Category Archives: General Beauty Thoughts

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Hope everyone had fun celebrating Irish culture (and Christianity in Ireland if you’re religious) whether you’re Irish or not. There were so many spirited people yesterday wearing shamrock necklaces and headbands, green shirts, glitter and of course green eye shadow – LOVE IT!

Yesterday was a busy day filled with studying, but then again when is it not? At the end of my night I decided to reward myself by joining in the St. Patties Day festivities and since I don’t have much green in wardrobe I did a St. Patrick’s Day inspired makeup look. I had one hour to go from bare-faced and frizzy haired to lets-hope-I-look-pulled-together-out-the-door.

My favorite part about this look was using Urban Decay’s Loaded, a green/black colored eye shadow.  I used it over a dark Coastal Scents green and it gives the outer corners such great dimension.

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FIDM Magazine mentions Beautyforthought.com

Posted on July 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Did I mention my mention? I was ecstatic to find my blog mentioned in FIDM’s magazine a few weeks ago. I actually volunteered to do a guest blog about the FIDM’s New York Beauty Study Tour but instead a few days later I see this!

It was surprising to say the least, when I was expecting contribute to the blog only to find I was being recognized for my efforts toward my own blog. Completely outright made my day, I was all smiles. Doing what you love is a great thing.

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Discovering Nature’s Basin: Organic Beauty Care

Posted on May 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

I love natural and organic products especially for my skin because I am acne prone and my skin can get irritated easily. I think I might have just found my new favorite store, Nature’s Basin.It’s an online store dedicated to providing the best brands in natural and organic beauty care.

They’ve got face, bath and body care, hair care, and aromatherapy products. They have make up too – mineral makeup from foundations to lipsticks. Nature’s Basin carries some of my favorite brands including Inara Organics, Pangea Organics, and Weleda. They also have great value sets that make good gifts.

Nature’s Basin strives to provide safe and high quality natural brands. It’s known that synthetic chemicals can cause harm to the skin and body and Nature’s Basin provides natural and organic alternatives. On their website you can view Organic Beauty Care & Organic Body Care Certifications.

There were a couple brands that they sold that I was unfamiliar with, one being Suki Skin Care. I really liked the Suki Organic Butter Cream Healing Salve because my legs and elbows get really dry so I am patiently waiting for it to come in the mail.

If you haven’t checked out Nature’s Basin yet, you should give it a try.

Follow Nature’s Basin on Twitter

Become a fan on Facebook.

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The Beauty Bus Foundation

Posted on May 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

In the name of beauty for a cause.

The Beauty Bus Foundation is a non-profit organization that gives the terminally or chronically ill a reason to smile by offering beauty services to them and their caregivers. They really help enrich patients days by giving back and making others feel special. Essentially what they do is offer free hair and makeup services for patients to help them through the difficult time in there lives.

Beauty Bus Foundation serves chronically and terminally ill clients with the following diseases or conditions:

  • ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease)

  • Multiple Sclerosis

  • Parkinson’s

  • Spinal Cord Injuries

  • Muscular Dystrophy

  • Cancer

  • Stroke

…AND their primary caregivers.

They believe their primary caregivers should receive free makeover services as well especially since they devote their life to caring for someone else. This was they can enjoy the pampering experience together.

Most of the time that a patient is touched and care for is through medical doctors, nurses, and caregivers and usually for their medical treatments. Beauty Bus wanted to offer patients to be cared for in a way that is unrelated to their medical treatments.

They offer shampoo/blowdry/styling manicures, pedicures, facial treatments, and makeup services within the Los Angeles Area.

Know anyone with the illnesses listed above? They can become a client.

Give back and volunteer to be a beauty professional if you’re a Cosmetologist, Hair Dresser, Nail Technician, or Makeup Artist offer your services to the Beauty Bus Foundation.

You can still volunteer and support the Beauty Bus Foundation by becoming a beauty buddy and helping out with patients and beauty professionals.

For more information visit beautybus.org

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Go Green for St. Patrick’s Day With The Body Shop

Posted on March 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

Don’t just wear green, be green!

The Body Shop has always focused their values on sourcing natural ingredients, being eco-friendly, and  embracing natural beauty. The Body Shop has released their new line, The Originals. A line with of products inspired by their most iconic formulations customers have fallen in love with in the past. They are going back to their roots of their passion for green products. With products like Dewberry Moisturizing Lotion, Fuzzy Peach Bath & Shower Gel, and Passion Fruit Facial Cleansing Gel you can pamper yourself knowing your not damaging the environment. Someone send a Cucumber Cleansing Milk my way!

