natural beauty how-to: cabaret girl

The Look:

Cabaret girl, Night Out, Bold Colors

The Makeup:

Fruit Pigmented Lip and Cheek Tint – Cranberry Glow
Fruit Pigmented Lip Glaze – Fruit Punch
Fruit Pigmented Satin Eye Shadow – Tahiti
Fruit Pigmented Eye Shadow – Pewter, St. Tropez
Creamy Liquid Eyeliner – Blackberry
Fruit Pigmented Mascara – Black Tea

The How To:

Start with a freshly primed face of foundation and concealer where needed. With the included liquid eyeliner brush, thickly line the upper eyelids just above the eyelashes, going back over any thin areas. The brush is very fine, so if you make a mistake, take a q-tip and gently roll it over the mistake, or simply keep making the line thicker and thicker until both lids are the same thickness! Still using the liquid eyeliner, draw a thick line just at and above your eyelid crease, following the natural curvature of your lids. Again, if the line looks funny or uneven, keep adding to the line until both eyes match. With this look, it’s go big or…stay home. Next, connect the eyeliner at your crease with the eyeliner at your lashes by extending both lines out until they meet, forming a little V-shape at the outer corner of each eye. Now that you have crazy purple eyeliner on, use it as your template for the rest of the eye-shadow application.

Using the Pewter eyeshadow, apply it with an angled brush to the inside of the V-shape you just made at your outer eye. The outer 1/3 of each lid should now be shaded in. Smudge some Pewter at your lower lashline, going right up to the lashes and blending with the brush as you go. Keep adding until you are happy with the level of smokiness. Use any leftover Pewter on your brush to darken your eyebrows. With a different eyeshadow brush, apply St. Tropez to the inner 2/3 of your eyes below the crease, completely filling in the space you made with the purple eyeliner.

To add shimmer and highlight to your smokey eye, use your ring finger (why that finger? It has the lightest touch and won’t pull at your skin! Years of pulling at the skin can lead to wrinkles. Oh no!) to apply the creamy satin eye shadow in Tahiti, blending from under your brow, down to meet the crease. Dab a little at the inner corners of your eyes to make your eyes look open and spaced further apart! Apply two coats of Black Tea mascara, wiggling the brush at the roots as you apply (to add fullness), allowing to dry between each coat.

This look requires bold cheeks, so I chose the Lip and Cheek Tint in Cranberry Glow. When used sparingly, it imparts a lovely rosey, just bitten look. When applied heavily, you get doll cheeks! Apply the tint straight to the apples of your cheeks, moving in small circles. Using your ring finger, blend the edges outward so the line is not so drastic, dabbing at the middle too, to even out the color. Last but not least, put on some Lip Glaze in Fruit Punch! Keep applying it throughout the night. It tends to act as a sheer stain, so the more you put on, the darker it is.

The What For:

If you are going to an event such as this, where you are heavily made up and ready to dance your booty off, you will no doubt end up kissing a cutie there. For your information, the lip glaze has passed the official kiss test. The official kiss test had one male participant who answered the following questions after a passionate smooch:

“Does it taste funny?” “No.”
“Does it feel sticky?” “No.”
“Do my lips feel soft?” “Yes.”
“Did it get on your face?” “No.”

Ok, it sort of got on his face, but it was well placed and easily wiped off.

I love this liquid eyeliner because it stays put all night and really won’t budge, but it doesn’t hurt to take it off, unlike most conventional eyeliners. It also smells very strongly of berries, because it is made with blackberries! How cool.

Happy dancing and kissing, everyone!

natural beauty how-to

After getting a new shipment of 100% Pure makeup from Alex+Von last week, I decided to start doing a few different “looks” with the makeup so everyone can see how beautiful it looks on! Since I am the easiest model to book so far, I decided to use myself as the canvas first.

The Makeup

Fruit Pigmented Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 – Peach Bisque
Fruit Pigmented Nourishing Concealer – Peach Bisque
Healthy Flawless Skin Foundation Powder SPF 20 – Peach Bisque
Fruit Pigmented Eyeshadow – Toffee
Fruit Pigmented Ultra Lengthening 100% Natural Mascara – Black Tea
Pretty Naked Neutral Face Palette

The Look

Going to work at the salon, fresh-faced, not overdone.

