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.

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