Make that Acne Sulfur!

I have decided to do some simple short posts about simplifying the different types of masks there are and which will work best for your skin. There are so many different facial masks to choose from today and many different kinds and purposes for each mask. With so many out there it is hard to figure out which kind is right for you. First you have to ask yourself, What does my skin need?

Skin tone evening

Pore refining

Moisturizing

Drying

Detoxifying/ Cleansing

Tightening/ Anti-aging

Acne clearing

I am going to tackle the subject of Acne and how sulfur is your friend. You need a mask that will kill bacteria, unclog pores, and dry, but not over-dry, your skin.

So what makes sulfur so good for helping clear acne? Sulfur is known for killing bacteria with its germ killing properties. It acts as a peeling agent to help rid your skin from dead skin cells that can cause clogged pores, and finally it has drying properties to help dry out your oily pores. Effects from a sulfur mask are most evident with continued use and more effective with each use and as apart of a consistent beauty routine. You will need to have a good moisturizer to go along with your beauty routine so you do not over-dry your face and cause dull, lifeless, flaky skin.

I have used Murad Clerifying Mask, with great results. My skin type can range from oily in the Summer to combination during the Fall and Spring, and dry in the Winter time. So I'm all over the place. I also have a problem with stress acne and some times just plain painful acne. Murad Clerifying Mask is made with the acne prone person in mind with 4.0% sulfur content.

I hope this helps out with some of your questions on Acne and Sulfur masks. Thank you to Danielle for posing the question to spark this series.

Hugs and squeaky clean faces your American Cutie Beauty.

Waxing...The Good, the Bad, and the Scary

Are you tired of having to shave every other day or even everyday? Well so am I! So I took that determination and turned it into courage to brave... The Wax!!

... OUCH...

Yes, I waxed my legs! Lets just say the key to waxing is determination, good technique, and a "Just Do It" attitude.

Is at home waxing right for you? If you are tired of having to shave 3 or more times a week, and you are okay with having not "completely" smooth legs... then at home waxing is the option for you. At home waxing was right for me because I wanted to minimize the frequency of shaving and achieve the removal of at least 90% of hair on my legs. If you want to have completely smooth legs for 2-6 weeks then this might not be the option for you. With the time, effort and certain level of pain, at home waxing can be, you need to be okay with having not "completely" smooth legs and the possible need to run a razor over your legs once every two weeks until you have to wax again to get the completely smooth legs your looking for.

I chose the Nair Milk & Honey formula mainly because of it's convenient roll on applicator. Later while doing research for this blog I found that there were even more benefits to my choice in product. The Nair Milk & Honey formula is a sugar based wax so when it came time for clean up of the extra wax it just washed right off my legs without the help of oil which is needed for removing other non-sugar based waxing products.

Before braving the wax, you must brave growing out the hair you intend to remove. This is going to SUCK! The hair needs to be about 1/4" long in order for the wax to grab a hold of it. This took me two excruciating weeks. This made wearing leggings or jeans almost unbearable by rubbing and irritating the skin and hair.

Total time to wax both legs, have pizza, and take a couple breaks... 2 hours. No Advil, numbing creams, or illegal substances were taken before hand!

7 steps to waxing with the easy to use Nair Milk & Honey hair removal waxing kit.

1. Warm up wax in microwave for 15 seconds.

2. Apply talc powder to area intended to be waxed.

3. Apply wax to a small area in the same direction of hair growth.

4. Firmly apply cloth/ paper strip to the wax rubbing in the same direction as hair growth.

5. Firmly grip the cloth/ paper strip and remove QUICKLY in the opposite direction of hair growth keeping your hand close to the skin.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 SEVERAL times!

7. Rinse excess wax with warm water and exfoliate with a gentle exfoliating cleanser.

8. Pluck stray hairs that you missed.

**Important**

If you decide to buy the same thing I did, you will need to pick up a separate pack of cloth strips or else you will run out of them mid-waxing and might just say screw it at that point. haha

Now for a more in-depth look at these steps.

