Cat Eye Eyeliner

The cat eye is an essential part of the pin up look. If you aren't familiar with this term, it's when your eyeliner extends past your eye and gets thicker with a pointy flick on the end. It's called this because it makes your eyes look more feline, like a cat. There isn't one way to do this or one type of eyeliner. In fact, I'm still searching for the perfect eyeliner for this look. There are pros and cons to the many different types. Here are some of the types:

• Liquid: Good for this look because it goes on smooth, even with clean edges.
• Felt Tip: Easier to use, but can sometimes bleed or not be dark enough.
• Hard Tip: Can be harder to use because there is no give, but tends to be darker. Especially if waterproof. But it can get stuck in your eyelashes and cause clumping when trying to apply mascara. But stays on well.
• Pencil: Not very good for a cat eye as you can't get the small flick on the end very well. It is easier to apply because it's not as messy. Better for a smokey eye because it can be smudged and blended.
• Cream: This is what I use because I prefer to use a small brush. It gives me more control and goes on even and dark. Can transfer to the lid if you have oily eyelids.
• Small brush
• Angled brush

Update: I have since found an eyeliner that I absolutely love and had to share. The brand is Jessie's Girl. It's cheap and it's wonderful. Goes on smooth, doesn't bleed, doesn't transfer to the lids, doesn't dry out or crack. Is a very dark color and is easy to apply. (added August 18th)

You can see the different shades and staying power of the eyeliners above. The bottom photo is after wiping my hand with a towel. The one that stayed is the waterproof liquid with the hard tip. I still prefer the cream because, while the liquid one stays, it gets stuck in my eyelashes.

Here are the eyeliner brushes that I have. The first one is my preferred brush. It's very small and allows for more control. The angles brush is good for the flick on the end.

Here is a video of how I apply my eyeliner with cream liner and a small brush.

If you need a little extra help there is a trick you can use to make the flick even and straight, scotch tape. Place a small piece of tape as shown in the photo.

Here is a demo of how you apply the flick with scotch tape. Pull the tape off slowly to protect your skin.


And to get both sides even, just flip your tape over and use the eyeliner residue from the last application as a guide for where to stop.

Here is the final result. It doesn't have to be perfect and it takes some practice. Don't be afraid to just wipe it off and start again. It's just makeup and it's supposed to be fun. Get crazy with it too. Play with how far you can take the wing and how thick you can make it. There is no wrong way to do it.

Spring Concept Shoot

This is the last of a series of four based on the seasons, Spring! Our lovely model Michelle Tate made this look effortless with her flaming red hair and porcelain skin. Casey of Greyline Photography used some new techniques that she learned at the After Dark conference. Here you can see the series together:

Top left: Winter, Top right: Spring, Bottom left: Fall, Bottom right: Summer

I started by airbrushing Michelle's skin with my Belletto airbrush system. I then defined her brows with Anastasia Brow Wiz pencil. I used several different shades of green eyeshadow to get this look. I used a couple from my Sleek Palettes until I got the right look. I added Makeup Forever diamond powder on top for shimmer. In order to make her eyes look bigger, I added lashes on top and bottom. But the bottom lashes I placed lower than her actual eye and filled the gap with white cream from my Makeup Forever Flash palette and set it with white eyeshadow. I used Illamasque cream blush and the lip was achieved by using the coral color from the flash palette.

Michelle's fresh face on the left, a close up of the shadow and lashes on the right.

Sleek makeup palettes

Work in progress

Here a close up of the final result:

A close up of the final result of Spring

And the full shot:

As you might be able to tell, this was inspired by Shakespeare's Ophelia

Some other things to note, the flower hair piece was made by Jules Designs event florals. The dress is by BonnerBell, a local designer. Support your local artists!

Here is a shot from the same shoot with different hair, dress and a darker lip:

The Big Swirl

1. Start by sectioning off a square section on the top of the head. Clip it out of the way.

2. Pull the rest of the hair back into a tight ponytail. I slicked the sides back with gel.
3. take a section of the top and curl toward the direction of the swirl.

