Beautiful Blogging ~ "The Eyes Have It" Part III

So far we have talked about the perfect eye shadow color for your eyes and creating the smoky eye in our Beautiful Blogging posts "The Eyes Have It." This week I would like to discuss a simply eye shadow application technique.

Ensuring you have the shade that enhances your eye color, follow these simple steps (requires 3 shades):
1. Use your foundation as an eye shadow base as this absorbs oils and allows your shadow to adhere more effectively.
2. Sweep the lightest shade from lash line to brow.
3. Take your medium shade and apply to the eyelid.
4. Use your darkest shade and sweep this color through the crease and outer portion of your eye.
5. Blend, blend, and blend again. There should be no evidence of any lines.
6. Apply eye line to top and bottom lashes. I almost always use eye shadow to line. I simply wet an eye liner brush and dip into my eye shadow then smudge for a softer look. I use dry shadow underneath my eye because it is softer. My eyes are rather small so I don't want to heavily line my eyes because they will appear even smaller.
7. Mascara is a must! Use an eyelash curler and then apply 2 coats of your favorite mascara!

*If age is catching up to you, you will notice that your eyes tend to sag a bit. Ensure that you sweep eye shadow up and out to combat this.


*For advance eye shadow application click here as this site will tell you specifically how to apply shadows for eyes that are too close, droopy, too far, etc...

That's all there is to simple eye shadow application!


Source:
One, Two
Have a beautiful week!
OXOX,
Jacalyn

Pink Saturday and a Birthday Party

Happy Pink Saturday! I am writing this post Friday evening (the 25th) as many do. But June 25th has been a special day in our family as it is my triplet's 19th birthday. I just cannot believe that 19 years have gone by, jeez! The top photo was taken when they were 4 and the bottom was taken a couple of days ago. The photo has always been one of my favorites. You can imagine that at 4 they were thrilled to pose. At 19, well not so much, but I insisted! I've wanted to do this for some time!

So in keeping with the PS theme which is of course Pink, I snapped some pink shots from their birthday today.

Pink candles (hmm... I wonder where my daughter got her love of pink)

Yum! Ice cream cake in pink!


My lovely daughter Erin (on the right) and her friend Jessie with Er's pink laptop

Pretty pink presents!

One of my favorite candy!

Erin, her dear friend Miranda (who created this beautiful cake) and Megan

Miranda did a fabulous job don't you think?

Silly kitty! This present is not for you!

Happy 19th Birthday Megan, Ryan, & Erin! What a fabulous gift I have been given!

Oh and just a random note. I was featured in the August issue of Romantic Homes and I am so excited!

Please visit Beverly at http://www.howsweetthesound.typepad.com/ to see all the PS participants!

OXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Sister in Bloggerette Sorority!

Oh yay! Today is the day! Are you ready? I am sooooo excited to be a Sister in the Bloggerette Sorority! Please visit Karen over at Some Days are Diamonds to view all of the participants! To be in this special Sorority we have to "rush." The rules are really quite simple. We take this picture:

...and we create something with it. Oh say a piece of jewelry, ATC, card, tag, well you get the idea. Then we put it in a frame and take a picture of it. Oh yea, we are supposed to be in the picture too!

So since I long to be in the Sorority I just had to participate in the rush. I took the picture above and created a banner of sorts using all of my favorite items! I used vintage lace, vintage buttons, pink paper, vintage music sheets, keys, and floral accents! I created my own frame with the lace!

Oh yea, here's me (well sort of, ha) with my creation! I'm a wee bit camera shy!
Be sure and visit all of the all participating bloggers in our new Sorority!

OXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Beautiful Blogging ~ the "Eyes Have It" Part II ~ The Smoky Eye

Welcome to my weekly post "Beautiful Blogging." First I must apologize because if you stopped by last week you would have noticed that I did not post. Unfortunately, I was having DSL problems. Thankfully, that issue has obviously been resolved.

As promised, this post is about eye shadow application. If you recall we discussed the proper shade for your particular eye color. You can find that post here. I thought I would highlight the ever popular "smoky eye" for this post. I absolutely love this look and use it all of the time. It's important to note that you can use more than just the traditional colors of blacks/greys for the smoky eye. Think purples, greens, bronzes as long as it is the best shade for you! Also, please keep in mind that when you highlight your eyes with a smoky eye you should downplay the rest of your makeup. That means if the focus is on your eyes, don't wear bright red lipstick. Stick to one feature otherwise it can appear "clown" like.

The smoky eye is really quite easy. All you need is voluminous mascara and three shades of the same color ~ dark, medium, and light. The key to the smoky eye? Blending! You do not want to see any visible lines so blend away and then blend some more. The proper tools make this job so much easier too!

Step 1: Use a base to cover entire lid which will help eye shadow adhere and last - usually your preferred foundation is perfect for this. I see no need to purchase one specifically for the eyes.
Step 2: Take your darkest shade of shadow (or eye liner if you prefer) and line the top of your eye ensuring that you press into your lashes. There should not be a space between the lashes and your eyelid. Line underneath your bottom lashes too. I like to smudge this and take it out a little to make my eyes appear larger.
Step 3: Use your medium shadow to press into the lid of the eye, blending with the darker shade or eyeliner, until there are no visible lines. Remember to blend up and outward.
Step 4: Take the lightest shade of shadow and blend into the crease, using a "windshield wiper" motion. Some like to take this lightest shade all the way up to the brow bone. Whichever you prefer is certainly okay.
Step 5: Apply 2 coats of your volumizing mascara. When I do a smoky eye I actually apply three coats. It makes the eye a little more dramatic I think.

