The Over 40 Princess

Romantic hair for almost every type of hair. Super straight will need more help in terms of a gel, or mousse, but this would work for even my hair, but for all the most humid days.

See this and other ideas at, Total Beauty.

I have a wholesale order coming in today. It’s colors and toys for me to make makeup with and I can’t wait to get my gloves on and try new recipes and play. Which is too freaking bad, becase there’s inentory to do, before I so much as unpack the box.

While I’m determined to keep my prices affordable, I need to cover my time, the items, anything used to make items and costs of everything else. Trips to Joanne’s for fabric, have taken on new meanings, with my watch set to see how much time involves searching for things for re-sale, or storag. It’s still fun, but when you make fun work, it’s still work.

Don’t get me wrong. I love this start-up and all the things that go with it. No more television, unless taped ahead of time. What seems like a short time with m chemicals, an turn into hours of formulating and work. It energizes me. It wears me out. It enliven me. It makes me never want to see another eye color again, as long as I live. In other words, like any new venture, it’s work. Lots more than I thought, and very rewarding.

cannot live without, for now:

Stila Kitten. Best lid and highligt color for me personally, and so many other people. It’s flexible, not too sparkly and yummy, without being over powering.

Clarisonic Mia: Review soon, but I can’t stop using it and darn it, myu skin is pretty now. Perfect? No, but I get compliments. ME!!! First time it happened my jaw hit the floor.

3. Lush Baby-Face Cleanser. I’ve said it a lot, this stuff removes the makeup without damging the most sensative skin on my body, my eyelids.

4. Rum Runner. It’s an eyeshadow that reminds me of the sunset on the beaches in western Jamaica. I made it myself, and I’m dang proud of it. I wear it all the time as a lid color and it should not work on me, but does.

A makeup kit is not just for makeup artists, it’s for anyone who uses makeup and loves it. These are the very basics you need to start a kit that you can work with and really love. This is series and today we start with eyes.

Brushes. Yes, your fingers are wonderful tools, but those crappy little sponge applicator’s are not. Sorry, I’ve tried, but they make a mess, tend to get overloaded with shadow to the point you’re more likely to put on too much and not be able to blend it off. Then, you either go out looking like a ten cent ho, or wiping if all off and feeling like a failure. Go to YouTube, find someone who shows you eyeshadow techniques you can relate to with colors you love. Watch the video over and over.

If you don’t wear a lot of shadow now, go for the neutral colors, the ones that look good on everyone. Darker skinned women are lucky. They can take a lot more color and the dark and deep shades I adore. However, if you have a darker complexion, African, or Mediterranean, you will have to be very careful to use colors that are darker than your skin tone, and highlights just barely lighter, or you can look ashy. Still better than me and my ability to put on super bright colors that are too much for my small face and frame. I love color. I just wear gloss those days.

I digress. Pick up some decent brushes. Decent does not mean spend a mint at the cosmetics counters in the mall. For your eyes, you need three brushes, all affordable. Revlon makes an eye shadow brush that even the pros love. It’s sturdy, soft and works. You can pack on shadow with it, or go with a very light touch and blend it ever so softly onto your lid, for a barely there look. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

You will also need a blending brush. Sephora and Ulta both have blending brushes made by their companies that are at a healthy price point and deliver. Just remember, blending is just that, blending away harsh lines. It should not be done so hard and so long that you blend the shadow off. Light strokes, and small circular motions. Look for a video later today.

Eye liner. I’m going to make this optional. Some people love eyeliner in stick form and that’s fine. You don’t need brush. I find gel liner easier to work with and more forgiving, but we all learned to use a pencil in school. If you go the pencil route, just keep a GOOD sharpener close by and make sure the consistency is so creamy you don’t have any skips. A skip is when the liner hits a line in your lid (which can start in your twenties) and skips over it. Then, you’re going back and that’s when you muck it up.

If you go the pencil route make sure you have Q-Tips handy to smudge it, blend it and play with it. It also fixes mistakes. If you get eyeliner in the wrong spot, wet the edge of a Q-tip with a non oily makeup remover and gently dot and twist over the area you blew it in. The eyeliner should come off easily, and some of your shadow may too come off, just re-apply in that small area and blend, blend, blend.

