Brow Game....Not So Strong...

I've been doing makeup, both on myself and on various clients for a while now, and i've come a looong way. I started out trying to perfect the application of eye makeup because, for me, the eyes are the first thing a person sees on your face. From there I got pretty serious about brows and felt like I had a good handle on them when I turned my attention to the face. Highlighting and contouring, finding the right color blush, blending, priming, smooth foundation... those things were a bit of a struggle for me. One major factor that I had to learn to ALWAYS account for was lighting. I would do what seemed to be a flawless makeup application and the snap a picture and realize that, with a flash, the whole face looked like I hadn't even tried to blend it. So ghat's always on my mind. I tend to use natural light more than anything. I'm find the best window in the location and have my client facing it...even of it means setting my stuff up kn the floor. Now that i've gotten to the point where I feel very comfortable applying every aspect of a full face of makeup, I spend a lot of time researching better (yet still affordable) products, new techniques, and sovon... but I had an experience recently that drew to my attention that, while I can define some fairly freshly shaped brows just fine, the ladies who come to me in need of a wax but not wanting to have me tweeze their brows gave me a bit of trouble. You see, I tend to follow what the brow is naturally doing (or has been shaped to do). It your brows are waxed slightly uneven, there's only so much I can do to fix that. If your brows grow in a little...crazy, I have the worst time getting them to look sleek. I realized this yesterday. I did a young lady's makeup and she had...some..things going with her brows. They were unevenly shaped, growing in a bit sporadically, and when I was done, something just seemed...not quite right about them. I was a bit disappointes in myself for this, and I actaually didn't take pictures of her makeup and told her to send me some when she had a chance. When I received the pictures, I noticed that, DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN.. She had fixed her brows, making them a little thicker to hide the not-so-neat way they were growing in. Aw man! Well, to be fair, she is a makeup artist herself, so I felt pretty good that the brows were the only thing she felt the need to change. But it made me realize that I totally need to work on my brow game. Challenge Accepted!

Just Wanting to Get Better

So, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on eyes and brows. I know a lot of different twchniques, and I found what works for me but can still switch it up if a client requests something that's best done a different way. But I am constantly on YouTube watching different "gurus" (and some not so well known youtube artists) perform their preferred highlighting and contouring routines.  Highlighting and contouring is probably my favorite part of makeup application, although it has always been my least strong point. Whether it be finding the perfect tool and technique to apply the highlight or finding the right products to use, i'm always trying to get better at it. Practice makes perfect, of course, and I really do try to practice on myself as much as possible, but I am a beauty on a budget so switching up the products is not always ideal. For the past year and a half i've been using the Coastal Scents Camouflage Palette for my highlighting needs. Mixing the colors to match clients needs and trying different ways to get the best application. It has worked...fine. I used to adore this palette but I believe that i've grown out of it. It has started to crease on me and, although it works great for my clients, I need to move on. My first move was to take some advice and start setting it with a powder to avoid creasing... works ok. I'm not totally in awe of it, but it is a bit better.
What's been trending for quite some time and is majorly affordable at around $2/$3 per tube is LA Girl Cosmetics Pro Concealer.  The only issue i'm having is... I CAN'T FLIPPIN FIND IT IN STORES! Yes, I can buy online, but I am the type of shopper (esp cosmetics) that needs to see colors in real life. I would hate to buy a hand full of these babies and then realize I have no use for any number of them...ain't nobody got time fuh dat! The other day, I walk into my local beauty supply for some hair and SCORE! LA Girl Pro Concealers front and center!.... inshades my skin tone and darker. Whomp whomp. I don't contour with concealer, I prefer powder. It's much easier to blend for me. So, still on the hunt for this concealer.
What I will say is that I am so very happy that I am a visual learner and that I can take a lot from what I see from youtube, instagram and makeup artists personal websites as well as trial and error on my own face. I've gotten soooo much better and have soooo much more of an understanding of why different techniques and products work on different skin tones and types. Just because i'm not in a formal school, doesn't mean that I shouldn't try to learn what I can from those willing to share and better myself with some experimentation of my own. So... next step is finding some cosmetology text books for cheap and gaining more knowledge and, of course, finding those damn concealers!
Just thought i'd share with you my current state of mind. I haven't stopped doing makeup and I haven't stopped beating my own mug..i've just been preoccupied.

Fall Shmall!

