Most of the time, we’re told that bumped bangs (or what I call “pomped bangs”) can only be created using a lot of teasing, hair products, and maybe some Bumpits.

I have news for you: you don’t need any of that crap to pomp—or bump—your bangs. All you need is…

• A brush.
• Some bobby pins.

That’s it. I’m serious!

If you want to pomp your bangs (or “fringe” for my European readers), you can follow this totally awesome tutorial video I made for YouTube.

See? Easy.

Now go bump up you bangs! It’ll look cool, I promise.

For a long time I didn’t think I could pull off blue eye shadow, but I figured it out eventually. The same could be done for pink shadow.

So, before you scoff at the thought, check out some of these pink eye shadow tutorials and faces of the day. Some are all pink, while others pair it with different colors. You just might get inspired!

Six Ways to Wear Pink Eye Shadow

Daily Lipstick Look

Geranium

Blueberry

Watermelon

FOTD: Nerdy McNerd

FOTD: Spring is Coming

Going to try some pink eye shadow now?

Goal

For the seventh day of the 10 Days to Ultimate Beauty, I’m going to help you remember some of your better makeup looks.

Saving Favorite Makeup Looks

There are 365 days in an average year. If you did a different makeup look for each of these days, it would be hard to remember what you did for your favorite looks. That’s a lot of makeup, after all.

Since I’m a beauty blogger, I save all of my favorite looks on Makeup Files, either as a makeup tutorial or in the Face of the Day posts. I look back at these when I need some inspiration.

When you save your favorite looks, you know they will work for you at a later date. Unlike trying a random tutorial on the internet, you’ve already proved to yourself that this look works.

Assignment Day 7: Take pictures of your favorite makeup looks. For instance, if you did a particularly awesome retro makeup look, take a picture of your face. Save these pictures in a folder on your computer. The next time you’re not sure what to do for your makeup, look through the folder. Pick something you like and repeat it.

Don’t have a camera? Start a Look Diary. Write down the date and describe what your makeup looked like, how you applied it, and what products you used.You could even use some colored pencils to draw it out.

Extra Credit: Take this one step further by transferring your folder of images into a Look Book. Print out the pictures and paste them in a scrapbook. Include the list of products you used and a few tips on how you created the look. If you want to do it on the computer, you could upload them to Flickr and add them to an album called “Look Book.” You could even create your own Look Book blog. Listing the products and techniques will help you replicate it later on.

Have you started a Look Book? What looks do you repeat most often? Let us know in the comments!

If you prefer your natural looks to the overly colorful makeup looks hawked on beauty sites (including this one) and in magazines, that doesn’t mean you need to avoid makeup entirely.

Just a little bit of makeup can turn your naturally beautiful face into a masterpiece without making you look like you fell head-first into a pile of cosmetics. Add these five items to your essential makeup kit.

1. Blush

Apply a sheer, slightly shimmery blush to the apples of your cheeks. Pick a blush shade that is similar to your own skin-tone and color. Light pinks and peaches are a good choice. Powder blushes look best in colder months while cream blushes work great in the summer. Try Nars The Multiple cream-to-powder makeup stick or Make Up For Ever Powder Blush.

2. Natural-Toned Eye Shadow

Use a natural-toned eye shadow to lighten your lid or to blend in other colors into your shadow look. Pick an eye shadow color that is just a shade or two lighter than your natural skin color. You can also use this lighter shade as a highlighter by applying it to the inside corner of your eye and on your brow bone right under the curve of your eyebrow. This will brighten up and enlarge your eyes. Try Revlon Matte Eye Shadow or one of several skin-toned shades from the Elite Pro Cosmetics 88 Eye Shadow Palette.

3. Brown Eyeliner

Eyeliner makes your eyes look larger and more beautiful. Forgo dark, harsh eye liner shades by choosing a brown liner. Retractable, gel liners apply easier that the traditional pencil variety. Apply a line of brown liner to the top lid from the outside corner to a centimeter or two from the inside corner. Even a thin line will improve the look of your eyes. Try L’Oreal Pencil Perfect Eyeliner or Stila Kajal Eye Liner in a brown shade.

