Recommend: Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer ($27 from Sephora)

We spend tons of time and money keeping our skin looking beautiful. Cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing, masks, peels...you name it, we do it! But we always forget our lips! In Canada's cold winters, we must remember to take care by exfoliating and moisturizing.

One great way to exfoliate the lips is to mix coconut or olive oil and white sugar together. This will make a paste. Dab it on the lips, and rub in a circular motion. Not only will this slough off dead skin, but the oil will keep lips hydrated. Follow with an intense lip moisturizer. 

My eyebrows and I have a love-hate relationship.
I was blessed with a head full of naturally curly hair, and if I let them, my eyebrows will also grow long and curly (eww, I know right?!)  I went through a “skinny brow” phase in high school, as I’m sure many of you did.
Tweezing them until there was next to nothing left, leaving me now with bald patches and uneven hair growth.  I was once brave enough to grow them out enough to have a lady wax them… that did not go well and I swore never to return. Now that I’ve dyed my naturally blonde hair a vibrant shade of purple, I have no choice but to keep my eyebrows shaped and filled with a purple-ish color, in an attempt to make the purple look “natural” Ha!
Nowadays, my eyebrows and I get along fairly well, but granted, we do spend a lot more time together in the mornings than we used to. I’ve had many people ask me for eye brow tips, and the first thing I tell them is: It takes practice!! (and patience) There will be many trial and error attempts to create them equal. So many things to remember: line up in certain ways, don’t
over-tweeze and don’t forget an arch, etc. You’ll get one brow PERFECT then completely screw up the other! *sigh* Sometimes I wish eyebrows didn’t exist! 

But alas, I will explain and hopefully it will make your attempts at brows a little bit easier!

1) Determine where your inner brow should end.
(photo #1)
This is the part where we avoid the uni-brow. Use a pencil or makeup brush (handle part) to help you out for these steps. Hold your brush against your face so that it touches the outer part of your nose and the inside of your eye. Where it hits your eyebrow, is where your eyebrow should start. Mark this
with an eyebrow pencil and repeat on other eye. Another tip I’ve heard, is to start the inner eyebrow directly above where your inner eye starts.

2) Determine where your arch should be. (photo #2)
Many people struggle with this part. Looking straight in the mirror (important!), take your brush and line it up to the outer edge of your iris, while still laying it against the side of your nose. This is where your arch should be, so mark this with your brow pencil. Repeat on other eye.

 3) Determine where your outer brow should end. 
(photo #3)
Keep the brush against the side of your nose, line the other end just to the outer corner of your eye. This is where your brow should end. Mark this and repeat on other eye.

 4) Draw a line along the bottom edge of your brow with your pencil, following your hair growth, from the first marking to your arch mark.  Then continue to your third marking at the end of your brow.

 5) Tweeze any stray hairs below this mark. Or if you’re like me, you’ll love to get some hot wax on there and rip those babies out! I get great satisfaction seeing
20-30 hairs stuck on a wax strip that I’ve ripped off in one quick swoop! I wouldn’t recommend this though unless you’re comfortable and/or experienced, any miscalculations will take weeks to grow back! Tweeze minimally above the brow. Sometimes there are a few stragglers up there, but for the most part those hairs contribute to your arch and should stay.

 6) Trim. If your brows grow long and curly, or long and straight go ahead and trim them. I like to use the tiny nail scissors that come in my mini manicure kit.

 7) Fill in your brows. I find that filling your eyebrows is the finishing piece to your daily makeup routine. It frames your face and completes your look. Use a
pencil or powder to fill in; whichever is your preference. As a general rule, don’t go more than two shades darker than your natural color, or don’t go any
darker than the darkest color in your hair.
If you are using a powder to fill your brows, a flat, angled brush works well with light brush strokes. Make sure to fill in those bald spots!  To finish or set your brows, you can brush on a clear mascara (gel) or brow wax. Also a setting powder over your whole face is good too.

Any other tips that you would recommend? Comments? Leave them here :)

Angela

*Disclaimer- I took this picture after a 7 hour shift at work. No glammed up makeup here!! Lol

New Year, New Look!