MAKEUP MACGUYVER - HOW TO DIY IN A PINCH

MacGuyver dishing out tips to his lady friend

I've been promising you guys this post for a while now. My makeup MacGuyver tips, and how to make stuff that's awesome from stuff you have lying around your house.

So...what awesome things will I share with you? Let's get right down to it.

1.MAC strobe cream.
This one is really easy. Strobe cream is basically just a moisturizer base with a pearlescent finish to it, which gives your skin a dewy glow under your makeup.
For this, you need to mix 9 parts moisturizer with 1 part white shimmer powder. Make sure it's mixed really well.

2.BB cream.
Another super easy one. This mix is 1/3 moisturizer, 1/3 foundation, 1/6 sunblock and 1/6 primer. Just mix them together well, and you have a makeshift BB cream.

3.Facial scrubs.
These can be made with a variety of different things, but my favourite all-purpose friend is Bi-Carb soda. Make a paste of Bi-Carb and water and use it as you usually would for a facial scrub. Use it once a week, not more often than that, because it is quite harsh on your skin.

4.Teeth whitening.
Again with my friend Bi-Carb, this time making a paste with peroxide. You can use creme or liquid, but the creme peroxide makes a better paste. Brush onto your teeth once or twice a week to remove stains. IMPORTANT: DO NOT SWALLOW THIS PASTE.

5.Volumizing shampoo for beachy waves.
This one is really simple. Summer is coming, so beachy waves will be right back on trend like they are every year. To help your hair along, or even just to add some extra volume, just add a little rock salt to your shampoo.

6.Lip scrubs.
You can make these a bit fancy with a carrier oil and some essential oils, but really all you need is some raw sugar to make a fantstic lip scrub, which is edible too! You can mix the sugar into a bit of vaseline to make it stick together better and disperse onto the lips better.

7.Avoiding hair dye on your skin.
Using the vaseline again, draw the outline of your face, all along the hairline with vaseline. This will form a barrier between your skin and any dye that goes astray. Don't forget to do your ears and the back of your neck, too!

8.Eye makeup remover.
Last of all, how to remove any stubborn makeup, waterproof makeup, stay-on lipsticks, etc.
Baby oil. It's that simple. It will remove any of the above mentioned cosmetic products.

9. Makeup setting spray.
1 part glycerine to 9 parts distilled or filtered water, shake well, use in a spray bottle and replace every couple of weeks. Because we're not using chemical preservatives in this, it'll go off.

That's all for Makeup MacGuyver 2013. I hope you guys get some use out of this stuff.

MAKEUP: AN ACT OF BETRAYAL...?

Here's a little post, just to show the dramatic effect that makeup -can- have on a face. I'm often complimented on my lovely eyes, but it's almost always when I've dressed them up with a bit of colour and pop.

So, here you can see the difference between my eyes au naturale, and with makeup, lots of eyeliner and mascara, and a very fine pair of false lashes.

I've also defined my brows in the makeup shots, which does a lot for framing the eyes and completing the look.

I'm able to mask the large scar I have on the outer corner of one eye with makeup, cover up any imperfections, lengthen my lashes and define the inner rims of my eyes to make them look slightly smaller, yet wider-set (by using a very light colour in the inner corner.

The brow bone is highlighted in white, giving extra dimension to the area, and the crease of the eyelid is darkened to create artificial depth.

This post was inspired by an article I read, which claimed that makeup was deceitful, an act of betrayal.

What do you think?

Katy's top five tips for: Amazing, clear skin.

You may have noticed that I have really nice skin. It's one of the things that I like the most about my appearance. Here are my top five for getting (and keeping) it that way.

Tip #1: Have really great genes.
I'm really, really sorry about this one to all of you who don't have such great skin naturally, but the number one reason that I have such lovely skin is because my mum and my nan do. To look at my nan now, at 70 years of age, you would swear she's much younger. My mum often gets the "but you don't look old enough to have children in their 30's!" too. This is another reason for my distinct lack of wrinkles, but that's a post for another time.

However, if you're not quite so genetically blessed, you can definitely do tips 2 through 5 and really get that skin glowing and looking clearer and smoother.

Tip #2: WATER!
Drink it, bathe in it. Do both of those things very regularly and you have a recipe for clear skin. Drinking water helps to keep toxins from building up in our system and ejecting themselves through our pores, causing breakouts. You should be aiming for 2 litres of water per day at a minimum. Other drinks don't count as "water" consumption, because they generally contain things like chemicals and sugar which cause more breakouts. If you don't like tap water, try bottled instead.

