September 23, 2011

Oh Grandma!

My family is attending a family member's wedding tonight, and they want to look their best.


Of course Grandma don't want to be left out, so she asked my mom to lend her a lipstick.


She is over eighty and never used any make up products other than a lipstick and her skin care is composed of Vaseline. 


I must add, she looks great for her age.


For her, lipstick has a double duty as a blush and a lip color.


So, for some reason she insisted to have a red lipstick.


Now, girls we are talking about an eighty plus year old woman who never used red lipstick before. At least not for the last twenty something years that I remember.


I have just one explanation for that....


Red (any tone of it) is my mother's favorite color and she always uses it all the time and Grandma kind of got jealous I guess. LOL


Why else would she want a red lipstick for?!


Anyways, mother convinced her not to put on a red lipstick. 


I would need all the lip pencils in the world to make her lips look good with a red lipstick. 


It's not that she is ugly or anything, but let's be honest. 
She is 85 for God's sake and she has wrinkles! 
and the contour of her lips gone a long time ago.


Although, mother gave her five different shades of pink lipsticks, 
I know that she is going to forget them all together tonight.


They are going to bring Grandma to our home when my parents leave work and mother will get prepared and then when my aunt will come here and they will leave for the wedding all together in one car. Talk about environmental car pooling, huh? :)


I am 100% sure of what will happen tonight.


Grandma will come to our home without putting on her lipstick and I will have to put it on for her.


So, I am not sure what shade of pink to use, but I am definitely sure that I will not use red on her.


Red might be good as a blush but it will to be too much for an old sweet Grandma. 
I don't want her to look too vamp and attract potential Grandpas. HAHAHA That would be something else!


So, which one you think I should use on Grandma?







I am thinking about the bright pink that is second to last
or
the coral color that is fourth to the last

Tell me what you think is best for a 85 year-old lady.
You know curiosity kills the cat ;)

XOXO
LOLA

Wedding Time!!

No its not my wedding, but an extended family member's.


Although I am not attending, because weddings are not my thing, I just like the preparation time.


So, I helped my mother get prepared for tonight's wedding reception.


Of course as usual she didn't wait for me and started herself.


So, she used Avon's Anew Clinical Advanced Dermabrasion System Soin Effet Peeling Professional.


(It's a double tube that has a cleanser and a face scrub that has the tiniest granules in it.)


Then, I first cleaned her skin with Boots No.7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser,
then Witch Hazel toner,
then Basil Purifying mask from Body Shop
and completed the first night with Ole Henriksen's Truth Serum
and used Origins A Perfect World for Eyes.


The second night (last night)....


Again I cleaned her skin with Boots No.7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser,
then Witch Hazel toner,
then Mario Badescu Whitening Mask for 10 minutes.


She chose not to use any face cream on top of these treatments to let her skin breathe and keep the effects of the nourishing treatment that the creams gave her. It makes sense to me :) 


The result....
Her skin was clearly brightened and fresh looking.


It cannot take place of a professional 1-hour long facial, but it was a good pick me up when you don't have time or money to spend on a facial. 


I used the products we have at home that I thought she might benefit from.


Her skin needed a deep cleaning, that's why I used Boots No.7 and The Body Shop mask
and she needed something to brighten her sun damage/aging spots, so I used Whitening Mask
she also needed a little nourishment and a lift, that's why I chose Ole Henriksen Truth Serum


She's ready for tonight's make up, but I am planning to make an appointment for her at the Dermalogica Salon I go to.


I will keep you posted when we go for a real facial ;)


XOXO
Lola :)

September 16, 2011

Just Started Doing Make up and Want to Look Gorgeous?

First of all if you are planning to do a full make up...


--Clean your face and moisturize. 
Don't forget to use an eye cream.


Start with a primer. 


Then tinted moisturizer,foundation or powder/loose powder whatever you prefer


You have acne scars, scars, blemishes, freckles?


Use a pigmented concealer that will match your skin tone and has greens or salmon or purple color in it so it can cover whatever you want to hide.


Then...


Always contour your face with a matte bronzer.


Make a fish face and find your cheek bones and contour under that area.


Then color on top of your cheek bones lightly.


It's up to you what color you want. 


You can use mauve, pink, or coral


Finish with a finishing/setting powder to keep your make up in place during the day in case you sweat or your face gets oily


For you eyes....


