Looks: Small Key

by beautifulwithbrains on January 27, 2012

in looks

Hello everyone,

today I want to show you a look I did with peach, yellow and brown eyeshadows. I like how the peachy shade provides a nice pop of color to the eyes, yet the look is still very wearable, even for daytime. What do you think?

Products used:
- Too Faced Shadow Insurance
- Sleek Safari eyeshadow palette
- Shiro Cosmetics Loose Eyeshadow in Shaymin
- Shiro Cosmetics Loose Eyeshadow in Small Key
- Shiro Cosmetics Loose Eyeshadow in Ganondorf
- Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Whiskey
- Chanel Inimitable Intense Mascara
- Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint SPF15
- Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer
- Sleek Makeup Blush in Suede
- Essence Silky Touch Blush in Secret It-Girl
- Senna Spot Lites Highlighting Pencil
- Senna Pearl Glow Lip Lacquer in Sunkiss

Directions:
- Apply an eyeshadow primer to your eyes (I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance) to help makeup stay put all day.
- Apply a dark yellow shade (I used the one in the Sleek Makeup Safari palette) on the center of the lid.
- Apply a soft pink peachy shade (I used Shiro Cosmetics Loose Eyeshadow in Shaymin) on the sides of the yellow shade and blend well.
- Sweet a copper bronze shade (I used Shiro Cosmetics Loose Eyeshadow in Small Key) on the crease. Blend.
- Apply a black shade with red shimmers (I used Shiro Cosmetics Loose Eyeshadow in Ganondorf) on the outer V to darken it a bit.
- Sweep a white shade (I used the one in the Sleek Makeup Safari Eyeshadow palette) on the browbone.
- Sweep a rich, medium brown shade (I used the one in the Sleek Makeup Safari Eyeshadow palette) on the lower lashline.
- Line your upper lashline with a brown pencil liner (I used Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Whiskey) and apply mascara.
- Apply foundation or tinted moisturizer to even out the skintone (I used Liz Earle Sheer Skin Tint in Bare) and follow with concealer (I used Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer) where needed (I used it to hide dark circles).
- Contour your cheekbones with a matte peachy brown blush (I used Sleek Makeup Blush in Suede), apply a peachy blush (I used Essence Silky Touch Blush in Secret It-Girl) on the apples of your cheeks and highlight the cheekbones, middle of the nose and chin with a an off-white highlighter shade (I used Senna Spot Lites Highlighting Pencil).
- Apply a semi-opaque pink gloss (I used Senna Pearl Glow Lip Lacquer in Sunkiss) on your lips.

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3 Beauty Uses For Disposable Mascara Wands

by beautifulwithbrains on January 27, 2012

in tips & tricks

Disposable mascaras wands are used by professional makeup artists to safely and hygienically apply mascara to their clients’ lashes, thus avoiding the risk of contaminating the tube and giving someone an eye infection. But disposable mascara wands can be a very handy and cheap tool for everyone to have around as they can be used for more than just applying mascara. Here’s what you can do with them:

1. Comb eyebrows
Disposable mascara wands are very handy when shaping your brows. Use the wand to brush brows upwards and into the direction of their natural hair growth pattern, and then trim excess hair. Then fill in your brows with powder or pencil and, with the wand, brush your brows again. This will soften the lines and remove any clumps that your wax or pencil may have left behind, giving a natural look to your brows.

2.Touch up your roots
If you dye your hair and need to touch up your roots only, you can do so by using a disposable mascara wand. Because the wand is small, it easily applies just the right amount of color you need only where you need it, ensuring a more precise and natural result.

3. Tame flyaway hair
Dealing with flyaway hair? Spray hairspray onto a disposable mascara wand and brush the flyaway hair back into place. You could do the same thing with a hair brush too but I find that, because mascara wands are smaller, they grab the flyaway hair better.

There are non-disposable versions of mascara wands, called lash brush or “spoolie” brush such as MAC 204 lash brush for instance, but I don’t like using them because these wands/brushes get dirty very quickly and they aren’t that easy to clean. The disposable versions are more hygienic and quite cheap too so I highly recommend you use those instead than a spoolie brush.

What about you? Do you use disposable mascara wands? If so, how?

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QOTW: What’s The Worst Blush Brush?

by beautifulwithbrains on January 26, 2012

in QOTW

What’s the worst blush brush?

