Look Of The Day

Inspired by the last tutorial and Serena van der Woodsen's make-up from Gossip Girl, I did this today. But I'm not very satisfied with the pics. Can you see how clumpy my mascara is? And the MAC Shadestick won't stay in place... is it too much eye cream or is it the NYX Jumbo Pencil I layered above?

I'll tell you tomorrow!

Tutorial: Winged liner

There are so many tutorials about the perfect eye liner out there, but this one is a very good and simple one from Viola from Killer Colours.

Have fun!

Animal Lips

Really sweet pic from Peaches Geldof via Twitter reminds me to do some home-made video clips just for fun... remember the chin face -videos from the 90ies?

My brother and me did some when we were kids. It was killingly funny. Don't worry... I wont post the clips ;-)

Mirror, Mirror on my hand...

Day three of being ill and lying in bed, thinking about past cool beauty-accessoiries while browsing through old pics...

I found these fantastic mirror-nails from last autumn! They made the girls at the MAC counter gasping with enthusiasms and I think they are still cool.

Yes, no polish can do this, it's a sticker from Essence and it can be done in 5 minutes.

Just clean your nails with nail polish remover, so it's fat-free and put the sticker on you nails. Cut the right length with a small scissor and file the rest few millimeters down. For extra shine and protection I used a top coat.

If you're careful with your nails (no house-cleaning, cooking or gardening) it will last up to three days.

While googeling for the stickers, I saw that Ivania from Love Aesthetics got mirror nails at a salon (also last autumn). They probably are better and last longer, but they might be more expensive.

pic on the left via www.essence.eu

Look Of The Day

Sometimes you have to spoil yourself a little, no? Especially in those cold grey winter days.

My last object of desire for months is now mine: Guerlain Ombre Eclat 6 Couleurs in N° 68 "Champs Elysées".

I was looking for a long time for some matte eyeshadows in a box for private use and traveling. I prefer matte eyeshadow for being not too loud and more elegant. Since I haven't found the Givenchy Tempting Chocolate anywhere - it's sold out - I got this instead and I love it.

-- if you want to give me your Givenchy Tempting Chocolate let me know ;-) --

It comes in a beautiful, shiny, heavy metal case and has three matte grey eyeshadows, one highlighter, one flashing color (purple) and one matte deep black eyeliner.

There are three greys, one is a warm grey, one a cold grey and the third is darker than the others.

Swatches without flash 

Swatches with flash

I used the highlighter in the inner corner and under the eyebrow. As you can see just a little bit is very effective and super-glossy. Cold grey and the darker one on the lid and a little under the eye (1/3). I'm not into colors today so I put just under the eye tiny bit of purple (2/3) to emphasize my green eyes. I used the black liner wet. I don't know if that was a good idea, the instruction manual said nothing about using the eyeshadow wet, but I just made the brush wet and used a small corner of the eyeshadow. It works very well and the black is pretty opaque for a powder. For the finish: grey eye pencil on the water line.

 

 

Shooting Perla-Moden/Langstrasse

You already know the pics from the liveadvert shooting. But here are two videos from the making-of. You see me in the first one with the beautiful Tabitha. It was so much fun, I would love to do this again!
Tabitha
Bubu

Photographer: Samuel Wimmer
Hintergründe: Cordula von Martha
Hair: Deborah Schär
Make-up: done by myself
Outfits: FrFr / Val da Costa
Produktion: Liveadvert / Hckflsch

recently found on Facebook

So funny... I have to share this :-)

Have a great week!

Girl Crush: Babypink Hair

Spotted yesterday in the German Grazia an underwear  fashion report about nude and rosé toned underwear. Nice underwear, but my attention was drawn to what's above and not underneath.

I love the blonde hair mixed with different baby pink tones and I definitely want to try this for next summer: some pink highlights or only in the hair tips... but not permanent.

Thanks to Australian stylist Kevin Murphy's Color Bug you can have colored hair (carnival season is coming!) just for one day. Colors available in Pink, Orange and Purple. The powdery texture is high pigmented so you can use it on dark hair as well.