Follow the directions on the package for warming the wax. Too hot can burn your skin and change the dynamic of how well the wax works. Too cold and it won't apply well and will tug on hairs as you apply it. 15 seconds was good for me and to warm it up during the procedure 5 seconds is enough. If you get it too hot set aside for 10 mins to cool. Apply baby powder to the area intended to be waxed with a dry clean dish cloth. This will aid in a less painful removal of hair from the skin by limiting the cohesion between skin and wax. Applying the wax to a larger area will remove more hair obviously but will also hurt more. Your pain tolerance will determine the size of area you apply the wax to. Start with smaller strips and work your way up to your comfort level. Applying the wax and cloth strip in the direction of hair growth helps to pull the hair taut in preparation for removal in the opposite direction. Holding firmly onto the cloth strip when removing gives you something to hold on to when you feel the sting after removal (ha ha) and prevents your hand from slipping off the cloth during removal which can cause unnecessary pain midway through the removal, which can cause you to miss hairs or have ingrown hairs later on.

Why pull quickly? To get it done quicker, Duh! ha ha. Pulling quickly in the opposite direction keeping your hand close to your skin all help to prevent the wax slipping off the hair causing  ingrown hairs and unnecessary pain. Hold the skin taut during application of wax, cloth, and removal. This helps you remove the hair and keeps skin from moving and preventing maximum hair removal. Depending on your coverage area and size of area wax is applied to each time will determine how many times you will have to repeat steps 3-5. I used at least 50 and I only removed hair from the knees down. I know that seems like a LOT, and it is! I feel the outcome was worth it. After washing off the excess wax with warm water I used an exfoliating cleanser to wash my legs which will help prevent ingrown hairs. I waxed about two weeks ago and I have experienced one ingrown hair, which I removed immediately with clean tweezers and applied alcohol to prevent infection.

No, my legs were not completely smooth after I waxed. No, I was not able to remove all hair from my legs. Yes, I have at least 95% less hair on my legs right now. Yes, I have had to shave once in the past two weeks! Mission accomplished!

A couple things the package won't tell you.

~ To remove Knee hair, bend knee while sitting down. Apply and remove wax in smaller patches. 

~ To remove hair from the back of the calf, rest foot on something solid, toes facing the ground and twist your torso as if you were trying to check out your own butt.

~ DO NOT shave right after waxing. Pulling the hair out of your skin can cause damage to the skin surrounding the hair follicle, so shaving right after will cut any raised skin cells and cause ingrown hairs.

~ If you must have completely smooth skin wait at least two days for your skin to recover before shaving. There will be redness and heightened sensitivity for a couple hours after waxing, this is normal.

~ Applying a little bit of baby oil to the skin will help sooth and repair the damaged skin.
~DO NOT use oils or lotions that have a fragrance in them for at least 24 hours. Both can cause irritation and ingrown hairs.

Before picture

ha ha ha (I really didn't want a picture of my fuzzy legs online so I thought this was comparable to the fuzziness on my legs before... and way cuter too!)

After Picture

After waxing and before plucking. Notice that I didn't remove all the hair with the wax, but is drastically less fuzzy then the before picture.

Does waxing hurt? Yes, but it is more of a sting rather than blunt force ouch. If you have a tattoo I can compare it with getting a tattoo just on a larger faster scale. Some places do hurt more than others. ( I'll let you find those out on your own) I can also compare the sting to a dogs nails scratching your bare legs for a second. The sting goes away within 3-5 seconds, but instead of thinking about the sting factor each time you go to pull that strip, don't think, don't count, just apply and pull. Take a few 5 min breaks in there. Inspect what you have already done during your breaks. This will encourage you to continue on. Being able to see the difference between fuzzy and not so fuzzy is great encouragement.

I hope this helped will you in your quest to become fuzz-less.

Your American Cutie Beauty

**No dogs were waxed or harmed in the process**

Tron Makeup look ~ Gem

Hey all! So this is what happens when you ask your husband who is a gamer geek what kind of Halloween makeup look he would like to see.

You get Gem From Tron!

(Image above is altered)

This is a super easy Halloween look for Gem from Tron.