For your shadows? Pick two colors without sparkle, or shine. Matte is a great place to start. Sparkle comes later. Even if you THINK you know how to put it on, do this. A compact of two neutral colors should do the trick and they are all over the drugstores as well as the cosmetics counters. Tell the person EXACTLY what you are looking for. Don’t let them talk you into a symphony of yummy color. You can always get those later and once you know what you are doing, you won’t make as many mistakes. If you like the Cosmetic Counter Route, a good place to start is, Bobbi Brown. She is the queen of the gorgeous neutral and will offer you a wealth of choices.

One color should be a shade lighter than your skin and the other two to three shades deeper. That’s it. I know, a lot of people use three colors and that’s great, but mastering one color, just one, or two is going to make it much easier in the future. Even if you are a blending of fifty colors Goddess, just work with two for now. The light color goes all over your eyelid. Just the lid, up to the brow bone. Feel your eyelid. Just above the ball is a crease where the ball of the eye curves in to meet the nerves. That’s the crease. The ridge above that, is your brow bone. Right now, everything is going to happen below your brow bone.

The lighter color is just going to meet your brow bone and go all over the lid from the tear-duct area, to the outside of your eye. Look at your eye. Take a pencil and angle it from the outside of your eyeball, to the end of your brow. Any part of the lid that is within that area should be covered in the lighter color.

Easy, right? Look at your eye. You can go out like this. Really. You don’t have to add any other shadow. For many women, this is enough. Try it. Just one sweep of color and see how it feels for a day. It’s one day of your life.

Okay, you want more. See that crease? Take your brush and open your eye a little. The goal here is to get the color along the crease starting above your pupil, going to the imaginary line we spoke about that goes from the end of your eye, to you brow. No higher than the crease.

Do you have a dark sweep of color along the crease? Good. If not, wipe it off and start again. Put some good music on. Anyone can learn to do this. Yes, I said anyone. I’ve known people with prosthetic limbs who have mastered this, you can too.

Now, you can stop and blend, or take it a step further. Go along that imaginary line to the end of your eye. You made a V. See it? You can go to the bottom, or top of the eyeball with this. Make it dark, so you can really see it. That sideways V is going to open your eyes and make them stand out.

Got it? congrats!!! You’re not done. A big streak of dark color is no really flattering to most woman. Take that blending brush and with the most gentle of gentle strokes, blend the edges of the colors together. Again, there will be a link up on my YouTube channel later today.

Once it’s blended and there are no harsh lines, stand back and admire your work. Pretty? Eye catching without being risky? That’s the look we’re going for here.

I will talk about liner and mascara in the next installment. For now, do your other eye, slap on some mascara and attack the world. You’re eyes are lovely, without being too much for work. Trust me. Check it throughout the day. If you have oily lids you will need an eye primer and it may scooch around on you. Be prepared to touch up in the bathroom mirror. Not at the lunch table, not with a butter knife. PLEASE!!!

Take a picture of your work. You did great.

People adore heaping abuse on Kim Kardashian. She’s easy to harass. sex tape. pushy show-biz mom, and she’s simply stunning. People forget that she was a successful stylist before she did a show, made her own money and started two stores that do very well with her sisters. They also focus on her affi8nity for African American Males and her father defended OJ. Hey, if he helped get that creep off, at least he was very talented. It was her father, not her. End of story, period, exclamation point. Her father was on the side of the accused. Sometimes, that means he gets people who did bad things and he has to work for them. A criminal Defense Attorney is a hard road. You have to believe your client at all costs and defend that client. I’m glad they’re out there. Accused without proof sucks.

Okay, my defense of Miss Kim’s background is over. I’m all about the test sample of her perfume. Yes, I had to be talked into trying it my friend. Why? I buy one perfume a year, in the smallest quantity they sell, so I can use it up. My Betsy Johnson is two years old, but still smells the same. I got a larger bottle because along with the most fantastic scent, it has a stunning top. Not smart. I can’t travel with it. Last year, it was Vera Wangs, Rock Princess. I go for florals with unexpected undertones and Kim’s fragrance has it in spades.

