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Makeup in the car - bad idea!

I was recently berated by a well-meaning friend for applying makeup in the car on the basis that it is dangerous. This is true but in my defence I only apply makeup when stopped at the lights and I have only had one car accident while applying mascara…ever! (I was in a traffic jam and didn’t put my foot on the brake so bumped into the car in front – no damage to either car but I was red-faced). This got me thinking about whether the car is actually the best place and I decided probably not. Supporting this decision were some interesting experiences I have had while applying makeup in the car:

• 

  Clockwork Orange

  Once when applying mascara in the car, I put sunglasses on immediately afterward and then swept them up onto my head. Little did I know that the mascara was still wet and it completely smudged my upper eyelids creating a Clockwork Orange effect. I was dropping my sister off to school at the time and wondered why all the other parents were looking at me strangely. Back in the car, I was mortified. I now make sure my mascara is dry before I leave the house…or car.

• One evening occasion, I pulled out the wrong foundation powder and spot reapplied make up. Given the poor lighting conditions, I didn’t realise I had multicoloured foundation all over my face. I looked like I was aiming for a camouflage effect. Fortunately the friend I was visiting told me immediately…well as soon as she stopped laughing.
• 

  Bad Hair Day

  Brush my hair…ever. I think some madness came over me in this circumstance. After the beach one day I decided to brush my hair then drove to the shops with all the windows down. My hair is curly and without product is frizzy so combined with salt water, by the time I reached the shops, I looked like Young Einstein.

Pondering my makeup mistakes lead me to bad habits. I think the only significant habit I have that affects my skin is hot showers but there are a few others that may contribute to skin complaints. In no particular order these are bad habits to avoid:

1. Going to bed with your makeup on. This is a no-no particularly if you have congested, acne-prone or oily skin. Leaving makeup on stops your skin breathing and repairing properly at night. It can also contribute to congestion. I know it is cold at the moment and washing off makeup is often the last thing you feel like doing but think about how clean your skin will feel. It is worth it.
2. Exfoliating too frequently. Exfoliating 2-3 times a week is ideal. Any more than this can cause the skin to react by thickening in response which is the opposite effect than is generally desired.
3. Not drinking enough water. We all know it but too little water can contribute to dehydrated skin. I am substituting a couple of glasses of water for herbal tea at the moment which is fine. Coffee and soft drink don’t count as substitutes!
4. Not taking the weather into account when buying a new moisturiser. I know I probably bang on about this but winter in Australia is drier and so we need richer moisturiser. And in summer, go for a lighter lotion. Listen to what your skin is telling you…if it feels dry and tight even after applying moisturiser, you probably need to change to a richer cream. If it feels oil, go for a lighter lotion.

That’s it from me. I don’t want to sound too much like I am on a soap box…not after I admitted to applying make up while driving! Do you have any bad habits or makeup mistakes you want to share. I would love to hear about them.

• Firstly, application technique is important when it comes to mineral make up. Mineral makeup that contains pure minerals doesn’t need to be buffed into the skin. Only those that contain bismuth oxychloride (a potentially irritating ingredient that should be avoided) require buffing to bring up the shine in the individual particles. Pure and pressed mineral powders only need to be brushed on. For more application techniques, view this video or read more here.
• Secondly, skin hydration is essential. Dry skin cannot be camouflaged by mineral powder so it is absolutely necessary to apply a good moisturiser prior to application.
• Thirdly, you can’t test mineral makeup on the back of your hand. You need to try it on your face. This is important so you see the cover it provides as well as colour matching to the underlying skin tone of the face (not the hand).
• Lastly, when it comes to mineral makeup, you get what you pay for! Cheaper brands tend to be bulked out with talc which doesn’t provide as good cover and is not ideal if you suffer from congestion or acne-prone skin. Look for a mineral foundation that contains no talc and no bismuth oxychloride.

