Cee Me

Bright summer

CCee — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:21:25 -0700

Hi everyone,

How has everyone been? The sun is starting to shine some more here, so spring is in the air and even though I know the fall/winter looks for the upcoming fall/winter already, I'm not going to tell you anything about them until you should actually start wearing them. I'm giving you all the information about achieving this fun, spring look right now.

I thought about the last time I did a look for glasses and I was shocked at how long it's been. So in this look I'm wearing my own glasses. I got these glasses for free when I got my new contacts and they're by Pearl and are black on the outside and white on the inside, on the sides you see black and white stripes. I love wearing these glasses when I'm at home watching TV or when I'm not in the mood to stick my lenses in my eye ;) .

For this eye I used many layers of colour but I used it sparingly and I built it up slowly because too bright means you get an eye that overpowers the rest of the face and you, which is never good. I think makeup should enhance who you are, not hide it.

Prep
Before you place many makeup on your face, make sure all the dirt of the night/day is gone, so cleanse thoroughly. My skin's starting to look normal again (a few small patches are still dry and flaky, but they're getting smaller every day). I did the dermalogica double cleanse again, I started with the Precleanse which is the cleansing oil which gives you a fresh healthy glow because you boost circulation. When you're done massaging, you add a little water to your face and the oil magically turns into a milk and you just wipe that off with a wet towel. The second cleanser I used was Ultracalming Cleanser which has a very fresh smell, in the morning I love how this smell wakes me up. After the cleansing, I used two moisturizers mixed together. I mixed the Clinique - Comfort On Call with Dermalogica - Sheer tint moisture SPF 15 which means I add a little extra colour to my skin and a SPF but also some care for my skin.

Face
Before I used a primer I used Smashbox - Illuminating Serum for brighter face which can be found in the Smashbox Master's Class Vol. 4 Rescue BeautyMaster's Class Vol. 4 Rescue Beauty, this is no longer sold via the Smashbox website, but Sephora still has it on their website. This serum is amazing, seriously it's a breath of fresh air for your skin. It gives a little brightening, but also it has Rose Seed extracts which is a great antioxidant. As an illuminating primer (for extra radiance) I used the Smashbox - Hybrid 2 in 1 Luminizing primer from the Greenroom Collection, which is environmentally-friendly and has light diffusing ARTIFICIAL LIGHT in the inner tube and skin-smoothing in the outer tube. The Green Room collection is no longer sold on the Smashbox website, the link I provided brings you to a Swedish website where I order many products, so all the Europeans can get it there if they want to, but for Americans, the normal Hybrid has been added to the Muse collection and can be found here. The Hybrids are filled with vitamins, antioxidants and botanicals for extra skin benefits. With the purchase of every GREEN ROOM product, a Moringa tree will be planted in a developing country by Trees for the Future. The Moringa or "Miracle Tree" is a powerhouse of nutritional value and provides a self-renewing food source for people in need. More trees also mean less soil erosion and cleaner air and water for a greener future. The hybrid feels just like the normal Photo Finish but has more skincare things in it apparently, adding this not only makes my skin feel incredibly soft (the clear gel in the tube is normal Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer but also cares for it.

On my face I used Dior - DiorSkin AirFlash spray foundation which is the easiest and best way to add an airbrushed look to your skin. I love how my skin feels wearing this and the 5 seconds it takes to apply. Because I wanted my eyes to be really bright I used Smashbox - Photo Op Under Eye Brightener also on my eyes and on the top of my cheekbones. As a concealer I used two different colours of Smashbox - Camera Ready Concealer. I used the no. 3 and no. 2. The more pink colour I used on the inner corner of my eyes and the more yellow toned colour was used to hide small blemishes and around my nose. I applied this with my The Body Shop - concealer brush because I needed preciese placing and I blended with my new Dior - Foundation brush which feels amazing in my hands, it's a little heavier then the Smashbox foundation brush I have, but I only have the Travel foundation brush, so that could be the reason.