4. Brown Mascara

Much like the eyeliner, a brown mascara will make your eyes look better without adding too much drama or making you look unnatural. Most mascara companies have a brown or brown-black shade. Apply this mascara to your top lashes. If you want a slightly dramatic look, apply it to your lower lashes as well. Dior DiorShow Mascara and BareMinerals Flawless Definition Mascara both have brown shades.

5. Natural-Toned Lipstick

Lip-stick doesn’t have to look harsh or dramatic. Choose a lipstick shade that is very similar to the natural color of your lips. Applying this color will even out the tone of your lips and add just a bit more beauty while keeping you looking natural. I recommend lipstick instead of lip gloss because the ultra glossiness of lip gloss can detract from your natural beauty. Still, use what you prefer. I recommend Max Factor Vivid Impact Lipcolor or Givenchy Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick in a shade close to your natural lip color.

Use any and all of these beauty products to improve your looks while keeping you natural. Although you can employ the full list of products at once, this isn’t necessary. Instead, you could wear the lipstick and blush during a date and the mascara and liner at work. Makeup is all about experimenting!

I first learned about applying eye shadow wet when I looked at the back of one of my eye shadows and it said, “apply wet or dry.” I wondered what that even meant. They didn’t teach wet eye shadow application in school, after all. At least not at the non-cosmetology schools I went to.

After some experimentation and research, I’ve been able to successfully create looks by applying my eye shadow wet. While I still prefer applying it dry the old fashioned way, having this extra option really opens up how many makeup looks I can do during the week.

Applying eye shadow wet will give you more vibrant and brighter colors than the same look applied dry. Want to learn how to apply eye shadow wet? Then follow along:

What You Need

Before we get started, you’ll need to arm yourself with a few beauty essentials.

• Clean water. Position yourself near a sink or fill up a small cup with water.
• Soft, stiff-bristled brush. Brushes with less-hard bristles will become floppy and useless when coated with water, so go with something stiffer.
• Eye shadow that’s wet-approved. Not all eye shadow can be applied wet. This is mostly the case with cheaper, inexpensive brands. Look on the back of your eye shadow to see if it can be used wet. If it doesn’t say there, look on the product website as well. If you don’t look ahead of time, you may end up ruining your eye shadow.

That’s it. You don’t need any special product. Some people use a mixing medium instead of straight up water, but that’s a cost that you don’t need to spend.

1. Wet the Brush

When you apply eye shadow wet, you wet the brush and not the eye shadow.

Dip your brush into a cup or stream of clean water. take it out and squeeze the excess water out into a clean facial tissue.

How wet your brush is can vary based on the look you want. For the best blending, make sure that it is slightly damp, but not soaked. Experiment with varying levels of wetness to find the right one for you.

2. Rub the Brush in the Eye Shadow

When working with pressed eye shadow, rub the wet brush into the color. Check the brush head to see if you have enough shadow. When working with loose pigment, gently dip the brush into the powder until there is a small amount on the bristles. A wet brush will pick up more color than a dry brush.

Once you’re satisfied with how much color you have on your brush, it’s time to apply it to your eyelid.

3. Apply the Eye Shadow

Rub the color onto your eye much like you would with traditional dry shadow. You’ll soon find that blending is different when applying eye shadow wet. You’ll be adding color in layers rather than truly blending it together.

The application may take some getting used to. Practice with different eye looks in order to get better at blending wet eye shadow.

Rinse out your brush after every eye shadow color so you’re starting with pure color every time. Once you’re done, you will have layers of color that’s more vibrant than when you applied it dry.

Example Wet Eye Shadow Looks

Here, I applied Urban Decay eye shadow wet from the Eyeshadow Ammo Shadow Box. You can see the progression below:

It’s smoky and dark with some silvery shine.

