Sweat Cosmetics

Fast and Flirty Valentine’s Day Makeup Tutorial: A Romantic Monochromatic Soft Peach Look for All Skill Levels

January 24th, 2018 by Karen 29 Comments

In the interest of fairness, seeing as how we have Valentine’s Day to celebrate lurve, and Galentine’s Day for your gal pals, shouldn’t there also be a holiday to commemorate V-Day for cat lovers and our cats? Like Feline-en-tine’s Day? Or Cat-en-tine’s Day?

Ooh! — I’ve got it. Meow-entine’s Day! ? ? Happy Meow-entine’s Day, fellow cat ladies, LOL!

Valentine’s Day is a few weeks away, a fact that occurred to me at 7:55 p.m. the other night at See’s Candy (5 minutes before closing), where I went on an emergency last-minute chocolate run.

They had their heart-shaped candy boxes on full display, and it was like a sudden cocoa-infused wake-up call that this is a perfect time for romantic, soft makeup looks. I think this monochromatic peach one would be great for a daytime date, or an evening date, or a date that goes from day to night, ooh-la-la!

Why I ? monochromatic makeup

Because it takes the aspect of color coordinating, and figuring out if this purple goes with that bronze, or if this pink goes with that teal, out of the picture and makes it easy to use multiple (but related) colors together (i.e., so you don’t have to think too hard).

But I really ? monochromatic makeup with a twist!

Instead of just being a peach-on-peach-on-peach party on the eyes, cheeks and lips, this look also relies on subtle transitions and different cream and powder textures, matte and satin finishes, and varying levels of coverage and intensity.

On the eyes, matte and satin powder eyeshadows are layered on top of a cream shadow, and the cheeks and lips are both sporting the same peach color and cream finish, except that the cheeks are sheer, and the lips are opaque. And the creaminess of the blush and lipstick also plays off the matte areas of the skin.

Sheer skin for balance

My foundation is purposefully sheer in this look because, with all of the drama happening on my eyes and the opaque lip, I feel like the face, cheeks and lips need to dial it back a bit to keep everything looking balanced.

A 15-minute look from start to finish

The choice to do sheer skin is also a timing thing, because I’m still really into makeup looks that I can finish in 15 minutes or less, and doing sheer skin saves lots of time and lets me spend most of it on my eyes.

What you’ll need

Here are the products I used…

FACE PRODUCTS

Face primer (Urban Decay Urban Defense Complexion Primer)
Sheer face tint, or a CC or BB cream (Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Tint in Honey)
Makeup setting spray (MAC Fix+)
Powder foundation (Sweat Cosmetics Mineral Foundation in 200)
Concealer for your under eye area, if you want (MAC Matchmaster Concealer in 4)
Cream peach lipstick (MAC Lunar New Year Lipstick in Good Health, an LE shade available now online and at select MAC counters)

EYE MAKEUP

Brow gel, either clear or a color that matches your brows (Hourglass Arch Brow Volumizing Gel in Warm Brown)
Cream stick shadow similar to your skin tone (MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colour Stick in Sand Bar)
Three powder eyeshadows: a matte peach eyeshadow, a matte taupe and satiny bronzy brown (MAC Lunar New Year Eye Shadow X9 in Luck and Fortune, an LE palette available now at select MAC counters)
Two pencil eyeliners: a black and a bronzy brown (Chanel 88 Noir Intense and MAC Costa Riche)
Mascara (Tarte Lights Camera Lashes)

Let’s get started

First, you’ll be bouncing back and forth between working on your face and working on your eyes, because when every minute/second counts, you gotta multitask. But it won’t be stressful or scary, I promise. 🙂

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10-Minute Work or Weekend Makeup With Red Blush, Red Lipstick and Smudgy Bronze-Black Cat Eyeliner

January 13th, 2018 by Karen 24 Comments

10 minute makeup — Today’s 10-minute makeup

A few things:

It’s Saturday morning, and I’m wearing the same pajamas I put on Thursday night.
My head feels like it’s being squished in a vice (yes, I’m still a walking germ factory).
I haven’t washed my hair in three (four?) days.

But thanks to the healing power of makeup, I can pretend I briefly look like I’m a somewhat functioning adult, LOL!