I know fall is supposed to be all about the neutral shadows, the deeper colored lipsticks and  revolving our whole cosmetic lives around orange, brown, burgundy, copper, gold and red.... but...while I LOVE those colors and how they go with the feeling of fall weather, I can't always stick with one color palette.
So yesterday I just wanted some color in my life. Nothing too wild...just not neutral, by far. I went rifling through my makeup and pulled out a palette that I had only used maybe once and just kinda forgot about. It's the "Poster Child" palette from Wet N Wild.

I bought this palette for 2 reasons, 1) i'm a sucker for bright colors. And 2) i had two other, less vibrant, palettes from Wet N Wild and they were very pigmented.  

For the look I was going for, the blue in the bottom righ corner was calling my name! 

This is the end result...

Let's start from the top. I always begin my makeup routine with my brows. I've recently been filling in/defining my brows using a brown eye shadow (also from wet n wild) and an angled liner brush. To make the applications easy and get a smooth line with no chalkiness, i dip the brush into my face moisturizer, wipe off the excess and then coat the brush with the shadow. After totally defining my brows, i use a spooly brush to brush the color through the hair...this makes it so you can actually see the hairs. Next up is concealer. If i plan on highlighting and contouring my face, i use a concealer that's about 2 shades lighter than my skin. I use a small concealer brush to apply the concealer along the bottom and top lines of my brows and then use my ring finger to blend/fade it outward. 

For my brow bone, i used Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Spun Silk. It's a light enough shade on my skintone to highlight my brow bone, but it's matte, so when i go in with all the vibrant colors, it keeps me from looking.. drag-ish. Next, in between the crease of my lid and   blended up into the Spun Silk, i applied Mary Kay Mineral Eye Color in Silky Caramel. Again, it's matte and it's a great color to blend with the lighter shade on my browbone as well at the darker shade to be used in my crease and on my lid. Next up, that amazing dark blue. I used a short-haired shadow brush to pat the color onto my entire lid. I like to pat on the color i use on my lid because it makes is easier to build the opacity of the color, although this shadow is pigmented enough to not need much effot to build. After i got the blue all over my lid, i took a blender brush and applied the darker pink from the left side (second color from the bottom) in a sweeping motion along my crease. Next i grabbed my BH Cosmetics Party Girl Palette and used the shimmery black shade on a narrow brush in the crease of my lid. Then i used the blender brush that had the pink shadow on it and blended the black upward into the pink. Then i grabbed a flat shadow brush and  applied the teal color on the right side of the Poster Child palette (second from the top) to the inner corner of my lid. I used Wet N Wild cream liner in a pot and a liner brush from E.L.F. to apply my winged liner, threw on my stacked lashes that i've been wearing allll the way out, and moved on to my face. (After i apply my face makeup, i lined my lower lashline with a brown pencil and took an angled liner brush and swept the dark blue shadow over it. Applied black liner to my waterline and mascara to both my top and bottom lashes.)

Face Time!

I used Maybelline Baby Skin to prime my face... i go back and forth on whether or not i like this primer. Why? Because, altho it does fill in pores and smooth my skin very well, i have oily skin and this primer can feel a litte heavy..greasy even. But, a little goes a long way for those who have oily skin and setting with a powder becomes very important when using this primer. After letting the primer set for a good 5 minutes, i used a dupe for the Beauty Blender sponge to apply my foundation, which is Mary Kay TimeWise Matte Wear Liquid Foundation in Bronze 4. I apply foundation all over my face, but i avoid the areas directly below my eyes and directly above my brows..because i'm going to use a concealer to highligt in those areas and i don't like how heavy it can get in those areas. Using a concealer brush, i applied the same concealer i used for my brows in the areas that you see 

Here. To blend the concealer, though, i used the tapered end of my blender sponge and a patting motion. To set the concealer under my eyes to avoid creasing, i used the same patting motion and tapered end of my blender to apply E.L.F HD Translucent Setting Powder. Then i used a soft powder brush to sweep the excess powder away. For contouring my face, i used a pressed powder from Black Opal in Deepest Espresso. I swept the powder in a downward motion along the bottom of my cheekbone (starting at the outer point of my cheekbone and stopping a little more than halfway down..like, straight down from the outter corner of my eye) with an angled powder brush, then i blend upward...but not too much..just so there's no stark line of darkness. I like to use a blending shadow brush to apply my contour to the sides of my nose and then blend it by sweeping an empty small stipling brush up and down the area where i applied the color. I used a highlighting stick from E.L.F. in Persimmon to coat the larger area of my blender sponge, blotted it onto my hand, and then used a patting motion to apply it to the tops of my cheekbones and along the bridge of my nose. I applied a loose powder bronzer with a soft powder brush to the area i contoured my cheeks and blend upward. For blush, i used Mary Kay Mineral Cheek Color in Dark Cherry on the apples of my cheeks. And that was that!

