How To Make Your Eyes Sparkle With Makeup Tips for Shimmering Eye Makeup

Tis the season to be jolly and also to think about how we are going to spruce up our makeup and make it sparkling and festive for those Christmas and New Year parties which are nearly upon us. Glamour is very on trend this season, so lets glam-up our eyes to match our gorgeous sparkling and shimmering party dresses. Jennifer Lopez looks super glamorous here with silver sparkling eye-shadow and black mascara and eyeliner, and here are some easy to follow steps showing how this look is easily achieved.

• Step 1: Apply either an eyeshadow base or your normal foundation, if you are using one, ensuring a light covering all over your eyelid area. This will cover any imperfections and give a perfect blank canvas for your eye-colour.
• Step 2: Apply a silver sparkling eyeshadow over your whole eye lid working from the middle to the inner corner and then out to the outer corner of your eye. Then work the colour up towards your brow bone, but applying more lightly as you work away from your eye. Using a small eyeshadow brush also lightly apply this colour along your lower lash line.
• Step 3: To give some definition to your eye socket, using a shade darker shadow - in this case a smoky-silver-grey sparkling eyeshadow and apply this to the outer corner of your eyelid up to the crease line and to the middle of your eyelid and blend this in with your base shadow. It is important not to apply too much shadow at once, gradually build it up.
• Step 4: Using a liquid black eyeliner apply this along your upper lash line only from the inner corner of your eye to the outer corner. Look at this earlier blog entry for some tips on applying eyeliner.
• Step 5: Jennifer Lopez is blessed with long and curly eyelashes, but if yours need some help, use a lash curler, and then apply two coats of black lash lengthening mascara to give a glamorous finishing touch.
• Step 6: Although these are tips for applying sparking eye makeup, its worth thinking about your lip colour. With dramatic eye makeup such as this your lip colour should be toned down, and ideal colours to wear are corals or natural shades of pink, rather than bright reds and pinks.

How To Create The Movie Star Look Of Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson is blessed with a perfect complexion and movie star looks of the old fashioned kind - she has sworn that she will never be pressurised into losing her curves and for someone who is only 24 she carries her sophisticated style very naturally. Her makeup is relatively simple but very effective and is just a perfect look for glamorous parties or nights out. So if you have a cocktail dress or two lying around and you would like your makeup to have the sophistication to match - Scarlett's look is the one to create, especially if you team it with an up-do of softly waving hair and some sparkling hair pins. Just follow these easy steps:

• Cleanse and Moisturise: A perfect face needs a perfect canvas - cleanse away with a gentle facial scrub to create a complexion as soft as a baby's and then apply your favourite moisturiser and allow to soak in.
• Foundation: If your skin is perfect then apply only a concealer where needed around the eyes, or if you are not confident without your foundation, apply a light foundation with your fingers or a sponge, ensuring a perfect finish before you proceed to the next step.
• Eyeshadow: Scarlett often uses coloured eyeshadows, but subtly. Using an eyeshadow brush and a silver-grey shadow, sweep this over the whole of your upper eyelid and blend out towards your eyebrows.
• Eyeliner: Using a liquid eyeliner in black or dark brown sweep the liner from the inner third of your upper eye-lid to the outer corners of your eye making the line wider as you go. A steady hand is needed and you might want to practice this beforehand if you are not used to applying this kind of eyeliner. No eyeliner is applied to the bottom lid.
• Mascara: Using a shade which matches your eyeliner, apply two generous coats to your top eyelashes, and finish your lower lashes with one coat of mascara - the emphasis is on the upper lashes to create a glamorous look.
• Blusher: Using a large round blusher brush, apply a rose pink powder blusher along your cheekbones finishing on the apples of your cheeks.
• Powder: With a translucent powder and a large powder brush set your makeup and also create a "finished" look - you are nearly there now.
• Lipcolour: Using a plummy pink lipstick carefully fill in your lips with a long-lasting lipstick and then finish this off with a clear gloss.

Gorgeous...

Some Great Tips On How To Keep Your Eyes Looking Youthful and Beautiful

It is now said that 30 is the new 20 and 40 is the new 30 and so on, which I totally agree with, as generally all our lifestyles have changed and we are still partying way into our 50s! However, although we might feel like that on the inside our bodies on the outside don't always agree with this new phenomenon. It's pretty easy to hide those greys and get a new hairdo, but when it comes to eyes and skin it's a bit more difficult unless you are going to opt for Botox or surgery. However, here are some makeup and beauty tips which can take 10 years off your eyes and have them looking their young and beautiful best.

Preparation For Eye-Makeup

• Cleanse your eye area thoroughly using an eye makeup remover. Celebrity Beauty Tip: Use Johnson's Baby Wipes to remove eye-makeup and refresh your face.
• Apply your eye cream or invest in a lifting cream such as Avon Anew Clinical Eye Lift which retails at around £15.50. This helps to lift skin, as well as treating any puffiness and dark shadows.

Foundation And Concealer

• Apply foundation to your face and blend it in around your eye area. There are some great foundations available for mature skins such as Clinique Repairwear Anti Ageing Makeup SPF15 and Loreal Age Perfect Skin Supporting & Hydrating Makeup.
• Apply any concealer that is required - see the entry on "How To Get Rid Of Dark Circles Under The Eyes" if you have problems with shadows. I've mentioned in that entry about using a concealer such as YSL Touche Eclat which brightens and disguises imperfections as well as covering them.