Here, you can see a brighter, colorful look also applied wet using the Elite Pro Cosmetics 88 Eye Shadow Palette:

As long as your shadow says it can be applied wet, you can create any look you want.

Wet-Approved Eye Shadows

Wondering if your eye shadow can be applied wet? Here’s a small list of shadows that you can definitely use for these looks.

• Elite Pro Cosmetics 88 Eye Shadow Palette, or from any of the other various brands that sell this palette.
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Ammo Shadow Box.
• Stila Charmed Eye Shadow Palette.
• Any MAC Cosmetics Eye Shadow, both pressed powder and loose pigment.

If you know of any other eye shadows that have been proven to work when applied wet, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

Dry skin on your face can interfere with your makeup. Foundation and powder will stick to dry skin, making you look patchy.

Luckily, there are things you can do to soothe your dry skin and make your face look just as smooth and luscious as it does the rest of the year.

1. Exfoliate!

Dry skin sits right on top of nice, soft skin. Before your face can look better, you need to get rid of the offending skin cells.

Use a facial exfoliating lotion whenever your skin is feeling dry or scaly. Get your face wet, then rub the lotion into your skin, paying extra attention to areas that are most dry (for me, it’s around my nose and on my forehead).

Consider using it every other day to keep your skin on track. During your skin care routine, exfoliate first, then use a cleanser.

Try Luzier Gentle Exfoliating Scrub or Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant.

2. Moisturize Regularly!

During the winter, you may need a heavier duty moisturizer than you use in the summer.

Cover your freshly cleaned face and neck in a heavy moisturizer every night before bed. It’ll penetrate your skin while you sleep so you wake up with smooth, supple skin in the morning.

In the morning, use a lighter facial lotion. Do this step before adding any makeup so your skin is soft once you add foundation.

Try Lavera Faces Aloe Vera Night Cream before bed and Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturizer during the day.

3. Avoid Drying Face Makeup!

Some makeup dries out your face regardless of what you do to your skin. Typically, cream and liquid foundation works better than powder foundation, but that isn’t always the case. Most translucent powders will soak up skin moisture and make you look dry as the day goes on, so avoid them.

Highly rated mineral makeup, while technically in powder form, often works best during the winter because it doesn’t clog pores.

Search for face makeup that works well for your own skin type. Test out face makeup until you find the right one for you.

Try RAWMinerals Foundation (use DISCOVERY50 coupon code to get half off) or Vital Radiance Rehydrating Makeup.

When you employ all three of these steps, your skin should be back to peak form in a matter of days.

Photo credit: King Chimp

Instead, you can make your own eyebrow stencil. It’s easy, you can make as many as you want, and it should cost under $5.

Before You Begin

There are certain items you need in order to make an eyebrow stencil on your own.

1. Transparency Film: Get the write-on version of these clear plastic sheets at your local office supply store.
2. Permanent Marker: I used a Sharpie.
3. Scissors: For cutting the transparency film.
4. X-acto Knife or Box Cutter (optional but highly recommended): For cutting out the eyebrow shape.
5. Clear Tape (optional)

Getting Your Stencil Ready

One sheet of transparency film is usually 8.5 by 11 inches, which is way too big for a stencil. Instead, cut out a rectangle big enough for an eyebrow shape while keeping the edges wide to avoid ripping.

I found mine worked best at 2 by 3 inches.

Cut out this shape from the transparency film with scissors.

Create an Eyebrow Shape

The best thing about making your own stencil is that it will be the perfect shape for your eyebrows.

In a mirror, hold up the transparency rectangle so your eyebrow is in the middle. With the permanent marker, draw on the film over your eyebrow to create your desired shape.

If your eyebrows are lighter in certain spots, be sure to color over it with the marker. You should be creating the shape you want your eyebrows to be, and not what they truly are.

When you’re done, your shape should look something like above.

Before moving on, flip the stencil around and lay it over your other eyebrow. Does it match up there, too? Using one stencil for both eyebrows will ensure a uniform look.

Cut Out the Stencil

Next you’ll need to cut out the shape you created with your permanent marker.