First I started off with a face moisturizer, mattefying primer, and Urban Decay's eyeshadow primer potion all over the face. For the skin color I applied the lightest color liquid foundation I have which is an ivory color, then pat on a matte white eyeshadow to set it and give my face the palest look possible without having to use white Halloween face paint.

I moved onto using Duo lash glue and a flat brush to conceal my eyebrows. (Most of the time people use glue sticks but I couldn't find one at my house.) I let it dry and concealed with liquid foundation and matte white eyeshadow. I then took an Anastasia eyebrow guide and made new eyebrows a bit higher and less of an arch then mine with MAC's Furiously Fabulous eyeshadow.

I lined and filled in my eyes with Urban Decay 24/7 pencil in Zero (black) and set it with Urban Decay's Blackout (matte black) eyeshadow from their 15th anniversary pallet. I used MAC's Superslick liquid liner in Fabulously feline (gloss black) to really define the black liner around my eyes. For a highlighter under the eyebrows I used NYX Jumbo Pencil in Cottage Cheese and set it with ELF's mineral eyeshadow in Angelic (silvery white.) I put on some fake eyelashes from Ardel's Halloween line and played up the blackest black mascara I could find by layering it on my eyelashes.

I contoured my face, cheek bones, and nose with ACE (a gun metal grey) from Urban Decay's 15th anniversary pallet. I then highlighted down my nose, chin forehead, and cheeks with Pink Opal Pigment by MAC.

For my lips I used Fabby lipstick (pale pink with gold shimmer) by MAC and put Jane Iredale PureGloss in soft peach. I dabbed a little bit of the Pink opal Pigment on the top and bottom of my lips to try and make them look fuller. ( I said try, not actually achieve haha)

 

Now with a little bit of the right lighting ( LED mini flashlight) I was set! This is a super easy look to do with a little smoke and highlights I hope you all enjoy the look.

<3's from your America Cutie Beauty ~ Jamie

Halloween Makeup!

It's almost Halloween which means lot of cool ideas for makeup. Check out these looks from last year.

Devilishly Awesome

Zombie

Alien/ Water Queen

Roxie Hart Marionette

Any Suggestions for this year? Let me know below.

Dior Velvet Eyes

Dior Backstage Eyeliners-To-Wear Multi-Wear Adhesive Eyeliner Patches

Exclusive, limited edition

Available at Sephora Sept. 16th

$59.00 us

I know what your thinking $59.00 for stickers!!!  It comes out to a little under $15.00 per set. Hey, good false eyelashes can run you about the same, so it really depends on your willingness, and budget, to spend the money on these. With this product I feel you are paying more for the name attached to it, (and maybe a little for the concept since it's pretty new) and if your like me you could care less about the name, and more about the quality of the product.

These beautifully crafted velvet-like and Swarovski crystal encrusted eyeliner patches are pretty interesting. They are reusable stickers, FOR YOUR EYES!! How awesome is that! What intrigued me about these the most is they are a no mess, fool proof way to get dramatic eyes without the mess of mistakes. They give sharp lines and are easy to remove if you put them on wrong! The pack comes with four different styles. The top two pairs are made out of black velvet-like material with nothing else on them, the third pair is covered in tiny grey crystals over a black lacquered finish material, and the fourth pair is covered with fine black sparkles over a black lacquered finish material with three tiny white crystals on the wings.

 

Dior Velvet Eyes come with glue for multiple usage. However, the glue wasn't needed for the most part for the first use. These puppies have great adhesion to the eyelid which is great, the only part that needed a little more STICK was the smallest inner part of the patch. After the first use they are less sticky on their own so that's when the glue comes in. I don't know how many uses these can withstand since I've only had them for a week, but for the price I'm hoping to get them down to $3.00 per use! haha 

* Warning* If you have sensitive eyelids taking them off felt a little like I was waxing my eyelids haha but not too bad.