I used a fairly new product I've fallen in love with for contouring. Officially it's a bronzer, but I use it for contouring because I'm sooo damn white, it's Chanel Bronze Universal which is a Sun illuminator and gives a sunkissed glow when used as a bronzer, but also can be used a great contouring product. It's pretty expensive but you get a huge jar. I apply this with Sephora Brand - Professionnel Platinum Stippling Brush no. 44 for a light coverage, if I want more I can build up the colour, but I don't want to apply it with my fingers because that will give a smudged streaky finish. This brush is actually meant for stippling, but if I use this brush with my foundation I get a very thick layer which is something I personally don't like. I like my own skin to shine through, I (usually) like my skin and I have light freckles so I look odd without them. Maybe when I get a thinner foundation (like the Make Up For Ever - HD Invisible Cover Foundation the brush will work better for stippling, but for now it's my bronzer brush. I use this brush to apply a thin layer of the Bronze Universal on my temples working in an E or 3 to under my cheekbones and then under my jawline. Remember that you have to blend contouring colours into your hairline and ears to prevent your contouring being too obvious. I also used a little down the sides of my nose to make it seen a little smaller.

I used the Make Up For Ever - HD Powder to set the makeup, I do this with my Sephora no.45 Mineral Powder brush which is no longer sold through the website, they do still have it at the Sephora store here, so they might still have it where you love, otherwise, using the Make Up For Ever - Kabiku Brush should do just as amazing a job. Thanks to its soft-to-the-touch yet sufficiently firm nylon bristles, the Kabuki Brush makes it easy to sweep powder on the face. The width of the bristles has been specially tailored to the HD Powder packaging and the black color makes dosing the powder easy. The rounded shape facilitates the cirucular movements necessary for the light application of HD Powder.
You can use a normal Kabuki for this though.

Eyes
On my eyes I used my go to Urban Decay - Primer Potion. I used Clinique - Touch Tint for Eyes, Shimmer Formula in 06 Nude Sparkle as a base colour for this eye. This is a colour that doesn't crease and gives a natural glimmer that just lights up the eyes a bit but does it sooo naturally that if you didn't know it, you wouldn't think there was a colour on the eyes.

As a base colour on my eyelids I used the silver colour from the discontinued Sephora - Paradise Island palette. As a replacement I think something like MAC Cream Colour Base in Luna should do the trick. I use a cream eyeshadow as an extra base to make the silver on top pop even more and to give the colour more dimension. I place this colour with a Sephora Brand Professionnel Large Synthetic Eyeshadow Brush no. 25, I use a synthetic brush because it's a cream eyeshadow and natural bristles would give an uneven coating of cream and I placed it up to the crease.

As a silvery eyeshadow I used Smashbox - Rapture Eye Shadow colour Shimmery White over the cream up to the crease. I used my Sephora - Professionnel All Over Shadow Brush, Large no. 21 for placement. Now I needed to add the pink colour to the inner eyecorner. I used this pink colour only on the top half of the inner eye corner, because placing it on the bottom can make you look ill/tired. Also finding the right colour for this is very important, I mixed two Urban Decay colours for this. I used a hint of Urban Decay - DeLuxe Eyeshadow in Sting and Urban Decay - Eyeshadow in Grifter placing the colours (first the Sting and then Grifter) with my Urban Decay - Wonder Brush. This brush is AMAZING!!! You have sooo much control and it really does make the application very very easy.

My crease colour is Urban Decay DeLuxe Eyeshadow in Peace which can be bought as a single and is available in the Deluxe Shadow Box, I placed this very very lightly in the crease with Urban Decay - Crease brush for a precise but light application of colour.

Here is a picture of me with my eyes closed to show you where I applied everything:

As you can see I made the crease colour a < shape, I did this to make the crease colour seem less floaty. This is however the best way it looks on my eyes, if you have a very small eyelid area, you shouldn't do this and try using the Peace colour high on the crease.

