trade and human rights, and they are also against animal testing.  I wouldn't feel bad spending my money there.  Speaking of which, many thanks to my sis for this body shimmer!

PS - If you haven't already, please enter for my small giveaway which ends Nov. 21.  Check out my post entitled "A Small Giveaway" when you have a chance.  Good luck to everyone!

Love,

Geneys  :o)

Dazzleglasses Are Amazing!

When it comes to sparkly lip glosses, there is NOTHING that beats MAC's Dazzleglasses.  They're not only sparkly, but they also offer you that great shine, and so your lips really do dazzle in every way.  And the most unique part about MAC's Dazzleglasses is that you get to choose in what way you would like your lips to sparkle.

Let me explain: of course you have the different shades you can choose from, any lip gloss line can give you that.  But with MAC's Dazzleglasses, you can also choose with which colors you would like your lips to sparkle.  There is gold pearl, blue pearl, red pearl, pink pearl, silver pearl, violet pearl, and so on and so on.  So the color of sparkle you wear on your lips will be reflected in any light source, and I think this really does wonders to complement the rest of your makeup. 

Another thing I love about MAC's Dazzleglasses is that they don't behave like regular lip glosses do.  Whenever I tried to make my lips really shiny with other lip glosses, eventually, these would run down and end up on my chin, making my chin look really greasy.  Needless to say, it was quite unpleasant.  MAC's Dazzleglasses stay put, and actually, stay there all day (unless I've eaten it off my lips, which is quite a bad habit of mine, licking my lips all the time).

Lastly, these lip glosses smell really nice, which is very important to me.  Your lips are right under your nose, why wouldn't you want your lip gloss to smell pleasant, right?  MAC's Dazzleglasses smell like, I would have to say they smell like vanilla, with a faint bit of nuttiness to it.  Seriously, this is why I wouldn't mind smelling this all day.

If you are interested in acquiring them, these lip glosses are available at www.MacCosmetics.com for $18.00 a piece.  Currently, I have them in Money, Honey (Money, Honey is one lip gloss), Extra Amps, and Roman Holiday, and these are shown in this order below, and I definitely plan to add to this small collection. 

If you haven't already, I think if you gave these lip glosses a try, you would fall in love with them, too.  I hope this helps, and good luck!

Love,

Geneys  :o)

To De-Pot or Not?

Haha!  This post is a revision because YES, I did my math wrong, thanks for pointing out my error, Eternalmi! 

After having de-potted 18 eye shadows to turn them in for three free lipsticks, I wondered what would be more economical: buying the six potted eye shadows to get a free lipstick, or buying the six palette refills and buying a lipstick separately?  I hated math all through school and I still do now, but here is my second lame attempt at finding out the answer to this mystery.

If you buy six potted eye shadows for $14.50 each, your total would come out to $87.00.  And after you've de-potted them and turned the empty pots in for a free lipstick, you would still have a total of $87.00, because the lipstick was free.  So the math would look something like this...

6 x $14.50 = $87.00 + Free Lipstick = $87.00

On the other hand, if you buy six palette refills for $11.00 each, your total would come out to $66.00.  There is no free lipstick with this kind of purchase, so you would have to buy your lipstick separately, which means you must add the value of the lipstick, $14.00, to your total, and this would turn out to be $80.00.  So the math would look something like this...

6 x $11.00 = $66.00 + $14.00 = $80.00

Therefore, if you buy the potted eye shadows, de-pot them and turn six in for a free lipstick, you would actually be spending more money, namely, $7.00.  Not to mention, de-potting those eye shadows was pretty hard work and it took quite a bit of time.  I can't think of any pros to buying the potted eye shadows, because even if you are able to recycle the pots through the Back to Mac program, you wouldn't have to recycle the pots to begin with if you never bought them in the first place, right? 

