Mini Escapes

Spring break is over and the tax man has been paid, so it seems all that we have to look forward to is longer days (yeah!!), and yard work. Well, all work and no play makes for a sad Jack and a pitiful Jill. There is no time left in the schedule to get away and enjoy long weekends for awhile yet, but you need to think of a way to refresh yourself. Here are some solutions that may help you through a mundane work week, which you can do on your lunch hour. Pampering services done in less than sixty minutes. 

Think of them as little mini escapes...

• Blow out: Letting someone else do the work for you can make you feel valued and special. Especially if you have thick curly hair or you have a meeting later that you would like to look stunning for. 
• Manicure: A basic manicure will take approximately 30 minutes, leaving you time to eat and read a chapter in your novel. Going back to work with pretty patties makes anyone feel pampered.
• Massage: No undressing, no oily mess to deal with. You can get a 10, 15, or 20 minute neck and shoulder massage that will leave you feeling great for the rest of the day. 
• Mini Facial: Get a 30-minute facial. Hydration facials can be done quickly by avoiding the eye area. With a quick application of tinted BB cream and a touch of blusher, you will go back to work glowing.
• Quick Style: Come in with clean dry hair and have your stylist whip up something fun. Try a messy bun or a low swung bun with a braid twisted into it. Here is a link to my favorite quick styles to try.
• Sunless Tan: Weekends of shorts or capris coming up and those legs have not seen daylight in months? Spray tan is the ticket. Pacific Tan even has a coupon out for buy 2 sessions-get one free!  
• Waxing: Get an eyebrow, leg, lip or bikini wax on your lunch hour and save yourself the extra running around on the weekend trying to fit it all in. Now there is an invigorating way to spend your afternoon. 

I hope you find a few ways to give yourself some R&R this month. And while you are doing so, remember that Mother’s Day is on May 12th and any or all of these would make a great gift for that woman who takes care of everyone else all the time!

Thank you for stopping by my blog. 

Happy Spring!

It is looking like it may stick around this time! 

Michon :)

2013 Makeup Favorites

There is a new line of makeup that is just making its debut at Sephora this week that really got my attention! It is called HD Makeup Forever Pro Finish Powder. I excepted just another powder foundation but my mind has been changed. There are a couple of things about this product that make it different from my other favorite makeup lines. No mica! What that means is that I am not walking around with sparkles on my cheeks when I don’t want to see sparkles! And it has staying power. It literally lasted all day with a beautiful finish. It was developed by a woman named Dany Sanz  in response to professional makeup artists who needed products that could counter the unforgiving high definition camera lens.  It is recommended for normal to oily skin so bare that in mind. It can be applied wet or dry. Wet application gives you a sheer  coverage with a satin finish. Dry application for full coverage with a matte finish. Comes in 25 shades and retails for $36. Love, love, love this product. Can be found at Sephora at the Summit this weekend Jan 29th!

This is my all time favorite lip color product. This lipstick will literally stay on ALL DAY! I put it on at 7am and I have to take it off at 9pm!  My favorite color in this line is Boundless Brandy. The trick to getting it to stay on all day is the drying time. Apply the color right after you have applied your foundation on clean lips. (make sure you have no foundation residue) and allow it to dry while you do your eyes. Finish several minutes later with the glossing wand on the opposite end! Amazing product in my opinion. Can be found at most drug stores. I like to hit CVS when they have their makeup, buy one get one 50% off. Retails for $8-9 depending on where you get it.

This is my favorite new eyeshadow. Just out it is Urban Decay’s first matte palette.

I love the smoky effect you can create with this palette. Applying eyeshadow correctly can make your eyes go from plain jane to wow with the simply stroke of a brush! I have a simple recipe that I like to use to make your eyes have that bit of a pop for a special night out. 

See this tutorial for the how to. 

The Urban Decay palette has 6 colors, 4 that are brand new with this collection and retails for $27 at Sephora. 

I like this mascara because it is inexpensive and works every bit as good as mascara that retails for twice what this does. It is nice that you can get a product that is reliable and reasonably priced. The other great thing about this product is that while it is not waterproof and a nightmare to remove it is smudge proof. The problem is, Covergirl, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to discontinue it! Why do companies do this? They have a fabulous product that works and is amazing and they discontinue it! I have plans of buying and hoarding as much as I can find this weekend. So I will be on the search for something comparable. If you have any suggestions please leave me a comment below! 

So there you have. You now know what I have in my little bag of tricks. 

I would love to hear from you about your favorite products. Please leave me a list of things you like so that I can go exploring and find some new beauty products. Enable me! :)

Eye Shadow Tutorial

Many of my clients tell me that they don't wear eye shadow because they don't know how to apply it. Here is a quick tutorial to get you started. You can go full blown as shown in the after picture or you can stop anywhere along the way and call it good depending on how heavy or how minimal you want the look to be.
So here is what we start with. Thank you Makayla for being such an awesome model! :)

Before without a stitch of makeup which is her preference, but today she succumbed to my pleading! haha
So we are going to start off with some primer and this is the palette and the primer that I used for this tutorial.

 

My favorite palette to date. The colors on this are not true to my computer screen. The second to the end called Creep, is really black or smoky black. It looks blue on my computer. Just FYI there. 

Anyhow we are going to start with the first color in the palette called Virgin. 

This is beautiful by itself. I just evens out the skin tone and makes the eyelid lighter and happier in general. This with just the creep at the end is generally what I wear on my days off. 

Add contour color. I used a combination of the Naked and Buck #3 and #5 together. Apply these colors over the crease of the eyelid, blending them as you go. 

Add the drama. This color is called Smog it is #7 from the inside edge of the iris to the outer most edge of the eyebrow apply shadow as shown and blend. This picture is showing the result before blending. 

In this step you can see that I have blended the last one and added a fine line with the brush provided in the palette to create a smudged line above the eyelid  and underneath the eye to create a smoky drama that will really WOW him! :)

Hope you liked this little tutorial! More to come. Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought of it and if it was helpful or not. 

Thanks for stopping by, 

Michon :)