The Body Shop’s Bag For Life, is an environmentally friendly made reusable natural cotton bag. It’s Community Trade too, the production process has provided much-needed employment and enabled over 500 school children in India to receive a better education. For every bag sold, The Body Shop donates $2 from every sale to the Somaly Mam Foundation. Replace your plastics bags with cute collectable and support a cause.

Happy St. Pattie’s Day Everyone!

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Lipstick Packaging Inspiration

Posted on February 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

In my Package Development and Design course at FIDM, we were asked to keep an open mind when looking at packaging in cosmetics. After learning about communicating with color last week, I came across a pawn shop off of Vermont and Beverly that had the most eye-catching design on its store front. I love how it looks so loud, and bold you swear it demands you to look at it whether you want to or not. Imagine the blue and yellow color combination wrapping the outside of a tube of lipstick. Throw in a gold ring divider to wrap around the center where the tube and cap meet. When you open up the tube and twist up you find the perfect shade of red. Doesn’t it make you just want to buy it right this second and pretend to use the restroom just to reapply your lipstick? Be careful, you might cause some hardcore stares. Moments after checking out the pawn shop I look down at the  color combination of my long sleeve shirt and cardigan and I can’t help but smile. I want to create this like, now.

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Stila Makeup Player

Posted on February 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to attend a FIDM’s Prestige Beauty Circle meeting when Stila came to visit and talk with us about their latest creation, ‘The Makeup Player’.  Jeanne Tamayo, the HSN spokesperson for Stila, and Sarah Lucero, celebrity makeup artist for Stila, came to chat with us about their new product and hear what we thought about it.

Initially, I was confused about how it works but after Jeanne explained the breakdown I was excited to try it out at home. Sarah even did a look demonstration on one of our members! The idea behind the player is that you’ll be able to download Stila educational beauty videos from stilabeautytube.com and watch them from your iPod or mp3 player. After downloading them your mp3 player you just plug it into the makeup player and it plays through the speakers so you can watch and learn how do to your makeup with Stila lessons when you’re at home or on the go. The only thing you need to make the player run is 4AA batteries and your own mp3 player of course. The videos feature Stila makeup artists inside scoop on how to apply makeup the Stila way. Even when you’re not watching Stila beauty videos your makeup player you can listen to your mp3 player while you’re getting ready to go out or  just when you feel like it. I’m telling you, this is a genius idea!

In the player comes loaded with Stila’s best products, and Stila’s new one step makeup. Each Prestige Beauty Circle member received a free makeup player, and I got medium skin tone kit. The kit includes natural eye shadow trio with a #7 makeup brush, Stila Convertible Color for Lips and Cheeks in Rose, Stila Lip Glaze in Grapefruit, One Step Makeup in Medium, and a beauty DVD that shows you how to use the products to get a natural look.

After watching the DVD I used all the products in the kit on myself while listening to Pandora on my phone. I usually do my makeup in the car but this will give me an incentive to wake up earlier and do it at home. My favorite part of this look is my lips. I used the convertible color on my lips as a base and applied a bit of the lip glaze on top.

I urge you all to go out and get one; it’s found its way home in my bathroom. If you’d like check it out you can visit http://stilabeautytube.com/ where you can find Stila’s beauty lessons with tips and tricks and information on how to get your own.

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Inside a Beauty Junkie’s Makeup Bag

Posted on February 4, 2010 | 1 Comment

Every month or so I switch out my makeup in my bag to rotate  my products. I try to experiment with different looks because I like to keep things fun. I am not one to stick a particular makeup look because I like being versatile and flexible with my makeup. I do tend to choose a lot of similar products because I know what I like, but I try to mix it up and keep things fresh. I recently lost my makeup bag this past month, the thought it just makes me queasy. But needless to say I had to try to rebuild it. These products are ones that I carry with me everyday. I keep all the rest of my makeup at home, and try to carry key products that can help me create a few different looks.