Personally, to save myself the hassle of having to deal with all that sticky glue and breathing in the alcohol fumes and breaking my hands to rip into the plastic, I am going to buy only the palette refills from now on.  My answer to the question: To De-Pot or Not? would have to be NOT.  Just buy the palette refills because it's cheaper and easier.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

Love,

Geneys  :o)

A Small Giveaway (Closed)

Hey All,

I hit 50 followers, and I thought how cool it would be if I could just give stuff away to celebrate!  So here is a small giveaway opportunity for you guys.  From today (November 5) through November 21 (11:59pm), you may enter for this giveaway, and one person will be chosen at RANDOM to receive the following items:

1.  Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Deep (If this is not your color, you could probably use this powder as a bronzer)

2.  Clarins Multi-Active Day Early Wrinkle Cream Sample

3.  MAC's Zoom Lash Mascara Sample

All of these items are brand new and have never been used or tested (BNIB/BNIP).  If you are interested, these items are shown below.

So here is how to enter:

1.  You must enter between November 5 - November 21 (11:59pm).

2.  You must be a follower.  And please do not create multiple accounts to enter more times, this is sooo not fair to the others. 

3.  You must leave a comment on THIS specific post stating that you would like to be entered in the drawing for the giveaway.  Please leave only ONE comment; spamming comments is not just annoying, it will also disqualify you.  And note: I must first approve your comments, so if you don't see your comment appear right away, give me some time to get to my email, ya?

4.  And by the way, you may enter for the giveaway even if you live in another country.

Many, many thanks for following, and good luck to you all!

Love,

Geneys  :o)

Sephora's BCA Brush

Remember my post on September 19th called "Speaking of Brushes..."?  It's my rave review on Sephora's #54 Refillable Brush which is very soft, and practical because it lets you adjust the amount of face powder that comes out of the bristles.

I love this brush, it is sooo awesome!  I was so happy with it that I bought a 'back-up' one, but I eventually gave it to my sister because it was so good and I had to share that experience with her.  Well, I was browsing Sephora's website again and I came across a PINK version of this brush, which meant that I just had to have it!  It was October anyway, and October is, as you all know, Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I ordered it, and I think it is actually better than the original version.

The bristles are much softer on your face, in my opinion.  However, because they are much softer, I have to admit that sometimes, when you put the cap on and then push the bristles back up, the hairs can catch on the sides of the cap.  Maybe this will be easier to understand if you actually have the brush, sorry if this is confusing.  But this is the only con I can think of to having these softer bristles.  And because it's pink, gosh, the look of this brush is AMAZING!

I think you should get this brush, and I would even recommend it over the original version.  OK, last month was Breast Cancer Awareness month, but we should promote the awareness all year, don't you agree?  Therefore, any time is a good time to get this brush, so hurry over to your nearest Sephora store or order it online at www.Sephora.com.  And it's $22.00, which is cheaper than the original, plus $2.00 of your purchase will go towards Breast Cancer Awareness.  I put a picture of this brush below so you can drool over it until you actually get it.

Love,

Geneys  :o)

MAC's Sheertone Blushes

I really enjoy using MAC's Sheertone Blushes, at least, the two that I have.  I have tried many blushes that immediately turned my cheeks bright pink, and to me, this look seemed very tacky.  This bright pink look made it seem like I was wearing makeup, and lots of it, while the look I was actually trying to achieve was one of natural beauty.  Going for natural beauty meant that my makeup must match what I look like regularly, as much as possible.

In order to make my blush seem as natural as possible, I tried to do something exerting, and afterward took a look in the mirror.  The color in my cheeks, the pinkish red color, was what I would try to emulate with my blush.  Trying to match this color in my cheeks, I came across two blushes in MAC's Sheertone line: Pinch Me, and Sunbasque.  They are shown below, in that order.

The reason why I chose MAC's Sheertone line was because the colors are build-able.  The first application is very light, almost invisible.  From there, you can build up to the color intensity that you would like.  To me, making sure that the color is subtle makes it seem the most natural.  And in my opinion, because the mixture of these two blushes closely matches the natural color in my cheeks, it makes me look more vibrant and healthy.  

