The Life of A Ladybug

Prescriptives All Skins

 

News from Prescriptives!

Prescriptives has over 170 shades and nine formulas of foundation from which to choose!  They also have the Colorprint SM service where they can determine your skin's undertones and find your exact-match foundation or Custom Blend a foundation for you!  (I have had Custom Blending in powder and foundation forms and was extremely pleased with the result.  Which reminds me that I need to go back to Prescriptives for another Custom Blended foundation.)

With Custom Blend Makeup, a blender indentifies your skin's undertone and creates shdeas and formulas that are perfect for you by allowing you to personalize everything from the shade to the amount of coverage.  You can even add anti-aging or brightening ingredients!

I highly recommend Prescriptives foundations, particularly their Color Matched foundations, for women of all colors!  And for us Women of Color, who have such a hard time finding our match in the department store beauty lines, this is a Godsend!

Toya's Tip: Go easy on the brows!

Over the years that I've been a beauty lover (and that's quite a few years, y'all), some of the worst beauty crimes I've seen are those committed against eyebrows.  I ask myself, "Why do we hate our eyebrows?"  'Cause seriously, ladies, some of us out there commit assault against our God-given eyebrows on an almost daily basis.  We tweeze them too thin.  We walk around with unibrows (which are never cute, under any circumstance).  We cut designs into them (thankfully, this trend has faded - please God it never comes back).  And the worst crime of all - we shave them off entirely and then draw them back on.  For the love of God, WHY???

Almost as bad are those of us who are in such pursuit of perfect brows that we tweeze, shape, wax, fill them into this plastic-looking, overly perfect duo that bear almost no resemblance whatsoever to a natural eyebrow.

My tip is: Go easy on your brows, sweetie.  Yes, you want them to look pretty, but only minor tweezing and shaping, you can achieve a lovely, and more importantly, natural-looking arch.  You don't want to look like an android about the brows.  Trust me, it isn't cute.

Amarté Aqua Veil

  As a part of the BeautyFix program, I received Amarté Aqua Veil, a hydrating serum suitable for all skin types.  If you don't know about BeautyFix, you need to run right on over the site and find out all about it ... long story short, it's a sampling program wherein you get to try new, high-end, awesome products handpicked by a panel of beauty bloggers, celebrity aestheticians, hairstylists, and makeup artists.  You get a new set every quarter and it's only $50!

Okay, back to the Aqua Veil.  If you look at the picture above, you can see what the serum looks like when you squeeze it from the tube - it's a light green gel that smells wonderfully - it's a really refreshing cucumber scent, which I love.  When you apply the serum to your face, it "bursts" into little bubbles of moisture - you can actually see it turn to water and then sink into your face!  That, alone, was enough to have me intrigued with product, but what kept me in love with it is that it works!  I have been using this serum twice daily all winter and I have found that it has kept my skin from getting those dry, scaly patches around my nose and mouth that usually come during the winter months.

For the luxurious texture, the light refreshing scent, the moisturization ... I am deeming Amarté Aqua Veil totally splurge-worthy!

You can find Amarté Aqua Veil at www.dermstore.com for $42.

Michelle Obama's Inauguration Dress

  

Look at our new First Lady, y'all!  She is resplendent in a fabulous yellow dress with jeweled collar and matching coat, by Cuban American designer, Isabel Toledo.  And check out how she coordinated with deep forest green pumps!  To die!  This chick is so damn fabulous.  Here's looking forward to this intelligent and fierce Black woman as the standard of American beauty and fashion.  I can't wait to see what she wears to the balls!

POP Beauty CAT EYES

Cat Eyes by POP Beauty is a unique eye liner.  In fact, POP Beauty refers to it as an "eye crayon", which I think is an apt description as it doesn't feel quite like a regular eye liner. The texture is softer and creamier, which means that it feels luxurious upon application.  And I am flabbergasted because, contrary to what I expected, this liner is fairly smudge-proof.  I've worn it all day and into the night without creasing or winding up with raccoon eyes - nice!