These are just like applying false eyelashes so if you have a hard time with false eyelashes these will be a challenge too! I found the easiest way for me to apply them was, with a half open eye, holding them with tweezers on the upper middle part of the patch while placing them and then lightly patting them onto the eyelid with my finger starting from the center of the patch working my way to the inner part of the eye then to the outer wing. Don't get them too close to the eyelashes, but try to get them close enough, you can always fill in the rest with black liner (I wouldn't recommend liquid) but a pencil, paint pot, or shadow will work better for cleaning purposes. When I got them too close to my lash line it felt like my eyelids were being pushed down closing my eye. If you get the angle wrong the first time, or second or third like me,  just pull them off and retry... That is the best part about these is if you mess up you don't have to use a makeup wipe!

The feel of these on my eyelids was a bit uncomfortable. They are heavy, and if your eyelids fold over like one of mine does it will catch onto the fold and not go flush with your skin. These are not for everyone and more for the person with perfectly shaped almond eyes, but can still work for you if you don't mind where the wing line angle is pointing since the inner part of the patch must follow an already specified angle along your lash line. These are not great for all day wear unless your Kat Von D and like the bold jet-black eyeliner look all the time. While wearing them I felt like my eyes were being taped open in some cases which caused my eyes to dry out and start to water. Other times I felt like my eyes were being pushed closed and it affected the shape of my eye line, also my vision. I did get use to the heavy feeling of the thinner patches but the odd looking pair in the top of the pack I just couldn't get use to at all. They all vary in size and some may be too big for people with smaller eyelids. Mine are fairly small but I didn't find this to be too much of a problem.

After applying the patches you can put your eyeshadow on since you need to apply these to clean, dry eyelids (which I found that it's okay to put a primer on first, I used Stay Don't Stray, by Benifit and also Nars eyeshadow primer) Although, this can shorten the length of the patch's life since the glue side will start to get gunky faster, so it is recommended to not use eye shadow primer unless you plan to put shadow on along with the liners. Cleaning the patches was simple. After removal I took a slightly damp cloth and with a light touch wiped the front side clean. While they are still on your eye you can take a damp Q-tip to remove any shadow that gets on them. You can clean the pair with the fine black glitter on them the same way. I found that a couple pieces of glitter came off when I cleaned them which didn't matter at all. I have yet to tackle cleaning the sticky side since I have not used them more than two times.

They can also be used like stencils. Apply the patch then apply your makeup. Remove the patch after your done with your eyeshadow and you have a perfect shape to trace and fill in with liquid eyeliner. 

 

I got the right patch as close as possible to my lash line and it felt and looks like I have a droopy eye. haha

This pair I fell was the easiest to apply.

 

 This pair is probably the most universal of all the patches since they are not too thick.

I liked these the best, just because they have a little bling to them and are not too think.

I hope this review was helpful to you. Since everyone has different eye shapes these won't work for everyone and wont look the same on everyone. They take a little work to apply and a little getting used to the heaviness. I find these can be a lot of fun for people such as myself who want dramatic black eyeliner eyes with no liquid liner skills!

After reviewing them though I don't think I would have purchased them since my eyes do not have the right angles for them. It's a great concept but still needs a little more work for people without perfectly shaped eyes and sagging eyelids. haha.

So what do you think?
Do you think wearing two different eyeliner patches will catch on haha!

Have a bold eyeliner day,
Your American Cutie Beauty

Simp-Lee Makeover!

Over the Labor Day weekend my friend Lee came to me and told me I could clean him up! YES, YES, and YES. Luckily I had two lovely ladies to help me out with this task, Alison and Roxy.  Roxy is a seasoned Lee trimmer so he was in good hands! And Alison has an eye for what looks good on guys! I have been cutting my hair for years and have recently been trimming my roomy Joe's hair. I must have done pretty good the first time on Joe's hair cause he let me do it again! I even got a tip! haha But the confidence was there to take on this task. I really should have gone into Cosmetology cause I LOVE Hair and Makeup! 

Let me start out with saying that our friend Lee is one of the sweetest guys out there. He will do anything you ask, (and don't ask...) and is very dedicated to his friends and family.  He is a computer gamer that enjoys playing Cribbage, WoW, and MUDD.  I believe he is studying Accounting in collage too!

