9:00 AM 18
Hi Bellas,

I'm not huge on my nails like I used to be. Oftentimes, my nails are unadorned and I feel it when my cuticles start to crack or a nasty hang nail comes out here and there. Whenever I see fellow bloggers like Yummy, AskMeWhats and Mischo Beauty with their beautiful nails I always feel a little guilty for neglecting mine.

However, I recently had the opportunity to try out some new nail products from Barielle. This was the perfect opportunity to sport nicely manicured nails without having to head to the salon.

I tried out an assortment of their products including:

Ultra Speed Dry Manicure Extender - I used this with my Essie nail polish, and my nails were chip free for over a week. The formula is really good, much better than my random top coat from Sally's. I can tell that when I applied it, it went on with a nice thick, shiny coat that sped up the drying process and also protected the nail color.

Professional Protective Hand Cream - With the winter months drying out our skin, everyone needs a good hand cream. This one isn't greasy and does the job.



Nail Strengthener Cream
My mom blessed me with hard as rocks nail so I didn't really have a use for this product. I plan to be giving it away in an upcoming contest though!



I'm holding onto these products for an upcoming contest as well. Stay tuned!



Check them out at http://www.barielle.com/ . The site offers 15% off for your first order. They've been featured in all of the popular magazines including Allure, InStyle, and Cosmo. Not only do they offer nail products, but they offer lotions, foot creams and skin care products as well.

Giveaway Alert!

Are you into nails? Leave me a comment with your best nail tip, and we'll mail you any Barielle's product of your choice.

Be safe tonight, whatever your New Years Plans are! I'm going to dinner with friends and having our own mini party after. I'll take pics! What are your plans for New Years?

Atlanta Makeup Artist
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10:24 AM 18
Hi Bellas,

With the cold of Winter swiftly surrounding us, I was getting a little bored of doing darker, muted tones of makeup for the season. Instead, I just wanted to do something bold and pretty. I spent most of my life in Orlando, FL where I honestly did not follow the seasons what so ever. I wore tropical colors and open toed shoes year round. Here in Atlanta, you can see the seasons change so I had to adapt to this kind of culture.

Still, I like to break the rules sometimes and do something fun. Bright colors instantly cheer me up. I decided mermaid inspired colors...teals, purples, blue greens. I packed on the shadow with a flat eyeshadow brush to make sure that the colors applied as intensely as possible.

Without further ado, here's the tutorial!

Here's What I Used (All MAC unless otherwise specified):

EYES
-MUFE no 92 eyeshadow
-aquadisiac e/s
-brill e/s
-cool heat e/s
-solid side of sea and sky mineralized e/s duo
-Revlon colorstay liquid liner in blackest black
-kohl pencil in smolder
-Ardell Wispies
-Smashbox Iconic mascara
-Rimmel professional brow pencil in hazel

FACE
-select cover-up concealer NW35
-studio tech foundation NC42
-CRC translucent powder
-coppertone blush
-format blush (contour)
-albatross highlighter

LIPS
-umm can't remember!

Check out my video tutorial!






9:12 AM 12
Hi Bellas!

How was your holiday break? I just got back from Orlando yesterday. It's so hard to get up and go to work the day after a vacation, lol.

I had lots of fun visiting the fam...the usual craziness trying to go from being an independent young woman to feeling like I'm a kid again at my parent's house, lol.

I had a chance to hit up the MAC pro store, yay! I'll post a haul video probably next week.

Did you guys get lots of presents for x-mas? As I get older, I don't really expect much but I got some goodies this year. In particular, my bff got me some NARS as part of our secret gift exchange, woo hoo!

Also, my boyfriend got me a new digital camera, finally! Now I can film my youtube videos and not have to worry about the blurry quality of my old webcam. The webcam was great in the beginning, but after a while it started going down hill. I have to more videos to upload that I did with my other webcam, but moving forward I'll have crystal clear videos. Thanks to the BF!

In the meanwhile, on my wednesday I uploaded a tag video - My Top 6 Lip Products.