This 10-minute makeup look was 1) to help myself feel better, and 2) for Sheena (yay for the Bay, girl, woo-hoo!), who liked the NUDESTIX Intense Lip + Cheek Pencil in Purity post earlier this week but wanted to see me use a darker color from the line.

This time I used warm red Stiletto, and I used it as both a blush and a sheer lip color. And then I also did a smudgy, bronze-y black cat eye.

Everything I used is listed below, and if you have any questions, you know where to find me (hints: it involves Netflix, a laptop and my couch).

nudestix stiletto — When you’re trying to not look like you’re a walking germ factory…

One note about the skin. I used a very sheer liquid skin tint to even everything out just a touch, then boosted the coverage on my cheeks with a loose foundation. This is a very cool shortcut I like to do when I’m pressed for time/have very little patience.

Also, because I went into this look planning to only spend 10 minutes on it, and because the pencil was an opaque bright red, I opted for the sheer lip stain because I figured I’d be able to fudge the edge of the lip line (which I did).

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Product Shout-Out: Sweat Cosmetics Skin-Balancing Cleansing Towelettes

October 2nd, 2017 by Karen 3 Comments

These wonderful wipes are like a portable, post-workout shower, and they’re sensationally soft. They come in packs of 10 for $7 and 30 for $18 from Sweat Cosmetics.

The thing I notice about most specialized post-workout wipes, especially the ones that say they’re for face *and* body, is that they’re usually great at one thing but not great at another, like they’ll be fine for quickly cleaning my neck and down, but when I try using them to clean my face, they’ll sting or make my cheeks feel tight afterward. Or, they’ll leave a film that pills up when I put on sunscreen or BB cream.

Most of them aren’t great at both — face and body — but these are, so even even though you can use baby wipes or regular old makeup wipes to clean up after your workout, these are just better, heftier and softer than usual, like a really good cotton washcloth that smells like lavender and green tea.

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Put to the Test: Sweat Cosmetics Mineral Foundation SPF 30 and Glow Hard Bronzer

January 26th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

sweat cosmetics top pic — Hitting the gym with Sweat Cosmetics Mineral Foundation SPF 30 ($42) and Glow Hard Bronzer ($42)

Entrepreneurial women of the world, will somebody please make my dream come true and start a line of women-owned-and-operated gyms with flattering overhead lighting, because I’m tired… I’m tired of looking at myself in the mirror in my HIIT class and seeing Gollum looking back at me lifting weights and doing lunges.

Until that day comes, there’s always Sweat Cosmetics.

sweat cosmetics k mat — Halfway through class and sweating like a mofo…

“Our goal at Sweat Cosmetics is to develop a line of cosmetics that contain SPF for the modern woman who strives to be physically fit while also embracing a healthy, active lifestyle. We are committed to narrowing the gap between beauty and fitness while prioritizing skin protection.”

–sweatcosmetics.com

They’re a pretty new-ish brand, and now they’re also available at Sephora. They’re all about mineral makeup that you can wear to the gym, or to go jogging, or if you do any other type of physical exercise and you want to look cute (well, cuter than usual). The line was created by a team of women Olympic soccer players ⚽ and professional athletes ? ⛸️?, which I think is awesome.

Their products are mineral-based, which means powder products, not liquid, and they focus on base products like foundation, bronzer and highlighter.

Everything is sheer-to-medium coverage, so they have a no-makeup makeup vibe. You can go to the gym, go to dance class, go to a soccer meet, whatever, and still look like you, just a little more polished. Oh! And they all have SPF.

The $42 face products come with a refillable makeup brush, which you load with one of the powders (they come in a small pot). Then you screw the powder into the base of the brush, tip it over, shake to dispense the powder through the brush bristles, and then apply to your face. There are also less expensive $24 refills available, too.

So…I don’t usually wear makeup when I work out because my biggest fear is that, ya know, I’ll be sweating, and sweaty beads of product will be dripping down my face onto my shirt and chin, because dude, I SWEAT LIKE A MOFO! I’m not one those delicate flowers who always looks perfectly dry and put together at the gym.

Nope!

But the dripping and the beading doesn’t happen with these products, yay! I wore the Mineral Foundation SPF 30 (it comes in five shades; I wear #300) and Glow Hard Bronzer to my HIIT class this morning, and my makeup looked fairly fresh and intact at the end.