What we started with was the fluff on his face. This man has a FULL beard that Vikings would be jealous of! But since we don't live in the Viking age any more it had to go! We took his mustache and beard around his mouth down to a 2 on the clippers and trimmed it up nice and neat for a respectable beard, I don't know what you would call this bearded area but it looked great! The rest under his chin and up to his sideburns were clean shaven! Looking fabulous!

For the hair on his head I was going to trim it short with about three inches left on the top but someone else had a better idea. So what we did was left all the length on his hair which reached about to his chin and a little longer in the back so he can easily put it back into a pony tail for easy management. In the back from the ears down I graduated from a 3 down to a 0 and trimmed and cleaned the neck area to help keep him cool.

Warning, I wish I had better after photos but it was late and dark when I thought to take them and don't do the end result justice.

I think he looks so handsome now with a clean trim beard and face! Now to get him to come over every two weeks to do maintenance! =) Hint, hint, wink, wink... Lee!~ 

Thank you to Lee for letting us clean you up and Thanks to my wonderful friends Alison and Roxy.

Have a great day from your hair clipping 

American Cutie Beauty

Dior Backstage Eyeliners

Dior Backstage Eyeliners-To-Wear Multi-Wear Adhesive Eyeliner Patches

Exclusive, limited edition

Available at Sephora Sept. 16th

$59.00 us 

 

My first Dior purchase... Am I in trouble??? haha Since I am bad, and I mean REALLY bad at applying liquid liner and really any kind of liner with any shape needed I figured these might be worth looking into. Since I am a VIB member at Sephora and had a 10% off coupon I decided to try these puppies out before they go on sale to the general public September 16th. I should be receiving them soon and even though they took up my entire makeup budget for the month.... =(  I hope to have a good review out for you before they do go on sale so you can have confidence in your purchase.

Sephora's description says these are reusable velvet eyeliner appliques like a sticker or transfer tattoos with finishes ranging from matte and shiny black and designs from simple black to anthracite grey and Swarovski crystals.

I am really excited to try these out. Look back next week for a full review.

Here's the review, enjoy! Dior Velvet Eyes

Have a great day from your sticker loving fake eyeliner,

American Cutie Beauty

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eyeshadow Pallet

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Eyeshadow Pallet

$42.00 Sold out at Estee Lauder

Back when I was younger I had a bad reaction to Clinique and Estee Lauder products. Since then I haven't touched their products! Big mistake that I have learned is that just because you had a bad reaction to one product in a makeup line doesn't mean you are going to have that same reaction to all of their products. So I broke down and purchased the Bronze Goddess Eyeshadow Pallet by Estee Lauder from their 2011 summer collection. Best decision I have made! No bad reaction, so far and I have worn this beautiful pallet several times already!

Moral of the story, don't be scared of a product line because their makeup remover made you breakout, because their eye shadow might just look great on you with no bad reactions! Just make sure if you do have allergies to certain ingredients check the label!

This pallet is AMAZING! it comes with six colors that all work together brilliantly! The quality varies on the colors. I have found that the Silver White Metallic Champagne color on the far right is hard to work with. It is chunky and pressed in there very well and doesn't give much color payoff unless its wet and even then its hard to get it to shine. The Bronze Rose with Gold Shimmer has a really nice texture and good color payoff. The Pinky Peach Gold almost Metallic color is so pretty, great color payoff and super easy to work with. Probably my favorite out of all of the colors. The Teal has an ever-so-slight silver shimmer too it but is mainly a matte color. Great payoff wet, and works well with blending into the other colors dry. The Bright True Gold  has a metallic shine to it and gives a great color payoff and easy to use. The last color the Dark Mossy Green with Silver Shimmer is a great color for the crease. It builds well and can get very deep, so pay off is good, and it blends well.

All of these colors work fabulously together. I would have to say this is a great pallet to carry around with you and you really need no other if your tight on space.  You can create a light going to the beach look or a super smokey eye for night. This pallet is an all-around great buy.

I wish I had done swatches but have been so busy lately with other life obligations. I at least have a picture with using all the colors! =) 

Have a Bronzed Goddess day to all my beauties!

Jamie Fox