Here they are:

1) Aquaphor - best lip moisturizer for serious dry skin issues
2) and 3) Viva Glam V lipglass and lipstick - most flattering universal color in my opinion
4) Bateaux Lustreglass - I love using this limited edition shade on women of color - fabulous!
5) Cork Lip Pencil - The perfect shade of brown for my highly pigmented lips...I always feel extra diva when wearing this :)
6) Gentle Simmer slimshine - A pretty sheer pink shade that's perfect for everday

Check out my video!


Don't forget to subscribe :) Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:17 PM 12
Hi Bellas!

I'm off for an early flight tomorrow back home to Orland for x-mas. I hear it's pretty warm down there, yay! I've recently had some fradulent activity on my bank card which has wipes out all my money. Hopefully it's resolved before the end of the week so I can get myself some goodies from the Pro store!

Meanwhile, I'll try to blog if I can but we'll see how my parents internet connection treats me, he he. I'll be back Monday if anything!

Also, check out our fellow blogger Ann at www.cosmeticjunkielover.com for your discounted NYX products. She is having free shipping for all U.S Orders until 01/05/08 regardless how much the orders will be. And international orders will have a $2.00 off for all $60 orders and above.

www.cosmeticjunkielover.com I am having a free shipping for all U.S Orders until 01/05/08 regardless how much the orders will be. And international orders will have a $2.00 off for all $60 orders and above.
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9:20 AM 12
Hi Bellas,

EDIT: Hi Guys, I contacted the owner about your concerns over pricing. She is offering everyone a code for 20% off any order over $25 until 1/15/09 if you use the code renren2008.

Also, remember that each shadow is $2.15 or $3.15 for a pearl paint if you want to buy an empty palette and build your collection slowly. I promise you, this isn't another random cheap palette, it's worth it! The Yaby Cosmetics website is more expensive than the prices listed on Camera Ready Cosmetics as well due to it being a Canadian based company. Just an FYI for those looking to purchase in the US. Thanks guys!

I've been playing with these new eyeshadows for the last few weeks. I've been neglecting my MAC and everything else because well...I don't need them since I have all the colors in these two palettes!

Ever since I saw these Yaby palettes online, I was obsessed! My girl May has them, and Enkore did a review on them as well. I tried these out for weeks so that I could give an accurate review. Just ask my boyfriend, I was fiddling with these every night, trying out all the colors. I had to have about 10 different brushes each time since I wanted to use all 80 colors!

I definitely have a few favorites in the palettes that are not even close to be dupeable by my MAC shadows. It appeared to me that the shimmery shadows were a little more pigmented than the matte. However, like all shadows, if you use the patting method with a 239 or similar brush, you can definitely build up the color intensity.

I received the Best of Both Worlds Palette as well as the Something Bright palette. The only thing missing was a matte black and maybe a few highlight colors. But if you're any kind of makeup junkie, I'm pretty sure you have more than a few blacks and highlight colors lying around.

The eyeshadows are about the size of a dime. They are removeable (so you can replace colors, pick and choose colors) and magnetic too!






They are a little wider than the size of a MAC palette, but about 1.5 shorter.

Check out my video review...I'm rocking two different looks using the palettes.

On a side note : I'm really trying on working on getting a new camera to film my videos. I'm trying to budget for it so thanks for your patience. Thanks for everyone else who is super supportive!



I've done a ton of looks with them (and received many compliments) just using a regular paint pot underneath. See for yourself!








Pros
-extremely pigmented
-sleek case is a good size for traveling or packing in your kit
-so many colors in one palette...40 to be exact
-the pans are magnetic and refillable unlike many of the other palettes being sold right now
-so many colors!

Cons
-tends to have fallout so be careful
-the palette is white so if you're neurotic about dirty palettes watch out
-it's pricey

You can find these at http://www.yabycosmetics.com/ or http://www.camerareadycosmetics.com/

Happy shopping!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:07 AM 13
Hi Bellas,

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? It passed so fast to me. It's super cold here in Atlanta, especially for the south. Grrrrr it's 20 degrees and we don't even get any snow to make it fun! This weekend was crazy. One of my good friends' moms house burned down this weekend unexpectantly. The whole house is done...clothes, furniture, pictures and presents and all. It couldn't have come at the worse time. Fortunately everyone was safe and uninjured.

