Lately, I’ve been watching quite a few videos by Australian YouTuber, Schellea Fowlwer, on her fabulous50 channel. She focuses on tips and tricks of applying makeup for those who are older. I’m not 50 yet but I have hooded lids and lines around my lips, and she shares tips on how to work with these aspects. There’s almost nothing I love to watch more on YouTube, and she just gives me the most useful tips and they are easy to replicate.

Her '5 Biggest Makeup Mistakes On Mature Eyes Tutorial Over 50 by Fabulous50s' was my introduction to her and I've referred back to it a few times. Since gravity is already working against you to drag the outside corners of your eyes down, her whole point of this video is that you should always look for ways to bring the eyes up in that area and not down. I was doing a few of her "don'ts" so it was nice to see what they were and why some are not flattering. 

Pull away tips:

• A thick line of liner on the mobile lid will make your eyes appear smaller. Tighlining the top lid is better.
• Black liner on the bottom water liner can make eyes look more almond shaped.
• Don’t follow nature when applying shadow! Don’t bring the shadow all the way down on the outside.
• Neutral or nude eyeliner pencil can open up the eye look.
• Eye primer is a must!
• Only apply a highlighter in the middle just under the brow, not all the way across.

Since I’m loving the new PIXI BEAUTY Eye Reflections Shadow Palette in Natural Beauty ($24 @ pixibeauty.com) I thought I’d try it out using some of her tips. The palette has both mattes and shimmers in it so this sole one can be used to create a whole look.

Click the link to see how I did it and what I used!

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I could have gussied up these pictures of the NYX COSMETICS, but these new lippies really take center stage all on their own! I When I saw this picture on Instagram, I knew I had to have whatever the lippie was in the picture. Turns out it was NYX COSMETICS ‘Glitter Goals’ Liquid Lipstick ($9 @ nyxcosmetics.com, walgreens.com, ulta.com), shown in the hot pink shade of Reflector. How fun!

Since I currently can’t seem to find where I put these two, I was on the hunt for these new ones and found them at their store at the Westfield Mall Century City.

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This feature really helped me in the organization department! Finally, all my liquid eyeliners are together in one container. It was pretty hard coming up with only 5 favorites out of all of them but I was able to. See any you might try? #shopmystash

TARTE Deluxe Tartiest Dream Team Liner Trio in Burgundy - $17 @ tartecosmetics.com (this liner is part of the trio).

NYX COSMETICS Colored Felt Tip Liner in Cobalt Blue $10 @ nyxcosmetics.com.

NYX COSMETICS Vivid Brights Liquid Liner in Vivid Fire $7 @ nyxcosmetics.com.

STILA Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner in Intense Jade - $22 @ stilacosmetics.com, sephora.com, dermstore.com.

CHELLA Eyeliner Pen in Purple - $21 @ chella.com.

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I've been pretty happy with the It Cosmetics Liquid Liner but about mid-last week, I suddenly decided that I needed to have the blackest liquid liner there is! Thankfully The Makeup Show was last weekend in Los Angeles, so I took my quest there and ended up with two from NYX COSMETICS. 

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I’ve always been fascinated by how Benefit’s Benetint Cheek & Lip Stain has done over the many years it has existed in their line. I mean, the stain itself is nice but the way of putting it on your lips/cheeks is just ridiculous, in my opinion, and not in a good way. If you’ve never seen it, it uses a nail polish brush, which makes it quite impossible to get some coverage and to stay-in-the-lines, so to speak!

So when I read about these new lip inks coming out, I marched right over to Ulta to pick some up. The brand? NYX COSMETICS. The name? Epic Ink Lip Dyes ($7 @ nyxcosmetics.com (on sale right now for $4.90 each!, ulta.com).

Finally, a lip ink that comes in many colors and with a great-er delivery system! So how did they perform? They were just like I thought, a highly pigmented dye/stain that’s lightweight and dries all the way down to a matte finish. I got almost 4 hours of wear before the dreaded wear-off where the wet lip meets the dry lip. And these have no transfer unless you get your lips wet, then the color transfers.

Do these sound like they will be making it in your bag?

From L to R:

Poised – true red, Charmer – deep strawberry red , Revolt – orange, Heartbreaker – deep hot pink.

It’s been lippie heaven the past few months with brands putting out huge collections of their lipsticks. And NYX COSMETICS just put out the Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick Vault ($50 @ ulta.com) and actually this is the best idea yet – a set of minis of an existing lip collection, in this case, as the name says, the Liquid Suede Cream Lipsticks.

Nyx Cosmetics Liquid Suede Vault

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I attended The Makeup Show in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and picked up some products I’m uber excited to try out! Some I had not seen before and some I had on my list to pick up.