Liquid Foundation

So for many mineral makeup is an ideal choice. However, there are some that still love liquid foundations and so for them this will be the only choice. While liquids don’t cover as well as mineral foundations, they do contain moisture, which may be better if you have dry or dehydrated skin. Liquid foundation also tends to give a dewy, glowing look rather than a matte appearance.

Do you stock organic makeup?
Well yes…and no. We only sell natural and organic skincare at Vitale and so “yes” is the simple answer, but I would like to clear up some confusion about the difference between organic and inorganic materials. Only living plant material can be classed as organic. Minerals by their very nature are inorganic materials. This doesn’t mean they contain any nasty chemicals or are petrochemical based, it means that the minerals in mineral makeup are natural, but not organic (i.e. not plant based).

To potentially confuse this issue further, mineral makeup may contain ingredients that are organic such as vitamin E or herbal extracts and so are labeled as containing organic ingredients but really the majority of the product is made up from inorganic minerals. This almost boarders on greenwashing for me but then I am probably just being pedantic!

While I love eye make up, my own style is quite boring and generally consists of grey eyeliner and mascara. Occasionally I glam up and apply some grey blue eyeshadow (Dream is my favorite) or even a dusky pink (I love Vintage) but it is rare. And so in the spirit of all things adventurous I started looking around for eye makeup ideas and came across some great video blogs from EcoTools. I have listed the links below and a bit of detail about each one. If you do try out any of these shades or styles, please let me know…and I will share my experiences next month. In the meantime if you see me in store with bright green eyeshadow, I am not trying to emulate Kermit the Frog…I am just trying something new!

• How to do Cat Eyes – this is such a simple but sassy look. To do easily use the Bamboo Angled Eyeliner Brush and Bamboo Eyeshading Brush. The eye colours you can use are:
  • Charm as a base colour with Lust or Serene as highlighting colours.
  • Or Its a Girl with black liquid eyeliner

• How to create a Smokey Eye – this is the ultimate in sultry eye makeup. Although this eye is often created using quite dark shades (black & grey) you can also adapt it using dark and light blue, dark brown and copper or even brown purple shades with antique pink. Be creative with this technique. I have previously done a video using Dream and Flirt from Minerelle but also recommend Ere Perez Smokey Eye Duo. For a different take, celebrity makeup artist Meredith Baraf talks through her technique using brown tones. Naturally she uses EcoTools brushes which are great from an eco-perspective – they are vegan, made from recycled materials and fast growing bamboo which has a low impact on the environment.

I will bring you more videos from our brands over the next few months as they bring new perspectives and tips. If you have any eye makeup application tips you would like to share please do so. I would love to read about them…and then try them out. And while I think green eyeshadow can look great…on me it looks awful so I take back my Kermit the Frog quip!

Making my own Beetroot Cheek Tint is something I have wanted to do for ages. So this week when I received two big beetroots in my weekly organic food box, I decided that the time was now. Below I have outlined each step with photographs and directions so you can also give it a go:

Ingredients:

• 1 small beetroot (organic is ideal)
• 30mls of vegetable glycerin (I couldn’t get any at the time so used pharmaceutical grade glycerin from the chemist)

Utensils: a vegetable grater, a saucepan, a double boiler or aluminium bowl and water for the double boiler.

Step 1. Set the water in saucepan to boil and then grate about half the beetroot into the bowl (the instructions I had said 45g – I guesstimated how much that was):

Approx 45g of fresh beetroot

Step 2. Add 30 mls of Glycerin to the grated beetroot and place the bowl on gently boiling water.

Press the juice out of the beetroot so it mixes with the glycerine

Step 3. Stir grated beetroot and glycerin for about 10 minutes on a gentle heat. You know it is done when the beetroot starts to look limp and the liquid is deep red. Once complete, remove from the double boiler and strain into a jar (or a receptacle that has a lead so you can seal it from the air).

The finished product. Wait until cool before use!

