You're Not A Raccoon!

Nothing bothers me more than seeing teenagers painting their eyes shut, or women caking their eyes so it looks like two tarantulas are coming out of their eye sockets. What's really bad is when the makeup starts to run and they start looking like Zorro.

Ladies, our eyes are the windows into our soul. People look into them every day when they talk to you. They are the first thing someone notices about your face, and isn't it amazing that something we use to see out of could have such beautiful colour and eyelashes to compliment them? Here are some ways to look absolutely, and fabulously glamorous without going over the top.

Lesson 1- Out With the Old, In With the New
Go to your makeup kit right now, open up your mascara, and take a whiff. If you're about to puke, or you cannot believe right now that you put that on every day so close to your eyes: throw it out. Not only will old mascara irritate your eyes, it's also very bad for them, and it looks terrible. This goes for all makeup. Personally, I get a new tube of mascara every month. As soon as I start smelling that chemical/old towel scent, I chuck it.

Generally, the recommended shelf-life for your average mascara is 3-4 months. Whilst applying mascara don't push the mascara in and out of the tube because it will fill the mascara with air and bacteria.
                                    
Remember, you're aiming for this:





Not this






Lesson 2- Eyeliner Etiquette
If you don't pray to the Dark Lord, are not in a Death Metal band, and don't know how to do this properly, you should not wear black pencil eyeliner around your entire eye. Why? Because A) Why do you need that much in the first place? B) it looks good when you put it on, but 3 hours later, it looks like a runny mess, and C) if not in the right setting, and not done properly, it will look like you don't know what you're doing and can also be quite inappropriate.
Here is an eyeliner guide I pulled from the internet, and I pretty much have to agree with it.

Please take a look at the lower left quadrant. I agree with them, it can be SUPER sexy... if done properly. If you're adamant about pulling this look, use waterproof eyeliner on the bottom and liquid eyeliner on the top. That way the textures are different so it won't close your eye too much, but at the same time you won't get the runny black stuff at the bottom and the streaks on top. I recommend MAC Powerpoint Pencil in Engraved. I have this shade in Permaplum and trust me... a meteor couldn't move this thing. For the top, any liquid eyeliner will do. I've used L'Oreal Lineur Intense Felt Tip and it works just fine. If you are open to other colours (and if you have fair skin or light eyes, please just try!) I would try these shades:

Blue Eyes: Burgundy, Plum, Gold, Brown, Navy Blue, Gray 

Green Eyes: Burgundy, Plum, Gold, Brown, Purple, Dark Green

Brown Eyes:  Blue, Gold, Purple, Silver, Burgundy, Brown, Violet, Mocha

Also check out my page I Shadow for other tips at http://www.quitebeautiful.com/2011/12/perfect-eye-makeup-for-you.html.

In terms of black eyeliner...

We want this.








 Not this.

Lesson 3- There's a Time & a Place

Work DO

Work DON'T

Teen DO

Teen DON'T 

(I actually LOVE Emma Watson, but if If saw my 14-yr-old daughter wearing this, I might have to ground her for life.)

Club DO

Club NEVER 

If you're not sure of what to wear for a certain event, age, skin colour, etc, please email me at info@quitebeautiful.com and I will help you out!

For a complete list of Cosmetic Shelf Life, please follow this link: http://repontherun.blogspot.com/2006/12/cosmetics-shelf-life-chart.html