Simply Natural Look

Hello All,

I thought it was about time that I posted another makeup look. Now this one, I will admit is probably one of the looks that I wear more often to work. Just because it's super easy for me and no muss, no fuss. Working with the Military (I'm not in, but I work with them), there are certain limitations on HOW I wear my makeup. So, I experiment and use colors, but I don't go overboard. This one is a look that I do when I'm in a rush and need to get out the door, but don't want to go totally makeup-less. Hope you enjoy!

This is the completed look, and for the sake of not scaring others, I won't post up pictures of what I look like before. LOL. Anyway, the picture below is of the products I used:

Let's start off with the eyes. I like doing my eyes first so that if I mess up, or have shadow fall onto my cheeks, I can wipe it off with a makeup remover without wiping off all th e product I've already used on my face. I started by making sure my face was clean, and then putting on moisturizer. I forgot to put my foundation primer and moisturizer on here, but I use Clinique's Moisturizing Gel (#3) as a moisturizer and Smashbox PhotoFinish Light for foundation primer. Anyway, let's move onto the eyes. Because I have such oily skin and eyelids, I use an eyeshadow primer to help my eye makeup stay on and LAST! I cannot stress how important it is to use eyeshadow primer. I've found that if I go without it, in about 2 hours or so, my eye makeup will start to "melt" and my bottom eyeliner will also making my eyeliner look like a dotted line, or it gets smeared. Not a cute look. I just lightly dab the wand of my primer potion on my lids and my lower lashline. Make sure you rub it in and let it do it's thing.

Next, for the eyeshadow, I used the sparkly white highlighting shade from Love & Beauty (from Forever 21) for 3/4 of my eyelids from starting from the inner corner. I don't use a lot because this shade is SUPER sparkly and very loose. I just want the sparkle, not so much the color because I'm going for a natural look here. Next, I take the brown shade from my HIP duo and use a medium crease brush and LIGHTLY dab it in and then brush in a windshield wiper motion starting at the outer corner of my eye and following what would be the crease. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you do not pile on a lot of eyeshadow on this because you will be working in LAYERS. That will help build the effect and make it look blended. Make sure you go about three quarters of the way towards your inner corners but as you get closer to the inner corner, DO NOT curve it down. Anyway, keep lightly dabbing and applying the color until you get the richness/intenseness that you'd like to stay with. By the way, this is a matte brown that I'm paring with a super sparkly white, so it all balances out. Oh, and don't forget to BLEND!!! I usually take a CLEAN, large, and fluffy crease brush (MAC #224) and use it to blend in the lines and push the effect upwards towards my brows. By doing this, it will make my colors blend more into each other and more into my skin avoiding harsh lines.

Next is the eyeliner. I take a black kohl liner (L'Oreal Super Intense Liquid Eyeliner Pencil) and line the top of my lashline. DO NOT MAKE THIS THICK. In fact, you can skip this step if you do not have monolids. I do this with EVERY LOOK because it makes my eyes look bigger. Anyway, I draw a very thin line along the top of my lashes and let that dry. Next, I line my water lines, both top and bottom, and then I'll take the brown HIP creme eyeliner (CVS Haul!) and then line my lower lashline tapering it from the outter corner in. Meaning that the line should be thick along the outer corner but very thin as it gets towards your inner eyes. Next, to seal the eyeliner, I take another clean angle liner brush and dab it in the brown eyeshadow and lightly pat it along anywhere I put on eyeliner (except for my water lines). While doing this, you can also smudge your eyeliner so that it doesn't look so harsh. Next I fill in my brows and now it's time for the rest of the face.

The face is fairly simple. I use my Sigma F82 brush and lightly apply my foundation (use whatever you have, I just happened to have my PhotoFinish one that day) all over your face. Use concealer where you need it and blend in as well. Because my pores are rather large, I use a pore cover up. I used to use Clinique's Pore Minimizer Instant Perfection, but I've been trying out a new product. Dr. Brandt's Pores No More. So far, I'm loving it (review on that soon). I didn't take a picture of it because I still have just the sample I got from Sephora but will probably be purchasing it in the near future. Anyway, instead of using your regular powder, I use Maybelline's Shine Free Loose Powder. I take the ELF All Over Brush and lightly swirl it around and shake off the excess and apply it all over my face. Next, I use the creme blush from Sally Hansen (another awesome find from my CVS haul), and just using my fingers, I dab it along the apples of my cheeks and then take a kabuki brush (any one will do) and swirl and blend it in so it doesn't look so harsh. This next step is optional, but you can also LIGHTLY dab some of the highlighting powder along your upper cheekbones and lightly in between your eyebrows. Some people like to dab a tiny bit along their cupid's bow (right above the middle of your upper lip).

Next, apply false lashes if you want (I did), and then top off with a light, peachy, nude color on the lips. I used a sample lip gloss I received from Ulta (forgot the name of the color) and voila! You're done.

Because this is all written down, it may feel like it takes a long time to actually do this, but trust me, it really doesn't. I usually take about 30-45 minutes to do my makeup (just makeup, not hair included) in the morning but with this particular look, it takes me about 15 minutes tops to do. Enjoy! I hope you try this one out on you and see how you like it.

***I'm so glad that I used some of my new products from my CVS haul. So far, I LOVE these products I used on this look. I did try out some other and did not enjoy it too much. But I will do another post on those soon. Thanks for stopping by!