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

Pasta in Cream Sauce With Salmon and Swiss Chard

Today I have something different for you. I don't want my blog to be just about makeup, so I decided, that I would make a recipe, because I really like to cook and eat. Cleaning after it is a different story. 

With summer around the corner, there is already seasonal vegetable available and we always have fresh swiss chard from the garden in the refrigerator. You can also use spinach instead, it wont make much of a difference.

Ingredients (for 2 persons):

- 1 salmon filet

- 50 - 100g swiss chard (depends on your taste, but keep in mind that once you put it in a pan it will      shrink drastically)

- 1 - 2 tbsp sour/cooking cream

- 2 pieces of cream spread cheese 

- soy sauce

- 3 small/ 2 bigger garlic cloves, minced

- 1/2 tsp onion powder

- 1tsp basil

- 1 pinch ground cumin

- 1 pinch curry

- salt

- pepper

 

For pasta, I used wholegrain rice fusilli, about 300g. My mother is obsessed with healthy organic food, so we rarely have anything with white flour in it. Everything is made either out of rice, spelt/dinkel wheat, corn (even that is very rare, because it's supposed to be too genetically modified) or other flour, preferably gluten free. I actually really like this, most people don't have quality food like this at home. We also don't buy a lot of processed food, which is, I guess, the main reason I learned to cook, because if I was hungry I always had to prepare my meal first, opposed to just taking it from the freezer or something like that. 

For the sauce I first added garlic on coconut oil and quickly fried it for a few seconds, just until it started to smell a bit, not too much, then I added chopped swiss chard. You can easily replace it with spinach, the outcome will be the same. I'm not sure what the difference in taste between the two of them is, but I think that spinach has a bit of a stronger taste (don't take my word on it!). Next I added about 1 1/2 tsp of soy sauce, stirred it well, then covered the pan with the lid and cooked it on a middle heat for a few minutes, just so that the chard shrinked.

I cut salmon into pieces and added it to the pan. See how the chard almost disappeared? I fried and sirred it for about 5 minutes and then put in spices. I actually didn't add any salt, because the soy sauce is very salty on it's own, but you can add it if you want. You can also use fresh onion as the first step before the garlic, but I hate cutting it, so I just used a bit of onion powder.

I looove cheese and cream and I want to put them in everything! It kinda cancels out the rest of the food which is supposed to be healthy, but hey, who doesen't like to eat good? Adding cream spread cheese is optional, but it really makes richer and creamier flavour. If you don't have it in a triangles like this, you can replace it with a big tbsp of any creamcheese spread you have. If it has herbs in it, even better. Then I covered and cooked it a bit, so the cheese melted. I didn't have cooking cream so I used sour cream. It's good with both, but if you use cooking cream, then the sauce won't be so dense. You can even use both of them if you like. All you have to do next is stir really well and let it simmer on a low temperature a bit. Don't cook it for too long, otherwise sour cream will curdle.

That's it! It's really simple and anyone can do it. If you want, you can also add different vegetables, for instance, I like to add zuccini/courgette and leek if I have any.

 If you decide to make this recipe, please let me know how it turned out :)

Love, Lucija

Dark Evening MakeupTutorial

Hello! Today I have for you another tutorial (I'm gonna make a post about something else next time, I promise). You could say this is a smokey eye look, but as we learned at Carpus, smokey eye is this:

For a smokey eye you start with a black eyeliner on the upper lid and kinda smudge it, then you go over it with a black eyeshadow over the whole lid and blend it out towards brow bone, so that eyeshadow gradually disappears. You can also use a few different shades of brown or any other color to make shadow going towards browbone lighter and add colour or warm/cold tones. Then you do the same on the lower lid.

The reason why I'm telling you this, is that people often confuse the techniquei used for a smokey eye. It doesn't matter if you use dark eyeshadows, if you don't apply it like this it's not called a smokey eye. I don't really know the corrent term in English for the technique I used, but we call it Fan (pahljača). It means that you are concentrating the darkest color in the outer corner of you eye, blending it outwards, like a fan and shading it towards the inner corner of the eye. 

I apologize in the advance, because the different shades I used are not explicit enough fou you to see the full effect. I really need to buy professional eyeshadows (this is the only thing i haven't bought yet) and a better camera, because I'm currently using family camera, which is quite old and has only 8 mega pixels. I'm really sorry for this!

So, let's start! This is me without any makeup:

My dark circles are even darker in real life, so the only thing that really covers them are the camouflages from the Kryolan Dermacolor Camouflage Creme Mini-palette. I also use this palette to cover any imperfections, it can be also used for covering tattoos, so you know that the coverage is REALLY good. 

For the foundation I used Catrice Nude Illusion Foundation in shade 010 Ivory, which has medium to full coverage. This is the lightest shade in the range and I would not recommend it if you have really pale skin. I bought this one around January and I couldn't use it until now that I gained a bit of a tan, because it was too dark for me. Otherwise it is a pretty solid foundation. For setting around the eyes and my T-zone I used Ben Nye Banana powder.

I mentioned that I don't own any quality eyeshadows yet, but Makeup Revolution eyeshadows are pretty good and they have dupes fo everything. This is their redemption Palette Iconic 2, which is supposed to be a dupe for Urban Decay Naked 2. If you google comparisions you will see that they are almost identical and this one costs only about 6€.

