MAKE-UP MONDAY - MARY KAY'S CONCEALER

A few years ago I suffered from some almost chronic stress-related acne.  My face suffered from a crazy cycle of pimples & scars & pimples & scars (I’ll share my ongoing battle story with you guys at a later date).  Believe it or not, the pimples were much more bearable than the scars were.  So I did what most women do to hide those scars: I started wearing concealer.  After searching & searching for the perfect shade and coverage, I found Mary Kay’s concealer in shade Bronze 2.

 

This small tube of wonder only costs about $10 and since you only need to use a tiny dot of this stuff,  it usually lasts for quite a few months. 

I no longer use this concealer because I now steer toward a simpler morning beauty routine (which I will also share later), and here are the two main reasons why:

 

At 43 years old, I’ve, once again, grown quite fond of my skin in its natural state.

I’m a bit lazy in the morning.

Well here’s a picture of my clean face covered in nothing but moisturizer and lip balm.

 

Here's a up-close, side view, showing some of my remaining acne scars:

 

...and after covering up a bit with some concealer:

 

Do you choose to conceal or reveal your true beauty?  Please share in the comments section below.

MAKEUP MONDAY – EYE SHADOW

My daughter Jessica re-introduced me to the wonder of eye shadow a few years ago. My eyes are one of my favorite features, and I enjoy dressing them up by wearing soft shades such as pink, purple, gray, beige/gold & blue.  I may be a bit corny, but I enjoy matching the shades with my outfits each day.   

 WET N WILD SHADES: UNCHAINED, SUEDE & CHEEKY

REVLON SHADES:  COPPER & PURPLE

My favorite eye shadow  brand is Perfect Eighteen Colors by Absolute.  This is a very inexpensive brand of eye shadow that can be found at many local hair and beauty supply stores.  It usually costs about $3 and includes all of my favorite shades.

I’ve also tried the individual pots of Revlon and Wet N Wild eye shadow in my favorite shades.  They are very pretty, but they did not provide the vivid eye popping color I received from the Absolute brand.

Jessica also introduced me to eye shadow primer.  Since my lids tend to be a bit oily, the base allows me to wear eye shadow without having to worry about too much creasing or fading.  This will be a plus during those lovely Summer months when my eyelids tends to be at its oiliest.  Last week I told you guys about the Elf Eye Primer I purchased from Walgreens.  This product had done a wonderful job of keeping my eye shadow fresh until at least the latter part of the day.

 

I AM WEARING THE PERFECT EIGHTEEN COLORS BY ABSOLUTE BRAND IN A LIGHT GRAY AND DARK BLUE COMBO IN BOTH PHOTOS

This Ergonomic Rounded Eye Shadow brush by Avon provides wonderful coverage.

I AM GOING TO PURCHASE A NEW BRUSH SOON

 

Feel free to use the comments box section below to share your favorite eye shadow brand and shade, primer, brushes and other and eye shadow accessories.

 

 

 

SATURDAY ENSEMBLE

It’s Saturday!!!

My Saturdays are usually filled with a slurry of late starts, grocery shopping, oil changes, gas pumping, errand running and so on.  There’s no reason why I should participate in those activities while  looking like a sloth (no offense to sloths though).  So I borrowed some leggings from my daughter, Jessica, put together the accessories pictured below commenced to “running the streets”. 

 
While running the streets today, I purchased these beautiful Revlon eye shadow pots in purple and copper.

 

I wore the copper eye shadow today.

I don’t wear a lot of makeup, but I do love eye shadow.  I’ll share my morning facial routine with you at a later date…it’s very simple and not fancy at all. 

One thing I’m starting to realize about eye shadow is the less expensive eye shadow palates I purchase at beauty supply stores seem have more pop than the name brand eye shadow.  I’ll do a little more research and share my findings with you later.

This is the one of my favorite eye shadow palates that include colors that pop (note the vibrant pink...its almost gone!)

 

Well…after piecing together such cute parts, I was able to construct this elegant but casual whole.

   Brown pin stripe Fedora

   Revlon copper eye shadow

   Maybeline Great Lash mascara

   Black wrap sweater

   “Borrowed” black leggings

   Aerosoles black boots

Let me know how you keep your “casual cool” on Saturdays while doing what you do and let me know what you think about my Saturday ensemble in the comments section below.