Tip #3: Know your breakouts.
If you break out massively all over your chin every month around the same time, it might be time to get those hormones in check. Breakouts on the lower half of the face are generally caused by hormonal changes and imbalances. Likewise, if you're breaking out all over your forehead, you need to watch your intake of sugary, fatty, oily foods which build up the toxins in your system and cause breakouts that way. The more you know about the cause of your breakouts, the more effective you can be at treating the cause, not just the symptoms.

Tip #4: Let it breathe!
Your skin needs to "breathe" in order for it to stay breakout-free and silky smooth. When I say "breathe", I mean that you really need to spend a day or two at least, per week, without makeup caking in your pores and preventing them from excreting sebum and releasing the naturally occurring dead skin cells and biological waste that is important to keep skin functioning correctly. On those days, you should apply your usual skin care products, as well as UV protection to protect your skin from outside pollution.

Tip #5: Great skin care products.
This isn't a post to spruik any particular skin care product. All I'm going to tell you about skin care products is that once you find a line that really works for you, and your skin is looking and feeling great, stick with it. You need, at the very least, a good cleanser and moisturiser. Toner is also a good thing to have, and additionally you may choose to use eye creams and night time moisturisers. Invest the time and effort into your skin while you're young, and the rewards will be amazing as you age, trust me. You should be using quality (but not necessarily expensive) products from puberty, and incorporating anti-ageing products into your routine as you hit your mid to late twenties. In your mid thirties, you can begin to really combat those age signs with targeted anti-wrinkle, vitamin A and collagen treatments and products.

Katy's top five tips for: Acrylic nails

Beginning my week of "top fives", I present to you my top five tips for choosing, dealing with, and keeping your acrylic nails looking great and lasting longer.

Tip #1: Invest a little money into good files and buffers specifically designed for acrylic nails.
Most beauty supply stores will have coarse and fine grit files, and buffers that will make your nails super-smooth. Ask the sales staff to help if you're not sure, but you definitely need a coarse grit file, a fine grit file, a buffer, and a spare file with a coarse side and a fine side to use in tip #2. All up, these should cost no more than $10.

Tip #2: BYO file! No matter what kind of salon you go to, they will almost definitely be using files on different clients. It's just the way that it's done. If you're going to a mall-type salon (you guys know what I'm talking about), the number of clients that the file has been used on will be much higher. Now think about how many times you've received a file burn or a cut from a file in a salon like that. Everyone's got an experience like that in their storybook. Here's the scary part. There is no way to sterilize a card file, so the risk of getting an infection is massive. Don't become one of those horror stories on the news, suing the nail salon. Take a little personal responsibility for the fact that you only want to pay $20 for your manicure, and spring the extra couple of bucks to bring your own file. Insist that they use it, and ask for it to be returned to you when you're done. I generally don't get any complaints or even a funny look when I ask my nail tech to use my file.

Tip #3: Always use non-acetone nail polish remover. This reduces the amount of chemical damage that you do to your acrylic, and therefore prolonging the life of your acrylic nails. This one's a no-brainer. The non-acetone removers are the same price as ones with acetone in them, and they are more gentle on real nails too.

Tip #4: Learn how to shape and shorten your nails yourself. You'll avoid breakage if you're able to file your own nails to the length and shape that you like, instead of adding 2-3 weeks of growth to the length before you go back to the salon to have them refilled and shortened. I generally find that my nails will grow out around 1cm between each refill, and so I need to keep them at a reasonable length to ensure they don't break off and cause me to prematurely hit the salon.

Tip #5: Battle the fill line! As your nails grow, the acrylic "grows" up the nail, away from the cuticle. This can result in an ugly "bump" in your nails. Using your fine grit file, you can gently file down the fill line to give your nails a more even and natural-looking shape. Once they are painted, nobody will even know you need a refill!

Monday How-to: Applying cream/liquid foundations with brushes.

My favourite kind of foundation is the liquid/creamy kind. I've always applied it with sponges because every time I tried with brushes, I failed miserably. I couldn't figure out why I had streak marks all over, and cakey-looking base.

As it turns out, I was using way, way WAY too much product, hence the streaky cakiness. It also helps that I have a really great kabuki brush now, from my January Lust Have It box.

So... the key to perfecting that airbrushed, perfect base look is in the application. Start with a tiny (and I mean TINY) amount of product on the back of your hand (or in the lid of your colour supplement pot, if you happen to use lush foundation) and build it up. You can use your kabuki brush dry or slightly damp, but don't get it really wet. Using small, circular motions, sweep the product onto your face, working all over to create an even base. You can build up the coverage by allowing the product to dry, then applying another coat.

Then simply set it with your powder, use blush, highlighter and bronzer for contouring and continue with your makeup look. Simple!