We spent the weekend coming together to try and gather supplies, toiletries, anything to help them get through this. When the unexpected like this happens, it makes you truly thankful for what you do have. Please keep my friend and her family in your prayers.

Meanwhile, it's getting closer and closer to Christmas. I'm excited to go home and spend time with my family. I'll be leaving Wednesday morning so you probably won't see a post in a few days with my parents' crazy dial up internet connection, lol.

In the meantime, I wanted to show you a picture of one of the models I worked with in the past. We went for a sexy smokey eye with a frosty lip. I actually used cream color base on her lips to give it the frosty feel.

Today I'm uploading a new video on Yaby Cosmetics...one of my new favs! Stay tuned for that! Moving forward, I'll be doing a few changes to my videos to try to standardize and improve them. I'll also be doing videos every Monday and Wednesday on a regular basis.

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!


Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:07 AM 17
Hi Bellas!

Happy Friday :) I'm excited about this weekend. Tonight I'm going to watch my sorority sister in a Salsa Night performance, Saturday I have a Holiday potluck, and Sunday I'll be joining my girls for a secret santa gift exchange. But for now, I have to get through the workday, lol.

I wanted to share with you a shoot I did a couple of weeks ago with a great, young and upcoming model. This girl has the most amazing poses! On top of it, the day of the shoot was freezing! We were shooting out doors and it was so cold that I had on a bubble jacket and my nose was still runnning! Major props to our model for working it out in the freezing cold! You'll see a couple of upcoming posts on her since we did several looks.

This shoot was definitely a collaborative effort. The stylist totally transformed a basic black evening gown into a high fashion look just with accessories. On her head, you'll notice an avant garde looking hat -- it's actually a men's cumberbun! In some of the shots we actually wrapped black ribbon around her arms to give it a different feel. Lastly, pair tall black boots with an evening gown and it instantly transforms the look. Our stylist Tim was awesome!

For makeup, I focused on clear skin and a smokey eye. I airbrushed and contoured her with Temptu #7 and used MAC's holiday smokey palette on her eyes. On her lips, we went super nude by covering her lips with MAC lip erase in dim, and angel lipstick with c-thru lipglass.

Enjoy!







Any big plans this weekend? Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

9:00 AM 22
Hi Bellas,


With the Holidays surrounding us, I've been getting quite a few requests to do a Holiday look. I've seen a lot of golds, greens, and reds out there, but I wanted to do something a little different.


I stuck with the red and green theme, but I decided to do a more mature take and used a deep forest green and reddish burgundy instead. I paired them to create a grown up smokey eye. I was actually inspired by some of the makeup I saw on the Atlanta Housewives reunion!


Check out my tutorial! Don't forget to subscribe!



Here's What I Used (All MAC unless otherwise specified):

EYES
-H.I.P crayon in Unmistakeable
-sharkskin shadestick
-humid e/s
-club e/s
-deep damson e/s (pro color)
-vanilla e/s
-creme royal e/s (gold color for highlight) from 2007 Holiday Metallic palette
-kohl pencil in smolder
-Ardell 120 demi lashes
-Smashbox Iconic mascara
-Rimmel professional brow pencil in Hazel

FACE
-Rimmel primer
-studio tech foundation in NC42
-select cover up concealer in NW35
-format blush to contour
-pink blush
-elf highlighter in luminance

LIPS
-dervish lipliner
-viva glam VI lipglass








Now gimme some egg nog! he he


Till next time, Ciao Bellas!


Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:44 AM 17
Hi Bellas,

About two or three weeks ago, I had makeup lessons with one of my youtube viewers. She was such a sweety and eager to learn.

When I do makeup lessons, I encourage the client to bring over their makeup bag and brushes so that we can ensure that he/she can translate the tips into looks with his/her own products.

Fanta is a new makeup junkie and she had some brand new products which were fabulous! I let her pick out a few of my eyeshadows to experiment with. Like many of us, she fell in love with MUFE no. 92 eyeshadow, the best purple ever.