Step 4. Kept in a sealed container, in the fridge, your cheek tint should last about 3 months. You can apply the tint to your cheeks or lips as below:

Prior to blending in!

The tint is quite liquid and blends in very easily. You may need more than one application.

Viola! My very own cheek tint!

I had an assistant during the process of making the cheek tint. He wasn’t much help but very good company:

My pooch Edmond. He does get underfoot but is very cute.

Please let me know if you have made any DIY skin care products. I would love to hear about your experiences and find out some more recipes.

I love wearing lipstick and am definitely a red lipstick girl. For me red lips are associated with glamor and elegance so the allure of a new red lipstick is always high on my agenda. This season I am in luck. The trend has moved away from beige (which makes me look like I am about to throw up) and pale pink (anemia anyone?) to bold reds and I for one am excited.

Red lips are actually quite a traditional look stemming from the 1920′s when

Minerelle Marie Lipstick

shades of red were the only shade available. Fortunately by the 20′s lipstick was a sign of female empowerment rather than a sign of being a fast woman as it was previously seen!

The thing about wearing red lipstick is that it tends to stand out so wearing red lipstick is a state of mind. Wear it with confidence whatever the shade or style.

A few red lip trends and tips:

1. Go for gloss – glossy shiny lips with a hint of colour rather than a bold statement of red.

2. Choose a sheer red – I have a sheer red lipstick that gives the idea of red lips

Ere Perez Life Lip Bar

without the intense rich colour of a matte lipstick.

3. Blot back the colour – for a softer red look, apply a matte lipstick and blot back with a tissue.

4. Choose the correct shade of red for your skin tone. I have a blue skin undertone and so only wear blue-reds. If you have a yellow skin undertone, you can choose from the ocher reds as well.

5. Reapply during the day – I tend to arrive at work with lovely red lips and by mid-morning I have eaten most of it off (I snack frequently!). To maintain your elegant red lipped look, reapply after eating, drinking or kissing!

6. As to the above point, if you are going to eat off the lipstick you are wearing, make sure you choose natural products. Apparently women can eat up to 2kg of lipstick in their lifetime (I have yet to verify this fact however, I can only imagine how much I have eaten since I started wearing lipstick…certainly a goodly amount) and there is still the lingering risk of conventional red lipsticks containing lead (read more about this here).

Back in the bad old days (!) when I used conventional skincare and makeup I had about 20 different shades of red (told you I was obsessed). Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, a good natural or organic red is harder to find…but I have still managed to come up with half a dozen or so!

My favorite natural red is Lavera 20 which is a burgundy red with a blue base. It

is oh-so-bright so I usually wear it when I am going out. A great day time red is Lavera 18 which is called light berry but with a definite red look and feel about it. For a dramatic, not-to-be-ignored red, try Minerelle Marie. This red is not for the faint-hearted!

For those with yellow undertoned skin, Lavera 27 is the true red of choice. Gorgeous and intense, wear it with confidence!

Me with Red Lips!

If you prefer tints or gloss, try Ere Perez Life Lip Bar (the merest hint of glossy red) or EcoTints Plus Red for a stronger but still a sheer look. Another brand that has a few good shades of sheer red is Hemp Organics.

PS apart from red, the other shade of lipstick I wear are plum and dark pink – I pretty much go for strong, bright colours. When it comes to lipstick, subtlety is not my forte!

Over the weekend I went to Panyiri, the Greek Festival in Brisbane. I ate so many honey puffs, I am sure I looked like one by the time I left. Yum! There

Foundation - too dark, too much bronzer

were people from all ages at the event and lots of teenagers dressed to the nines. One thing I did notice and just have to comment on is the number of teenage girls and young women to wearing foundation that too dark for their natural skin tone. Correctly colour matched foundation can hide flaws and smooth out skin tone. By contrast, foundation in the wrong shade can create a sharp contrast between the skin tone of the face when compared to the neck and body. It can also leave obvious foundation lines along the jaw and hair-line.