Floral top-notes smell amazing right out of the bottle, but it blends down to a slight musky undertone. It’s very Kim as I see her, being a fan. She’s sweet, honest and girlie, but under it? Her mother raised strong women and Kim is strong. She has her life in her hands. Usually celebrity Perfumes are all the same, no feel for who the celebrity is. This seems to capture her public persona very well. Floral and spice, simple, but not. The undertones show complex notes that seem to be her hallmark. She doesn’t run from the bad stuff. She shows real emotion and this perfume does the same. It describes me perfectly, only without the hot sex tape, mother who pushes, but she’s her manager and the ability to take care of herself.

I require frequent perfume additions, so I will be buying this in the roller ball and the smallest size. I ran through my sample so fast, I almost cried. It’s a perfume to look into. I give it a lot of stars, but here’s the thing. Perfume is very personal. One perfume will never smell the same on two people. Try it, wear it for ten minutes and think about it overnight. Get a sample of it at Sephora Stores. Wear it, play with it. For me it’s a twenty four hour scent. Maybe a tad much for some people during the day, but I’m a tad flamboyant.

Kim Kardashien Perfume is available at Sephora online and in Sephora stores.

Yesterday, Talkin Makeup on YouTube, posted a silly video with some great advice. I always watch Camile’s videos right when they come out. I’m super uptight about viewing a few people right away. She’s one of them. I think she thinks I’m stalking her. Lol! With my bundles of joy, there is no time to stalk and besides, it would be Shemar Moore. I can’t evoke the sound of a low cougar growl, but you get the idea. The man is beyond fine.

I digress. She suggested using hydro-cortisone cream for a moisturizer if you’re having a red blotchy day. I was just having a red-blotchy day. I’d say that was synchronicity, but I’m always having red blotches. It seems I’m allergic to my cats. I see shots in my future.

I tried her trick last night and woke up with soft skin, not over oily, no new zits and my peeling skin, from my peel, soft and supple, with no flakiness. I was in total amazement. I double checked the ingredients. Aloe Vera was among the first of them. Okay, that’s good. The other ingredients were all good for my skin. Is relying on a corto-steroid every day a good idea? Not really, but once in while? I think she’s onto something.

Yesterday, my best friend came over for girl bonding and to help me organize my house, one room at a time. Lord knows, with my kids I am going to have to be brutal about toy removal. Anyway, She was one of the lucky girls who got the Urban Decay, “Alice in Wonderland,” collection.

Apparently, my usually conservatively dressed friend got a bug and whipped on bright color, including a bright liner on top. The result? Stunning. The color was on until midnight and never budged (Urban Decay, “Primer Potion”) and her whole face looked lit from within.

My point, break out of your old looks every now and again. We all get into ruts, lots of color, very safe and neutral, subtle colors without browns. Which are all wonderful looks and if your comfortable, that’s great, but would it kill us all to drop the intense eye and try an intense lip once in a while? Yes, you love your look, but do you really love it, or is it a comfort level?

Yes, you have fabu eyes, but line them and use a nice mascara and try an intense lip look.

Break out of your shell and find a new one. Be a hermit crab and test out new things!

You don’t have to be over forty. You don’t have to sport dry skin. Sorry, it’s too much sun and heredity. There’s nothing you can do about your genes, but get the heck out of the sun and start using a good SPF today. I mean it. Neutrogena makes one I’m not allergic to and I’m allergic to a lot of sunscreens. Also, look for a moisturizer with sunscreen and a rating. Most sunscreens use PABA, which is what causes allergies in me. Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide are what most moisturizers use for sunblock. If your eye moisturizer does not have this, get a sunscreen for your face and make sure that it’s a sport sunscreen. It won’t drip into your eyes.

To help with the appearance of crepe-eyes follow these steps. This is Nancy’s way of doing it, if you think I’m full of beans, keep what you want and toss the rest.

