Five Met Gala Beauty Looks You Should Try Now!

If you pay attention to the fashion/entertainment world any at all then you would know that the Metropolitan Costume Gala Ball was last night. What the heck is the Met Gala? Well wikipedia gives the simplest description:

The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Gala and also known as the Met Ball, is an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. It also serves as an opening celebration for the institute's annual fashion exhibit.^[1][2] It is widely regarded as one of the most exclusive social events in New York and one of the biggest fundraising nights of the city with a reported nine million dollars raised in 2013.^[3][4][5] The affair, attended by personalities from the arts, fashion and entertainment, has been held at the Met since 1971 and is considered to be the fashion industry's premier annual red carpet event.^[6][7][2]

Anna Wintour, Vogue editor-in-chief and chair of the event since 1995, oversees both the benefit committee and the guest list, withVogue staffers helping assemble the list of invitees.^[8] Each year the event has a theme, and includes a cocktail hour and a formal dinner.^[9][10] The gathering rivals the West Coast's Vanity Fair Oscar Party, which is said to have more "star power" but less fashion panache.^[11] In 2014, the ticket costs $25,000 for each guest.^[12][8]

 So basically, its the celebrities' best chance to get dolled up and look super fancy. While everyone was paying attention to what dresses and tuxes were being worn, I was zooming in for beauty looks that I could replicate. Here are five of my favourite looks that I think are universally flattering and that everyone should try at least once.

 Why it's pretty: This look stems around a statemnt lip colour that's beautiful because of it's depth. It takes a modern vibe with its balance between brown and red and the fact that she paired it with super subtle eyes, lashes and brows. The creamy, almost velvet complexion and the soft contour and higlighting kept it feminine and approachable not goth.

Why you should try it: You don't need to go out and buy a new lipstick when there are a million lip pencils in this shade. Blot your lips out with a creamy concealer to ensure smooth application and layer on the pencil with a lip brush. Finish with a dab of clear lip gloss and swipe your lids with a shimmery colour close to your skin tone to mimic her eye look. Skip fake lashes and just have a go at mascara and a thin line of black liner on the top lashes. Use a shimmery light gold on the bottom lids to balance the look and a light sweep of a raisin blush on your cheeks can act as bronzer and blush all in one go.

Why it's pretty: Um, hello? This is gorgeous and freshfaced and summery and glamorous all at once. A more subtle orangey-peachy lip pairs well with the gorgeous colour of her dress and lets her lashes and brows stand out in a natural beauty kind of way.

Why you should try it: I will be trying this out immediately. The colour on her lips remind me of the texture of the NARS pencil but it can be copied with lipstick, and powder dabbed over it to matte it down a bit. The same tone of peach was used on her cheeks, with flirty lashes and a thick cat eye on her upper lashes. The bottom lash line was lined with an iridescent gold liner (trend alert!). The foundation was on the sheer side  and what looks to be a cream highlighter or even diffuser was used sparingly in her inner corners and on the apples of her cheeks. TIP: if you're struggling with finding the right orange toned lip colour for yourself the key is that the lighter you are, the yellower the orange should be, and the darker, the redder the orange. 

 Why it's pretty: This is a fresh way of approaching an old staple. Brown smokey eyes is the sultrier sister to the original  smokey eyes, but the layer of glitter over it is a young way to liven up an old faithful

Why you should try it: If you're just about tired of doing a smokey eye but are absolutely in love with the way it makes your eyes stand out, then this is your refresher. Blend a chocolate and burgundy cream eyeshadow across your lids and under your bottom lashline, winging it out along your outer corners. Then dip into your shimmer and pat it across the lid and under the eyes, avoiding the outer colours where you need more depth. Line the top water line with a dark brown, and the bottom with a bronze liner. Then use a defining and lengthening mascara to pull your lashes out and up. Finish off with strong brows, a swipe of peach blush and a lipstain in a sorbet shade.

