makeup

Personalize your Brushes

When I started carrying my brushes to sites I realized quickly that they would need some sort of identifying mark. As a MAC artist I chose nail lacquer in a sparkly silver color that was unique to me. I carefully dotted the bottoms of all my brushes so that they could be easily identified when working with a group of artists who were all using so many of the same brushes. It worked out just fine but I was pretty indifferent to it.

Fast forward to the present where I work as a Tarte educator and artist and I have theses gorgeous bamboo handled brushes. I was inspired by all the beautiful patterns and decorative colors on the Tarte bags and products and I wanted to personalize my sets with something a bit more exciting. I found this fabulous Duck Tape brand tape from Target. I wrapped the handles of each of my sets differently to keep them cute, organized, and easily identifiable in events and trainings! I hope you like this trick. I included the amazon link so you can peek at the tape I used in the photo plus the other fun patterns polka dots, stripes, all different sizes even.

Cheers XO
KellyK

zig zag decorative tape

Must have’s for the perfect smokey eye!

Must have's for the perfect smokey eye!

Nars cosmetic
saksfifthavenue.com

Trish McEvoy eyeliner
bloomingdales.com

Nars cosmetic
$42 – liberty.co.uk

Trish McEvoy eyeshadow
$30 – liberty.co.uk

Nars cosmetic
$27 – johnlewis.com

Trish McEvoy eye makeup
$20 – liberty.co.uk

Ridiculously Easy Smokey Eye Tutorial

WingedSmokeyEye

via MDMAmakeup on Instagram

I am pretty good with being able to understand problems people have with makeup. I’m very blessed that I just have always seemed to get how to hold my skin to apply eyeliner, what faces to make when doing my brows.. it just comes natural. I realize about 75% of people who use makeup don’t have those built in makeup superpowers. That’s okay! You should still be able to give yourself a sultry eye without a visit to the makeup counter. Here’s how!

Products used:

Laura Mercier Eye Base: Wheat
http://amzn.to/1oj7k5U

Bobbi Brown Eye Shadow: Burnt (I think I said brown) Sugar
http://amzn.to/1gsCnGT

Chanel Illusion D’Ombre: Mirifique
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/chanel-illusion-dombre-long-wear-luminous-eyeshadow/3196939?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=&resultback=1046&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_2_C

MAC Pigment: Naked, Reflects Gold (MAC Store Only)
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/mac-pigment/3080074?origin=keywordsearch-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=60140410&fashionColor=&resultback=176&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-searchresults-_-1_1_C

Dior Art Pen Liner
http://amzn.to/1eT5STE

NARS Larger Than Life Eyeliner: Rue Saint Honore
http://amzn.to/1dGZhqO

YSL Faux Cils Mascara: #5 (Best EVER)
http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/yves-saint-laurent-volume-effet-faux-cils-mascara/2810921?origin=keywordsearch-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=2375500&fashionColor=&resultback=227&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-searchresults-_-1_1_A

MAC Brow Gel Pot: Dirty Blonde
Was limited edition, can be replaced with Color of your choice in Anastasia Dipbrow

To Celebrate NARS Cosmetics 20th year, they just released the NARScissist Palette

To Celebrate NARS Cosmetics 20th year, they just released the NARScissit Palette

15 Classic NARS Cosmetics Eyeshadow Shades available at Nordstrom and NARSCosmetics.com. I have about 30 available for my clients but it just went viral so these will be going soon.

Colors include:
All About Eve I, Madrague II, Fez, Bali, Coconut Grove
Madrague I, Nepal, Ashes to Ashes, Brousse II, Mekong
Bellissima I, Lhasa, Deep Pewter, Dogon II, Pandora II

Email me to reserve one- MDMAmakeup@gmail.com.

Golden Globes 2013 Red Carpet Makeup

I love any excuse to get dressed up so red carpet events are a personal drug to me. I love seeing people we are entertained by in film go characterless and come together in some serious jewels and designer duds. While E! may be nitpicking about who wore the best gown- I can’t help but critique the makeup!

Watching this years GG’s on a 50″ LCD TV gave me a whole new reason to keep my eyes glued! Everyone was HD ready and it showed!

