Sweat and Cear Skin

One major bummer about daily sweat sessions, is that they can cause the skin to break out. when we workout we activate the lymphatic system which is responsible for detoxifying the body. Our body disposes of the waist through sweat. The lymph system often experiences "mechanical issues," when it does toxins from our body get trapped in the epidermis (skin). 

A main culprit of workout induced acne is our hair. Exercisers who always pin there hair up and away from their faces experience 1/3 the amount of sweat related zits as those who exercises with a flowing main. To reduce workout induced acne, spray your hair with a dry shampoo or oil eater like Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Spray before a workout. Gently brush through your locks, and pull your hair back, and up of your face. This will help prevent oils from the hair rubbing onto the skin. 

I like to make my own ribbon hair ties; as they are cheep and easy to make. I always loose hair ties- and can't stand the nasty metal clip that always gets naughted with hair. I find that the ribbon hair ties hold my hair well. And look decent waiting to be used on my wrist. 

To make your own hair ties, all you need is ribbon elastic. Elastic is easy to find at a fabric store and inexpensive.  A yard of elastic costs about a quarter and will t9 hair ties. 

Cut the elastic ribbon into 9' smaller ribbons for hair ties, and 20' ribbons for head bands.

Fold in half, and tie into a knot. 

(white elastic can be died with fabric paint to spice up your hair ties!)

Beauty: Cat Eyes

Cat eyes are: a bold, sophisticated, and sexy look. That are stunning on all shapes and sizes of eyes. Many ladies, myself included, fear replicating the sassy look on themselves because they claim to lack the artistic intent required to pull off the look. Creating a bold yet beautiful cat eye is easy. A classic cat-eye is a perfect compliment to showoff your stunning complexion. Spring beauty is all about a bold yet natural look. Fresh made fierce. The trick with drawing cat eyes, is to be patient, and to work step by step.  

First you will want to prime your eyelids. A primer will just neutralize the color variation of the skin. A primer will also help keep eyeshadow and eye liner fresh longer.

Use a light neutral color to highlight the inner corner of your eye, and a darker neutral to lightly couture. Blend the colors together to maintain a very light and neutral eye. 

Once a base shadow is applied you can start working the cat-look. You will need a strong liner. I like to use a liquid liner, however liquid liners are unforgiving. Make-up artist; Shalaine Howell, recommends starting with a pencil, or a shadow liner. Find a thin angled brush and coat it with eye liner. Starting just above the pupil of your eye draw a line on an upward slant. Fan the line out about 1/4 inch.  

Once the line is winged out, you will need to bring the line back by drawing a little triangle to connect the lower eyelid and the upper eyelid. This is a trick to custom fit the cat look to your eye shape. Use a blending brush to help enhance or soften the look. You can play with the thickness of your eyeliner. 

For a more dramatic cat eye, line your inner eye lid after you have winged out your liner. You will want to line your inner eyes at different angle. Carefully using the slanted brush dust a fine line under your lashes. This will create an illusion of a larger and wider eye. 

If you need to mute the look gently blend in another layer of eyeshadow. 

Mascara is the ultimate icing for the feline look. You will want to curl your lashes. You can do this by bending your mascara wand to give it a curl. (Eyelash curlers, crimp the lashes which can accidentally cause the lashes to break.) When applying mascara start in the center of your eye and fan out the brush, being mindful to reach all of your lashes. If you mess up, weight for the mascara to dry  before rubbing it off to avoid smudging your makeup.

On your bottom lashes you will just want to separate the lashes and then lightly coat with mascara. 

And Voila, Your eyes look stunning!

Beauty: DIY perfect red lips

I think that Marilyn Monroe was so stunning. I love her signature look of Red lipstick. A nice red lipstick  is my most coveted beauty product. I often rock a bright lip with a relatively neutral eye. The boldness of the color red stands out, and can easily transform a look of make-up frump, into an elegant and sophisticated starlet approved beauty do. 

Gaining the confidence to rock red lips can be a challenge. A badly executed red lip only looks sloppy and trashy. Before your paint your pout red make sure that your lips are primed, here are some of my favorite tips for red lips. 

Lip Sugar Scrub, from Lush.

First: Red lipstick will only emphasize dry and chapped lips. To erase the damage of chapped lips first use a lip exfoliate or sugar scrub. Then apply a generous amount of lip balm and allow the moisture to be absorbed before you begin to add color. 

I like to use a a nude lip liner to gently outline the shape of my mouth and to act as a color buffer. Once you have a nice outline of your lips, gently using a lip brush fill in your lips with a bright red. Using a brush will allow you to have more control of the color and the look. 

Not so cute

Cute 

Red lips are a statement on their own, and a rich velvety red with blue overtones are not only flattering for all skin tones, but will also make your teeth look whiter.  When red lipstick it is easy to get carried away with eye and face makeup. When wearing red lipstick go for a neutral look. Let your lips be the statement.  Be careful, to much bronzer, and eyeshadow can transform the look of chic into a look of streetwalker. 

To create a fuller lip look, try adding a shimmering powder to the center of your bottom lip and cupids bow after you fill in the color. The shimmering powder will catch and reflect light which will give off the illusion of a fuller lip. 

To find the right red for you, read the Red and The Beautiful.

Exhusted With a Fresh Face

College life is busy, there are a million and one things to do and an equal number of distraction. I'm quickly realizing that life is busy, and that there are always a million and one things to do with an equal amount of distractions. I'm grateful that college periods of high stress come in waves. Some weeks are busier than others (i.e.. mid terms, and finals). Having just survived midterms, I look like I have had a mad fight with my pillow that refused to allow me any Z's. 

As coincidence would have it, I was berating myself for my stressed-over face while flipping through the pages of Elle Magazine. The large copy "fast fixes," caught my attention and the subtitle " for when you look like you slept 20min," solidified my interest. 

Elle says the trick to beating the tired look is to de puff your face. An easy cheap way to beat the tired look is to grab an ice cube, and one teaspoon of freshly used coffee grinds. 

First slowly wet your face with the ice cube concentrating on the eyes. Then rub the coffee grinds onto to your face. The caffeine in the coffee stimulates the circulation, the diuretic properties help flush out any puffiness, and the rough texture of the grinds nicely exfoliates your skin.

I tried it. The grinds looked disgusting and smell disgusting. The coffee felt rough and dry on my face. It was not the most enjoyable face mask; however once I rinsed the grinds free my face felt smoother looked fresher, and was instantly brighter. 

I'm pretty stoked on this coffee grind face mask, after all Eco beauty is beauty.