Education, Eyeshadow, How-To, Links

The Blends

One of my biggest beauty pet peeves is seeing unblended eyeshadow out in the wild. Like, I get it, these things take practice. But, DAMN GURL, YOU GOT A MIRROR OR WUT? How do people not see these things?

It can just look really bad. That’s all I’m saying.

Check out this tutorial: 3 Easy Ways To Blend Your Eyeshadow Like A Pro

The first two blends are especially relevant to the looks most people want to do. That last one, the cut crease, that’s some more advanced shit; use only if you’re ok with people looking at you.

Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Fave Looks, How-To, Links

Too much eyeliner for the house!

rachel bilson the to do list tbd

I have a sort of complicated relationship with The Beauty Department. Some of their stuff makes me roll my eyes, some of their stuff makes me scramble for my brushes and a reason to do fancy makeup. Like this “RED CARPET BREAKDOWN” of Rachel Bilson’s look at the premiere of “The To-Do List” has got me wishing we weren’t broke right now, so I could get dressed up and go out.

Check it out HERE.

Eyeshadow, Face, How-To, Moisturizer, Unsolved Hysteries, Urban Decay

Unsolved Search Hysteries

unsolved hysteries

One of the best things about having this site is getting to see the summaries of search engine terms that bring people to the Lab Bunny every day. In this grab bag of internet psyche, some of the searches are hilarious, some are disturbing, and some are actually decent. I thought I’d do some little quickie answers to help with these UNSOLVED SEARCH HYSTERIES!!

“is Trader Joe’s body butter good for face?”

I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Body lotions and face lotions have different ingredients and different properties. Even an all natural body lotion is probably going to be much heavier than anything you’d want to use on your face, and they probably aren’t non-comedogenic, so they’ll maybe block your pores. You only want to put lotions on your face that are non-comedogenic and, preferably, made specifically for faces.

“how to UD eyeshadow no glitter fallout”

Those UD glitter eyeshadows are pretty notorious for their fallout. I getcha. They’ve worked to improve their formulas over the years, and I’ve found the fallout issue has improved, too. Improved does not equal no fallout though. These are the best things you can do to minimize glitter fallout from any brand of shadow: 1. If you’re doing a heavy glitter or dark shadow look that you know to be prone to fallout, do your eyes before doing your foundation, powder etc. It’s easier to clean up any mess that way, and you don’t have to redo anything that got smudged, or you had to wipe off. 2. Use a primer, or an epoxy. If you can, instead of layering different shadows underneath, apply the glitter shadow directly to your primered lid. 3. Use a flatter brush to press the glitter shadow onto your eye instead of brushing or swiping. You deposit more glitter that way, and you’re able to concentrate color with less distribution onto your cheeks and around your eyes. 4. Hold a folded tissue under your eye, against your cheek, to catch anything that drops. This works under your bottom lashes too to keep mascara from getting where it shouldn’t. 5. Setting spray.

“boringporno.com”

Sounds great. Good luck with that. Sorry I couldn’t help. Or, maybe I did. Since there aren’t any people f’ing on this site, this would make some pretty boring porno. So, I’m sorry. Or, you’re welcome.

Unsolved Hysteries: SOLVED. Keep the search engine terms coming, weirdos.

Education, Friday I'm in Love, How-To, Kevyn Aucoin

Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin

fridayiminlove3

I had no idea what I was going to run for today’s Friday I’m in Love. I have something for next week, but that would call for a photo, and my hair is in no condition to be captured online for all eternity.

Have you guys noticed that my hair is always a mess? I feel like I talk about it nonstop. Seriously, if I didn’t think I would look exactly like my dad, I’d shave it off. Girls that can pull off shaved heads are dead sexy to me. Doesn’t it sound so freeing? My friend that does my hair would probably stab me to death with her scissors if I asked her to just shave it off. I like to make her do things to my hair she doesn’t want to do, but that would probably be too far. She’d snap!

Lucky for me, during a conversation with a friend last night, I mentioned this book, and my brain hamster started running on her wheel.

making faces

Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin, $16.01

You’re looking at my own well loved, bruised and battered (mmm….battered) copy here. I’ve hauled this book around with me from house to apartment to pool house to house to apartment to house to apartment to house since 1999. You can’t tell from this picture, but the pages are coming loose and it’s full of random bookmarks. I love this book. I’m not exaggerating. I have actual love in my heart for this book. If they ever stopped printing it, I’d put my copy under lock and key, in an underground bunker, behind some of those lasers you can only get past if you do sexy butt wiggles all around them.

It’s like this: if George Michael’s video for “Too Funky” is my origin story, then Making Faces is my time spent on a Chinese mountain with Pai Mei, learning the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

Kevyn Aucoin was an extremely gifted and talented artist. His techniques and advice still hold up, and even at nearly 15 years later, his looks aren’t dated. This book covers nearly everything you’d need to know about starting out in makeup, and taking your makeup to the next level. It has segments on skincare and prep, facial structure, shading and highlighting, brows, foundation, concealer, liner, lashes, lips and cheeks. It even has a little bit on cosmetic surgery. He doesn’t just tell you about eyeliner and lipsticks, he talks about different eye and lip shapes. He doesn’t just tell you about contouring, he shows you in an exaggerated, easy to follow way, where everything is supposed to go. He’ll teach you how to build a face that will highlight your best features, or, he’ll teach you how to completely cover your eyebrows so you can draw on new ones. This book is brilliant. Completely.

After he teaches you the basics of makeup, he shows you wearable looks for many, many, many different faces and occasions, following that with more in depth costume and heavy transformation looks. The step by step instructions are easy to follow and well illustrated, and the photos are totally stunning.

making faces courtney love

This is so beautiful, it hurts my heart.