Why it's pretty: This is an all-time classic look, red lips and big lashes. It got a punk rock flavour with the gold leaf streak along her part but the fact is a red lip is always glamorous and classically pretty

Why you should try it: If you haven't sussed out a red lip colour that looks great on you yet, shame on you! Red is like high heels for your lips, if done properly there are few things more alluring. So pucker up and give your lips some glamour. Your lashes don't need to be so bold, you can skip the strip and go for two coats of a volumizing mascara or, try clusters instead of a strip. Pair it with winged liner on the top lids, a conversation starting ear cuff and sculpted eyebrows and you will have Rita Ora's look down to a tee.

Why it's pretty: This look screams spring/summer with the bright pastels paired up. Try to ignore the headband, I would actually pair this look with something less colourful than what Lupita wore, but the eyes and lips are too gorgeous to pass by. 

Why you should try it: If you are going to wear a bright colour on your lids, this is a fail safe way to wear it. Apply it messily around your eyes like an eyeliner and then go through and blend it outwards. Finish with a light sweep of blush (I would have chosen a sheerer blush than what she is wearing) and layer this pinky shade of bronze with a light swipe of a sheer purple gloss for a pretty effect.

I will be trying out these looks in the upcoming weeks. If you try any of them, post a picture and tag me #janekoysen so I can like it!

Till next time lovelies,

*Jane

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My Top 5 January Beauty Favourites

Hey dolls!

January has been a super awkward super busy month for me trying to balance some things that were left unfinished in December with things I wanted to accomplish for the first month of 2014. I have been chatting face to face, online and via email with a lot of you answering any questions I can and providing more details on previous posts so you can make sure you're getting the results you want from DIY treatments, the best products out there and the quickest, easiest most effective way to get things done.

My last favourites post got a pretty good response from y'all with several follow up questions and posts and I am contemplating posting a video to discuss all my favourites if time allows. In the meantime however, I thought I would share with you my top five favourites along with a short mini - review explaining why I like the particular product and how I've been using it. So without further ado, here they are :

L-R (clockwise) - Jennifer Lopez 'Love and Glamour'; Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Baby Eczema Therapy; Olay ProX Advanced Cleansing System; MAC Matte Powder Blush in 'Desert Rose'; MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in 'Gold Deposit'; Boots No. 17 High Drama Intense Liquid Eyeliner + Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Mascara

1. Perfume: Jennifer Lopez 'Love and Glamour

Now I am not a perfume girl. I've never bought a perfume or a body spray for myself ever. Ever. But, I do have family and friends that religiously buy me lovely smelling fragrances so I enjoy spritzing a different one on every day. This means that I do not have a signature scent and in my eyes that makes me less of a woman (JOKES!). But really, I strongly associate scent with persons and memories so I am seriously considering committing to one fragrance and riding that puppy home until the last drop. Over Christmas, a family member lovingly graced me with this scent. After a couple sprays to get the saturation out I started to really like it. It is a cross between sweet, musky and tangy with a clean almost woodsy top note. Its blurb reads: 

'Composition opens with notes of Italian mandarin, guava and nectarine pulp. A heart incorporates water lily, coconut orchid, orange blossom absolute and jasmine petals, while a base finishes with sandalwood, sensual musk and amber. While the fragrance was being created and developed, Lopez asked the perfumers to accentuate sandalwood at least a bit more and to make the fragrance a bit sexier…' (taken from  fragrantica.com)

True to form I can definitely notice the muskier notes but not in an ' old lady I use moth balls' kind of way. It lasts about 4-5 hours on me and as the scent fades it turns sweeter which I kind of like. You can pick up a bottle in any of those perfume stores in Half-Way-Tree or you can get it online here. I find myself spraying this as a daytime scent due to its lightness every single day. It crept up on me but I really have been enjoying it and could not leave it out of my January favourites.

