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Cream contouring palette has finally arrived on drugstore shelves! It's Catrice Allround Contouring Palette, which costs 4.29 € and has very similar but sleeker packaging than their Allround Concealer one. I dont' own any other cream contour kit, so this was my first time using a product like that. It has 5 shades – 2 dark ones for creating shadows, 2 light ones and a pretty pearl shade highlighter. The palette is quite simple to use and if you don't know where to put which shade you can always look at pictures on the back. Because it is a cream product, you have to warm it up a bit first for easier application, either on your skin (between your fingers or on the back of the hand) or on the metal palette with spatula as I usually do, which is necessary especially if you work on others, for hygienic reasons. The palette is nothing special really, but it's not bad either. I kinda got the feeling that intensity faded when I put on loose powder, but maybe I just applied too little - which brings me to the next problem. The packaging is quite small and wont last long but on the other hand  it's easier for carrying it around with you because of the same reason. For this pride is definetly worth buying.

SLO

Tudi drogerijske police so končno dočakale kremno paletko za senčenje obraza. To je Catrice Allround Contouring Palette, ki stane 4.29 €, in ima zelo podobno, vendar elegantnejšo embalažo kot njihov Allround Concealer. Ker do sedaj še nisem imela nobene kremne paletke za senčenje, sem sedaj prvič uporabila tak izdelek. Vsebuje 5 odnetkov – 2 temna za ustvarjanje senc, 2 svetla ter osvetljevalec perlaste barve. Paletka je precej enostavna za uporabo in če ne veš kam nanesti določen odtenek lahko vedno pogledaš za zadnji del embalaže. Ker je to kremni izdelek, ga je najprej  potrebno malce ogreti za lažji nanos, kar lahko storiš na koži (med prsti ali na zadnjem delu dlani) ali pa na kovinski paletki s spatulo, kot ponavadi naredim jaz, kar je  še posebej potrebno če delaš na drugih, zaradi higienskih razlogov. Paletka ni nič posebnega, vendar vseeno ni slaba. Dobila sem občutek, da sence niso bile več tako intenzivne po tem, ko sem čez dala še puder v prahu, vendar sem mogoče samo nanesla premalo intenzivno - kar pripelje do naslednjega problema. Izdelka v paletki je dokaj malo in se ga kar hitro porabi, kar je po drugi strani iz istega razloga zelo priročno, saj ga lahko nosiš s sabo kamorkoli greš. Za to ceno nakup definitivno priporočam.

BEAUTY TRENDS FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2016

It's been a reaaaally really long time since my last post, but I decided it's finally time to do a new one. You know, new year, new beginnings, with trial first month. I've also been quite active in the last week with creating a few last minute makeups for Pust (something similar to Halloween we have in Slovenia). I can make a few posts about how to recreate certain looks if anyone is interested. 

Okay, lets get into it. What makeup trends were seen for the spring/summer 2016 on the runways?

BLUE ACCENTS

Runways: Val Garland, Monique Lhulilier, Hugo Boss, Chanel, Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Sonia Rykiel

Blue color could be seen almost everywhere this season but in very different ways. From pastels to delicate strokes of eyeliner or full-on effect of »butterfly wings« that Path McGrath created for Diane von Furstenberg. When it comes to blue color, you can wear it any way you like, just don't try to recreate any 90's looks and pair it with strong lip color, since all looks on the catwalk kept lips pretty neutral. Great way to wear blue hues on your lids is to do your usual makeup with neutral eyeshadows or eyeliner and then put blue eyelinerit in waterline to emphasize the color of your eyes.

BOLD LIPS

Runways: Jason Wu, Givenchy, DKNY, Marchesa, Anna Sui, Oscar de la Renta, Badgley Mischka, Victoria Beckham

This year the most popular were candy apple red, berry lips and statement metallics – the more unusual colors the better. Think gold, blue, green, purple… Pair it with flushed cheeks and you're good to go.

GLITTER

Runways: Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Naeem Khan, Giambattista Valli, Dries Van Noten

Glitters on the lids, lips, nails, everywhere! Discreet shimmer or huge chunks of glitter on the lids, glittery eyebrows and nails, you can not go wrong with anything. Maybe even use blue glittery eyeshadow and you can kill two birds with one stone (or in this case two trends with one product, please don't harm any birds).

UNEXPECTED FRENCH MANICURE

Runways: Monique Lhulilier, Tibi, Jonathan Simkhai, Cushnie et Ochs, Francesca Liberatore

This is probably my favourite trend of 2016. Forget about classic french manicure. You can still wear white tips of course, but play it up with different shapes, or use colors like oxblood, orange, green, silver…

HUGE LASHES

Runways: Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Marni, Tod's

It became rare to see models wearing mascara or false lashes on the runways, but now it's making a comeback in various looks: blue, red, futuristic falsies, thick and long…

PEACHY & PINK LIDS

Runways: Altuzarra, Lanvin, Erdem, Giamba, Jill Stuart

Peachy and pink colors look pretty and give softness to your face. This trend is also already called "the sunset eye". Dior's Peter Phillips described this look as »pure and sensual« and said that »pink is the molst flattering on all the girls«.