I suggest that you try my method out, and I would highly recommend you give MAC's Sheertone line a go while you're at it, because truly, the subtle cheeks look the best.  If you are interested in acquiring a blush in MAC's Sheertone line, these are available at www.MacCosmetics.com for $18.50.  I hope you are successful at finding your cheek color, and keep it subtle.  Good luck!

Love,

Geneys  :o)

How To De-Pot Your MAC Eye Shadows

After my haul from MAC, I decided to transfer all of my MAC eye shadows to the palettes I bought.  Let me just say that this was no easy feat!  This was my first time de-potting and I found that it was very difficult to do.  At one point in the process, I turned my hand really red trying to cut through the plastic.  As difficult as it was, though, eventually I got used to de-potting after 18 eye shadows!  Below I will show you the tips and tricks I learned to make this process a little easier.

In order to de-pot your eye shadows, you will need:

1.  Your Eye Shadow

2.  Magnet Stickers (Michael's sells these in squares)

3.  A Small Plastic Dish

4.  Rubbing Alcohol (91%)

5.  A Small Knife (I'm using a mini Swiss Army Knife from my sister)

6.  A Pair of Wire Cutters (Ideally VERY sharp)

7.  3/4" Round Labels with the Eye Shadow Names Printed Out (I used Avery's 05408 Labels)

8.  A Paper Towel

All of these components are displayed below.

To start, open your eye shadow case.  Take your small knife and stick the tip of it into the groove that separates the top and bottom.  If you are having trouble locating the groove, here is a picture below where I have stuck the tip of my knife into it.

Wiggle your knife until you hear a pop.  This pop means that the top has separated from the bottom.  Take the top part off, and keep the bottom part in a bag somewhere, because you will be able to turn in six of these for a free lipstick at any MAC counter.  The empty bottom part will look like the picture below.

Next, take a look at the top part that you were able to separate from the bottom.  There are two indentations on the sides of the black plastic piece.  Use your wire cutters and make a cut on each side of the wider indentation.  In the picture below, I am making the second cut into the wider indentation with my wire cutters.

Then use your wire cutters again to try and pry the lip of the wider indentation away from the metal pan.  BE CAREFUL.  For me, this was the hardest on my hands and my patience.  After much difficulty, I was finally able to expose the separation between the metal pan and the black plastic piece, as shown below.

Next, take your alcohol and pour some into your plastic dish.  Use your small knife and scoop some of the alcohol onto the tip.  Slightly wedge the tip of your small knife between the metal pan and the black plastic piece, and keep adding several more drops of alcohol with your knife.  Wait a few seconds for the alcohol to do its work.  Then wedge your knife deeper into the separation between the metal pan and the black plastic piece, as shown below.

Again, wiggle your knife until the metal pan completely separates from the black plastic piece.  Keep the metal pan and throw away the black plastic piece.

At this point, you will notice that there is a bunch of leftover glue stuck to the bottom of the metal pan.  Take the paper towel and dip it into the alcohol.  Rub off the rest of the glue from the metal pan with this paper towel.  At the end, the bottom of the metal pan should be squeaky clean, as shown below.

Then take a piece of magnet sticker and cut out a circle.  Stick the circle onto the back of the metal pan.  If you can find magnet stickers that are already in the shape of a circle, this would be really helpful.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands on these, so I cut out a retarded circle, as shown below. 

You're almost done, peel the corresponding label off and affix it on top of the magnet sticker, as shown below.

Lastly, place your metal pan into your palette, and you should be finished de-potting this eye shadow!

If you need to take a closer look at the steps, you can click on any of the pictures above and you will be able to view them with greater clarity.  I have watched many videos on this subject, but they did not show me the steps with very much detail, so this made it very difficult for me to figure it all out by myself.  I know the lighting was bad, but I hope these pictures will help you see exactly what I am talking about.

And FYI, MAC sells eye shadows in the form of palette refills, so you can skip this whole process.  I simply chose the regular eye shadows for the sake of this tutorial.  If you have any questions or comments on this subject, I'm here.

Love,

Geneys  :o)