Besides it's lastability (yes, I just made that up ... and what?), what makes Cat Eyes so awesome is that it gives you the "cat eye" look with no fuss!  If you've found that you love the look of cat eye, winged out liner, but haven't been able to figure out how to do it, this product is for you.  All you have to do is press the liner into your lashline, following the natural curve, and the angled shape will cause you to have the perfect "flick" of winged liner at the end.  What I love is that it gives you a subtle, winged effect and not a ridiculous Amy Winehouse-sized wing.  It's much more akin to Brigitte Bardot and wouldn't we all rather look like her than Amy Crackhouse?  I mean, really.

Cat Eyes by POP Beauty comes in Black Onyx (grayish black), Black Dahlia (black-based purple), and Black Olive (black-based olive).  I have Black Onyx and I think I might go back for the others!

You can find Cat Eyes by POP Beauty in Sephora stores or at www.popbeauty.co.uk.

Proud member ofTotal Beauty, Glam and The Beauty Blog Network.

The most beautiful picture I've seen in a long time ...

Interview on Moody Maria!

Guys, I was interviewed by blogger Jean for her site, Moody Maria!  Please go there and check out the interview!

http://moodymaria.blogspot.com/2009/01/feature-interview-wtih-toya-smith.html

Best Beauty Looks from the Golden Globes

I haven't gotten around to posting about Golden Globes beauty yet, but you know I was watching!  If you didn't watch but want to see what the celeb beauties were rockin', facewise or if you did watch and want to jog your memory, check out Total Beauty's Best Beauty Looks from the Golden Globes.

Best Hair and Makeup from the 2009 Golden Globes

See all the glamorous looks and learn how to easily recreate them at home

The Golden Globes are a great way to kick off awards season. We love watching stars like Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet and Jennifer Lopez get all glammed up. But who says these styles are just for the red carpet? Not us. Use our tips to recreate these hair and makeup looks for yourself. (No reason celebrities should be the only ones looking fab.) Bonus: There was only one major hairstyle disaster of the night -- can you guess who? See her photo revealed at the end. See the looks

MAC Blonde, Brunette, Redhead - more thoughts ...

 

The more I play with the newest MAC Collection - Blonde, Brunette, Redhead - the more and more I fall in love with it.  It is love, y'all.  In fact, I think this is MAC's best collection in a long minute.  I am in EFFING LOVE with each and every one of the products.  I have bought and/or gotten just about every one of the products and they all look great on me.  Please don't be put off by any of the products that might not actually be in your "hair color" section - they're all amazing.

My extra favorites so far:

All the Mineralize Skinfinishes.   I got all three of them and they work for different things.  Blonde is a soft, glowy pink; Redhead is also great as a highlighter with a bit more pop and Brunette works great as a cheek color - it's the perfect coral on my NC45 skin.

Eyeshadow in Flip and Pincurl.  Flip is a great gold - it looks great layered on the lid and Pincurl works both as a great base for a smoky eye - both daytime and evening - or as a highlight color.

Lipglass in Red Devil and Peroxide.  Red Devil really isn't red at all - it's more of a coral color, kind of like Brunette MSF in lip gloss color.  It's creamy and luscious.  Peroxide looks great alone - it's a frosty whiteish pink - or layered over a lipstick.

Lipstick in Blow Dry.  The lipstick version of Red Devil.  In a lustre, so it's not too overpoweringly creamy.  Yum.

Y'all, run out and get this collection ... NOW!!!

Favorite Things 2008!

 

It's that time of year again!  I've been invited, once again, to share with you all my Favorite Things from the past year.  Now, not all of these products were released in 2008, however, 2008 is the year I became aware of them and fell in love with them.  I'll be adding a link to my previous review of each pick, so you can see my initial thoughts.

1. MAC See-Thru Colour in Not So Shy.  2008 was the Year of the Lip Stain for me, so you will see several of them on this favorites list.  This particular one is a bright fuschia gel and it is love.

2. MAC Cream Colour Base in Crushed Bougainvillea.  Okay, I just lied.  2008 was the Year of the Lip and Cheek Stain.  This past year, my normally uber-oily skin started having patches of dryness and I've had a great time finding more moisturizing products.  Cheek stains are awesome.  This one matches the above-mentioned See-Thru Colour and I almost always wear them together.