GRAPHIC EYELINER

Runways: Fendi, Mugler, Vionnet, Julien David, Monique Lhulilier, Jeremy Scott

This is not how we're usually used to wearing eyeliner in traditional cat eye look. It's all about exaggerated shapes and graphic flicks. You can go bold or very subtle.

GLOSSY TREND

Runways: Opening Ceremony, Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, Marchesa, Proenza Schouler

Glossy trend or as  already known term »gym skin« is the new no-makeup makeup. It mimics the shine you have after a workout or after dancing all night. It's basically just a new term for flawless glowing dewy skin. On the runways, makeup artists achieved this look with dabbing Vaseline on top of the cheekbones, above upper lip, under eye area and on the lids. It looks pretty on runway and pictures, but it wouldn't last long on the skin in real life, and besides who wants to look like they just ran 10 km when doing errands or going on a date?

HAIR ACCESSORIES

Runways: Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Anna Sui, Miu Miu

Headbans, tiaras, scraps of fabric can be used on punky updos and low ponylails. Your hair doesen't need to be perfect, ornate combs and other hair accessories look perfect in messy hair.

 BRAIDS, TWISTS AND UPGRADED PONYTAILS

Runways: Proenza Schouler, Oscar de la Renta, Dior, Alexander McQueen, Kenzo

Undone braids and messy ponytails are nothing new to the runways, except for the sleek two-strand plaits, whichis very easy to do and looks beautiful.

FLUSHED CHEEKS

Runways: Vivienne Tam, Narciso Rodriguez, Alexander McQueen, Simone Rocha, Philosophy

Year 2015 was all about contouring, but this year blush is having a comeback for a more natural and fresh look. It also helps contouring look softer, more flattering, and believable.

Stay tuned for for more new posts, which will hopefully be posted each week and not in another 7 months :)

Love, Lucija

Contouring Is OUT! Strobing Is The New Deal Now

The world just learned how to sculpt perfect cheeckbones and narrow the nose, and it's already time for a new trend. Who has time to contour their face every morning, and let's face it, this look was not for everyone. It's time for a new, fresher, more natural and dewy look called strobing.

Strobing is a lot simpler than contouring and it's basically just extreme highlighting, it defines your features just by using light. Let me show you how it's done:

This is my face just with foundation

The trick with strobing is, that you can quickly look like you dipped your face in oil, if you don't do it the right way. You have to highlight in all the right places, where the light naturally hits the face. Top of the cheekbones, nose and the center of the forhead are the main areas that were already brightened in contouring. But be careful with the nose and center od the forehead, if you tend to get oily! These two parts are also the only ones that I would apply powder to, since we don't want to make the whole face matte, but we also don't want to look gross and oily.

You can also apply highlighter to the cupids bow, inner eye corners, center of the eyelid, brow bone, temples, chin and under the cheekbone/jaw area, if you want even brighter look. I put on a bit of a blush, to make my face look even fresher. Here are the results:

Below are the highlighting products I own. Benefit's Girl Meets Pearl is a wonderful champagne/rose color, but I mostly use L'oreal Lumi Magique Pure Light primer. You can apply it under foundation or mix it together, but I use it on the foundation as a highlighter, because I love how it gives this gentle satin glow, unlike some other highlighting products, bronzers and  blushes that have a bit of a glitter in it. I really don't like when products, except eyeshadows, contain glitter, because it's so obvious under the direct light or sunlight. You can also use pigments for highlighting, Mac Vanilla or Melon would be perfect for this!

This is a perfect look for fresh summer skin, just don't apply it with a heavy hand, except if you want to loohk like a glowing disco ball. In that case, highlight the hell away!


Till' next time,
xoxo, Lucija

Bridal makeup + photoshoot

The bridal season is already in full bloom, so I decided that it would be a great idea to do a bridal photoshoot.  My friend Eva was kind enough to assist me with it and pose as the blushing bride. 

I preped the skin with Garnier Moisture Match 24h Mattifying Fresh Cream and Rimmel London Fix&Perfect Pro Primer in 002. For the foundation I used the usual Illamasqua Skin base and mixed shades 03 and 14 to get the right shade for her skin, and hid all imperfections with Kryolan Dermacolor Camouflage mini palette. I contoured and highlighted with Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Palette and filled the eyebrows with Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pro Palette in shade Ebony. 

I didn't want to go too dramatic with the eyes, so I just shaded the outer corner of the eye with dark brown shades, put some Mac pigment in Melon to the center of the lid and light golden Essence pigment in Be My Briedsmaid in the inner corner of the eyes to brighten them and emphasize their color. On the cheeks is peach blush and nude pink lipstick on the lips. To make the look more durable and fresh I sprayed it with Mac Fix +.

