sometimesyaya

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Tinted Moisturizer

Last week I was invited to Wonderland to check out the launch of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics new Tinted Moisturizer.There may be some sort of bias going on because I’m such a fan of the brand, but it’s not without merit. The brand is always spot on with their pigmentation and efficiency in their products. The moisturizer is no different. It follows the same coloring skin as the OCC airbrush system and can be apply by brush, hand, or sponge (not with airbrush).My shade is Y2. A pea sized amount is enough for practically full face coverage.It blends right into the skin and provides gentle coverage. It is no miracle shellac for your problem areas, but then again, would the name make you think it was?

The biggest plus about this is that unlike many “tinted moisturizers” I’ve tried in the past, this one actually delivers on both ends. It moisturizes and it contains a real tint. The coloring gives your skin a sort of a light wash and does the equivalent of some light photography retouching. The moisturizing half of it leaves your skin even and made mine feel sort of like soft suede (if that makes sense).
Check out two models wearing the product:
Fellas need moisturizing too!

Though the bottle doesn’t look amazingly large in size, it is bound to last for eons as with all things OCC. It retails for $25 and is now available on the site and at Wonderland.

Check out my OCC Tint video:

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Accessorize Me Rachel!

It is unclear what makes one month that much more special than others, but May by far has taken the cake. It brought some long lasting warm weather, flowers, get togethers, sales, the end of school (for me), and many more. The credit can’t go all to May, but I feel like it deserves some credit.

The Makeup Show is one of the great events coming up (this Sunday and Monday! you coming?), and I’m giddy. It comes once a year to New York, and beyond the shopping and close proximity to the beauty industry extravaganza, it’s also a great time to meet ladies from all over the east coast (and even internationally) that fashionably arrive for the event. I’ve had my share of being stood up with style choices (I often aim for comfort because I’m familiar with my shopping habits and knack for carrying far too much on these here shoulders), so I made a quick visit to Macy’s to get a leg up. The accessories counters are fantastico. Maybe it’s my shopping diet, maybe it’s my recent need to clean out my unnecessary belongings, but everything looked so darn cute. The start player? Rachel Roy! I still tried to remain faithful to some sort of budget, so I kept the trip short and stuck to earrings. Let me know which catch your eye.
Buy any accessories lately?

http://widget.shopstyle.com/widget?pid=uid4724-679582-60&look=3111713&width=4&height=1&layouttype=0&border=0&footer=0

More Rachel Roy…

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Taking Care of Your Makeup Brushes

This year has been a transitional one for me, where I have been more assertive with the things I’d like to see done. Fitness/health and education were the first to be checked off the list. Yours truly started to walk like it was going out of style and finally buckled down with completing my degree. It’s amazing what you can do when you get mad at yourself for wasting time! Then came work. Though I am always looking, I was fortunate enough to expand doing makeup beyond just events and dabble in photo shoots. This is my year for getting comfortable with making makeup translate beyond real life – and through the lens.

A lot of photo shoots involve plenty of preparation and nearly only half as much time is spent doing the shoot. Time flies in between meeting models, translating ideas into reality, and cleaning up. Here is the second part of the prepwork. The first half of the process involves making sure you have everything to create a look and then a little bit more just in case you get creative freedom.

The second part is all about cleaning and setting everything up to be used again next shoot. Brushes need special attention, because sometimes a hectic shoot and a tired Yaya equal a disorganized kit heading home. My process is usually standing at the sink squeezing some Blendercleanser onto my brushes and then making sure my brushes are clean. Once done, I usually have a small towel ready to be the drying area for my brushes. They stick around overnight (and sometimes longer) and we’re good to again. This practice isn’t so bad when used in between shoots, but it’s really time consuming when cleaning brushes for personal use.

I was super excited to hear about Sigma Beauty‘s Dry’n Shape system, where you can set your brushes to dry and reshape in four to six hours. The material holding the brushes helps reshape and evaporate the moisture out of the brush, and makes your life just a bit easier. And if you’re anything like me, it’s a money saver as well, because now you don’t need two sets of brushes for when the other is preoccupied. The system holds twelve brushes at a time and has variety in sizing to accommodate all shapes and brands, and retails for $29.00. Consider it preventative maintenance and an insurance policy on your brushes.

