From StyleBlazer

He may not be an household name yet, but celebrity make-up artist, AJ Crimson is coming to homes everywhere with his new cosmetic line.

With the help of Adrienne Bailon, Letoya Luckett and British singer, Alexandra Burke the seasoned artist is promoting his new line.

Read more at StyleBlazer.com

From Essence

Instagram is our favorite social network and lately we’ve been fascinated by the many talented makeup artists who post before-and-after shots of their work. We asked our loyal Instagram followers to shout-out their favorite makeup masters and here’s who you picked.

Check out the rest on Essence.com.

Source: Eco Friendly Logo courtesy of Shutterstock

From StyleBlazer

From adopting healthier eating habits to starting transitioning hair journeys, a natural wave has swept the nation and it seems to be letting up no time soon. It’s no surprise if you’ve gone green in some capacity, but have you given thought to what lies in your makeup arsenal? Many cosmetics are full of parabens, pore-clogging silicones and synthetic dyes that can lead to skin irritation and allergic reactions. Since makeup shouldn’t be so complicated, StyleBlazer is letting you in on 15 natural and eco-friendly brands to discover (and perhaps fall in love with).

See the collections on StyleBlazer.com.

By John Aquino

Well isn’t Rihanna just delving into a little bit of everything these days? When she’s not doing the music thing, she’s trying to act, when she’s not acting, she’s collaborating on fashions with River Island (whether critics like it or not), and when she’s not doing that, she’s partnering with MAC cosmetics. Where did MY life go wrong??

Just kidding!

Anywho, according to Women’s Wear Daily, the Bajan singer and the famed makeup retailer have teamed up to create a variety of color collections, including her own take on the famed red Ruby Woo color, a personal favorite of hers, calling it “RiRi Woo.” What will RiRi Woo be like? “She wanted RiRi Woo to be slightly more blue-red and retro matte — a matte with moisturizer finish we’d used in a collection years ago and currently only have in one product, “says Jennifer Balbier, senior VP of global product development for the brand. “She was especially adamant that the color be suitable for every skin tone.”

She told WWD that she’s been riding for MAC for so long, it only made sense to put her own stamp on their products. “When you think of makeup, the brand that pops into your mind — for something legit — is MAC. Whatever color you want, it’s like ‘Let’s go to MAC.’ I’ve been using MAC on tour for such a long time it was a natural fit for me. I have always loved makeup, and I always said that if I do it, I want to do it with a credible brand.”

And while MAC is known for teaming up with celebs, including Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper and Elton John for its Viva Glam products, John Demsey, the president of MAC’s parent company, Estée Lauder Cos. Inc., tells WWD that they want to make this a lasting partnership, so homegirl’s contributions won’t be temporary. They’ll be working with her on “four distinct color initiatives,” AKA, four different collections.

“These four collections are like four tracks on a Rihanna compilation. Each one has its own vibe, look, special makeup packaging and flavor. This is really the convergence of pop culture, fast fashion, and iconic style and makeup.”

If you’re a big fan of Rihanna and will be in Brooklyn during her Diamonds tour stops on May 4 and 5 at the Barclays Center, according to WWD, MAC will be doing a pop-up shop to sell her new collection, including the RiRi Woo. If you’re not there, you can catch all of her products in a MAC store later this year.

Hmmm, I might be hellas of late, but I guess it’s safe to say that her CoverGirl status is dead? Oh well, this collaboration is definitely an upgrade either way.

From StyleBlazer

We’re all about finding new tips and tricks to keep our hair and makeup on point and in 2012, we had a little help thanks to social media fave Pinterest. Our fellow pinners took to their beauty boards and shared some never-before-seen advice for StyleBlazers across the globe to try right at home.

From DIY makeup brush cleaners to manicures-made-easy, here are our top five tried and true lessons learned on Pinterest to bring into the New Year and beyond!

1. DIY Makeup Brush Cleaner

We generally try to clean our makeup brushes at least twice a month and while cosmetic companies make some great brush cleansers, a free alternative is always our preference! This simple solution had the makeup residue practically vanishing from our brushes, instantly making them squeaky clean yet keeping the bristles amazingly smooth.