4. Continue curling, then tease each section. The more you tease, the more solid your swirl will be.

5. Take the whole section and curl it together.
6. Brush the hair to smooth it. Gather it together like the photo. Pinch it and then start the swirl.

7. Once you have the base secured with a bobby pin, pin curl the tip and roll in. This process
can take some time. Keep practicing. Spray with hairspray as you go. With all of the
teasing, it shouldn't take more than a couple of bobby pins to secure.

Old Hollywood Waves

1. Start with a deep side part. I like to line mine up with the arch of my eyebrow.
2. Take a small section of hair and spray with a heat protectant. Curl the hair and twist while
wrapping. I use a medium size curling wand. Curl in the same direction and try to keep the
size uniform.

4. Slide the hair off of the wand, but catch the hair so it doesn't stretch out. Spray with hairspray.
5. Pin to head like a stand up pin curl. This is so the hair can cool. It will make the curls
stronger and last longer.

6. Curl the entire head and let cool completely.

7. Carefully take out the curls and brush through with your fingers.
8. Brush through with a soft bristle brush and pull the hair down. This will help show the
natural places it wants to wave.

9. Working in sections, tug and push and put clips where the waves take shape. Spray with
hairspray.
10. I used a combination of large clips, small metal clips and finger wave clips where I wanted
to create a ridge. Spray, spray spray.

The final result. Be patient, it takes time to get it right. Work in sections and if something
looks good, pin it.

An alternative look is an updo. I separated the hair from the ears back and created a pony.
I then split the pony into sections and pin curled. I pinned the sides up and added a curl to each side.

Pink Bow City Magazine Pinup Contest

I'm in a pinup contest. The winner gets her photo in an issue of the Pink Bow City magazine. To vote, please click on this link: VOTE! or the photo below and like or share.

Concept Shoot: Winter

The winter/ice/snow queen.

One down and one more to go. So far Greyline Creative and I have completed Summer, Fall and now Winter. We were inspired by the seasons for these fun photo shoots. Sometimes we like to stretch our creative muscles and do some photos that are more creative, unique and more editorial. This shoot was no exception. For winter we tried to capture the ethereal feeling of a winter snow queen. We decided that pink would be a good accent color because we saw so much blue used for similar shots and we wanted to do something different. I made the pink collar out of coffee filters that I dyed pink. I created a cage and then filled it with the flower-like paper much like a parade float. The twig head piece was made by a local floral designer, Jules Design. The hair was a combination of white spray and a substance called angel hair. I had never used this before and it was wonderful. It was like a mix between spider webs and hair. It created really lovely puffs that mimicked snow.

We had a beautiful model, Morgan, who was very kind to allow us to do whatever we wanted. I covered her well moisturized face in white makeup from the Makeup Forever flash palette and contoured her face with ice blue eyeshadow. I added glitter to her eyelids and used Ben Nye white mascara on her eyelashes. I have her some rosy cheeks with pink powder blush and berry kissed lips with a combination of clear lip gloss and a dap of hot pink eyeshadow in the middle of her upper and lower lips.

Top left: dying the coffee filters, Top right: Morgan before
Bottom: Close up of Morgan becoming the snow queen.

The other seasons in the series.
Left: Fall  Right: Summer

Bangs or No Bangs, That is the Question

Women struggle with this all the time. We want to change our look and sometimes cutting bangs seems like a good option. But sometimes we immediately regret it. Some people are just bang people and some are not. I could go both ways, but I prefer to not have bangs. Cowlicks can be an issue as well as texture and thickness of hair.

But you really don't have to choose. If you only want bangs sometime or you just aren't sure if you can pull them off, get some fake ones. They sell clip in bangs now. I'm not going to put a link because there are so many places to get them. Buy the real human hair type so that you can use heat tools if needed. Also, to make them look more natural, get them in blonde and have your hair stylist color and cut them to match your hair. You can buy a few pairs and have all types of different lengths and styles without the commitment.

The bangs I have are not the right color and I cut them myself with clippers. Here is a good tutorial from Cherry Dollface on how to cut Betty bangs yourself with clippers.