Lips!

I lined my lips with a brown brow pencil, applied Wet N Wild lipstick in Think Pink to the inner area of my lips and blended to two colors together, then i applied Wet N Wild's Bare It All to my lips and used my finger to blend the three. Being darker skinned, it's hard to rock a nude lip color or a pink as light at Think Pink without some liner and blending. Lol!

And it's all done! 

These full-face photos were taken using natural light and no flash at around 6pm. It wasn't long before i had no natural light to work with at all. So, even though and horrible yellow-toned light in the bathroom can totally ruin the ability to see the colors used, with the right angle, they can make for a pretty fierce selfie...

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New Obsessions Reviving Old Habits

Basically, I have a love for makeup that will never die. But I also love sleep, mom time, snacking on various foods and desserts, blogging, browsing social media, writing and getting household things done. So... how do I fit a full face of makeup into that? Well, the truth is, I used to prioritize makeup into my day and slowly but surely allowed it to be phased out... mainly by laziness. Before I even get started, i'd give myself 50 reasons why I don't have the time or energy to snatch my face. I think all busy women are guilty of this at least sometimes.. probably not as often as me though.
Well, I saw a few folks post that they were super into this new app called Makeup Social, and how it was this magical place where makeup lovers both artists and not, could share looks, product reviews, get makeup advise, etc. OF COURSE I need to be there! I went to my google store and searched...and searched... and searched... but nothing."Wait... nothing? Oh, I see. Only available for iphone. So i'm being punished for having an old ass galaxy s3 with a cracked screen that I got as an upgrade last year because i'm cheap and wanted to not pay for a new phone? So the ppl at makeup social are targeting me because i'm cheap?! I see how it is! I don't even want that app!"...was my response.
So, I searched more and found that they have an actual website that you can log onto www.themakeupsocial.com so I signed up there. The website isn't the easiest to navigate through. I get emails alerting me of comments on my posts but no alert for when someone mentions or tags me. I can't simply search for a person or even get a look at my profile as others see it without going through some extra steps. And I can't post photos of my previous looks or work. If I go to upload a photo, the only option I have is to take a photo right then and there to post. These things made me not like the website as much as I knew I could and it made me wish upon a star that they'd hurry the hell up with the android version of the app... But I, somehow, have still managed to slowly become OBSESSED with this site! This network of MUA's both freelance, like myself and MUA's that work at counters and makeup stores... girls who have jobs outside of the beauty industry but love makeup.. people who were just as cheap as me and shopped the non-high-end brands and made magic happen with them as well as the girls who can't live without their MAC. People who are just starting out in getting makeup right and people who have been doing this for years. It's amazing.
This site seriously revived my want for putting on a full face even when I have nowhere to go... mainly because of the fact that I can only post pictures of makeup that's happening right then and there, but also because these are the people who appreciate a good beat down. Lol! So, instead of product details, i'll just post some pics here of makeup that only got done so I could post a decent selfie on Makeup Social. And if there's any looks you'd like info on, comment below which one (s) and i'll do a separate post for them.

What a difference some photo restrictions can make, right? Lol! 

Again, if any of these tickle your fancy, feel free to make a request in the comments and i'll break down the deets. 

As usual, find me on 

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And now on Makeup Social: @Racquel_G

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STACKED!

I've seen a bunch of posts (when giving makeup details) about stacking false lashes. Some ppl stack two different styles, some stack two of the same style... and it always looks nice, but I never felt like it was mandatory to try. If I wanted thicker lashes, i'd just buy thicker lashes..duh!
For those who don't know what stacking lashes is... It's when you take two false lash strips and lay them on top of each other, making sure that the ends and entire strip are totally in sync with each other, and then making them stick with a very thin layer of lash glue. You then apply the doubled strip to your lashline as usual and you get a fuller and more...luscious eyelash look.
Now, I for one, have seen it done over and over and thought that it always looked really great. But still, I never felt like I HAD to try it. Recently, I have been wearing more natural lashes. Wispies and things of that nature. Yesterday, however, I was set on wearing a winged liner, lashes and a bold lip... but the natural looking lashes weren't gonna cut it. Why not try stacking my lashes? Am I right? It just seems like what should happen in this instance. Well... i'm not a total dummy, so I decided to try it on some used lashes, just in case I did it wrong. Nobody wants to f $#@ up their brand new lashes. (Yes, my name is Racquel, and I reuse lashes...over and over again until they are worthless)
So I had a pair that looked like this..

Here is what they look like on my eyes...