2. Moisturizer : Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter

I picked this up from Earth Elements in Savannah Plaza because I was looking for a lighter version of Cocoa Butter that I could use at night without feeling sticky. I apply this from head to ankles (I have a different moisturizer made for feet that I am testing out) at night before bed and after a bath. This product appealed to me in particular because it was said to be baby safe while providing the necessary long-lasting moisture needed for eczema sufferers. Ingredients include shea butter, argan oil, safflower oil and evening primrose oil all in organic, naturally occurring forms. Basically I love this. I have pretty sensitive skin and sometimes depending on how much smoke I am exposed to or whether I am using a new bath soap my skin can break out into these tiny little bumps. They aren't super obvious and I can feel them more than I can see them, however once I apply this at night time they're virtually gone in the morning. The scent took a little getting used to because of the Frankincense & Myrrh that was added that is supposed to soothe a baby - to me it smells a little like the inside of an incense shop but it is not super strong and does not linger longer than a couple minutes. I will be repurchasing this but not for a while as this is a good sized tub and a little goes a long way. You can get yours at Earth Elements or online here.

3. Olay Pro X Advanced Cleansing System

The end of the year had me breaking out like crazy leaving me with skin the texture of a fifty-year old donkey. Basically I went mad searching for a solution that didn't involve an expensive chemical peel or an aesthetician poking stuff into my face. After a couple hours spent on the Makeup Alley app (download it in the Google Play store - you will not be sorry) I decided to get this skin care tool. I had used manual forms of this with great results- the Clean & Clear one with the vibrating pads and the L'oreal one with the scrublet. I had also heard quite a bit from the online beauty community about the Clarisonic but I also saw complaints about how it was too harsh on sensitive skin and the price tag was a no-go for me. I picked mine up at a Walmart while I was away because the prices were a bit too marked up down here, but even then I had to search a couple Walmarts to find one in stock. I was told by a worker there that as soon as they stock the shelves people come and buy them out - pretty good sign right? It is a rotating brush with two speeds and it comes with a scrub with micro-fine scrubbing particles. I use the scrub twice a week and my regular soap the other times. I am very very happy to say that my pores have remained unclogged, and the texture of my skin has vastly improved with regular use.  I don't know if what is going on with my skin is hormonal or not but it's no match for this little tool. I am very very happy with it and I keep praying that it will continue to work for a very very long time. I plan on doing a full review at the end of March when I will have used it for 3 months. You can pick this up at a pharmacy or online here.

4. MAC Powder Blush in 'Desert Rose'

I can't quite remember if my husband picked this up (with the help of a sales associate) for me or if I bought this myself at the MAC counter but I had neglected this for quite some time until I misplaced one of the blushes that I regularly reached for. This is a matte blush so on first application I was a little taken aback that it wasn't shimmering back at me like the blushes I had been reaching for during the Fall/Winter season. The colour and the finish make it subtle but extremely flattering on my skin and even though it's matte it blends like a dream - no joke! It's a nice cross between pink and red and I've found that I can pair it with more vibrant lip colours and with neutral glossier colours with equally flattering effects. If you swatch this you will probably be underwhelmed but apply it to the cheeks and it looks like a natural flush. It is also buildable for a more dramatic look and, if you want an even more dramatic look you can layer this up with cream blush to amp up your cheekbones. I see this becoming a staple colour for me - work, church, dates, girls night and I will repurchase this as soon as I hit pan (which thankfully won't be for a while). You can pick this up at a beauty counter near you, at the MAC store or online here.

5. MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in 'Gold Deposit'

I had put this in the bottom of my makeup collection because the top layer had gotten too shimmery for me. When I reached for it over the holiday season I applied it with a small synthetic brush then blended it out with my fingers. The tiny flecks of glitter that had bugged me before were basically invisible with that application and I fell in love all over again. I have been using this on the inner corners of my eyes, down the bridge of my nose and on the very tops of my cheekbones with stellar results. This is not the kind of product that you can just dust on with a powder brush or else you will look like a disco ball so do me favour and apply this with a detail brush to the high points of your face only and blend it out and you will experience the true fabulous-ness of the product. An added bonus for applying it this way means that it will last forever, but hey no one complains about that right?
You can also pick this up at MAC or online here.