Use clear or flesh color primer if you want to hide discoloration and to make your eye shadow stand out.


I never go out with out using eyeliner. 


If you have really dark and full eyelashes you may not need an eyeliner.


If you like color...


Use pigmented eye shadows in a small area.


Do not paint all your eye with one color up to your brow bone as if somebody gave you a blue eye.


Use white, golden or shimmery flesh color under your eyebrows and at the inner corner of your eyes. Your eyes will stand out.


Blend a brown or grey eye shadow in your socket to make your eye area bigger.


End with mascara. 
It's up to you what you want to achieve when choosing your mascara.


Do you want to look natural and have thick lashes or dramatic or just long lashes or curled lashes? 


You will decide...


Then brush your eye brows. 


What I hate the most is people brushing their eye brows down to make it look shaped nice.


It just makes me want to lick my thumb and brush their eye brows myself. 


Plug your eyebrows where it is needed and brush the way hair grows not down!


You may want to use a clear mascara to keep them in place.


If you have light color eyebrows or you have empty parts in your eyebrows use an eyebrow powder or a pencil.


When you are choosing a color for your eyebrows always go for a natural look!


Unless your eye brows are too light, do not choose dark colors!


It will only make you look angry and like some beast from Mars.


and....Viola! Your make up is done and you look perfect!




My personal favorites for full make up is....


Primer: Smashbox primer or L'oreal (As a cheap alternative)


Tinted Moisturizer: Hard Candy  tinted moisturizer 
-OR-
Foundation: Laura Mercier or Amway smart shade foundation (as a cheap alternative)


Concealer: Sonia Kashuk concealer agenda palette


Bronzer: ELF Golden Bronzer


Setting Powder: Tarte Smooth Operator 


Blush: Benefit Coralista Blush or ELF Candid Coral (As a cheap alternative)


Eyeliner: Bobbi Brown Gel Eyeliner or Physicians Formula (As a cheap alternative)


Eye Base: Mac Paint Pot Painterly or Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark Roller (As a cheap alternative)


Eye Shadow: Hard Candy or MAC or Maybeline or Lorac or R&R


Mascara: Dior Show Mascara or L'oreal Voluminous (As a cheap alternative)


Eyebrows: any clear mascara and NYC 923 Charcoal Brow/Eyeliner Pencil


If you get an eye infection (don't say ewww that would never happen to me, because it can happen even the best of us lol) don't do make up or after your infection is gone clean your eye brushes and throw away your mascara or you will bring back your eye infection!


Don't forget it is important to remove your make up and clean your face everyday in the morning and at night. So you won't get black heads, and it is important to get a facial once a month. If you can't you can do the same thing at home almost for free! :) 


XOXO
Lola

September 12, 2011

My Goodness!

I was at a market in Turkey. 
It is similar to Wal-Mart, 
but prices have nothing to do with it.


You know my favorite mascara for now is L'oreal's Voluminous original formula mascara.


I believe I bought it for $7+tax 
and 
at Migros, in Istanbul, Turkey it was $21 (tax included) 


I was in shock!


L'oreal's all mascaras were either $21 or $23. 


For that price you can almost purchase Dior Show Mascara at Sephora in the US.


These prices are just making me mad, 
and I pray I won't run out of my cosmetic products any time soon.


SMH... 

September 01, 2011

Shopping for Shoes Around the Globe...

Today we went to another mall in Istanbul.
It was an outlet mall called Optimum Outlet.
There were sales everywhere.
I thought I was going to lose my mind. :)
However, I couldn't shop because I was with my father, Mr Shopping is Unnecessary,
so I just looked and almost already decided what to buy in my second visit to that mall, alone!. :)

Of course I compared prices as always.

This time I checked the prices of Payless Shoe Source.

It wasn't so bad, it was almost as cheap as it is in the States.

I guess the most expensive pair of shoes were $58 (tax included)

and the cheapest was $17 (tax included)

I checked the prices of the same pair of shoes in the store and online.

One of the pairs that I liked was only few bucks more than the US price,
however the good looking high heels were almost $30 more than its US price.

Comparing to other local shoe stores in Istanbul, Payless Shoe Source prices were just okay,
because in other places you can't get a good quality pair of high heels for work no less than $90
which is insane and not worth it!