When I do a lesson, I do one side of the face piece by piece and have the client do the other side. After 2 hours, she blended that eyeshadow like a pro.

FYI, I used the Makeup Forever camouflage palette in no 5 to conceal her undereye circles. I know a few of you were asking about it.




One topic we covered was highlighting and contouring. You can definitely see the difference in the top pic. The makeup application is subtle yet yields dramatic results at the same time. Highlighting and contour accomplishes many feats: camouflages a double chin, thins the nose, and makes the cheekbones pop!

Among other things, I taught Fanta how to do the lid, crease, and highlight method on her eyes to get the gradiant effect. We used MUFE no. 92, carbon, and nanogold.




Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

9:01 AM 11
Hi Bellas,

It's a big day...I finally get to announce the winners to my Huge Makeup contest giveaway!

Thank you all for participating. All of the entries were amazing! The BF and I had a really hard time choosing...we even got into a mini argument about it, but in the end I got my way, lol.

Check out the video announcing the results! I cracked up watching it. The bf made a special appearance, it's hilarious, he he.


Here are the winners of the You Tube Contest:

Honorable Mention: Ahdicted2u: look how cute! She drew my couch in the background :)


3rd place: LordXcupcake This was her first video but she did an amazing job from the look, to the subtitles and everything. She's got the imitating thing down!


2nd place: Caramelle47 I loved her interpretation of my dramatic smokey purple eye. And she did it without all those expensive brands...she's amazing!


1st place: Filipina Doll! Represent! She rocked my Tiger Eyes look, but better! Her blending is amazing!


For the winner of the email contest...Lumi D aka drmamiplayer!

Her story was extremely touching...she has dealt with so much hardship in her life and has termed her struggle into triumph.

Lastly, the winner of the Jan Marini sunblock is Charlene! You have two days to email me (Wednesday by 11:59pm EST) to claim your prize. Thanks for your great skincare tips!

All the winners please email me at makeupbyren@yahoo.com to claim your prizes!

Thanks everyone for participating!

9:55 AM 17
Hi Bellas,

How was your weekend? Mine was short and cold, lol. I had a makeup gig yesterday doing makeup for a sweet sixteener's invitation shoot. She is planning on doing an Al Capone/Gangster theme and was shooting pictures for club flyers/birthday invitations. It went well and she booked me for the night of her party. They're trying to get MTV involved to film it for My Super Sweet 16...hopefully it's a go so I can get on tv, he he.

Anywho, my girl Mayaari recently hosted a winter challenge for her 1 year blogaversary. Yay!

I wanted to try out the Snow Princess looks since I really don't do a lot of icey looks. First off, I used a porcelain colored foundation to completely wash out the color of my face and to mimic that "snow white" look. You can see the difference by looking at my face and hands, lol.

To give myself a little color, I contoured my cheeks and nose with coppertone blush, which gave me a healthy flush. On my eyes, I used white and a lot of baby, icy blues and I also added some rhinestones and lashes of course.

For the lips, I iced them over by using the porcelain foundation, Hush Cream Color base, and Baby Sparks Dazzleglass.

I extended my eyebrows out a bit so I could bring the color wayyyy over.



All of the colors on my eyes are from the Yaby best of both worlds palette (love this, review coming soon!)

Look at the difference between my face color and hands, lol.
Unphotoshopped


Thanks to my BF for jazzing it up and adding winter trees in the background, lol.


It was really fun. I also used my same septor that I used for my Queen Bee video. Who would have thought that I would use my $3.00 Wal-Mart princess kit so much, lol.

Hope you like!



Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist
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8:55 AM 37
Hi Bellas,


For those of you who don't know, this year I hit the quarter century mark, yup 25 years old. I've made it a new priority to protect my skin and take on preventative measures to ensure that it's looking fab into my later years.


If you ask any of my friends, I've become a huge proponent of wearing sunscreen. Luckily, a lot of moisturizers and cream contain sunbluck which makes our lives a little easier.


I had been using Oil of Olay moisturizer with SPF 15, but I wanted to kick it up a notch. A lot of moisturizers with built in SPF don't have a high enough level for me.