*Bonus Favourite*

I wanted to include this not necessarily because of the products themselves, as though I enjoy using them but they don't stand head and shoulders above similar products on the market. These are included because of how I've been using them this past month. Raise your hand if you hate the stinging sensation and red blotchy eyes you get from using long-wearing liquid eyeliner. * raises hand* I learned my lesson a long time ago to stay away from waterproof or long-wearing eyeliner because I am a cry-laugher meaning that even if I am not rubbing my eyes, my eyeliner will eventually get into my eyes during the course of the day. When I wore contacts this meant that flecks of the eyeliner would end up on the contact and be hell to get off when washing them at the end of the night, and when I didn't it would result in my eyes getting and staying super-red for a day or two. So I quit using it. This meant though that I couldn't depend on my eyeliner to stay put. Out of sheer idleness one day I decided to follow the line of my eyeliner with waterproof mascara. I dipped the felt tip applicator onto the mascara wand to pick up product and followed the line I had already drawn with the liner. I kept checking throughout the day and was more than pleasantly surprised when I saw that not only had my liner NOT budged an inch during the day but it had not faded at all either. Now, I like this mascara because it does not flake and I imagine that if it did then it would have made my problem a lot worse but now that I've discovered a solution I will keep doing this to keep my liner intact all day. 

Have you ever tried any of these products? What was your experience with them? Will you be trying my new trick with waterproof mascara? If you do, tell me how it goes!!

Till later,
*Jane 

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Top Three Beauty Favourites - October

Every month or so I try to switch up my beauty routine and try something new or challenging. This not only helps to keep me on my toes, but it also helps me to use all the products I have in my beauty stash. In October I wanted to delve into the Fall beauty trends and try darker wine and berry colours on my cheeks and lips. These are the products that I kept reaching for over and over again:

L-R : JORDANA EASY LINER IN CABERNET, TERRA KISS & PLUSH PLUM; L'OREAL INFALLIBLE LIPSTICK IN PERSISTENT PLUM NO 737; MAYBELLINE COLOSSAL VOLUME EXPRESS WATERPROOF MASCARA IN GLAM BLACK; MAC SHEERTONE SHIMMER BLUSH IN AMBERING ROSE

Lips

Fall is all about the dark lips and I am a big lover of red and plum lips. I have been pairing the L'Oreal Infallible lipstick which is a deep plummy red with different shades of lip liner to change its undertone. This is a good way to change up your lipcolour slightly without having to shell out for a new lipstick. The redder lip liner makes the lipstick look more red, the plum one more purple and the brown one deeper like a raisin colour. These pairings give an all day stain that stayed on my lips through a meal, drinks and a three hour long meeting. Though not moisturizing, you can easily swipe on chapstick over the combo to keep your lips supple. You can purchase these at Discount Pharmacy in Manor Park or the Beauty Counter at Chesterville Pharmacy.

Cheeks

I wanted to try darker colours with shimmer to add some sparkle to the matte colours I was wearing and to also skip the highlighter. I went back to the MAC sheer tone because it gave the option of a sheer layer or building it up to a bolder cheek. It also layered really well over an orange blush for a different tone.

Eyes

With the focus on the lips and cheeks, I wanted to go minimal with the eyes which meant no eyeshadow. I reverted to my all time favourite mascara - Maybelline Colossal Volum' Express paired with a thin line on the top of my eyelid. The mascara creates long thick fluttery lashes that are super black and perfect for day or night.

Extra

I had to add in Biotin as a favourite I finished earlier on because it has done wonders for my hair. Along with my routine it has strengthened and thickened it. If you want to read more about that, you can see it here.

What have you been loving for the month of October and what are you eager to try this month?

Till later,

*Jane

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