(p.s. If I need to clean a brush on set, my favorite is Clinique Makeup Brush Cleanser, you spray it on the brush and then wipe the excess onto a paper towel or small towel, the brush will be clean and dry within minutes).

How do you clean your brushes?

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Fashion Bug Fall 2011 Preview

Recently I was invited to check out a preview of Fashion Bug‘s Fall Collection. Though I was admittedly barely familiar with the brand, I quickly started to formulate a shopping list in my head. The brand is very friendly to almost every single woman in the whole wide world. Fashion Bug‘s size range is from size six to size thirty. Yup. You heard me right. The younger audience counter part, Loop18 was launched for an overall teenage audience and there the sizes range from nine to twenty-seven. Fashion Bug has embraced that they are no longer a company for just the thirty and older market. Fashionistas no longer need an age assignment to the audience to find a deal and especially to find something original and cute. Lending their eyes and ears to what is trending, the Fashion Bug design team concocted their own prints for a fresh fall collection.My favorite part about learning more about the brand was hearing that most of the costume jewelry is no more than twenty to twenty five dollars. Several accessories caught my eye like this leopard print clutch and the mixed metal earrings. I am looking forward to August to find some of the accessories and tops that caught my eye at Fashion Bug. In the meantime, I will whet my palette with some of their spring and summer options.

Have you ever shopped at Fashion Bug?

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Christian Siriano for Spiegel

Something about the warm weather and the start of the month of May that puts everything into overdrive. The trees bloom practically overnight, events and parties accumulate in your in-box faster than you can open your e-mail, but your closet remains static.

Photo Credit: Spiegel Graphics Courtesy of: MyOwnJudge.net

For the sake of saving money, the advice is always to use affordable methods to spice up your clothing. But sometimes the only spice is a new item. Maybe it’s just me, but the warm weather brings out the shopaholic in me, yearning to check out every store’s display on a weekly basis as if to make sure I didn’t miss a thing (oh – too much sharing?).

If you have designer taste working with a student’s budget (sounds like me!), take advantage of all the partnerships going on between designers and mass market retailers like Target (Calypso St. Barth), Payless (Lela Rose, Isabel Toledo, Christian Siriano), and Spiegel. The latter partnered with Project Runway alum, Christian Siriano to create limited edition party dresses. These are great for dates, weddings, proms, you name it. And the price tag? It’s not so bad – just a little spicy.

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A MUD(dy) American Idol

Turning on the television set often becomes a scavenger hunt if you’re watching a reality show or a popular prime-time series. Stylists and brands compete to be your household’s keepsake, and a thirty second commercial just doesn’t do the trick anymore.

The magic really happens when you products are actually being used onscreen. How many times have you wondered what lip gloss or foundation an artist or character was sporting, or where you can get that exact top? Now how many times did you find an answer that actually pointed you somewhere instead of creating an inspiration and letting you go forth with a silhouette and a compass? Not today.

Photo Credit: American Idol

If you’ve been following American Idol, you’re almost ready to crown a new artist as your favorite for the season. Though long ago it seemed that an Idol winner would only have fifteen minutes in the spotlight, the new crop of artists are weathering through the times (or maybe they have more talent? What do you think?). Even if they stay back on the chopping block, they almost always undergo a style makeover.

The performers on American Idol have been getting gussied up with the help of Make-Up Designory (MUD) as the foundation for their pretty faces to grace plenty an HD (or non-HD) screen across the country. Show makeup artists use the brand’s foundation and concealer palettes to start the looks and count on the product to last through every agonizing commercial break to find out who made it to the next week.

The brand has comprehensive kits for artists varying in light and dark shades, but if you want to perfect your makeup application skills, start by purchasing a single shade for yourself. I used to be a fan of moisturizing my skin and then going straight to bronzer and mascara before jetting for the door, but a little bit of foundation and a couple of concealer dots around the eyes really pulls a look together.