Find Kevin Murphy's video here and here a review and tutorial.

Where to buy? Here.

pics by German Grazia

Black French Manicure

Black is back!
No dark red or deep blue, just deep clean black.
For a more elegant touch I used OPI black matte nail polish from the Go Goth! collection and put some clear OPI shine top coat on the tips.

You can also do it vice-versa: use some black nail polish and put some matte top coat over it, e.g. Essie Matte About You

Don't forget to keep your nails short!

Look Of The Day

Inspired by todays winter sun I added some golden and orange tones to my favorite eyeshadow color burgundy.

Fuzzy Winter Hair?

It's still wintertime and although it's sunny it's plus/minus freeze point temperature outside. Wool jumpers, scarves and caps keep you warm and cosy, but makes your hair like electric supercharged.

So my little helper for dry, fuzzy hair is a tiny bit of Moroccan Oil in the fresh washed wet hair. You can also give some right into the tips of your already blow-dried hair if it feels dry and rough. It will be smooth soon. Also good for damaged hair.

I dont' know the other Moroccan Oil products, but the small bottle with 25ml of oil goes a very long way. If anybody has tried the other products, please leave a comment what you experience with it was.

In Zurich you can find this product at the lovely N°2. They also have an online-shop but if you're nearby it's really worth the visit!

sweet tiny hats were from The Great Knitting campaign of Innocent Smoothie

Look Of The Day

And suddenly the fog goes away and shows what's underneath: blue sky!

Where are my sunnies...? I'm off :-)

Missing Summer

Make-up inspired by Roy Liechtenstein

Baby, it's cold outside.

But not only cold. We are glad to see everyday a lot of different Pantone Grey-shades since we are all trapped in high-fog here.

So let's resist this unfriendly part of the year! Go out, meet friends, go snow boarding, make parties (why not a theme party "Pop Art"?), fine dinners or afternoon-teas...

Summer: T-4 months.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Look Of The Day

I tried my new NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in a matte opaque white. Fantastic tool. Definitely a must-have. 

All colours are brighter and more powerful if you use it as a base. It blends really well, also if you blend it with a MAC Paint Pot, as I did today.

It would have been nice to use some kohl pencil on the waterline for this look, but since I have dry eyes I give my eyes today a little break. Did you know: On the waterline are many tiny glands and they are responsibly for keeping your eye smooth and moistly. So kohl pencil might clog the glands.

Look Of The Day

Inspired by make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin I just did a very quick and matte eye make-up.

The key tool for this look is a black kohl pencil in the inner waterline (down and at the top) that was smudged into the lashes, followed by matte dark brown powder that was blended to the crease.

Quick but very effective. I like the way eyes really beam after a little kohl pencil.

I'm still working on finding a new system-camera... which one to buy? Can someone recommend the Nikon 1?

Pics are done with the iPhone.

Matte dark brown eyeshadow

rosy cheeks with Benefit's Benetint 

my eye colour changes with the flash from green to honey

my work in the Kinki Magazine

My work as a make-up artist was recently shown in the Kinki Magazine yeah! :-)
Find the article here .

Do it like Dita - new in my bookshelf

Retro looks are still everywhere at the moment! Thinking of the marvelous Dita Von Teese, Amy Winehouse or the successful TV series Mad Men (already over four seasons).

And of course in fashion you can find a strong touch of retro. Have a look at Prada's spring 2012 collection or Louis Vuitton in pastel shades.

So Santa, or as we say in Austria, the Christkind was very nice to me and brought a lot of presents. Two of them are these fantastic books:

Retro Makeup and Vintage Hairstyling
They are telling you a little about the history, about the basic tools, what was used in former times and step-by-step you can find make-up and hair tutorials from the 20s to the 60s.

To be honest, I bought these books (well, sometimes you have to help the Christkind a little to get the right things ;-)) in Zurich's Niederdorf in a very lovely store: Stardust 
If you are around you have to drop by!