It was evident that the makeup trend last night was BOLD eyes and natural lips (not really nude, but a true lippy color). Here are some of my favorites:

Kristen Wiig

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My favorite look of the night by far! She had such a perfect smokey eye that I emulated it today (see below). The red carpet pictures don’t show the perfection as much as when she was on stage but it was dark, sultry but not over the top. Lot’s of women I work with in their mid/late 30’s wouldn’t dare to wear a bold eye like this but Kristen rocked it and looked stunning. Dating Strokes rocker Fabrizzio Moretti must be bringing out her inner badass.

To recreate this look use a full coverage foundation that will make your skin appear smooth as butter such as Make Up For Ever HD Foundation. For added perfection a concealer like Cle de Peau will cover even the darkest of circles and brighten your overall look. Dust a peachy blush like NARS Deep Throat on the apples of your cheeks and then run through the center of your face with whatever is left on your brush. I used the new MAC Brow Collection “Dirty Blonde” Fluidline Brow Gel to shape my brows then added more drama with the Veluxe Pencil in Deep Brunette. On the lips, a subtle shine lipstick such as Chanel “Boy” does the trick because this focus is all about eyes (I used NARS Sex Machine).

To get Kristen’s perfect smokey eye you’re going to need to break out your brushes. To prep my eye I used MAC Painterly Paint Pot smudged from my lash line to my brow. I then grabbed my NARS Kalahari duo and blended with the MAC 217 brush nearly all the way up to the brow. I used the more lavender (right) side all over the eye and the topazy gold side (left) dusted on the lid and into the crease. While I liked the look and thought it looked like Kristen’s I made mine a little bit more dramatic by adding NARS Mekong Shadow at my lashline and blending up very softly. I used NARS Mambo liner on the bottom smudged with MAC Brown Script and tightlined my eyes with Trish McEvoy Intense Gel Liner in Black. I topped the look off with Chanel Le Volume Mascara.

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Jessica Chastain

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A classic, beautiful look matched perfectly with her hair and wardrobe. Jessica is newly famous but has made a huge impact in the movie biz with her role in Zero Dark Thirty. She won best actress and her makeup artist made an appropriate decision with her makeup. She didn’t need to look like anyone else or too sultry because she isn’t that recognizable *yet*. Her MUA gave her a very “Old Hollywood” look with subtle contouring, a nice berry lip and a natural, eye that was simply tightlined and made bolder with long and separated lashes.

To recreate this look try Trish McEvoy BB Cream, NARS Orgasm Blush, YSL Glossy Stain in #3, Trish McEvoy Eye Base Essentials in Bare and Trish McEvoy Intense Gel Liner in Black smudged into your lash line. Top with a lengthening Mascara such as Cle de Peau “The Mascara.”

The “Can you believe I just gave birth?!” Look… Claire Danes!!!

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Good Lord!!! Claire Danes has literally never looked so good! Representing her role as Carrie on the Showtime Drama, Homeland, Claire had her makeup artist create magic by stripping the delusional, sometimes bi-polar and never really dressed up character into a total seductress! With the red dress, tousled blonde waves, flawless skin and that intense smokey eye, this is the reason I watch these Award shows. She’s a new mom and she makes it look easy for the rest of us.

To create this look use a foundation that will give you an instant photoshopped appearance such as (my well known favorite) Diorshow Airflash. When using Airflash I like to correct and conceal first (for this look I would choose a Bobbi Corrector and Illamasqua concealer) because I’ll be buffing the foundation over the top and don’t want any streaks or fingerprints. After taking care of the skin dust a Golden Bronzer such as DiorNude “002 Sunlight” over the contour areas. Top with a Peachy blush like YSL Creme de Blush 02. Claire has hooded eyes which are my favorite to smoke out. Try a Kohl Pencil around the entire eye such as MAC Smoulder and blend the line so that it’s smudged with a MAC 219 pencil brush. Use a MAC 217 blending brush in a greyish sultry shadow (try Patina from MAC) and blend just over the crease. Top with Dramatic Mascara like Chanel Le Volume and add a neutral pink lipstick and you’re set. Lashes are always a great option as well!!

I hope this inspired you to try some of these great Golden Globe looks! As always feel free to comment with any questions!