This step is easiest with an X-acto knife. Just go along the border of your drawing to cut out the shape.

If you’re like me, and only have scissors, you can still cut out the shape. Cut into the transparency from one side. When you reach the design, cut out the eyebrow shape. When done, adhere the preliminary cut with clear adhesive tape.

Using the Eyebrow Stencil

Now your eyebrow stencil can be used to make your eyebrows fuller and with a better shape.

If you have a steady hand, hold the stencil over your eyebrow and dab eyebrow powder over the opening. You can also use an eyebrow pencil with the stencil as well.

If you’re hands are unsteady, tape the stencil to your face to keep it in place.

Keep the remaining transparency film just in case you ever want to make a new stencil.

Then there’s colored mascara. I’m sure you’ve seen them amidst the traditional mascaras you eventually choose. They’re green, blue, or even red and pink.

But how do you use these colored mascaras? Is it only for gaudy club looks?

For the purposes of this how-to, I’m using Barry M Bright Turquoise Lengthening Mascara (pictured on the right). You can find it online for £4.95.

The Bold Look

Have some colored mascara? Then go all out! Use it on the top and bottom lid.

Just keep in mind that this look doesn’t work well for most situations. Instead of someone looking at you and thinking, “oh, she’s beautiful,” they’ll probably think, “‘oh, her eyelashes are blue.”

Also keep in mind that colored mascaras don’t usually add much volume. You won’t get the same voluminous effect you’re used to getting with black mascara.

You might want to try something less pronounced…

The Half and Half

A nice way to add a little pizazz to your look is to use traditional mascara on your top lashes and colored mascara on your bottom lashes.

It’s hard to notice the blue from far away, so it’s a nice surprise for people who get close to you. (Dinner date, anyone?)

This is my favorite way to use colored mascara because it can go with a lot of different looks. Some people may even be able to pull this off at work.

Does this seem like too much for you, though? After all, it still stands out. How about this…

The Subtle Approach

If you’re still not satisfied, here’s a tip. Coat your top and bottom lashes with your favorite black or brown mascara. Once it’s relatively dry, coat just the tips (about 3 mm) with colored mascara. This is barely noticeable and can be darn cute.

You could even do the tips of just the top or just the bottom lashes. That’s about as subtle as you can get.

More Colored Mascara Tips

• Choose a color that complements your overall look. If you have a pink eye shadow look, go for a colored mascara in pink’s complementary color: green.
• Leave time in your routine for changes. If you’re a first time user of colored mascara, or you’re trying a different technique, you may end up not liking it. That’s okay. If you have the extra time, you can just start over.
• Be brave and try new things. It’s true, most people don’t wear colorful mascara. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. So go for it. If you never tried anything new, life would be pretty darn boring.

Have you used colorful mascara? If you have any tips, let us know in the comments section!

As we get older, glitter should be used only on limited, special occasions. For example, a night out with the girls, clubbing, or a concert.

One complaint that every girl has about loose glitter: it’s hard to control. Luckily, Barry M has a new glitter kit that’ can handle the problem. Called the Glitter Eye Candy Kit, this set will give you way more control of your glitter makeup.

The kit comes with…

• Loose Eye Glitter (comes in 8 colors)
• Fixing Gel
• Glitter Brush

What do you do? Using the Glitter Eye Candy Kit is pretty easy. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Use the Fixing Gel

The best part of the glitter makeup kit is the fixing gel. It helps you control exactly how your glitter will look on your skin.

This is better than using glitter gel because you dictate how the glitter looks before it ever touches your skin.

Apply the Fixing Gel directly to your skin wherever you want the glitter. The gel goes on clear with a soft-tipped wand, much like lip gloss.

In the picture above, I used the gel to make a spiral pattern on my hand (hard to tell since it’s clear). You can use this to line your eyes or any other part of your face or body.

Make sure your design is just right before going to the next step.

Step 2: Apply the Glitter

You’ll want to apply the glitter before the fixing gel dries. It helps to have the glitter open and ready.