Our tip: Ease up on the olive oil—oil and powder makeup is never a good combo!

Check out more new beauty tips on StyleBlazer.com.

sthutterstock

With so many colors and textures varying from season to season—one minute it’s all about a shiny fuchsia pout, and the next a bright matte read kisser—having just one isn’t an option. And although we all enjoy a trip to our favorite beauty counter, there’s nothing like scoring the perfect lip color for a fraction of the price.  We all know those department store purchases can get a bit pricey.  So rather than spend your week’s salary at the counter, why not head to your local drugstore for a cheap lip fix.  From glosses to lipsticks and stains, you’ll be sure to stick to your beauty budget with some of these great drugstore lip colors.

Image via Hue Noir

For many tween girls, wearing makeup is the first rite of passage into womanhood, one that begins with a bit of lip balm or sparkly gloss and blossoms into a cabinet full of eye shadows, bronzers and lipsticks in every tint imaginable. Paula Hayes recalls a similar adolescent experience, and it was a fascination with her mother’s makeup drawer that ultimately inspired her to create Hue Noir, a new line of
cosmetics developed specifically for women of color.

Luckily for Hayes, her natural love of beauty and beauty products was also dispensed with a passion for science. The self-described “geek” was a biology major at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, when the first seeds for her business were planted. “When they would teach us how to make something in my organic chemistry class, I would hold up my tube of lipstick and ask, ‘How do you make this?’” she said.

After graduation Hayes started working in product development, first in food and beverage, and later for fragrance and cosmetics companies. Out of curiosity and a desire to find products that wouldn’t aggravate her own sensitive skin, she began tinkering around with different lotion formulas once she finished her other obligations. “It ended up being a natural fit,” said Hayes. “So when I got tired of making products for other people, I knew that I still loved making products and I just decided to make my own.”

Image via Hue Noir, Facebook

The road to Hue Noir, which launched in Hayes’s Los Angeles kitchen in 2006, was long but strategic. As an African American with darker skin, Hayes was disappointed by the lack of viable makeup options in the marketplace for her complexion, as well as the fact that, of those that existed, the trueness of the shade often left much tobe desired. And as a product developer, Hayes also understood how bottom lines – via additional production and marketing costs – could quickly usurp a company’s  efforts to make cosmetics for the minority set.

Much like her decision to market her products to a niche segment of the overall beauty market, Hayes has been careful to take calculated steps regarding the growth of her brand. Early on she received numerous (unsolicited!) investment offers from friends and colleagues who saw the vision and potential of Hue Noir, but she declined them all. While most entrepreneurs would be thrilled to have even one source of external financing during the cash-strapped start-up phase, Hayes instead opted to dig into her own piggy bank – to the tune of around $60,000.

“I knew the way I wanted to go about putting my business together, and,” she explained, “I knew that if I got other hands in it, they were going to want to take it indifferent directions.”

Hayes is also eschewing a mass distribution plan in favor of a more targeted approach that sells her products in select salons and boutiques, as well as through her website and private parties. Forgoing big box retailers – and the accompanying exposure – can be a risky decision, but it’s one Hayes makes with confidence.

“I really want to make sure that Hue Noir is controlling how our brand is being placed out there, especially because we’re so young,” said Hayes. “Early messaging is really important to me, and I want us to have more control over that while we’re building the brand.”

It may seem as though Hayes has an abundance of self-assuredness, and she does. But that mindset, like the 40-plus lipsticks, lip glosses, tinted lip butters, and eyeshadows in her current collection, has been years in the making. In an industry in which most brands are little more than marketing arms for private label manufacturers, Hayes has chosen to ignore colleagues and mentors who discouraged her from making her own products and sourcing her own raw materials. She is forging her own path, and she advises other would-be entrepreneurs to do the same.

“Do not let naysayers or your own personal fears dictate your future,” she said. “There were tons of people who told me that I couldn’t do what I was doing, but I had a great idea and I just needed to be doggedly persistent in moving it forward. And I’m glad I did that.”

Source: Shutterstock.com

By Damon Young

We’ve all seen the story before.

