Bellisima!

hola amigas! happy monday to all! i have something very special to share with you today...one of the most gorgeous smoky eyes i have ever seen! although i wish i could claim this as my own handiwork, this phenomenally beautiful look was created by my fellow MUA'er, Skylersomething, and she even took the time to give me a step-by-step how-to so we could all recreate this sultry look. the products she used, all by MAC, are as follows:

• Bare Study Paintpot as a base
• eye shadows in Rondelle, Gentle Fume, Waft, Carbon, Woodwinked, Amber Lights, and Retrospeck
• Fluidline in Blacktrack, Powerpoint Pencil in Engraved, Blitzed Glitter Liner
• mascara in Plushlash

in her own words, here are the steps she took to create this eye:

First I applied Bare Study Paint Pot on my lid up to my brow bone. Next, I put Rondelle e/s (Gentle Fumes Quad) all over my lid up to my brow bone as well. Then, I put Gentle Fume e/s on the inner third of my lid, followed by Waft e/s in the center, and Carbon e/s in the outer 'V' and crease. Afterwards, I went over the Gentle Fume and Waft with Woodwinked e/s and Amber Lights. Then I took Retrospeck e/s and put it on my browbone. I also took my crease brush with some more of Carbon and put it in my crease again to darken it up a bit. I used Blacktrack fluidline on my top lashline and Engraved Powerpoint on my waterline. I also put Blitzed glitter liner over top of Blacktrack to give it some shimmer. Last, I used Plushlash mascara for my lashes.

there you have it! i'm going to try my best to duplicate this look, and if you attempt it, i'd love to see your results! thanks again to Skylersomething for taking the time to explain how she created this beautiful smoky eye.

you know you love me...

confession time: i am utterly OBSESSED with the show Gossip Girl! although i'm well past my own angst-ridden teenage years, i find it very fun to voyeuristically revisit them via Blair and Serena. a few years ago one of my friends started reading and loving the books that Gossip Girl (the show) is based on and forced me to read a few myself, and while they were ok for a junk food-esque read (you know, completely devoid of any kind of real knowledge or substance), i didn't like them 1/10th as much as the show. i was immediately hooked after watching the first episode and felt that the hole in my heart left by the O.C.'s departure had finally been filled! i would probably even watch the show on mute if i had to, just to see the clothes and makeup that Blair and Serena sport. so as you can imagine, i am ridiculously excited that the second season started last week, and i just watched the first episode of it last night (i had TiVo'ed it), and it was good!

but...(there's always a 'but') here is where i have to go off on a tangent, and i know i'll probably feel the heat for this one, but i absolutely DESPISE Jenny Humphrey! i find her character to be so annoying and such a wannabe and i don't think she's cute or that it's understandable that she's so obsessed with getting into the 'in' crowd. i knew girls like this in high school and i never understood them either, why would you want to pretend to be someone else just to fit in? why stress about looking or seeming a certain way (RICH and spoiled in this case) to fit in with a bunch of stuck-up snobs? just be yourself, dammit! anyways, i really hate how Jenny's trying to replace Blair because even though Blair is a psycho bitch, i like her, and she is the one who belongs wielding the evil, Queen Bee-type power over her flock of moronic rich girls. and, in my opinion, it's so apparent that Jenny and Nate are going to get together, and that really makes me ill, because then Jenny will think she's even more of a Queen Bee. and it's not that i want Blair and Nate to get back together because i think he's totally wrong for her, she needs someone just as evil and manipulative as she is to keep up with her (Chuck, anyone?).

anyways...back to the point of this post, i am very excited about the arrival of Serena's bad girl friend from the past, Georgina, (played by Michelle Trachtenberg) and i was just looking at some pictures from the show and was wowed by her gorgeous smoky eye makeup and flawless skin! check her out! this is the kind of smoky eye i constantly covet and can never seem to pull off without looking like Rocky Balboa.

want to copy this gorgeous look? try a dark, shimmery brown eye shadow like MAC's Mulch on the outer third of your lid, in your 'V' and crease, and under your lower lashline. next, use a gold shadow like Stila's Oasis to highlight your inner eyelid and brow bone. to define your eyes, try a soft smudgable eyeliner like MAC's Eye Kohl in Smolder to line your upper and lower lids and waterline, making sure to smudge to get a soft, imperfect look. to make lashes stand out against a strong eye, use a lengthening, volumizing mascara like Too Faced Lash Injection (my favorite high drama mascara) and keep lips pale with a shiny, baby pink gloss like MAC's Oyster Girl Lipglass. with a face this glam, you'll be a girl who's gossiped about yourself!