The glitter is loose. It wants to go everywhere, so be careful when you use it. As you can see in the picture below, I spilled a little bit of it myself.

Dip the provided brush into the glitter pot and dab it onto your skin where you put the gel. The glitter should stick to this spot.

Step 3: Clean Up

When you dab the glitter on your skin, it will go outside the boundaries of your design. Luckily it can come off easily from areas that didn’t have Fixing Gel.

Using a cotton swab, clean up the edges of your design. This will pick up any loose glitter.

When you’re done, you should end up with a unique design. With the fixing gel, your glitter makeup look should last through a long night of dancing.

You can pick up the Barry M Glitter Eye Candy Kit online for £12.00 (yes, they ship to the United States).

Its common for those of us with hair color issues to dye it at home. It can be a lot cheaper than going to a stylist.

While home dying can be straight forward, there are some tips you won’t find on the box of hair color. Follow me on my trip from light to dark brown hair. I’ll give you home hair dying tips along the way.

Your hair will need to be clean to start. You should be on day two of cleanly shampooed hair. That means if you’re dying your hair on a Tuesday, the last time you washed it should be Monday. Keep all hair products out of your tresses. No hair spray or gel, ok?

My hair is naturally curly, but I straightened it for my home dying. In the end, it made the hair color go in smoother. (Also, my hair isn’t red. The lighting is just terrible in that bathroom. It’s actually light brown.)

Here’s the deal, it’s hard NOT to get hair dye all over the place when you’re changing your hair color. Because of this, there’s a few things you can do to prepare:

1. Change into your dying outfit. This is an old shirt and pants that you don’t care about anymore. Save them afterward so you can use them again next time. If you’re like me and wore a tank top, wear a bra you don’t care about either.
2. Pick up any rugs out of your bathroom. While I’ve never dropped a dot of dye on the ground before, why take chances?
3. Wipe down the counters. Clear off all your beauty products from the bathroom counter and wipe it down.
   

Everything’s ready!

Before you start dying your hair just yet, you might want to take some preventative measures. Hopefully, you have some petroleum jelly in your bathroom (great all around beauty tool). I use Vaseline.

Vaseline is great for dying your hair. Just put this around your hairline on your skin. Be careful not to get it in your hair. This helps when you inevitably get some dye on your skin. The Vaseline prevents it from sticking and dying your skin awful colors.

Don’t forget about the back of your neck and your ears.

Read the directions. Read the directions. It’s so important. In fact, you should have read this the night before. Each brand of hair dye is different. Heck, even every version of hair dye from each brand is different. Don’t get cocky now. Read the directions.

For this tutorial, I’m using Clairol Perfect 10 by Nice ‘N Easy in #4 Dark Brown “Espresso on the Double”. This is permanent hair dye you can find in drug stores and other mass retailers for $13.99. You can see a picture of the box at the top of the post.

Wear good rubber gloves. With them, you won’t be afraid to get your hands right in there.

Most home hair dye kits come with gloves, but there are two different kinds. There are the thin plastic kind that don’t move well and break easily, and there’s the rubber kind. Choose the latter. If you got a dying kit with the bad gloves, go pick some up at a hair care store like Sally Beauty Supply. They’re cheap and you can reuse them if you wash them well enough.

Luckily, the Clairol Perfect 10 comes with good gloves.

Now that you’ve read the directions, its time to mix your color. Here’s a list of dos and don’ts:

• DO use the complete amount of each tube of chemicals. Even if you’re only planning on dying your roots, mix it all.
  
• DON’T mix the chemicals early and store them for later use. The chemical reactions won’t last long and it won’t work right once you use it.
• DON’T store mixed chemicals in a closed container. It’ll explode!
• DO use the hair dye right away once it’s mixed.

Now you can apply it to your hair. Start with the roots. Even if you’re dying your whole head of hair, you start with the roots and work outward.

The Clairol Perfect 10 hair dye I’m using comes with two kind of tips: the traditional point tip and the new comb tip. I decided to use the comb and it did a really good job of spreading the color evenly.