As a mascara I used only one coat of my Dior - Diorshow Iconic Mascara in black. I only used one coat because wanted the colour to be the statement and not the lashes. Also using more coats or falsies would make the eye less "flirty spring" and more "trying too hard" if you ask me.

Here is a picture of the finished eye without glasses to show you how the application looks:

Lips
On my lips I used another colour from the Smashbox - Master's Class Vol. 4 Rescue Beauty, this lip gloss is called Quench Moisture Rich Lip Gloss and is not sold separately, just like the serum isn't, which is a shame because these products are super! The only product I don't like from this Volume 4 is the Eye Shadow Quad in Bright Eyed because of the colours.

I hope you like this explanation, if you've got any idea's for my 100th look, let me know!!

Silver square eyes for partying (August 31, 2008)

CCee — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:12:43 -0700

Saynogirl requested an eye for herself and 2 friends for a "Music Day" at college. She told me they'd be wearing dark blue T-shirt and black pants, she also said she wanted an eye with special effects. So I made two, to give her a choise, this one, and the one I will post when I'm done writing this one.
Now I know she's got a darker skintone then I have normally, and she's got dark brown eyes, but I don't know if her friends have this as well, soooo I made something that should go with almost every eyecolour. I also don't know how well everyone is at doing their makeup and upkeeping it, so I have an easy eye (this one) and a harder eye (the next one). So hard not giving it a name yet, but I like it to be a bit of a suprise when you see the next one, that was the first idea that popped in my head, but I've seen this in a video when I was young and thought it's still something that can be worn today, if you want special effects that is ;) .

Now to make all of you laugh, I did one eye like this, and one like the next look. So I look kinda freaky.

Starting with the silver square eye I have here:

Because I'm doing two eyelooks today (mini tutorials), I'm not giving info on prepping etc. for both looks I used:

Products in this picture:

Neutrogena PureGlow, Daily heat activating peeling (loosely translated)
Neutrogena PureGlow, eyecream
Neutrogena PureGlow, moisturiser with a light tanning effect and SPF
Sephora Lips "Very sexy" nourishing lip balm SPF 15

Products in this picture:

Urban Decay, Eyeshadow Primer Potion (eyeshadow base)
Smashbox, Baby Buki Brush
Smashbox, Pressed Powder/Bronze Lights Duo - Fair/Light (using only the bronzer colour)
Scotch tape (the kind you can write on, because it sticks less to your skin and doesn't irritate)
Sephora Brand, Iridescent Cream Shadow - no. 6 Silver
Bourjois Paris, Ombre Stretch - Intense Black
Guerlain, Ombre Eclat 4 Couleurs - 401 Jeu de Nuit
Smashbox, Concealer brush - no. 4
Max Factor, Masterpiece Beyond Length Mascara - Silver
Sephora, Eyelash curler
Lancaster Infinite Bronze Face Bronzer SPF 15
Smashbox, Travel Foundation Brush
Mascara wand for eyebrows
Urban Decay, 24/7 Glide-on Eye Pencil (waterproof) - Gunmetal (gunmetal w/ teeny silver glitter Item # 44510)

Eyes
Because I used scotch tape to have very straight lines, I did my eyes first, placing the scotch tape first on the top and outer corner and doing that half of my eye first and then doing the inner corner and lower line. I do this in halves because otherwise you stretch your skin too much and when you then take off the tape, it's not a straight line anymore. Also remember to look straight in a mirror when placing the tape, because only then will you place the tape straight. I use tape, that doesn't mean you have to, if you can draw a straight line without the tape, do that, if you don't want to use the tape of you have very sensitive skin, don't use the tape, this is just for me an easy way to get a quick straight line when doing this.

The eye colour was first some Eyeshadow Primer Potion (as a base) followed by the Cream shadow in silver, this silver has a brush where the colour comes from and I used that to place the cream shadow. I use this base because it intensifies and adds a metallic shine to the next colour I used over it. The colour on top of it is the top left colour of the Guerlain palette, it's a dark grey on it's own. I used a concealer brush to place it on the eye.