The reason I comment is that so many of these young women have gorgeous skin and it is such a shame to see it being masked by layers of the wrong colour foundation in an attempt, I can only think, to look more tanned. So this blog looks at some of the myths associated with choosing the correct coloured foundation and how to choose the best shade for your skin.

1. Skin Tone
It is important to have an idea of your underlying skin tone so that you choose foundation that suits. For instance, yellow toned foundation makes me look like I am about to be sick which isn’t a look I aim for.

On their website, Lavera describes how to work out your skin tone:
If you belong to the cool types, your skin has a cool, bluish foundation tone. The hair has a cool ash tone and can also range from blonde to dark brown. A simple test: Place a silver-coloured cloth under your face this allows your complexion to glow, whereas a gold-coloured cloth makes the skin look tired. If you belong to the cooler type, these colours, for example, will suit you: black, light grey, pink, cold rose, lilac, claret, ice blue, marine, silver, mint, stone grey

If you belong to the warm types, your complexion has a yellow – golden foundation tone. The hair always has a warm gold shimmer or honey tone and can range from middle blonde to gold-brown, from red to brown. Your personal test: Hold a gold-coloured cloth under your chin – if your complexion appears noticeably fresher, you belong to the warmer type. In contrast, a silver-coloured cloth makes you appear pale and washed-out. If you belong to the warmer type, these colours for example, will suit you: tomato, chocolate brown, cream, salmon, apricot, olive, brick red, orange, moss green.

2. Testing Foundation
The most commonly myth about choosing foundation is that you can match it to the back of your hand or your wrist. If you hold up the back of your hand to your face you will see that they are quite different in tone and colour. Often hands have more sun damage and so the skin is darker than facial skin.

To test your foundation you should do so along the jaw line as this will give the best indication of your skin tone. You have to have a clean face to test foundation so don’t try and test over your existing foundation shade. Another no-no is trying to match to your foundation bottle. Try it on your skin. Foundation can look very different in a pallet or a bottle than it does on your skin.

3. Matching to your neck
Now this is controversial as most make up artists will tell you to make sure your make up matches the skin tone of your neck as well as your face. However in Australia many women have sun damage on the sides of their necks, which means that the skin on your neck may not be the same tone as the skin on your face. Match to your jawline first, then to your neck if you can.

4. Fake Tan or Vampires
I often see young women using very dark foundation in an attempt to match

Make up too pale

the fake tan on their bodies. This may be ok within the first few days of having the tan applied but after a week or so the foundation starts to look too dark. The alternative is to have fake tan lightly applied to your face and forego wearing any foundation at all. You can apply some bronzer or blush to give you colour which will give a more natural look. Or have two shades of foundation, one for use when tanned and one for use when your skin is natural.

The vampire look is another mistake often made and one that I have been guilty of in the past. It may not be immediately noticeable at first but will show up dramatically in photos. So if you see a photo of yourself looking like you have just popped out of a coffin for a midnight feast, time to change your make up.

5. The Eyes Have it

light concealer around the eyes

Another popular trend is to use light concealer around the eyes and then plenty of darker foundation or bronzer over the rest of the face. This look is fine if you want to look like you have been sun bathing in your sunglasses. Otherwise, match your concealer to your make up as well using the same techniques discussed above.

6. Professional Help
If you still feel that you need assistance with choosing a foundation shade, do yourself a favour and have your foundation shade colour matched by a cosmetics consultant. Drop into Vitale and we will happily test both Mineral or Natural Liquid foundations for you.

If you have a story about the wrong foundation or have had a positive experience please let me know.

I am a huge fan of Mineral Make Up in general, particularly an Australian brand called Minerelle. Mineral make up suits most skin types however, application styles can vary from product to product and certainly, the pressed mineral powders require less work on the skin than loose powders. Here I show how I apply Minerelle Make Up, a pressed mineral powder as well as discus the benefits of mineral make up in general.