As you’re adding hair dye , start piling your hair on top of your head. In the end, you’ll have a mound of hair up there and you’ll be ready to wait it out as the dye sets.

How long you wait for hair dye fully depends on the brand. I’m using Clairol Perfect 10, which works in 10 minutes. By the time I was done cleaning up my mess, it was already time to wash it out. With other brands, you might have to wait as long as 45 minutes.

This is the perfect time to wipe off any drips of hair dye that landed in mysterious spots on you or on your surroundings. I got it all over my arms for some reason.

Once the timer dings, you’ll need to wash out your hair. I suggest getting in the shower. I’ve tried leaning over the sink or tub before and you’re asking for trouble. Instead, wash it out with the highest power setting on your shower head.

Once the water runs clear, use the conditioner provided with your hair dye. It’s rare that hair dye doesn’t come with conditioner these days. It’s imperative that you use it. Your hair will be a lot softer if you do.

Now you should be done. Style as usual and admire your handiwork. You just dyed your hair at home!

(By the way, I’m really liking my new hair color. Really, really.)

Since there are two different colors, you can use them to create an infinite number of shades. I decided to give you a little look at what you can come up with when you use the L’Oreal HIP Color Presso Lip Gloss.

For this, I’m using the 380 Fashionista version of the gloss. It features a reddish color and a beige color, both shimmery and shiny. Check out the picture to the right.

You can find this product at drug stores and other mass market retailers, like Target. You can usually find it for $13.00.

Now, let’s get down to business.

Here’s how the applicator looks:

As you can see, each color comes out on its own. You can squeeze both colors together to get the same amount, or do more of one and less of the other.

So, how much you use of each color will affect how the gloss looks on your lips. I tried a few different configurations.

Here’s my lips with just the light colored gloss and none of the red. It added a nice shine and shimmer with just a light beige color.

Here’s how it looks when you have mostly beige and just a bit of red.

This is how it looks when you have mostly red, with a dash of beige.

And here’s how it looks with just red gloss.

As you can see, you can have a whole range of lip looks with this.

What I liked best about the Color Presso lip gloss is that:

1. It wasn’t sticky at all.
2. It smelled really good (like caramelized sugar.)

They have other color combos, too.  You can check them out here.

Scratch that. Some things I would definitely wear.

What about the makeup? Sometimes it’s lovely, sometimes it’s hideous. Think you can pull it off?

Could You Pull Off These Runway Looks?

Five real women wear high fashion makeup — for a day in their cubes

We love to gawk at runway models’ hair and makeup, but how much of it is actually stuff us “normal people” could wear? We put the looks through the test as our brave volunteers try out fashion-show makeup at work. See the looks – and the hilarious reactions they got. View the looks

If you’re like me, you didn’t plan a Halloween costume.  Here are some last minute makeup ideas to help you look ghoulish (or insanely beautiful.  You decide.)

Halloween Makeup: Zombie

Halloween Makeup: Beautiful Fairy

Halloween Faces from MAC Cosmetics

You can also learn some makeup tricks with the looks guides from MAC Cosmetics.  They have all sorts of different Halloween ideas.

You could make yourself look like a doll.

Or, you could do your makeup to look an amphibian.

They show you where the makeup should go with their example face diagrams.  They also list all of the different MAC products that go into creating it.  Although, if you have something comparable in a different brand, go for it.

Quick Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas

Still don’t know what to wear?  Here’s some ideas:

• Put your hair up in curlers and don a bath robe.  Now you’re an old house wife! Hold a rolling pin for added effect, and wave it at people who make you mad.
• Use one of these vintage hair styles, then use bright red lip stick and false eyelashes.  Now you’re a lady from the 40s!
• Put a cardigan on over a button down shirt, put your hair in a ponytail, and throw on some thick-framed glasses. Instant librarian!
• Go as your childhood self!  Carry around a trapper-keeper or skip-it down the block.  Do your hair up in pig tails and pull out some old stirrup pants.  Yikes!  The 90s!  Hair crimping will take this look even further.