They also sell glamourous clothes, bling-bling Accessories and a lot of more vintage style. The owner is very nice and also very passionate about vintage style, she can help you to pick the right stuff for you.

So what you're waiting for? Get some inspiration from Dita here or be a Glamour Diva and seduce your own Don Draper.

It's prom season anyway, let's try to learn a ballroom dance or better go to Vienna - they are famous for their balls - not only the opera ball; calendar here
Or what about a theme party?

Anyway, have fun and put some glamour in those grey and cold new months of the year!

PS: If you are not living in Zurich you can find the books online here.

Make-up Must Haves

It’s not how much you have but what you have. Let’s focus on quality when it comes to skincare or make-up. Remember that especially the skin around your eyes and on your lips is very sensitive.

I often try several brands – from cheap to luxury to see how much is quality and how much is just the brand name. So here are my best products at the moment I use regularly:

EYES:

Mascara base non-water resistant: Urban Decay’s Eyelash Primer Potion. It’s very silky and not clumpy and gives every mascara an extra boost

Mascara non-water resistant: I prefer volume, volume, volume when it comes to lashes. YSL Shocking Black has not only a perfect dark black but also a very good brush to make your lashes very thick without effort. The texture is very creamy and it smells also very good. All the YSL mascaras smell like very light perfume, while others smell chemical. And it sticks to your 

lashes all day – no panda-eyes!

Mascara base water resistant: Kanebo 38°C base, it is water resistant but it goes off easily with just warm water. No rubbing or chemical treatment is necessarily.

Mascara water resistant: At the moment I use Clinique’s High Impact Curling Mascara which also can be removed with warm water, but it’s cheaper than the Kanebo 38°C Volume, that I used before. Both are very good. (Clinique: € 19.95, Kanebo: € 29.95 at douglas.de)

Eyeliner: the new YSL Shocking Black eyeliner is the best I’ve ever tested. The tip is like a sponge and not like the tip of a marker. So there’s every time colour on the point when you need it. No need to shake the pen or press the tip on your hand for more ink. And the black is very deep and opaque.

FACE:

Concealer: If you are looking for one with extra moisture try Diorskin Nude. Although it’s high-pigmented it doesn’t dry out the sensitive skin under your eyes. Also very good and convenient is Bobby Brown’s Creamy Concealer. It comes with a sheer finished pressed powder, you can fix the cream-concealer so it’ll last all day.

Rouge: Tinted, powder, creams… At the moment I only use tinted rouge from Benefit Cosmetics in Mango. It’s for me the best to receive a healthy glowing look on your cheeks. What you also can use instead is tinted “lip stain” e.g. from MAC (See thru lip colour). It works also on your cheeks, but use the fingers and not the applicator to get a careful blended result. I just saw that Esscence got a Vampire Collection. They have also lip stains in red and violet. I have already tested the lilac on my cheeks – works wonderful!

Bronzer: Yes, I also use it in winter. Since I’m very pale I can look ill easily. But I use a very light one in a cold tone and only to give my face a little contour. Mine at the moment is a cheap brand from Asia, called Bébé Poshé, but it’s very similar to MAC’s Strada.

Foundation: As you already know I’m a big fan of my BB Foam from Maybelline. I will do a special post for transparent powder, mineral powder, HD-Make-up or Airbrush-Make-up another time, since this topic will go beyond the scope.

LIPS:

Balm: the best balm ever for me is the Dior Crème de Rose balm with a wonderful smell and a wonderful texture. In just a minute you have soft adorable lips. Also the packaging is very nice with a little retro charm. Cheaper but not less effective for chapped lips is Carmex. But the smell of the ingredient Camphor is very strong, so I only use it at night like an extra mask for my lips. I always read about the honey-mask for lips, but did it ever work for you? Well, not for me.

Gloss: Definitely MAC’s Clear Gloss. No one shines more and you can mix it with pigments or tap it over your lipstick.

Stick: I love all the lipsticks from MAC! If you are looking for a peculiar colour you’ll find it at MAC. Did you know that you get 1 lipstick for free if you return 6 empty packages to MAC?

So, what are your favorites?