At first, I wanted to braid her hair and make an updo, but we both decided that simple curls were enough, since she usually doesen't do much to her hair herself. She's not getting married any time soon, but she still makes a beautiful bride :) Check out the pictures below.

Makeup Academy Part 1

Hello again! I know this is the post you've all been waiting for. Today I'm going to write about my schooling in Carpus Makeup Center. I actually wanted to post this sooner, I had half of this post already written in draft, but it magically disappeared.

So, this is how our workspace looks like - room full of mirrors and chairs with the table full of makeup in the middle. You can't see it, but on the right there is also a whiteboard, where our mentor Jasna Oklešen sketches for us, like how to contour different face shapes or how to shade different eyeshapes and so on. We also have a few other visiting lecturers, like lovely Romina Regvat, who thaught us how to blend properly, what is like working on a set, how to treat customers and so on. Yesterday we also had renowned hairdresser Matevž Majcen, to show us how to quickly do a few interesting hairstyles and how you can do different types of curls. 

Today, I'm actually focusing more on the beauty part of the course, which was also the longest. I'll post about other things we did or will do later, including the hairstyling part.

Atmosphere at Carpus, me and my model in the top left corner
Photo by Jasna Oklešen

We usually go in pairs and work on each other, but sometimes, if one of us can't make it, someone has to bring a model, whis is mostly one of our friends. The mentor always tells us at the beginning of the lesson what are we going to do that day, and tells us all about the look and technique we will be using. It's really interesting how different we all look at the end, because of different choice of colors, products, face and eye shapes.

We first started, of course, with how to choose and properly apply foundation and contour face. With different brushes and types of fountaions you get different finishes, and you have to choose the right one, according to the look and type of skin you're working on. Next, you have to contour considering the face shape and know, if you want to completely transform it's features, or just lightly emphasize bone structure.

Pin up look, makeup by Andreja Furlanič, hair and photo by Jasna Oklešen - huuuge thank you for the left picture

Then Jasna showed us the most basic eye shading. First and most commonly used is the fan technique. I don't know the proper term for it in English, but it's basically shading the outer corner of the eye in fan shape (the outer corner is the darkest color, then it gets lighter towards the inner corner). This technique can be used for every occasion - subtle daily makeup, or even very dramatic, dark look.

Next was banana. It's called like this, because we are applying shadow on the crease in the shape of a banana. This is most commonly used on deep set eyes to contour eye shape and it goes really well with the eyeliner and pin up look, which was also one of the looks we did (pictured above).

Smokey eye, makeup and photo by Romina Regvat

Romina taught us how to do a smokey eye and demonstrated it on me. Please excuse my dark circles, spring has really been hard on my eyes and nose (damn spring!!!). As I explained in one of the previous posts, most people confuse it with a dramatic outer eye corner shading. With smokey eye, you start with a black eyeliner on the lashline and then make the color disappear towards the brow bone. You can do this with any color you like, most commonly it's black, paired with darker and lighter shades of brown. You can put some pigments in the middle of the lid, to complement the color of the eyes, or make the whole look more interesting. Of course you do the same on the lower lid.

Eyeliner trend

Next was the eyeliner trend, which is very popular and a lot of the girls and young women wear this every day. It's just simply eyeliner with a trendy lipstick.

Bridal makeup by Clara de Andrea

Here you can see Clara doing bridal makeup on me. I don't have any pictures of the look I did on her, but since the wedding season is already here, I'm planning on making a post about this look very soon. For that reason, I'm not going to get into details about this makeup look just yet :)

Prom makeup by Vanja Zorman

This is prom makeup Vanja did on me. Prom makeup is usually more dramatic than bridal, with darker colors on the lids and fake eyelashes. She contoured my face, used matte eyeshadows on the lids and then lined them with eyeliner and black kohl pencil in the waterline. Then she finished the whole look  with a little bit of blush and slightly pink lipgloss.

Prom makeup

Here is also a prom look I did on Vanja. I decided to go a bit more dramatic with heavier contouring and used dark brown and gold shades on her lids. Fake eyelashes are almost necessary for this look, so I applied them after I lined the eyes with gel liner. I paired the whole look with this gorgeous dark red lipstick, which really suits her.

60' inspired look

The inspiration for the last look we did during this beauty part of the course was Sophia Loren and 60's double eyeliner on the lower and upper eyelid. I'm sorry I didn't take closer pictures of the details of the liner. I applied white eyeshadow as the base, and then really defined crease with black eyeshadow. With this look it's all about matte, no shimmer and a nude lip.

I hope you liked this post and all the looks we did. Also, you can follow me on Facebook HERE. If you want me to make a tutorial of any of these looks, please comment below. I will make Part 2 soon, so stay tuned!

Love, Lucija