Giveaways...

I've started feeling generous these days.
Here's your chance to win a gift hamper from MAC of Rs.4000 with goodies chosen by me.And not only that you also win a free makeup class with me (Mumbai India only) where I will teach you personal makeup enhancements of Rs.20000 value.
This contest is open for all boys and girls. Boys can learn tips to become a makeup artist or surprise their girlfriends where as girls can learn makeup for an occasion and get a chance to outshine others.

Just need to answer a simple question asked below and I choose the winner on the basis of his/her answer.This contest closes on 31st August 2009.Please mail me on neerajnavare@yahoo.com for any special classes or services though.

The Question is:

My makeup makes me ----------------------------------------------------------.

Complete the slogan in one-two sentences.


I shall declare the results as soon as the last date comes.So be fast and get a chance.

Till then,
Ciao

Glow On......

Seen a baby on whom sunlight falls? Its skin is lit in a warm glow and shines ethereally. Unfortunately this happens when we are not even aware of makeup. And when we take the blush brush first time in our hands, we dream of getting that same glow that we sported 20 yrs ago.

How do we get the glow back? How can we make our skin luminous and radiant? These questions pop up all the time but we are clueless about where to find the products that could do all this for us.

I’m going to tell you my insights about getting this amazing baby glow again. Lets see how the skins glow differently: -

Fairer skins with pink undertones have a heavenly whitish pink to ivory colored glow on the areas of their face where light hits. Please do not forget that our FACE has dimensions.

Fairer skin with warm undertones dream to have peaches and cream complexion. They have a slight peach-y golden halo.

Medium skins range from a rosy to a peach-y glow.

Tanned skins have this sultry coppery bronze glow that makes them look very attractive and heavenly.

Darker skins have a bronze orange halo on the light hit areas with golden tinge.


This sounds so heavenly but we should learn how to sport it.

Lets begin with skin care. The skin that is regularly exfoliated shed a lot many dead cells and reflects light readily. The dullness in the complexion happens when the skin is not reflecting light and is flaky in appearance. A gentle daily exfoliation that removes only surface dead cells and allows the cells below to get their daily dose of moisturizer is enough to get s speedy cellular turnover and glowing skin. A weekly peel or a scrub having micro jojoba beads exfoliates the flaky rough dead cells revealing a smooth complexion underneath. AHAs not only exfoliate but also retain the pH balance of the skin making it much more blemish free and glowing.

On this smoothened cellular surface, treatment and makeup products slip better and stay put for a longer time combating chalkiness and an artificial masked makeup look.

A daily skin routine and once a month visit to a salon is all that you need if you are already blessed with an amazing skin. These products could be of your choice or recommended by your cosmetologist.

Makeup too has innovations that can impart a dewy skin that is hassle and mess free. I covet on some of these products that have been staples in my beauty kit for sometime and completely vouch on them for that eternal glowing skin.

FOUNDATIONS et al : -

Clinique Super Moisture foundation for drier skin gives that ultimate radiance.
MAC Hyper Real does the same thing blessed you are with a very dry skin.
I love Clarins True Radiance foundation that is sleek enough for oily skins to sport as well and so is Dior’s Nude skin foundation that feels like a Fendi bag for your skin. Love YSL’s Teint Parfait Complexion Enhancers in all colors being particularly biased to shade no.3 with beige gold highlights.

CONCEALERS: -

Concealers have photo optic light reflectors to conceal and brighten under eye area and reveal a brighter complexion. YSL Touche Éclat, Clinique Air brush concealer, Dior Flash Radiance and Clarins Instant Light Perfecting Touch are unbiased winners in this category. Just love them.

BLUSHES and ILLUMINATORS: -

Clinique makes an oil free illuminising lotion called UPLIGHT ILLUMINATOR that looks like rocket science. Just a few dots and you look radiant and glowing. I also love the Clinique Fresh Bloom All Over Color that has three coordinated colors with a thing for contour, color and highlight and the Shimmer tones in Bronze which gives just from the beach effect. MAC makes sheer tone and sheer tone shimmer blushes that are a must have in everyone’s makeup kit. I especially love TRACE GOLD, SUNBASQUE and PLUMFOOLERY in their regular line. Not being a pink highlighter person my favorite shades are gold and peaches that impart warmth on Indian skins.
Shiseido Accentuating Sticks are cream to powder formulations that give this wonderful halo on the skin.
MAC’s Naked Honey Collection has this ultra flattering mineralize skin finish in Honey Light which give s a subtle hint of color and an amazingly radiant complexion.
Others I trust are Benefit Blushes, Tarte Cheek stains and Smashbox Cosmetics Fusion Lights which are truly mesmerizing.