I mean, look at freaking Courtney Love up there!! I’ll admit to having a soft spot for her looks through the years, disheveled and otherwise, but come on. This look, this photo, it’s really something ethereal.

SIDE NOTE: When I was, like, 13, I told my mom I wished I looked like Courtney Love and she was all, “LIKE A HEROIN ADDICT?!?!” And I was like, whoooah, yeesh, calm down. I just wanted to have real big boobs and be able to wear one of those clingy satiny dresses without rolls showing. Hey, one out of two ain’t bad.

All the years I’ve had this book, I still break it out to check myself. I feel like I can still learn from it, even though, not s my own d, my own makeup skills are above average.

Please, please buy this book for yourself. I promise you will be completely enthralled, entertained and educated.

Buy “Making Faces” HERE.

Benefit, Eyeliner, Eyeshadow, Fave Looks, How-To, Stila, Urban Decay

SF Smoky Eye

This was the eye look I did on Saturday night before we went out to a party.

SF smoky eye

With the exception of my Stila liquid liner, my mascara, and my white highlight liner, I used all Urban Decay products.

First, I applied UD’s Primer Potion in Eden to my entire lid up to my eyebrows. Second, I used “KINKY” (matte nude) from UD’s Smoked Eyeshadow Palette over my lid to the crease. Third, I used an angled brush to apply “GUNMETAL” (dark grey) from UD’s original Naked Palette to the area a little above my crease and down to the outer corners, connecting in a “V” to my upper lash line. If you want to make your eyes look bigger, creating a false crease a little higher than your actual crease is a way to do it. Third, I used a fluffy brush to wash “TEASE” (taupe) from UD’s Naked 2 Palette over my entire lid, up to the dark grey crease, blending the edges as you go. Then, I picked up a little more of my matte nude color on my fluffy brush, and blended the outer edges of the grey crease. Last, I used “BOOTYCALL” (frosty white-beige) from the Naked 2 Palette to accentuate my brow bone, always blending.

I lined my upper lash line and water line with “WHISKEY’ (dark brown) from UD’s 24/7 Double-Ended Glide-On Pencil, then I lined below my bottom lashes to about 3/4 across, leaving the area near my tear ducts, unlined. I went over the top line and created a winged line with my black Stila liner. Then, I used a white liner to line my bottom water line to also give the appearance of bigger eyes. I finished it off with my They’re Real mascara from Benefit on my top lashes only.

Since this look uses dark colors, I did my eyes before I did my foundation. That way, you can clean up any fallout you have and sharpen up any edges you’d like to define with your foundation brush. I’m not wearing it in this picture, but I did a nude lip.

Add a bun and giant earrings, and you’ve got yourself a look!

Sorry the photo quality isn’t great. I wasn’t taking pictures to put up here, I was taking pictures to check the blending and symmetry. Remember in “Clueless” when Cher takes Polaroids of all her outfits because she doesn’t trust mirrors? It’s like that. Plus, I was showing off and sending pics to my sister. Shame on me! PSYCH! I’m not ashamed.

Hair, How-To, Lab Bunny Mob

Oil Check Yourself Before You Oil Wreck Yourself

I wish I was this coconut.

“I have a question. How would you use an oil in your hair without your hair looking oily. I want to start using coconut oil in my hair but HOW?!?!” – Denys

Good question, D! I don’t want you to end up with a greasy mop on top.

When you start using ANY type of oil on your hair, there are two big things to remember that will go a long way towards keeping you shiny pretty and not stringy ugly: First, start with a small amount of oil and work up to more. You can always add extra oil if you need it, but you won’t be able to take care of it easily if you overdo it. Second, you always want to work from the ends of your hair, up. Unless you’re doing a deep conditioning, your roots don’t need the extra oil, but your ends do.

For coconut oil, specifically, use an organic virgin or extra virgin oil. Since it’s solid, you’ll want to melt it, or warm it up in your hands before using it. You can use it in day to day applications by running a small amount through your hair, from the ends to about your ears. Since water repels oil, dry hair works best. The internet says you can use dry shampoo to take care of accidental coconut oil overload, so even if you mess it up by using too much or going to high, there’s still hope.

If you want to use it as a deep conditioner, you can go crazy with it! Glop a whole bunch of it into your hair, massage it into your scalp, really thoroughly coat everything from root to tip, and then wrap it up in a shower cap. If you don’t have a shower cap, you can use plastic wrap. Shower caps are just easier, I always bring them home from hotels. Let the oil sit on your hair for at least 30 minutes, then shampoo it out. When deep conditioning, you can leave your treatment on for as long as you want, really. You can sleep in it if you’re so inclined, although I think that’s dangerous business. I used to do that kind of thing when I was a kid, but that seems like so much trouble now. You can also warm your hair while it’s in the shower cap or plastic wrap with a blow dryer set to low to really help the oil penetrate. I do that when I’m feeling particularly ambitious with my deep conditioners, so, you know, not often. It works though!

With any new beauty treatment/skill, the key is always practice. You might really fuck it up the first time, but probably not the 5th or 6th time. Stick with it, and let me know how it goes!

Face, How-To, Links, Video

Makeup Color Wheel

It’s the end of the day on Friday, blow off 15 minutes to watch this brilliant video and learn nearly everything you need to know to pick makeup colors that will beautifully complement your eye and skin colors.

This video is so informative, and the visuals make everything really easy to understand. Pleeeeease watch it! Trust me, you’ll be so glad you did.

Into The Gloss has a time marked summary of the video if you already know color theory, or want to get a quick idea of what you’ll be learning.

The Lab Bunny

Category Archives: How-To