Hair & Makeup

From the Makeover Files

I love playing with hair and makeup, and lately others have allowed me to practice on them, my sisters included. Below is the result of a makeover I did on one of my sisters a while back. Enjoy!

The Hair
Prior to this makeover, my sister had just removed a sew-in weave she had kept in for about three months. Although her hair had grown quite a bit, it was extremely dry and in desperate need of a good deep conditioning treatment and trim:

Hair before: dry and frizzy

I started by shampooing the hair, then distributed Organic Root Stimulator's Olive Oil Replenishing Pak throughout. I had her sit under my hooded dryer for about ten minutes so that the conditioner could penetrate:

Processing the deep conditioner under the hooded dryer

After the conditioner was rinsed out, I applied some One 'n Only Ceramic Silk Thermal Protection Ironing Crème to the hair, making sure to concentrate the product on the ends. I also sprayed the hair with some Megasilk Olive Heat Protection Spray prior to blow drying it straight. Once dry, I took small sections and began straightening the hair with my GVP Generic Chi flat iron.

My sister typically wears her hair in its natural state, opting to play with hair pieces from time to time. Yet, since she was due for a trim, and I don't know how to get a good, clean cut without the hair being straight, we opted to heat style it. Thus, after I trimmed the ends, I applied some Firm Hold Designing Spritz by African Essence to the hair prior to bumping the ends with the flat iron. I then pin curled the hair (for details, see Pincurls!), and moved on to the makeup.

Hair in pincurls

The Makeup
My sister was wearing a really pretty yellow top with a silver embellishment. I therefore decided to give her a flirty yellow and green eye shadow look to complement her outfit.

Face before

Items used:

Eyes

• NYC brow and liner pencil in dark brown (Not shown. Used to fill in brows)
  
• Urban Decay Primer Potion (Not shown)
  
• Golden Retriever by Prestige
• Blond Pearly by NYX
• The forest green color in my Multi-Color palette by Icing
• The black color in the Multi-Color palette by Icing (Used a small amount to darken up the green)
• Black liquid liner (Not shown)
  
• Black eyeliner pencil by N.Y.C. (Not shown)
  
• Lash Stiletto mascara in very black by Maybelline (Not shown)
  
• False eyelashes (Not shown. Don't remember the number, sorry!)

Face

• Pürminerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Makeup in Deeper (Used under eyes as concealer only)
• Blot powder by Mac in Dark
• Raizin powder blush by Mac
• Bronzer by Icing

Lip

• NYX lipstick pencil in Deep Red
• Cutie lip gloss by Ulta

Once the makeup was complete, I sprayed the hair with oil sheen, removed the pin curls, and combed the hair in place. Here are the results:

Hair & Makeup

Reunion Makeover

A few weeks ago my sister attended her 20 year class reunion. She asked me to do her hair and makeup, and I eagerly obliged! Below is all the fun details regarding her makeover. Enjoy!

The Hair
My sister hasn't quite learned how to straighten her hair. I believe that the key to getting the hair straight and keeping it from frizzing up is to use the right balance of moisture and heat. A lot of people ask me to recommend a great flat iron to use during the process, but I think the tools aren't as important as the technique. As you can see from her before photo, which was the result of her attempt at straightening, she hasn't quite gotten the technique down:

Hair before: dry and frizzy

The first thing I did was impart much needed moisture to the hair. I began by spraying some Megasilk Olive Heat Protection Spray throughout, then sectioned the hair into small buns to allow the product to soak in. Next, I took small sections of hair, starting from the back, and ran my GVP Generic Chi through it in order to straighten it out:

Straightening the hair

Next, I took some Firm Hold Designing Spritz by African Essence, which my friend left at my house that I have yet to return :-), and used it to prep the hair for curling. This spritz, in conjunction with the Megasilk Olive Heat Protection Spray, really helped lay the hair down flat, and resist humidity.

Spritzing the hair

Bumping the ends

I placed the hair in pin curls (for the full tutorial, see Pincurls!), then moved on to the makeup!


The Makeup
I knew my sister was planning to wear a pretty blue dress to her reunion, so I decided to do a dramatic eye for the evening that complemented the dress. Here is her before photo:


Items used:

Eyes

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Ice Queen by Ulta
• Medium blue hue by Icing (Sorry, no name or number)
• Night Sky by Ulta
• Multi-Flash eye shadow trio by Smashbox
• Black liquid liner by Jordana
• Black eyeliner pencil by N.Y.C.
• Lash Stiletto mascara in very black by Maybelline
• False eyelashes (Not shown. Don't remember the number, sorry!)

Face

• Pürminerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Makeup in Deeper (Used under eyes as concealer only)
• Blot powder by Mac in Dark
• Loverush powder blush by Mac
• Bronzer by Icing

Lips

• Tea Time by Mac
• Lipnotic Gem Gloss by Sally Hansen in Rich

Once the makeup was complete, I sprayed the hair with oil sheen, removed the pin curls, and combed the hair in place. Here are the results:

Hair after

Face after

And now, for the total look:

My sister was very pleased with her makeover, and received several compliments on her hair and makeup at the reunion. She was glad that I introduced her to eye shadow primer, because it was the first time her eye shadow stood the test of time. In addition, she enjoyed the fact that I only used the Pürminerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Makeup as concealer, because her face didn't have that cakey, slimy feeling that one can get after wearing foundation for hours -- especially if one has oily skin.

That's it for this makeover. More to come…

Makeup

My First Makeover!

Last weekend, my girl asked me to do her makeup for her big birthday bash. I have NEVER done anyone's makeup before in my life. Even though I have sisters, I have never even practiced on them. As many of you already know, I just got into makeup last year after watching YouTube videos. I've said many times before that I've learned a lot from watching Goldenchild789. She really inspired me to play with makeup more than I had in the past. She's really good at mixing colors that you wouldn't think of putting together, so I learned a lot about blending from her. QueenofBlending is really good at mixing colors too.

My friend bought a really pretty red dress for her party, and she wanted her makeup to complement the look. Here's a before pic of her sans makeup:

As you can see, she's a beautiful woman already. Since I've never done anyone's makeup before, I wanted to do a subtle look to err on the side of caution. Below are the items I used for the eyes:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion (Not shown)
• Blond Pearl by NYX
• C-179 Golden Retriever by Prestige
• Raizin powder blush by Mac (Yes, I used this as eye shadow)
• 9 Eye Palette by Kleancolor
• EP24 Unforgettable palette by L.A. Colors
• Black liquid eyeliner by Jordana (Not shown)

Application:

#1. After priming the lids, I applied Blond Pearl by NYX to the inner corner of each eye.
#2. I then applied C-179 Golden Retriever on top of the Blond Pearl to give it more shimmer.
#3. Using an all over shadow brush, I applied Raizin powder blush by Mac to the center of each lid. I then took my blending brush to smooth out the color and blend it in with the gold.
#4. I applied some of the sparkly red eye shadow in the 9 Eye Palette by Kleancolor (the third color from the left in the top row) on top of the Raizin powder blush.
#5. To define the crease, I applied the dark brown color (last color from the left) in the EP24 Unforgettable palette to the outer corners and the crease using my angled brush by Avon.
#6. To highlight the brow bone, I used some of the golden brown color in the EP24 Unforgettable palette and bronzer by Icing.
#7. I lined the upper lids with some black liquid eyeliner by Jordana, and this was the finished product:

To finish the face, I used:

• Blot powder by Mac
• Gold bronzer by Icing
• Raizin powder blush by Mac
• NYX lipstick pencil in Deep Red

Gorgeous!

Happy Birthday!