Powder

• Where fine lines are involved, it's sometimes better not to powder, but if you feel that you need this "setting" agent then look for a powder with light reflecting qualities, such as Clinique Gentle Light Powder which uses it's light reflecting qualities to diffuse light away from lines and imperfections. Brush this over your eye-lids as a base for your eyeshadow.

Eyeshadow And Eyeliner

• Now apply your eyeshadow and use matte or semi-matte muted shades and blend in carefully over the lids. Apply eyeliner to the top and bottom eyelids just outside the lash line and smudge to create a smokey look. Using a darker eyeliner gives definition back to the eye, and dark brown is probably more flattering than black for a daytime look.

The above are great makeup tips, but I also think that following these health and beauty tips below are so important and also easy:

• Drink lots of water to keep your eyes and skin hydrated and fresh.
• Get as much sleep as you can to avoid tiredness lines.
• Don't frown - as my mum always told me - the expression might "stick" - now I get what she meant - lines!
• Don't pull your skin unnecessarily when cleansing, washing etc.
• Eat a good diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables.
• Don't smoke - smokers are much more likely to get lined faces.

Ageing happens to everyone, but it doesn't always have to happen soon, and we can do lots of things to keep it at bay!

If you have any great anti-ageing tips let's hear them here.

A Review Of The Cosmo Beauty Awards 2008

I was eager to see what the results were for this year's Cosmo awards and they are available in the October edition of Cosmopolitan - it's the sixth year that they have put beauty products through a thorough testing to find the best of the best. However, for those of you who don't feel like rushing out to buy the magazine, I have reviewed the number one products in the most interesting categories below. There are a real variety of brands that come out top and they are not always the most expensive ones which is always a good thing!

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Lipstick

• Givenchy Rouge Interdit
• Average Price £16.50

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Mascara Award

• Lancome Virtuose Divine Lasting Curves & Length Mascara
• Average Price £19.50

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Skin Cleanser Award

• Urban Retreat The Cleanser
• Average Price £12.00

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Foundation Award

• Chanel Mat Lumiere Longlasting Makeup
• Average Price £25.00

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Everyday Moisturiser Award

• Clarins HydraQuench Cream
• Average Price £30.00

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Anti-Ageing Moisturiser Award

• Dior Capture R60/80 XP Ultimate Wrinkle Restoring Creme
• Average Price £39.00

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Shampoo Award

• Pantene Restorative Time Renewal Shampoo
• Average Price £1.89

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Conditioner Award

• Charles Worthington Dream Hair Lustrous Locks Conditioner
• Average Price £5.49

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Celebrity Scent Award

• Sarah Jessica Parker Covet Eau De Parfum
• Average Price £23.00

Winner Of The Cosmo Best Nail Polish Award

• Revlon Nail Enamel
• Average Price £6.29

As always, I am interested in finding beauty product bargains and any items with a link above will take you to an online store where the products are all cheaper than the average prices above - saving pennies is very important these days but we all still want to be beautiful too!

I hope this is useful - but if you know of any other stores where beauty bargains can be obtained let us all know by leaving your comments :-)

What Causes Enlarged Pores and How To Improve Their Appearance

Many of us have enlarged pores mostly around the t-zone area, ie the nose, chin and forehead. These are sometimes inherited and unfortunately we cannot control this or they can result from poor skincare - which we can do something about. There are ways to improve their appearance which are:

• Exfoliate regularly using a good quality facial scrub, such as Aapri Exfoliating Facial Scrub Cream, which lifts and removes dead skin cells and impurities which can block the pores.
• Make up a face mask at home using the whites from two eggs whisked together with a teaspoon of lemon juice. As the mask dries the egg whites draw away impurities from the skin and the lemon juice is a natural fruit acid which encourages the release of dead cells from the skin's surface.
• Use a good toner which tightens up the skin's pores after cleansing, such as Burt's Bees Rosewater & Glycerin Toner, which will leave skin feeling refreshed and will close up the pores so that they are less likely to become blocked.
• Use a moisturiser which is noncomedogenic, ie one that will not block up the pores such as Korres Pomegranate Balancing Moisturiser for Oily and Combination Skin. Using a moisturiser specifically for oily skin such as this one means your pores are more likely to remain clear.

How To Disguise The Appearance Of Large Pores

• Heavy foundations are more likely to exacerbate the problem of large pores, so use one specifically designed for oilier skins such as Dermalogica Treatment Foundation and apply a light layer.
• Apply makeup in a downwards motion around areas where pores are enlarged, as this guides makeup away from them rather than forcing makeup into the pores which creates further problems.
• Use a oil control face powder such as Corn Silk Loose Face Powder which is specially designed to keep shiny skin under control with minimum effort.

Recommended Products:

Aapri Exfoliating Facial Scrub Cream

Burt's Bees Rosewater & Glycerin Toner

Korres Pomegranate Balancing Moisturiser for Oily and Combination Skin

Dermalogica Treatment Foundation

Corn Silk Loose Face Powder