1. Sunscreen if your moisturizer does not have one. Your eyeshadow probably has Titanium Dioxide, but you never know how much it has. In order to have an SPF number, a product has to go through testing and be rated. This is an expensive proposition and most eye makeup companies don’t see a need for it.

Note: 30 SPF plus 10 SPF do not make 40 SPF. It’s a complicated formula. Just know that you will get more than 30 and less than 35, if you do this.

2. Now, moisturize. Okay, a moisturizer is not going to get rid of the Crepes. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but it doesn’t. It will temporarily plump the skin on the lids, and that gives you a smoother canvas to work on. Removals of crepiness can be done by a plastic surgeon, or using Retinoids, prescribed by your Dermatologist. Otherwise, you’re stuck. In other words, Creme De Mer is nice, and pricey, but not a magic bullet. I use Oil of
Olay, two types, depending on skin type. Eye Lifting Serum leaves a nice powdery finish for your next step for oilier eyes, and, Total Effects Eye Transforming Cream work on drier lids. You don’t want to use a comedogenic product. I like these two because they re-hydrate without clogging pores. I don’t like clogged pores on even the driest skin. Believe me, the pigments and shadows can clog them all on their own and mixed with oil? Its melia waiting to happen.

3. Use a Primer Potion. Urban Decay, Too Faced Shadow insurance, or even NYX do a good job. I tried to love E.L.F.s, Studio Line, but I didn’t and it go tossed. Just one thing I’m not find of from them. Love some of it, hate some of it. No company is all things to all people. I believe in a list of products from different companies in both a personal and professional kit. Let your primer sink in. This should take a couple of minutes. I pluck my stays.

4. Paint Pots from MAC, or similar. A creme base color of some kind. Watch out that it’s not too oily, or it’s going to slide on your lid, primer, or no. I have used cream shadows over the whole lid, nothing shiny, or Painterly Paint Pot from MAC. A good concealer can do it too, as well as a good foundation. It can match your lid, or compliment a color you’re planning to use. Just as long as it’s not Gel Liner. That’s a wonderful solution, if you don’t have crepey eyes. It tends to be waterproof and make them look more dried out and crepey by the end of the day. Something emollient, but not so slippery it hits your neck by five, shadow and all.

5. Use matte colors? It’s every one’s advice. Use matte, use matte. Okay, there are exceptions. You can use a more shimmery color on the lid. If you’ve done your base stuff right and put on the minimum foundation color in cream and I mean as little as you can get away with, your eyes should look less crepey. Notice, I said less. I did not say, “crepe-free.” Again, luck of the draw and sun. I can tell in a second who spent their youth in a tanning bed by the look around their eyes. Genetic is some, but there’s a look that screams, “too much sun exposure,” and it does not take an experienced makeup artist long to figure it out. Heck, beginners will see it a lot too.

Back to matte. Matte tends to highlight the small wrinkles left. It can also make eye shadow migrate into the creases. My best advice here, is too use as little shadow as you can to get the effect you want, without using too little and blend, baby blend. I mean get in there and blend out those colors with a small brush and do it with EVERY layer. Get the color on, the extra off. Once it’s settled into your cream color, it should not move. That’s what you want and that’s why I say some shimmer is fine, but know if you wear a lot, it will be noticeable and it can be aging. Personally, I am the age I am and don’t care, but again, I have skin issues, but not in the crepe department.

You’re done. Look at both eyes to make sure they are balanced. A balanced look, is a professional look and something I am absolutely uptight about. Have fun with it. By your cremes from Drugstore brands and try it out. Don’t ever, ever, spend money on something in the department store without a test run. It’s how I ended up with the worst lipstick for my skin color, ever.

Are bright colors okay? Yep. Eyeliner is good too. Just use a gel liner, or a pencil and set it with some of your powder eye color in a matching, or complimentary shade.

Have fun and play with your makeup. I will be giving a demonstration on YouTube later today, with other tips not mentioned here. Look for it.

Lots of love and happy makeup. Nancy

Saturday’s Shoot. I am thrilled with the way these turned out, and cannot wait to see the rest.

I love the way she's looking directly at Mark and really engaging the camera. Bridal Look Exotic Look