Paparazzi catches some actress or entertainer known for her physical attractiveness — Beyonce, Kerry Washington, Rihanna, etc — on vacation or buying pickles in bulk at Costco. Since hundreds of thousands of professional and candid pictures of these women can be found on the internet at anytime, this doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal. What makes this time different, though, is that these pics happen to catch this beautiful woman “looking her worst.” She’s not wearing any makeup, her hair looks like she just finished working a shift at Trader Joe’s, and, if these are beach pics, you may even be able to catch some blemishes on her thought-to-be-perfect body.

Inevitably, these pics will be the subject of some woman’s tweet, blog post, Facebook status message, or message board thread, under the title “See!!! I told you that without her team of stylists, trainers, and midgets working 24/7 to make sure she’s beautiful, she’s basically a SAAB — “Slightly Above-Average Beyotch.” — a statement that will be co-signed by many of the women who see it. Eventually, though, some guy will also comment on the pics, but with a much different take.

“Hmmm. Don’t see what the big deal is. She still looks fine as hell to me.”

This statement sparks a back and forth, as the women try to convince the man that he can’t possibly still think she’s hot, and the man says something like “She looks the exact same to me in those pics as she did last week at the VMA’s,” further upsetting the women, who now think the guy isn’t being honest and is just pandering for panties.

Anyone who’s spent anytime on the internet has seen this scenario play out dozens of times, a phenomenon that has led me to draw the following conclusions

1. (Generally speaking) Women really have no idea about what men find attractive. (There’s a reason why guys never trust a woman’s opinion on another woman’s looks. If it’s any consolation, men really have no idea about what women find attractive in men, either.)

2. (Generally speaking) Women assume men are stupid.

Now, I realize that second point isn’t exactly ground-breaking. You can watch any sitcom family and see how men are usually portrayed as lovable lugs who wouldn’t even be able to tie their shoes if not for their unrealistically smart and attractive wives. But, in this sense, I’m specifically referring to the fact that (many) women assume that men allow weave, fake eyelashes, and foobs and footies (fake boobs and fake booties) to “trick” us into finding women more attractive than we would otherwise. While it is true that some men do go gaga for cartoonishly (and impossibly) dimensioned Rapunzels, the majority of us are turned off by things so obviously fake. In fact, if we do happen to find a women with a few store-bought parts attractive, it’s in spite of them, not because of them. Yes, Beyonce is both the current Queen of R&B and the current Queen of Yaki B, but she’s just as physically attractive with the weave as she would be if her name was Feyonce Bowles and she rocked a scrunchie to work everyday at Rent-A-Center. And that guy who saw the pic of Bey on the beach “looking a hot mess” was telling the truth when he said he still thought she was gorgeous.

With this being said, I don’t want to say that men abhor all “extras” and that women can’t do some moderate things to enhance their looks. Like how condiments can make an already great meal even better, tastefully done makeup, hair, and other accessories can do the same for women. But, there’s a reason why many women say that they tend to get approached more often (and by better quality men) when they’re dressed down at Target or running weekend errands than when they’re all fancy at the club with their freakum dresses on. If we like you, we like YOU — not the you who looks like she just came from an open audition for “Basketball Wives: Detroit.”

Pittsburgh native Damon Young (aka “The Champ”) is the co-founder of the ridiculously popular VerySmartBrothas.com. Their first book “Your Degrees Won’t Keep You Warm At Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide To Dating, Mating and Fighting Crime” is available at Amazon.com

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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OctoberGallery.com

While pricier personal care products tend to work almost like magic, blowing your entire paycheck on items you can’t really afford isn’t the only way you can tap into quality skin, hair and nail care. There are tons of brands carried in drugstores that retail at reasonable price points and will work well as supplements to your splurge-worthy items. Here are some of the best beauty products currently lining drugstore shelves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Source: StyleBlazer.com

From StyleBlazer.com

Although makeup tends to be worn light in the summer, the cat eye trend has surpassed all beauty rules this season. Celebrities like Jessie J and Thandie Newton have taken the look straight from fall runways shows to the summer red carpet. From dramatic and thick to thin and subtle, the retro Bridget Bardot inspiration is easy to do.

To figure out how to do the perfect cat eye yourself, visit StyleBlazer.com.

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