Very natural, almost not noticable at all. So yea, these little gems served their time and had been sitting on my self just...chillin. because i had started wearing these here wispie numbers for a little more drama in my life...

Really great right? Long and flared yet still not beasty enough to look like way too much...to me. 

Well, I placed the first, shorter lashes on top of the longer and wispier lashes, made sure they were the same length and were perfectly aligned, held them steady and put a good amount of lash glue along the aligned strips... I let it get a little tacky, and then placed them along my lashline. This, of course, is after applying some very neutral eye shadow and a fairly serious winged liner. And here's what i was working with after that...

I mean...tell me that this is not a major yet still not too thick and drag-ish difference!!!

So very glad that I tried this and now I am HOOKED! No lash shall go unstacked!

There you have it! For more of me find me on

Facebook: www.facebook.com/yourmk

Instagram: @RacquelMUA

The Makeup Social: @Racquel_G

For bookings:

RacquelMUA@gmail.com

www.styleseat.com/RacquelMUA

Keepin' it Smooth in a Quick Tip...

Hey! Ok, so the best way to get a good face of makeup going is to have some smooth skin to apply it to, right? And everyone knows that the best way to smooth your skin out is to ? EXFOLIATE! So yea, ppl go out buying all the apricot or micro bead or whatever products, and if you're anything like me... you've got an amazing exfoliator right there in your house.
Now, I've tried sugar and honey, and that worked really great. Just mix the two and scrub-a-dub... But I saw something on pinterest a few months ago, about an age fighting homemade mask that included coffee grounds and I was intrigued.
So, I figured, why not wake my skin up while I get rid of my dead skin cells? I used the grounds that were in the filter of my morning coffee...yes, after I had made the coffee... after washing my face, I scooped about a teaspoon of the grounds into my hands and awkwardly slapped them onto my face and began to scrub. I didn't go full force with the pressure since I do like my skin, but I scrubbed in a circular motion for a good minute (maybe). I rinsed my face and it had an...almost oily feel to it. (Did u know that coffee beans contain their own oil?.. I didn't) I patted my face dry and it was not even real how smooth my face felt! I used less moisturizer than usual and noticed that my face had a glow that no other exfoliator (store bought or homemade) had given. It was.. like magic! I know, I think everything is like magic. But shhh. I've been doing this once or twice a week now for the last few months and I just feel like my skin is all around better. Plus my makeup goes on flawlessly... like, it's not a game. So... try it! You can use freshly ground coffee beans, coffee grounds from a can, coffee grounds that u've used... I don't think it matters. Try it especially before applying makeup and your mind will be blown.

Change Is Inevitable.... When It Comes To My Hair

Hey!.. So we all know that I am very fickle when it comes to my look. Well, I loved loved loved my red hair and I adored my dreads!.... But red just didn't feel like ME. It was cute and fun and the dreads were definitely #ALOOK (shout out to Handsome Deville) but, I was craving my blonde. So i took to google and youtube to figure out how to get it back without having to Amber Rose it up.
First, I took my beloved .dreads out to assess the color situation...hoping that the red had faded away.

As you can see, the color was alive and well. And the way i had my hair wrapped around each dread left me with some pretty gnarly curls.

After a day or two of searching, I found a not so harsh way to strip the red out of my hair... Vitamin C and Shampoo!.. Wait, what?
Yes! I crumbled maybe....12-15? Capsules of vitamin c (you can use any kind of straight vitamin c. The powdered kind, the giant tablets, or the regular capsules that u take with water like i did) and grinded them in a tupperware dish til it was a fairly fine powder. Then i added about the same amount of shampoo that i'd use for one wash (i'm very liberal with the amount of shampoo i use btw) and a teeny bit of water to get it to a liquidy texture. I mixed these things together until it was a bit creamy...yet grainy. I slathered this mixture all over my hsir, from ends to roots and then put a plastic cap on it and wrapped my head in a scarf. About an hour and fifteen minutes later, i rinsed it out and shampooed my hair one time. BOOM!

So much of the color had faded!...But it was still fairly pink. So i went back to youtube to consult some videos of this proccess and found where i had gone wrong. I put the mixture on dry hair. So, back to crumbling, grinding, adding shampoo and water and mixing. This time, since my hair was wet, i worked the mixture through my hair as if i were shampooing it, then plastic capped it, scarfed it up and left it in for 2 hours and maybe 15/20 minutes. I rinsed and washed snd HOLY MICHAEL'S CRAFT STORE! i could see blonde! It was that faded pink-ish blonde, but it was def blonde...aside from my roots, which were my natural hair color. Ps: I had a picture of that result, but I deleted it because i didn't realize i'd be blogging this... let's not judge here. After the second process, i loaded my hair with a good amount of organic coconut oil and put it in a single braid at the (get this lingo) nape of my neck. That's how i went to sleep.
Anyhoo, what's thoroughly impatient girl to do when she feels that just about all of her red color is gone? Go buy blonde dye, of course! To the drugstore i flew the next morning to get my Feria Ultimate Platinum!... but they didn't have it, so i opted for Absolute Platinum.