FACE

  • Lorac AquaPRIME – I use this because my skin is acne-prone and this primer doesn’t clog my pores.
  • Boots Complexion Refining Liquid Foundation in Nutmeg – I use this liquid foundation first to even out my skin tone. This foundation helps clear skin and absorbs oil and is great for my skin type.
  • Bare Minerals Foundation SPF 15 in Medium Beige -  I dust this over my face to get to build my foundation coverage.
  • CoverGirl Professional Loose Powder in Medium – This powder sets my foundation and gives my face a matte finish.
  • NARS Powder Blush in Gilda – The best peachy orange color ever. And its usage outlasts so many blushes because of its high pigmentation.

EYES

  • L’Oreal Double Extend Mascara – This mascara is so good at lengthening lashes, and it was great about it is that the length is buildable. To make them look really long I spend about 2 minutes on each eye.
  • L’Oreal Telescopic Liquid Eyeliner – The easiest thing to swipe on to add definition.
  • L’Oreal HIP Color Rich Eyeliner in Black 905 – My go to eyeliner when wearing shadow.
  • Too Faced Shadow Insurance – A mini version to keep my shadow in place.
  • Rimmel Special Eyes Precision Eye Pencil in Black Magic - My lower lids love this with mascara on bottom lashes!
  • Benefit Boi-ing Eye Bright Duo -  The Boi-ing maks my under eye circles disappear when I’m really tired.
  • Benefit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Busy Signal -  This shadow is so easy to apply all you need is your finger.
  • Anastasia Perfect Eyebrow Pencil  in Medium Ash – You would think I would be a darker color because my hair is black, but I don’t like my eyebrows to look too dark against my skin.

LIPS

  • Rimmel 1000 Kisses Stay On Long Lasting Lip Liner in Wild Clover -  I use this under my lipstick to keep it from bleeding.
  • Chanel Rouge Allure in Exquise – This is one of those lipsticks that you can apply without a mirror because its texture and color.
  • Revlon Color Stay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick  in Miracle Mauve - I do need a mirror for this one, but I don’t  have to re-apply it.
  • Lancôme Lipstick Color Design – I like this red because it’s got an orange tint to it and it’s sheer. I got it some time ago, and unfortunately I don’t have the shade name.
  • Stila Lip and Cheek Stain in Pomegranate Crush - This stain is such a pretty berry color, and when paired with lip balm it’s a great low-key lip slight pop of color.
  • Sephora Lip Gloss in Bronzed Beauty – A pretty berry color with a hint of gold shimmer.

ESSENTIALS

  • Curél Continuous Control Lotion – I like to use this lotion because it doesn’t have a strong fragrance that competes with my fragrance. The travel size is good for your hands after washes.
  • Clean and Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets – These are practically my life savers. I can’t tell you how many of these I use a day.

After about a month, I will change out my eye and lip products, that way I know I’m not stuck with one look. What can I say I’m a proud beauty chameleon!

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Teen Freeway – Free Lip Gloss Book

Posted on January 19, 2010 | 2 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of Teen Freeway, during my tweens I would check for updates like it was MySpace. Nowadays I will occasionally I will check it out for cool updates and some are really useful. This time they’ve got a free lip gloss book giveaway. You can score your virtual copy of The Ultimate Kiss, Diss & Tell Guide To Lip Gloss by entering here. To get your free copy, you just enter your information on the link, become a fan of Teen Freeway on Facebook and log on Facebook to check for updates on January 25th to receive your free gift.

It may look a bit cheesy, but I want to learn how to make my own lip gloss it sounds like fun! Teen Freeway has definitely moved away from ancient contest by email and has caught on to sending out freebies through Facebook which is great. I really have a soft spot for Teen Freeway because I have gotten countless free stuff from them in the past. A lot of it was beauty and cosmetic related like fragrance samples, lip balms, eye shadows, and my favorite oil absorbing face wipes. Teen Freeway offers all kinds of freebies. I even applied and received Juicy Juice sippy cups! Coupons for health bars, Jamba Juice, even free appetizers at common restaurants. Best of all, I applied for a contest to win a nail polish set and although I didn’t win I received a free 1 year subscription to BusinessWeek Magazine. If you knew me you know I love BusinessWeek almost as much as I love Allure. Teen Freeway really has something for everyone. If you haven’t visited Teen Freeway I suggest you do, they’ve got so many cool freebies you’ll wish everything that was free was that easy.

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Pixi2woo: Jayne Mansfield/Marilyn Monroe Make-up Tutorial

Posted on January 11, 2010 | 2 Comments

This makeup tutorial is amazing. I love the makeup look but I find Tanya Burr’s accent more entertaining. I could probably listen to her talk all day.

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