So, what are you going to look like for Halloween?

So, you’ve got a date.  Good for you!  I don’t, so you’ve got one up on me.

What I can do is help you look perfect for that date, at least where your makeup is concerned.

Dinner Dates are special because they have romance and intimacy. Different from a regular date, your goal for a dinner date should be to wow, impress and entice.

While there are many different configurations for the perfect dinner date makeup, here are some rules to live by:

• Keep your eye shadow subtle. Instead of going for bold colors, go for something soft.  Soft pinks and browns work well for this.  Be sure to blend a lot and don’t go too far off your natural skin color.  You want just a hint of color on your lids.  This is the aspect of your look that will seem demure.
• Go with a striking line.  While your eye shadow is subtle, your eyeliner shouldn’t be. This is the perfect time to bust out some liquid eyeliner.  Try for the blackest black, and create a wing near the outer corner of your eye.  For even more drama, try lining your lower lid as well. Keep to the inside of the lid, also known as the water line.  Liquid liner doesn’t work well here, so try a gel liner instead.
• Blush is your best friend.  A dinner date is the perfect time to wear blush.  The rosy complexion will give you a flirty look.  Try for warmer colors.  This will give your date a really good impression.
• Red those lips!  Even if you’re not brave enough to do a full-on red lip, at least do something bold.  This will draw your date’s attention right to your mouth: one of the most sensual parts of your body.  Hey, you can’t beat that publicity!

Now you should know exactly how to do your makeup for that date.

While makeup may be very important, you’ll also be more attractive based on your demeanor.

So, here’s some tips on how to act on this day:

• Smile a lot, but only when you truly mean it.
• Look into his eyes and show that you’re really listening.
• Drink from a straw if you want to bring his attention back to your mouth.
• Have confidence: nothing is sexier.
• Compliment your date.
• Ask about him.
• Lean in for more intimacy, but keep your shoulders back for better posture.
• Don’t fidget.  Believe me, your date will notice.
• Don’t be afraid to eat.  This is a dinner date after all.
• Find something you have in common and talk about it.
• Don’t be afraid of a comfortable silence.
• Watch how much you drink.  Only bad things will happen if you get too drunk.
• Touch your date.  It shows you’re interested.  But keep it PG, though. You’re in public!

What are your great dinner date tips?  What do you wear for such a special occasion?  What’s your dinner date makeup style?

Be sure to tell me all about it in the comments!

As I mentioned last week, purple is the ‘it’ color of the season.  So, today’s look uses purple.  In the eyes, anyway.

Take a gander, pretties:

I look kind of taken off guard, but whatever.

My eyes have nice purple eye shadows, and my lips are pink.  A nice combination, if I do say so myself.

And of course, I’m now super trendy, as far as the purple goes.

Here’s a close-up of those pretty pink lips:

Yeah, it looks kind of messed up. That’s okay.  It’s all about experimentation, anyway!

I used:

• Luzier Lipstick in Crushed Berries
• Cover Girl Wetslicks Fruit Spritzers Lip Gloss in Raspberry Splash

I’ve worn Luzier lipstick before, and it’s worked great.  Not so, this time.  It went on kind of chunky.  Granted, I’m using a sample, but still.

To fix up the odd lipstick application, I threw on some lip gloss.  That helped a lot.

I love the weekend.  I don’t have to do nothin’!

Weekends are the time I can get a lot of reading done.  I’m a huge reader.  I’ve read over 20 novels so far this year, and 10 to 15 non fiction books.  Whew!

There’s this website, Shelfari, that is all about books.  You can catalog your library and make a virtual bookshelf.  I am thoroughly addicted.  You can put the books on shelves based on if you’ve read it, are reading it, or are planning to read it.

They also have groups, too.  You could join a virtual book club.

You should totally join and be Shelfari friends with me!  You can find me if you click this link.

Have a good weekend, everyone!  I know I will.