I recently began using Jan Marini Antioxidant Daily Face Protectant with an SPF30. I heard about this line through DE at http://www.beautylogicblog.com/. I have introduced this product as the last part of my skincare regimen, and I feel comforted knowing that I'm protected. Unlike most, this sunscreen isn't heavy or greasy at all. It also dries with an oil-free matte finish, which is a comfort to mainly of our oily girls out there.




http://www.janmarini.com/


A lot of articles I've read about older women and dermatologists alike always have the same common theme "they wish they had avoided the sun and wore more sunscreen when they were younger!"


Not only is it good for you, it smells lovely! Think tropical coconuts and passionfruit...subtle yet sweet.


And guess what? I'm giving one away to a lucky reader! Leave a comment telling me your best skincare tip and I'll choose one and announce it Monday.


Till next time, Ciao Bellas!


Atlanta Makeup Artist
,

9:12 AM 13
Hi Bellas,


Don't you love when you find a new use for an old product that sits in the back of your makeup drawer? That's what happened with my MAC electro lipstick and I'm thrilled! You might remember this bright orange lipstick when it was released with the Neo Sci Fi collection in the summer. It's definitely not an everyday color. I couldn't resist its originality back then and purchased it. Since that time I think i've worn it maybe two times. I think it's the ultimate makeup guilt when you buy something and hardly ever use it.


One day, I was browsing through fellow blogger Seymone's site and noticed that she was using the new MAC Color Studio Finish Corrector in Pure Orange as a concealer for undereye circles. This makes total sense since they always tell you to use warm, salmon colored concealers for dark circles. I've had this item on my list for a while...but haven't made the final leap to purchase it. Recently however, I was able to pick up Makeup Forevers Camouflage Concealer palette #5 which contains a similar shade.

Then one day, it was like a light bulb went off. I've been a little sleep deprived lately and my dark circles are worse than ever. I was covering it up with my normal concealer but you could still see the shadow underneath the eye. In my head I was wishing I had the orange corrector. As I sat on it, I remembered my Electro lipstick! (Yummy411 has a post on it too, she used a similar orange lipstick and it worked for her as well!)


I applied the lipstick directly under my eye and then put my concealer on top. I finished off with foundation and looked at the results. One side of my face had the regular concealer and foundation and the other had electro as well. The electro definitely made a difference.

I used the same trick on a Trash the Dress Shoot and it worked just as well!

Why don't you guys give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist

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9:23 AM 26
Hi Bellas,

A month or so ago, I did the wedding makeup for a client of mine named Grace. I was in charge of her, as well as two mothers, a grandmother, a flower girl and five bridesmaids. Fortunately I had an assistant! We did the makeup at the hair salon that the bridal party was getting their hair done at. For weddings, you have to be prepared to work quickly and anticipate everything. The bridal party ended up arriving later than scheduled and when they arrived, they still needed to eat breakfast. Let's just say that it was a whirlwind after that. Situations like this are really good though because you learn to do makeup really quick.

For Grace, she wanted something with a little more color. It was going to be an evening, fall wedding, so I ended up using the Spiced Chocolate quad for her eyes. On her lips we used Half Red lip pencil along with Viva Glam V lipstick. The one thing that Grace really wanted, was a thicker line of liner along the bottom. We compromised and chose a brown color that would be suitable for the afternoon into evening transition of the wedding. The bride and bridesmaids all had eyelash extensions put in that morning so it made my job one step easier.

For the bridesmiads and mothers, we went really natural...focusing on clear, glowing skin and neutrals on the eyes with pink on the lips and cheeks.

Great makeup shot of Grace


Mom, Bride, and Dad


How cute!


I did a little bit of extra contouring so that her face wouldn't get washed out in black and white photography.



The beautiful bride


Bride and bridesmaids...I love the color of the bridesmaids' dresses!


Maid of honor, aka sister of the bride.

Beautiful Bridesmaids!





MAC blot powder in medium! Combined with primer and oil control lotion, we kept the oilies away all day!

Add Image

Till next time, Ciao Bellas!

Atlanta Makeup Artist
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