and now, just for fun, check out these before and after pics of Blake Lively (aka Serena Van Der Woodsen) and her 'alleged' nosejob!

private (smoky) eyes, are watching youuuu.....

hey all! a post tonight on an obsession/phobia i've cured once and for all...the simple smoky eye! this is a look i've coveted since i was about 10 years old when i hurriedly paged, wide-eyed and breathless, through Sassy magazine (which i loved and MISS so much, oh why can't Sassy please come back?!). however, i was born with a cruel affliction known to the general public as BLONDE EYELASHES! eeeeeek! if you're familiar with this curse or suffer from it yourself, you know you look like hermit crab without mascara and that it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to wear black eyeliner because you can always see your blonde lash roots peeking forth and it completely ruins the look! try and try again as you might, you'll never conquer this annoying lash-root-visibility until you have the proper tools...


1. a flat, STIFF, eyeliner brush! my personal favorite (pictured here, the Japonesque Travel Sized Flat Eyeliner Brush, around $8) is the most IMPORTANT tool i can urge you to purchase for this mission, ladies! sometimes referred to as a 'push' brush, this badboy will take those blonde eyelashes and make them wish they were born dark! the way you'll use this wonderful little brush is by taking some dark pigment (such as powder, cake, pencil or gel eyeliner) and actually 'pushing' it into your lashline, right between your eyelash roots. this masks fair eyelash roots and makes your lashline blend into your eyeliner line just like it's supposed to! also i should mention along with this first tool is how essential an eyelash curler is to helping this look come together. if you curl your lashes sky-high before you attempt to use the push brush, it will help to open up the area and give you easy access to those between-the-lashes spots. next up in order of essentialness...


2. your choice of black eyeliner! i come from the 'black is best' side of the fence, whether it comes to mascara or eyeliner, i feel that EVERYONE looks best in black. that's not to say that you might not want to rock a rich brown or shimmery purple (as i sometimes do, also) but since we're discussing the simple smoky eye, i figure we'll stick with basic black. my pick for eyeliner for this task is MAC's Fluidline in Blacktrack, $15. this, my friends, is perfection and LIFESAVER in a pot! Blacktrack is a soft gel eyeliner with the blackest black pigment and the BEST staying power, EVER! it applies smoothly and evenly in the first stroke of your brush, no retracing needed, and the economically priced pot will last you AGES. what i like to do when going for the simple smoky eye is first trace a line of this on my top lashline with MAC's 209 Eyeliner Brush, $17, and after letting it dry for a minute or so, i curl my lashes and then whip out my handy Japonesque push brush and get to darkening those lash roots! i do this by gently tapping the tips of the bristles into the Blacktrack and then wiggling them into my lashline. easy as 1,2,3 and works like a charm!

3. personalize your look! this is where you get to flex your creative muscles. you can add some black eyeliner to your bottom lashline and waterline or just go for the dark look on your top eyelid. you can smudge or leave your lines sharp! for a softer looking, pencil eyeliner for your bottom lashline, i am LOVING Rimmel's Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil in Jet Black, $3.19 (at Drugstore.com), which is so soft and sooty and black! it goes on without a bit of tugging and lasts fairly well for a pencil so soft and smudge-able. i wore this the other night on my bottom waterline and it did need a few touch-ups but for the look it gives you at the cut-rate price it comes at, no problem for me! when i'm doing a smoky eye, i like my lashes to be as over the top as i can get them, and Too Faced Lash Injection Mascara, $19.50, is my personal FAVORITE PICK for ultra lush volume and length. this mascara, another in the tube variety like Imju's Fiberwig, gives you amazing volume, holds a curl like CEMENT and never flakes or smudges. this is the mascara you will want to use for your best look at me lashes!

well i hope i've helped just one of the lash challenged girls who i used to belong to. rock your smoky eyes with all the gusto you can muster up, ladies! it doesn't have to be hard, as long as you get the basic elements of the look down pat, you can run with it! meow!