Here's some pictures of my little darling Erin. She prefers a more subtle makeup as you'll notice so we used bronze on her dark brown eyes. I did take some pictures of each step but regrettably they were not too clear and my model went out so I can't re-take!

Try a nude lip with this look. Remember too that your blush should be in the same color family as your lip color. So, if you are wearing a coral shade of blush DON'T wear pink lip color. I think you get the idea.

So there you have it. Keep in mind there are other techniques for a smoky eye. All are fairly similar but I like this one the best.

Next week we'll go over other easy eye shadow techniques.

Have a wonderful week!

OXOXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Pink Saturday and a Carnival

Happy Pink Saturday everyone! Please be sure and visit Beverly to see all of the pinkies that are participating this week. Before I continue I must first apologize! Beverly was kind enough to highlight my little blog last week and I wasn't here! Where was I, you asked? Well actually I was right here but my DSL decided it would not show up. So, I was without my Internet service from Friday afternoon until Monday evening. I seriously was going through withdrawal!!!!! So please accept my sincere apologies for not posting last week! I sure did miss my pink friends!

Recently we had a carnival nearby and I enlisted the assistance of a special guest photographer to find some pink. Here's what she came up with.

Seriously PINK pants!

Yum! Pink cotton candy!


More pinkness!

I didn't actually win this (we really were just taking pictures!) but the

vendor was nice enough to let us take a picture.

Some pink prizes!

The pink tail of a stuffed animal.

More yummy food!

Aww... wouldn't you like your honey to win this for you?!

Pink in the tents.

More pink!

Who knew a carnival had so much pink! Oh and here's my special guest photographer, Stephanie! I think she did a wonderful job! Thanks Stephanie!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Jacalyn

Beautiful Blogging The "Eyes" have it! Part I

Welcome to Beautiful Blogging! This week's post is about the eyes! A couple of posts ago I asked what you wanted to know. One of the most requested was "what color eye shadow to wear." For those of you who don't know me well makeup is one of my many passions. I have always loved it but as I have gotten older, I find that I just can't get enough! I am always searching out the latest trends and colors in makeup and love to change with each season. But you don't have to be obsessed, er, in love with it to achieve a polished, chic look. It is really quite easy if you know a few basic principles.

Eye Shadow is used to enhance our eyes. We can achieve so many things with the proper use of it. I will go more into techniques next week because I really want to focus this post on color. REMEMBER, the color eye shadow we choose is meant to enhance our eyes or to "make them pop" so to speak. It is not necessary, and may actually be a hindrance, to match our eye shadow with our clothes. We want colors that contrast our own color, thus enhancing it.

Here's the quick and easy reference guide:

Brown Eyes: The best shades for us brownies seems to be bronze or green. Since there are so many shades of green you can choose what you like best. Some will prefer a more subtle shade and that's okay. If you really want some contrast they try some royal blue or lime green.

Blue Eyes: Those with blue eyes tend to have an array of colors to choose from. However choosing a shade of orange, yes orange, can really help them pop! By orange I am thinking copper, coral, bronze or rust. If you're looking for a little more of a neutral shade try grey or camel. Feeling a little daring? How about trying fuchsia or turquoise (which is a really hot color for the summer).

Green Eyes: Browns are a great choice for green eyes, especially a chocolate or darker brown. Dark purple is another color to consider. Apparently blue is a color to AVOID but how about some awesome gold?

Hazel Eyes: Hazel is unique in that it can have different hues. But, browns and pinks seem to enhance this shade universally. You can also use purple and gold. It is recommended that you avoid blues.


Additional notes:

~Don't be afraid of color! It's all in the application which we will discuss further next week!

~Remember your hair and skin color when choosing eye shadow. For example, what looks good on a blue-eyed red head may not look so nice on a blue-eyed blondie! But there are enough color and shade options out there so play around and see what looks best!

~Blend and then blend some more! We will talk more about this but this is the key to a beautiful look. We don't want to see obvious lines.

Please feel free to leave your comments with any additions or suggestions. I love to know that people stopped by!

Have a wonderful week and please stop back next week to learn more about the application of eye shadow.

Big hugs,

Jacalyn

References: One, two, three, four, five

Pink Saturday and my new cloche!

Happy Happy Saturday, Pink of course! So I have been admiring cloches for some time now. Those and apothecary jars are my passion presently! I finally found some that I thought were reasonably priced and jumped at the chance to make my purchase at last!!!! Now, what to do with them, ha! Well I looked around to see what I already had because surely I must have something!

I found these pretty pink tapioca wood roses....

and then I found this vintage rose plate that I purchased at an estate sale...

and this is what I came up with...

my pink roses on a bed of shredded music sheets! And here's where it currently resides...

... with my apothecary jars of course, he, he! And when I change my mind I can easily change the jars and cloche! Seasonal perhaps? We will see!

That's my pink for today! Have a wonderful weekend and be sure to visit Beverly to see all of today's PS participants!

OXOXOX,

Jacalyn

Always have a supply of vintage music sheets...

Bloggerette Sorority

Karen over at "Some Days are Diamonds" is hosting a "Bloggerette Sorority" and it sounds like a lot of fun! Care to join? Click on the picture above for all of the details! Stop back on June 25th to see the results!

Hope to see you there!
Jacalyn