Staying Power

When applying eyeshadow in a beautiful, flawless, gorgeous way, nothing is more disappointing than watching it fade, crease, streak or disappear as the day/evening progresses. You sit in front of your mirror, blending it into perfection, and mere hours later see nothing but traces of your hard work. It's crushing really.

Enter: Urban Decay Primer Potion

This little tube has possibly tripled my eyeshadow's wear time in a given day. I consider it to be foundation for my eyes - I apply it to the lids from lashes to brow before applying any shadow and allow it to dry. My powder shadows go on perfectly and blend evenly. It's absolutely worth the cost and has lasted me at least 9-12 months so far.

A little tip from my gals at Sephora: take a tweezers and yank out the "rim" of the purple tube after you think you've used it all -- just like a tube of mascara or lip gloss, that rim helps to clean the excess off the wand when removed from the tube. Thus, a lot of product is kept inside if you don't yank that thing out!

A Few Aveda Favorites

As a student of the Aveda Institute, one can imagine my access and immersion into the world of Aveda. And one would imagine correctly. You walk into my house and see a few bottles on the table of things I've picked up at discount for friends, an Aveda lip product or three in my purse, Aveda skincare in my medicine cabinet, Aveda styling products on my vanity and Aveda hair and body care in my shower.

Because of my frequent usage on both clients and self, I thought I'd throw a couple of favorites your way:

Hand Relief

This hand lotion packs quite a punch - it moisturizes nicely but also improves the skin tone and quality. With it's natural exfoliants and vitamins, this is a must (especially during winter) for healthy and beautiful hands.

Beautifying Composition
Compositions are jojoba-based, which is the closest oil to skin's own naturally produced sebum. This little bottle of yellow oil is a huge value-add to your beauty repertoire and smells SOOOO GOOD! At AIM, we use it for everything from a moisture boost in Hand Relief to a relieving post-wax ointment. At home, use it to add extra moisture wherever needed - add to hand, foot, or body lotions, rub a bit into cuticles, use as massage oil, apply to patchy dry areas, massage into scalp before showering, or dot onto dry spots on your face.

Air Control
Smells amazing and has the lightest airy hold - a perfect hairspray for fine to medium hair and for voluminous looks. Use on dry hair only, but try before and after back-combing, flat ironing or curling to make results last longer. For a boost, spray underneath the hair by flipping head over or lifting up layers and spraying in-between.

Volumizing Tonic & Phomollient
This cocktail of products is great for creating oomph. The hold comes from the Phomollient, so use as little or as much as you need. Add Air Control (above) to finish.

Carribean Therapy Scrub
Sea salts, sugars and oils make for the most amazingly moisturizing scrub. After scrubbing and rinsing, some oil will be left behind on the skin, but let it stay in lieu of adding a lotion over top, and reap the softening benefits! The smell is herbal and amazing - like a quick getaway somewhere very warm and sexy.


Light Elements Smoothing Fluid
Flyaways? Static? Too poufy/fluffy? Seeking a shinier, more polished result to your style? This is your product - though it's not quite "hefty" enough to take on those who need the big guns. Take a few pumps of this amazing liquid, warm it between your hands and finger through styled hair.


Brilliant Anti-Humectant Pomade
Anyone with curly hair knows that humidity is death to a blowout. Anti-humectant is a thick, oil-based product that repels the evil water in the air that can instantly recurl straightened strands. After styling, warm and distribute between hands and lightly smooth over the surface and pull through the ends. A little goes a long way!


Smooth Infusion Style-Prep Smoother and Brilliant Damage Control
These two products are the options under Aveda's "Prep" step. Both go on damp hair after washing, before styling, however they serve separate purposes. Style-Prep Smoother is a great product for those with fluffy, curly, frizzy, dry, thick or coarse hair. It goes on sort of like a lotion and helps to smooth (as the name suggests). The Damage Control is a light spray that protects hair from heat styling, provides a UV shield and adds a bit of shine. It works on all hair types. These products can be used together and along with any other styling products.

Do you have a favorite not mentioned or a question or two about Aveda products? Post 'em! I think they make some excellent products, and hope to help you to discover a new favorite or a new level of loveliness for yourself .

Shear Genuis

If you're a hairstyle junkie, love the beauty industry or just like competition-based reality shows (read: Project Runway), it would be in your best interest to tune in on Wednesdays at 9pm to Bravo to catch a new season of Shear Genuis.

The show picks a grouping of talented and personality-filled hairstylists from a pool of applicants and throws them into competitive hair coloring, cutting and dressing challenges. From pedestrian to Avant Garde, makeovers to Editorial shoots, they cover plenty of bases in the hair industry. Whether you're a hair stylist or someone with hair that has been styled at some point in your life, you'll probably enjoy seeing what sort of creations and "before and afters" result.

As an aside, I'd like to point out that while this group of designers clearly is talented, it seems there was very heavy emphasis placed on potential for "tv crazy" when screening applicants. Exhibit A: yellow hair, gold bikini and roller skates. Crazy people make good TV, I guess.....

Every week, I'm going to attempt to blog my opinions about the episode a la Project Rungay (a fave blog of mine). While I realize that two episodes have already passed, I will hopefully manage to write up a little something about both of those before this week's airs.

***Bonus! Shear Genuis episodes are available on Comcast OnDemand under the TV Series listing!***

Back to Beautiful!

Hello lovely ladies (and gentlemen?)! After a prolonged silence, I've decided to hop back into beauty blogging. I've been dunked in cosmetic industry Kool-Aid for the last four months, and I'm busting at the seams to share the knowledge with friends, clients, and others.

As you may know, I'm a cosmetology student at the Aveda Institute in Minneapolis working towards licensure as a hair stylist. In our program, we've covered everything from cuts to colors, perms and relaxers, makeup, nails, skincare and Aveda product knowledge. In short, a little bit of everything! I'm filling up with great information, and want nothing more than to pass on the learnings and discuss with you.

As for KM makeup services.... I'm on a bit of an extended sabbatical. Because of my schedule and attendance requirements through Aveda, I've sadly had to turn down a handful of clients for the 2010 wedding season. If any of you are out there, I apologize! I've struggled with the idea of turning people down, especially considering my desire to build a clientele for both hair and makeup services. But it's mostly because of my love of making beautiful brides more beautiful on their wedding day - it's such a high, and I hope I can continue doing so at some point in the future.

So, welcome back, and watch for some new posts to come very soon! Anything in particular you'd like to hear about? An e-consult of sorts? Just comment and I'll try to cover it in a new post!

xoxo,
KM