The How-To

Start with a washed, lightly moisturized face. Even though Im using a tinted moisturizer here, my face was feeling extra dry, so I moisturized beforehand. Put a small dot of tinted moisturizer on cheeks, nose, forehead and chin, and blend. Dot on concealer where needed and blend. I used some under my eyes and some on an old acne scar. With a large foundation brush, apply powder where you tend to get oily. For me, it was my forehead, chin, and cheeks.

It’s time to use the “Pretty Naked Palette!” Apply blush (color – Blushing) to the contours of your cheeks, and a little on the apples of your cheeks, using a blush brush. With an eyeshadow brush, apply the darker color (Naked) up to your eyelid crease, and apply the lighter color (Bare) from crease to brow-bone, as well as above the cheekbones, for added highlight and shimmer. For sparse brows (mine!), using an angled eyeliner brush, making short strokes, apply “Toffee” eyeshadow to sparse areas of the eyebrow. Apply two coats of mascara, and dot on the palette’s lighter tinted gloss (Nude). Ready to go!

The Side Notes

I was a little apprehensive of how the “Pretty Naked” palette would look on me. Is it too light? It is going to look boring? After trying all of the shades included, I find that it is a subtle makeup look that adds a little glow, a little shimmer, but just enough. I felt pretty but not too “done.” I am fair-skinned, but tan well in the summer, even though I wear sunscreen religiously. Maybe I don’t reapply enough? Either way, I get a little color on my face sometime around June. I think that the tinted moisturizer runs a little bit dark in comparison to the powder and concealer, so order down one shade if you are worried about finding the right shade. Come this June, I plan on using the tinted moisturizer, but will stick to just powder and concealer until then.

PS!

I am always looking for more beautiful girls to do makeovers on! Contact me here if you would like to test out natural products, or if you are curious about any of the items I used in this look. I am an Alex+Von consultant, specializing in 100% Pure Products, and I love it!

recipe: faux buttermilk pancakes

I have discovered the perfect gluten free, vegan pancake recipe. After much trial and error, this is it! These pancakes are thick, fluffy, do not stick to the pan, and are so so SO satisfying in a way that real buttermilk pancakes of the past used to satisfy. When I took my first bite, I jumped with joy and screamed. Now I can die happy one day, knowing that I have created my dream pancake! The recipe is relatively simple with the exception of a little prep work-proccessed almonds-which I always seem to have on hand, since I make my own almond milk semi-frequently. What are processed almonds and how do I make them? Here is the recipe!

Faux Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients

1 C. Brown Rice Flour
1/2 C. Tapioca Flour
1/2 C. Soaked, Ground Almonds (brazil nuts work well too)
3 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 C. Unsweetened Almond Milk/Brazil Nut Milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
3 Tsp. Ener-G egg Substitute
1 Tbsp. Ground Flax Seeds
4 Tbsp Warm Water
3 Tsp Agave
2 Tbsp Melted Earth Balance
1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract

In a large bowl, whisk brown rice, tapioca, and almond flours, baking soda, and salt until combined. Set aside.
In a medium sized, microwaveable bowl, combine flax meal, water, and Ener-G egg replacer. Whisk, microwave for 20 seconds, then stir again to combine. I find that egg replacer and water don’t thicken up unless they are microwaved, which gives it a gooey, egg like consistency, and a thicker pancake batter. To the liquid mixture, add melted earth balance, almond milk, agave, and vanilla extract. Whisk or stir until well combined, then add to flour mixture and whisk until well batter looks thick with only a few small lumps. Do not over-stir!
Heat a medium sized, non-stick skillet to medium heat and add a tiny bit of earth balance to coat the bottom. Pour 1/3 Cup of batter onto skillet and wait until you see a few bubbles pop, then flip. Pancake should be golden brown. Add a few chocolate chips or thawed blueberries before flipping, if you like! Just a warning, if you add frozen blueberries, the batter tends to get too soft around each blueberry, resulting in a mushy texture that isn’t so awesome. Therefore, thaw the berries, or hold off altogether. I find that this pancake is so awesome plain, it doesn’t need much but a drizzle of pure maple syrup and some fruit on the side.

Enjoy immediately! Feeds 2 hungry vegans/makes about 6 large pancakes.