My favorite feature of the website is that there is a chart explaining how to apply the product on your face, and where to do it. The foundation page shows you what spots aren’t to be missed, and the corrector page advises on the motions in which you should apply product (I always thought to pull from the inside of the eye out, but apparently I’ve been terribly mistaken!).

Who’s your Idol fave?

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LORAC Sale!

In case you wanted to shower mom with some more gifts post Mother’s Day, or just reward yourself for being such a great you, LORAC has just the sale for you launching on Hautelook today.

Although what’s for sale is never released ahead of time, hopefully some of their deeply pigmented eyeshadows and bronzers are available for purchase. Items start at $1.99 and as always, a sale so swell can only last as long as a mystery (ahem 48 hours or so). Not a member? Click here to join.

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Who Runs The World?

I’m glad we’re somewhat venturing back to the days of when teasers to music videos were entertaining, and music videos were being awaited as feverishly as the last Harry Potter movie (though I do love me some Hogwarts moving pictures). The teaser for Beyonce‘s new video has been released, and though I’m not completely won over by the track, the video looks like a fashion shoot on steroids, and I can’t wait for the rest.
http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/yo033.swf

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Sunrise, Sunset

As I sat at my laptop marveling at the beautiful scenery all around the new watch collection on La Mer Collection‘s website, I kept singing Fiddler on the Roof‘s Sunrise Sunset (and though the characters in the song sing about people getting older and time flying, I thought the same about having done nothing for the day and it being past midnight).The site is super user friendly, allowing you to preview what the watch would look like, while simulating the background (all tropical and worry free, in case you were wondering – no rain or work there!). Your time and numerous time zones are listed in the top left corner, as the narrative scrolls below.

The super affordable watches ($48) are perfect for summer (or mom!), with a band that’s of a comfortable enough material to withstand the heat without frying your wrist or peeling off a layer of skin. Plus – whether you’re like me and sweat like a nervous tick from the lightest activity, or you’re a sports fan (or fanatic…), the watch lets you sweat it all out without ruin.Night (you can tell what time I was drafting this!)SunriseMiddaySunset

Which part of the day are you? Night owl? Morning person?

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A Suave Thundering Style

Very rarely can you spot a celebrity walk the red carpet and find an (inexpensive) identical match to the methods used to construct their hair or makeup (unless they’re spokespeople for drugstore brands – that doesn’t count!). More often than not, there is a “steal and splurge” comparison of the real to the steal and how you can ‘pull it off.’ So when my a little birdie told me that Kat Dennings strutted her stuff (check out the cleavage!) on the red carpet to the Thor premiere with her locks maintained by super wallet friendly Suave, I was impressed. The products are almost completely all cheaper than a five dollar footlong!

Image Credit: Zimbio

The starlet’s hair looked like the perfect middle between walking past the mirror and slaving for hours with rollers and products in front of the mirror. Suave Professional Celeb Stylist, Jenny Cho said the goal was to infuse a lot of sexy 80s attitude into the hair’s look and texture.

1. Apply Suave Professionals Captivating Curls Whipped Cream Mousse to damp hair and layer on Suave Professionals Sleek Anti-Frizz Cream to tame any frizz and flyways. Diffuse hair until completely dried.

2. Curl hair with a 1 inch and a 1/ ¼ inch curling iron to create an uneven, natural-looking texture. Start by curling a one inch section of hair from the nape and be sure to spray each section with Suave Professionals Touchable Finish Lightweight Hold Hairspray before curling each section for a long lasting hold. Tip: curl each section in different directions for an uneven organic look.

3. Follow this technique until all hair is curled. Flip hair and mist a little Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo for extra body that will hold volume throughout the night.

4. As a finishing touch, add a few stokes of Suave Professionals Vibrant Shine Spray for beautiful, healthy waves.

Check out the brand on Twitter (@SuaveBeauty) and Facebook.

Will you be recreating this style?

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