In this picture I have the top and right part of the eye done and the tape is still there with the cream shadow on the bottom and inner corner waiting for the Guerlain grey.

Next up is a little bit of depth you want to give the eye. Using the Ombre Stretch which I think is a dark grey and not a black, but anyway, to add a hint of extra colour at the crease and at the outer lower corner. I used Gunmetal on my waterlines and now it looks like this:

Face
My skin is a lot paler then saynogirl's skin, so I added some colour to my skin using the Lancaster bronzer and a travel foundation brush. I used this brush because then you can get very close to the silver but not accidentally touch it. I added some bronzer powder over this to erase the shine.

Eyes
I finished the eyes by curling and coating my lashes using the Max Factor mascara. I used the black all over my eyelashes (top and bottom) and the silver on the tips of the lashes. I brushed my eyebrows and I was done.

Gold and Silver eye look (August 29, 2008)

CCee — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:40:55 -0700

Well good evening ladies (and gentlemen?),

I did this look this morning and took my time taking a mask and everything, that forgot the time completely, resulting in a great look but no pictures because I had to leave when I was ready :( .

HOWEVER, because I used a primer under it, it's still perfect right now (almost 10 at night) and I just took the pictures, so it's in yellow light, but I loved the look and got a lot of compliments on them during the day. It's a look that was very "hip" last summer I think, but I don't care, I love it and will wear it if I want to ;) .

Owww and look at how golden my green eyes look in this :D

Products in this picture:

Bliss, Sleeping Peel - Cleansing Cream
Bliss, Triple Oxygen Instant Energy Mask
Bliss, Thinny Thin Chin
Dior, Capture R60/80 - First Wrinkles Smoothing Eye Creme
Dior, Capture X R60/80 Extra-Vital Restoring Serum
Dior, Capture R60/80 Ultimate Wrinkle Creme
Sephora, Lips "Very sexy" nourishing lip balm SPF 15
Sephora Brand, "Tricks of the Trade" Immediate Wrinkle Filler

Preparation
I woke up at 6 this morning for some strange reason, and well I thought I'd better not waste the time and gave my face a massage using the Sleeping Peel (it was dry before so I thought lets take off the dead skin). When I washed that off I plucked my eyebrows (I want the arch to be a little less straight so we'll see how it goes and if I don't pluck it out next time). I deceided I needed to boost my skin using the Triple Oxygen Mask, placing it also on my neck and on the skin around my eyebrow (not on the eyelid or anything, just on the skin directly under my eyebrow) and lied down to let that do it's job while I listened to the morning news. I used very cold water to take of the mask when it had done it's job and used the Dior serum as an extra boost today. I also got Thinny Thin Chin from my sister so I'm using that on my neck area as well. I love the way this smells!! I don't know if it actually works, but we'll see that after I use it for a while. To moisturise I used Dior Capture for eyes and Dior Capture creme for my face. I think I can safely say my skin is very well taken care of today.

Products in this picture:

Smashbox, Hybrid 2 in 1 - Luminizing Primer
Sephora, Concealer Palette
The Body Shop, Concealer Brush
Urban Decay, Eye Shadow Primer Potion
YSL, Touche Eclat - no. 2
Smashbox, Eye Shadow Trio - Shutterspeed
Sephora, Eye Lash Curler
GOSH, Effect Powder - Steel
GOSH, Effect Powder - Blaze
Eyeliner brush
Smashbox, Concealer Brush - no.4
Blinc, Kiss Me Mascara - Black
Sally Hansen, Lip Inflation - Sheer Blush

Face
I didn't want a lot of stuff on my face because I think that after all that prepping, hiding it would be sort of silly. So I used the Hybrid 2 in 1 to keep the shine away and the wrinkle filler with some concealer under my eyes and that was it really.