Since it’s tax season, I had to really be watchful on my dollars this time around and thankfully the show had a blogger preview so some of the products that were on my list were in the bag the show gave us. Yeah!! I've just started trying some of them out so do you see anything you like?

1. ESUM Pro Finishing Sponges ($20/2 sponges @ musebeauty.com) – here’s a new twist on the makeup sponge – these combines the wedge and oval sponge in one so you can get every inch you’re trying to get to.

2. BÉSAME COSMETICS Boudoir Short Hair Contour Brush ($48 @ sephora.com) – this one is in the same category as those oval brushes that are blowing up everywhere. It feels so nice on the skin and is able to get into all the angles on the face … flawlessly!

3. SENNA COSMETICS Lash Detail Mascara ($20 @ sennacosmetics.com) – I’m really picky about my mascara and don’t like many. I’ve worn this one twice and what I like about it is the super skinny fine brush that seems to be able to maneuver color on ever lash. If you’re looking for natural looking lashes, this might be one to try.

4. NYX COSMETICS Soft Matte Lip Crème in Transylvania ($5.99 @ bedbathandbeyond.com) – I’ve been needing this shade in my life since it came out and has been sold out at my Ulta since it came out.

5. SEPHORA PRO Press Full Coverage Complexion Brush #66 ($36 @ sephora.com) – this seems to be Sephora’s answer to the oval brush craze and I can’t wait to see how it performs!

6. SMASHBOX Photo Finish Primer Water ($32/3.9oz @ smashbox.com and sephora.com) – there’s been quite a buzz on this primer water since it emerged recently. Can’t wait to try this out!

7. VERA MONA Color Switch Duo ($19.99 @ veramona.com) – a genius product! Stroke your brush against the black to remove the color so it’s ready to dip into the next shade. And the white middle part can be soaked in water if you feel like applying shadow with a wet brush.

8. KAT VON D Tattoo Liner in Trooper ($19 @ sephora.com) – from the queen of liner. Need I say more?

9. PUR Browder Perfecting Brow Powder in Medium Brown ($22 @ kohls.com) – this combines a powder with fibers to help fill in sparse areas. Interesting application pointer!

10. MAKE UP FOR EVER Pro Sculpting Lip 2-in-1 Lip Sculpting Pen in #40 Carmine Red ($27 @ sephora.com) – quite a unique twist on giving lips a multi-dimensional look. Can’t wait to try this out!

Color correcting makeup is all the rage right now and there have been quite a few brands that have splashed products on the scene. Here are a few I’m digging right now.

This is the ALGENIST’s first foray into the makeup world and they latched onto a pretty hot trend right now! Not only do each of these two products contain their AlgaCorrecting Complex to fight aging, but it uses the naturally-occurring red, blue, green and golden algae that exists in the complex to do the correcting.

ALGENIST REVEAL Color Correcting Radiant Primer ($36) – smooths out your skin creating the ultimate canvas for what’s to come next!

ALGENIST REVEAL 6-in-1 Color Correcting Concealer ($28) – yup, this does 6 things: primes, brightens, treats, color corrects, provides high coverage and helps fight aging. This one camouflaged some pretty nice dark circles I was sporting one morning.

Both @ sephora.com.

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It’s no secret that I have a great love of liquid lipsticks (for this post I will call them LL) and as I mentioned here, and I’m seeing different formulas emerge and I continue to explore this category. Of course I was super curious about the Liquid Suede Cream Lipsticks from NYX COSMETICS ($7 @ ulta.com) I heard about a few months ago. They’ve been selling out everywhere (I checked Ulta 3 times) and couldn’t seem to get my hands on any until their PR people sent me 3 to try, so thank you!

As the name states, these Liquid Suedes are not straight-up LL’s. The formula is a little thicker and not as drying, more like these from Laura Mercier. So while I like each formula as each has their pluses and minuses, it comes down to how well they performed.

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One of the traits I inherited from my dear father is his crazy long brow hairs. I’ve been tempted in the past to just let them be to see how long they would get. I can’t even imagine if they got as long as the ones in this picture I found on reddit.com but how odd would I look?

So keeping the hair trim and in place it a top priority and I’ve tried just about every kind of “brow keeper-er” there is out there. The rash of brow pomades was promising! I mean, color and a kind of wax in one? I’ve reviewed several of them and the latest one to the list of faves is NYX Eyebrow Gel ($7 @ target.com, walgreens.com, ulta.com, amazon.com). It comes in 5 different shades (shown here in Chocolate, a brown with a dash of red) and seems to be the best at not only keeping brow hairs in place but for the longest time than the others I’ve tried.

Proof is in the … brow gel!