To apply these highlighters I strongly recommend a fan brush that is made for subtle applications. Do grab one from MAC or NYX cosmetics, but I love my Benefit Fan Brush.


I would love to hear from you, your glowing secrets and recipes. So do write them in COMMENTS.

Till then,
Ciao

Love that LINER!!!

Eye liners are like a couple of brush strokes towards being GLAMOROUS. Eye liners are all about creativity and freedom.

An eye liner can alter the eye shape and always make it look better if done the right way.

These things are very easy to say until you really do a liner yourself. Being a makeup artist for quite sometime I believe using a liquid liner like an occupational hazard. You really need to do liners everyday to get the skill correct. Its like meditation, the more you concentrate the better the chances to go into trance.

I have used all types of these dangerous devices and never got results until a new discovery. This new discovery is actually an old one for many of the ladies I know, but I was a little ignorant. If you are scared of liquids why not try GEL LINERS.

Makeup artists are using these since the day they were invented and I got a chance to use them too. I love a nice matte black line and this does the work for me.

Of course my favorites are Clinique’s Brush on cream liner in True Black, MAC Fluid line in Blacktrack and Shiseido’s Accentuating cream liner in Noir.

The former being the best one, I’m going to review it.

Clinique as you know offers products that are allergy tested and 100% fragrance free. This is an extension of the cosmetic line and it is Ophthalmologically tested. This holds true as the liner works on sensitive eyes and lens wearers in the same way it does on common ladies.

What I love about the liner is that it is jet jet black. Its dark enough to remind you of midnight and matte enough for a cloudy night. It is a gel based formula that dries and sets to perfection. Water proof and smudge proof, makeup removers are the only companions that can remove it, of course gently.

Has crying in public been an issue with you while you were wearing your best dress and best 80’s makeup? Then you are the first one I recommend to buy this.

The gel liner pot carries around 5 g. of this jet black gooey liner. (It can dry up if the pot is kept open for a long time.) This tiny pot holds a magic potion in it. As a friend so that you don’t have to buy another one, a tiny brush is included with it. It’s the first time that a cosmetic company gives a brush in its packaging tat is user friendly and more or less useful. I love the flat tip of the brush tht is handy and convenient enough for carrying out any look. Yes the cons would be that the gel liner dries and makes the brush hard. So a regular tissuing off and some soap and water care is all that makes the brush ready for its next application.

Doing the cat’s eye is as easier as it gets with products like these. Lets learn how to do it: -

Apply a shimmer beige colored eyeshadow all over the eye lid that is primed with an eye primer like Benefit’s Lemonaid Correcting Primer. I love MAC’s Ricepaper with some gold in it. A much wearable option is MAC’s Orb or Grain for a subtle dose of shimmer. Contour the crease with a beige-y brown like Clinique’s Color Surge Mono Eyeshadow in Twiglet or MAC’s Buckwheat which is a bronze brown laden with golden shimmer flecks.

Then trace the upper lash line with a smoldering black eye pencil like Clinique’s Quick Liner for eyes in Really Black. It comes with a handy smudger which can be used to smudge the line or just paint the lash line so that it looks intensely tinted and darker.

The eye pencil also acts like a base for the cream liner to glide on easily and give a better hold.

Then trace the gel liner along the lash line giving it the desired thickness. I follow the rule of making it thin in the inner corners and gradually thickening it till it goes in the end of the lid and then abruptly thinning it out.

Don’t forget the lower lid. Apply an eye pencil in the inner rims from the outer ¾ th of the eye. Then with a flat liner brush, blend it in the lower lash line. Apply a beige shimmer in the inner corners and with a pointy eye brush trace a brown eyeshadow that was used in the crease to seal of the eyeliner at the lid. Apply the gel liner only in the outer corners and life it to join the upper line.

Look at this fabulous picture of Angelina Jolie and you’ll understand the technique….

Till then,

Ciao