Eyes
Because I was keeping my face natural, I wanted some sparkle on my eyes, but not a lot of distractions from my skin so I used the YSL Touche Eclat as a highlighter under my eyebrows. I didn't want the pop the HighBrow brings, but I did want it highlighted a little. As a base I took the Primer Potion and then used the two lightest colours from the Shutterspeed trio, using the Smashbox concealer brush (which is a little bigger and more fluffy then the The Body Shop one) first to place the shimmery colour lightly on my eyelid up and over the crease and then the same brush (cleaned) to place the lightest colour first under my eyebrow and using vertical strokes taking it down. I used the Shutterspeed very lightly because I wanted the eye to look naked even though it wasn't.
I didn't want to move any of the sparle when curling my eyes, so I curled them now. I then took a thin eyeliner brush and dipped it in the Steel colour. This is loose powder so if you're new at using loose powder, maybe do your eye before you do your face. I didn't want to use it moist because then the colour is either to intense or to transparant so I used it dry. Now the trick I used today was dip the brush in the powder, then tap off the excess, now I pushed the colour under and into the lashline, (don't use a brush motion, just press it on the skin) and then I took away the brush and filled it again with new powder and pushed the powder into the lashline again only now right next to where the first colour was placed. Don't try to rush if you're using this technique, then you'll have fallout everywhere. I used the same technique for the upper lashline using Blaze. I finished the eye with Kiss Me mascara (very natural on the lashes).

Lips
Because I still wanted my skin to be on the foreground (with a little distraction thanks to my eyes) I used Sheer Blush on my lips.

So, what do you think of this look?

Pink neutral(ish) shimmery eye look (Friday August 8, 2008)

CCee — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:46:01 -0700

I wasn't in the mood for heavy make-up today so I kept it fairly light using silver and pink eyeshadow.

I used my fingers to apply Dermalogica sheer tint moisturiser in medium, when I bought it I thought it would be way to dark for my skin tone, but I really like it on me, it's a little darker and it gives me a hint of extra colour but I like that. As a concealer I used Sephora Brand Concealer Palette, I mixed the pink tone with the lightest skin tone to make my perfect coloured under eye concealer. As usual I used Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion on my entire eye and then followed it with Benefit cosmetics' HighBrow pencil to highlight my brow bones.

I used a product I bought in Holland a while back, it's a highlighter but I like using it on my eye's when I don't want a lot of colour but I do want a little shimmer. It's called loose glitter powder in 02, but NARS has a similar product Sparkling Loose Powder in Machu Picchu. Using my Sephora Brand Professionnel All Over Shadow Brush (Large #21) I put it all over my eyes.
I then used Sephora Brand's Professionnel Rounded Crease Brush (#13) to put Bourjois' Ombre Stretch in Brun Nylon (09) in and a little over my crease using a windscreen wiper motion. It's best to start with a little product and adding it when you think the colour is still a little to light. This shapes your eye and if this is done your eye will look a lot more open.

You could just leave it like it is now if you're in a hurry and just add some mascara and run out. But I like to add a little colour to brighten the day.

So I got my GOSH effect powder pots out and using Sephora Brand Professionnel Platinum Natural Dome Smudge Brush (#13) I put on my colours. I put Steel (a silver colour) on the inner third of my eyelid (up to the crease but not over), I then took Meringue (a very light pink) on the middle third and went a little over Steel to blend the two. I then took Urban Decay's Hotpants (medium pink Item # 36300) on the outer third of my eye, again going a little over Meringue to blend the two together. To make it perfect I took Bourjois' Cafe & Creme Eyeliner pencil and used the Creme colour on my waterline. Some people swear by using white on the waterline to make their eyes look bigger, I always use Creme because it's more natural and it evens out the colours.

Finally I gave my upper eyelashes a double coat of the black side of Max Factor's Masterpiece Beyond Length in 02, this has one side black and one side sparkly pink. I used the pink side on the tips of my upper lashes. I also used only the pink on my bottom lashes (you can see the colour a on the outer lower lashes on the picture)

Not shown, but some extra information: I used Benefit's Her Glossiness in Who are you wearing (passion fruit pink) (04) on my lips

Hopefully you like it.