Looks fancy, right? Exactly... it's sure to work!
I rushed home, to get my blonde on! But i had thought about a comment my friend puddin made about being a "slave to my roots" and figured i would pretend to be a pro and try to give myself a bit of an ombre look.. i'm not a pro.. i'm an idiot. I applied the blonde dye to my roots first, skipping sections to make sure some of my roots would be blonde and some of them would stay dark... because that's what i vaguely remembered possibly seeing one time a year ago on youtube... i left the color on my roots in a plastic capr for about 50 minutes before applying the rest of the dye to my almost blonde but still a bit pink remaining hair. i replaced the plastic cap and left that on for another 30 minutes?... then i washed it out, applied the anti brass conditioner that comes with the dye and rinsed that out after 7 minutes....
Um... So... remember i said i was an idiot?... I wasn't kidding. WTF WAS I THINKING????? My "technique" and impatience left me with some pretty nice blonde hair... with pink, orange and dark brown roots!!! Wha-...wha-...What was i going to do? Like... wtf was life supposed to be with this hair? I couldn't help but laugh at how bad it was. But maybe.. it was just because it was wet? I deep conditioned for an hour with coconut oil in a plastic cap. Rinsed that out and went to bed, convinced that i'd wake up to fairly decent hair.
HA! My roots laughed in my face! They literally laughed and did a dance of humiliating severeness on my head...

Notice the anger on my sleepy "i just worke up to hair that hates me" face... notice the legit blondeness, yet absence of roots because i wouldn't dare photograph those warlocks....I knew i had to quit life right then and there... OR... (warning, amazingly bright idea coming) I just go get more platinum dye and redo it. Right? Just try the blonde one more time! BRILLIANT!.. but wait.. i don't want to be Amber Rose's brown-skinned twin...right! I was going for ombre right? Ombrizzle fo shizzle right? Ombreezy fo sheezy right? Om- sorry. Um... i'll go darker in the roots! I'll go... black? NO! Brown...Chocolate brown! CHESTNUT BROWN!!! To the drugstore!... with a scarf on!

I stared at the browns for a good thousand years because... I have NEVER shopped for brown dye before. All i knew was 1. I love loreal products. 2. I have to buy something.
I opted to shop the Preference line and landed on this little gem...

Number 5CB "Medium Chestnut Brown" in the "warmer" colors. Ran home, locked the bathroom door, divided my hair into four sections (two in front, two in back), mixed the color in the applicator bottle and applied the color to my roots, and used my fingers to rake the color through my hair to the not-quite-halfway point of the length of my hair, so there wasn't a stark line of difference between the brown and blonde. I did this with each section, making sure to keep the length of the brown the same for each section. Then i sloppily clipped all of my hair together where the blonde began, used the excess color in the bottle to really get my edges covered and put a plastic cap on. Ps: i knew that some of the brown dye would get on some of the blonde, but i figured that it would help with the ombre effect.

After sitting for 30 minutes or so, i washed the color out, used the brown dye's conditioner on the brown part of my hair and the anti-brass conditioner on my blonde ends.. rinsed and FELL IN LOVE!!!! 

Here it is! Just air-dried.. as u can see, my hair has no personality or consistency when it comes to texture... it's just hair. So i braided it...

And the color looked pretty dope! I was convinced that i was now an ombre master!... in my head. 

But I needed to style my hair with no heat and i figured i'd give Bantu Knots a try. And this is the end result of that...

Maaaaybe not perfect, but there is definitely more volume and texture in my hair. And the color really looks amazing! I'll try this again, but with bigger chunks of hair, since my hair is so deceivingly fine.

There you have it folks! I'm back to blonde, with a new twist! So happy with my results! I swear, I am just like you and i have had my share of mishaps and fails... but i recommend that we all just keep pushing the envelope and trying new ways to Dazzle! It usually ends up being well worth it. *flips newly colored hair* ha!

For more of me:

www.facebook.com/yourmk

Instagram: @RacquelMUA

The Makeup Social: @Racquel_G

And for bookings, contact 

RacquelMUA@gmail.com

or

www.styleseat.com/RacquelMUA