Beautiful with brains says: Pupa Blusher Brush. It applies blush unevenly and the bristles scratch skin too… It’s really awful!

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Product Review: Fendi Fan Di Fendi Fragrance

by beautifulwithbrains on January 26, 2012

in reviews

Name: Fan di Fendi
Brand: Fendi
Size: 1.07oz
Price: $76.00

What I liked:
- nice fruity floral blend
- longlasting
- the packaging

What I didn’t like:
- very unoriginal and mainstream
- the price

Are you a fan of Fendi? I am definitely a fan of this fashion house, which represents elegance and sophistication, but their Fan Di Fendi fragrance leaves a lot of be desired. Fan Di Fendi is a fresh and youthful fruity floral scent that’s said to capture the fun and freedom of life. Well, it is fun indeed until you realise that you’ve played with it a thousand times before. Fan Di Fendi, albeit nice, in fact, is one of the most mainstream scents I’ve ever tried and smells exactly like most fruity floral scents already on the market. I don’t think another one was needed and, in any case, from a brand like Fendi, I expected something better, more distinct and original.

Nevertheless, if you’re a fan of this type of fragrances, you may like Fan Di Fendi. It opens with a sweet and fresh burst of tangerine mixed with a subtle hint of pear, and pretty soon the pink peppercorns makes its appearance, but this note too is quite faint. The youthful, vibrant and quite warm top notes disappear pretty quickly and the florals take over. I can distinctly smell a generous dose of jasmine, which I feared would be overpowering but it’s not at all. It’s quite delicate and sweet instead. Rose Damascena is supposed to kick in at this point too, but I can’t really smell it at all.

The drydown was a bit of a disappointment for me. It is a blend of patchouli and soft leather accord, which I was hoping would smell like a good leather bag, only more subtle obviously. And subtle and soft it is, but also kinda boring and dull. I mean, the smell of real leather, albeit subtle, may be too much in a fragrance maybe, but still I expected this note to give an edgy feel to the scent and it didn’t. Instead, the drydown is clean but somewhat old fashioned. But overall, it’s a nice, warm and youthful but sophisticated scent that’s very longlasting and can be easily worn both during the day and night and in summer and winter too.

Available at: Amazon, macy’s and Sephora

Summary
Fan Di Fendi is a fruity floral scent that’s both fresh and warm, youthful and sophisticated. It is appropriate both for day and night time and it is quite longlasting. However, it is very mainstream and smells like most fruity floral scents on the market. It is expensive too.

Rating: 3/5

Disclaimer: I got a sample of this product at my local beauty shop. The review is based on my own personal and honest experience with the product. In addition, the review contains an affiliate link, which means we get a commission when you purchase the item from this link. By doing so, you’ll be helping to support Beautiful with Brains. For more information, please see my disclaimer.

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Product Review: Layla Glitter in Eyeliner n.8

January 25, 2012

Name: Glitter in Eyeliner n.8 Brand: Layla Size: 6ml Price: €9.60 From Layla’s website: Also the eyes can be illuminated thanks to the glitter! Layla assures a prefect laydown and a superior duration thanks to the most fine brush. What I liked: – great color payoff – glitters are fine and tiny and make eyes [...]

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Wanted! The Body Shop Born Lippy

January 25, 2012

Are you looking for a moisturizing lip balm that provides a hint of color to your lips and smells delicious too? Then check out The Body Shop Born Lippy Lip Balms. The brand has just released six new Born Lippy lip balms, this time packaged in a practical stick form, while the “old” Born Lippy [...]

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7 Eyeshadow Application Tips

January 24, 2012

Eyeshadow is an important part of your makeup. It can emphasize your eyes and complement your overall look, but its application can be tricky. I hope these tips will help you achieve a flawless, perfectly-blended look that will last for the entire day: 1. Use a good eyeshadow base An eyeshadow base makes the color [...]

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New Collection: Nars Spring 2012

January 24, 2012

Nars Spring 2012 collection is at once fresh and fierce, featuring a mix of bright and playful colors and saturated, rich hues for eyes, cheeks and lips. I love the lip pencil and blush, they’re so bright and pretty, aren’t they? The nail polish looks interesting too. What about you? Do you see anything you [...]

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