I wanted to elongate my eyes and make a more defined shadow, so I helped myself with some tape. Then I made  a V-shaped shadow with Essence smokey eyes set in 02 Punk Vibe, which I own for forever, as you can see. Look how sharp the line is when I removed the tape! You can also use this for the eyeliner, for a quicker and more precise application. Then I blended out the harsh lines and also lined my lower lid with the same eyeshadow. To make everything even more defined I used dark brown and black from the MUR palette (last two on the right) and the gold shade (second on the left) to brighten the inner corners of my eyes. Then I added a thin line of Illamasqua gel eyeliner and applied L'oreal Fals Lash Wings mascara on lashes and Revlon Lipstick in Soft Nude.

This was the result. I wanted to make everything a bit more dramatic, so I blended the eyeshadow even more, added false eyelashes, contoured my face with my Anastasia Beverly Hills contour palette and defined my Brows with Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade in Medium Brown.

That's it! Thank you for reading and again, please comment below with ideas and wishes for my next post.

Love, Lucija <3

Subtle Everyday Contouring and Makeup + Basic Foundation Rutine

Ok, I know this are some basic stuff, but since I just started this blog, I thought that it would be appropriate to discuss some basic rules about foundation. Everybody knows how to apply foundation, right? You take a brush, sponge or you simply use your fingers, put it on and your skin is instantly prettier. Yeah, sure, but how do you prepare your skin first?

First, you need to clean your skin. You can use toner suitable for your skin type, or micellar water. Micellar water is more gentle and great for all skin types. It's the safest product to use on clients and it's also a makeup remover, so double win on that. The one I have is from Garnier and it cost about 5€ for 400 ml. It's also a great dupe for the one from Bioderma, which is waaay more expensive because it became really popular amongst makeup artists a while ago.

Second, you need to use a good mosturizer. I always thought, that because I have combination skin, I don't have to use face creams, but I was sooo wrong. I've been using Moisture Match also from Garnier and it's great, because it mattifies and hidrates your skin, but it doesen't look greasy at all. If you have dry, or even combination skin, which tends to be sometimes dry on the forhead, or cheeks and you don't use mosturizing cream, you can sometimes see these dry patches on certain areas when you apply foundation, which looks far from pretty.

Last but not least, the primer. This step is optional, especially if you have dry skin, because you can easily skip this step, or swap it for a mosturizer, because primer is basically a cream that helps your foundation to last longer. But if you have oily  or combination type of skin, then I would really recommend that you use a primer.

The next step is to apply concealer around your eyes and anywhere you have any kind of imperfections. You can also skip this step, if there is no need to do this.  I am allergic to pollen and my eyes are currently killing me, because of all the itching and dark circles, which are so hard to cover! I'm using Collistar Lifting Effect Concealer, which is great for covering up, but I did not notice any visible lifting effect whatsoever. God knows I would really need it at the moment for my puffy eyes. 

For the foundation I used Illamasqua Skin Base in shade 6 for my whole face and shade 3 for highlighting. I finally found the foundation that really matches my skin tone and with so many shades it's hard not to (I think there are around 16 or 18 shades, you can also find a white one and in between shades like 3,5 or 5,5). The texture is not thick at all, but it still gives medium coverage and it can be built up to a full coverage. Even with the moisturizer and primer underneath, it doesen't feel heavy on the skin. I applied it with Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, which is my favourite brush for foundation at the moment.

Here are the products I used for the contouring. I alredy mentioned that I used Illamasqua foundation for the highlighting above, but for setting and contouring I used Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit. I used the middle top shade in Banana to set the foundation and concealer around my eyes and top left shade in Vanilla for the rest of highlights on my forhead, nose and chin. For the top of the cheekbone and for fuller effect of the upper lip, I like to use L'oreal Lumi Magique Primer. I know it's a primer, but it gives a really nice, dewy finnish and it doesn't look shimmery at all. I also like to use it in the inner corners of my eyes and on top of the brow bone, to help me look more fresh and awake.

Ok, I know that it's silly and you've probably seen this lines drawn on faces all around the web, but I also wanted to show you this for easier visualization. For contouring I used middle bottom shade named Fawn in the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour palette. It's important that you don't go too far with the line under the cheekbone, because it won't look natural, you're going to look like you're sick or dying. I would say, that you can go as far as the outer third of your eye. I also contour my my forehead and jawline, because it's not naturally defined. If your forehead is small, then you do not have to do this. Contouring is essentially shaping your face to look more oval, so you don't necessary have to contour like pictured here and all over the web. Contouring the nose can be tricky if you have a bit crooked nose like me. You have to be careful that your line is straight, it doesn't have to follow the line of your nose. I wouldn't contour the nose, if it's quite long or thin, because you're just gonna make it look even more elongated and thinner, except if this is the look you're going for. At the end you can add blush on your cheeks like pictured above with the pink line, but for this look I didn't choose to do this. Since this is everyday look, I didn't want to overdo it and make everything too defined.

Different face shapes are contoured differently, this is just the one that suits me. Although oval is considered the "perfect" face shape, it doesn't mean that other shapes are not pretty. I personally often find heart or square shaped faces very beautiful and interesting, so contour however you want.

For the eyebrows I used Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pro Palette in shade Soft Brown and Bobbi Brown Smokey Eyes mascara. I got as a gift with purchase at an online store and I really really like it, because it's not too wet and it really elongates my lashes. For the final finish I used Essence lipstick in shade Barely There, which is a gorgeous mauvy color and it's super cheap (about 2-3€ I think).

So, this is the final look. It's nothing special, but it's perfect for everyday. Below are pictured all the products and brushes I used, without the things I used to prime my skin. I hope you liked my first real post and please message me what you want me to show you guys in my future posts. You can also leave your impressions and opinions below in the comment section.

Till' next time, 

Love,  Lucija <3