Brown and Bronze Look

So I was a little bored today and my roommate asked me to do her makeup because she was going out for a friends birthday. Of course I said yes, I will take all of the practice I can get, even though some say I am already good at what I can do, I just love to play. Anyway, today I did a bronze gold color with a reddish brown color on her. She is a light skin complexion so any color would look fabulous on her.

 

It's kind of hard to see in the pictures, because my cell phone camera has been acting funky and was not focusing right so the pictures are a little blurry.

The products I used today were Avon's Smooth Mineral in Bronze Stone, I love this color by the way, it's nice and light and shimmery. The contour color I used was also Avon's Smooth Mineral in Russet Rock, this color is awesome, it's kind of a mix between a dark brown with a reddish clay color. Then I added MAC's pigment in a bronze golden color, I say this because I don't know what the actual  name of the color is but it's very pretty and shiny. I also used Maybeline's Stiletto liquid eye liner for her top eyelid and Avon's Ultra Luxury eye liner for her top and bottom water lines. For mascara I used L'Oreal's Voluminous. Anyway, hope you like it!

<3 Sammie

500 Members

I have a Facebook Group page, Beautiful Inside and Out,  which I am trying to get us to 500 members to do this incredibly huge giveaway! Our page has about 350 members right now, and I have been giving subtle hints about what will be in the giveaway. Once we hit 500 members, I will definitely post everything in the giveaway in detail. But for now, we need to reach 500 members. So please come and join us, we are open to everyone, men and women. Everyone in the group is so wonderful with helping each other answer questions on products or product advice and reviews. It’s such a great group and I am so thankful to have all 350 members in the group so far and I am hoping it will grow. Anyway, come check us out, if you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me, just click on the contact link above.


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Beauty Collection

I had a $10 gift certificate from Beauty Collection,  and I ordered Smashbox's Photo Finish and an Under Eye Brightener. I haven't used these items yet, but cannot wait to. I just wanted to give my two cents about how easy my ordering process was. The website is very easy to use, and my package came fast! I cannot stress enough how well my items were packaged, they were fit snug into a box filled with little Styrofoam "peanuts" so nothing was broken or out of place. My order came within 5 days, and shipping is free with orders over $40, plus you get a free sample. My receipt came in this nice black pamphlet envelop with a free sample of Tekkai's Technician Color Care and a coupon for 10% off my next order (I love getting free samples and coupons!). They also have so many different awesome products, which I will try when I get the chance to browse through their website again. There's all sorts of makeup, skincare, haircare, mani & pedi, even items for men, and much more.  They also have tons of giveaways if you follow their Facebook Page or Twitter, I mean who doesn't love giveaways? They also have a great Blog where you can get tips and information, someone is always there and ready to answer all of your questions. Overall, I love Beauty Collection and I am looking forward to ordering more products from them! Thank you for giving a great online shopping experience. So, on that note, don't forget to check out their Blog, Facebook and Twitter, just click on the links.


<3 Sammie

Spring Look - Brown and Coral

So, I've been meaning to put up a tutorial on my Spring Look and I am finally getting to it. This is just an eye shadow tutorial and I will listing the products that I use as we go along. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy!

Step One: In this step I always have my eye brows filled in, force of habit I guess :-). Then PRIMER! Always use primer, it really helps the eye shadows to stick and not lose too much color. Another tip, I usually apply my eye shadow with a damp brush and pack it on because you will be blending and most of the time the blending will take away some color. Not to fret though because if your color needs more color, the solution is to add more if you need more.

Here I used E.L.F.'s eye lid primer, Avon's smooth mineral in Bronze Stone. For my eye brows I lightly used my Rimmel eye liner and then brushed it out with an angle brush so its not so "sharpie" looking.

Step Two: Add your contour color. Once you've added that BLEND. I seriously cannot stress enough that eye shadow MUST be blended. Blending helps give it a more natural look verses seeing someone's eyes done and you can tell where they totally did not blend. So please, take a blending brush or even your finger and blend. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Here I used E.L.F.'s Studio Line in Coffee Bean, I love this dark brown color from E.L.F. Its really pretty and not too overwhelming especially for a spring look and its CHEAP.

Step Three: Once you've blended your brown and beige color together add a nice bright coral/orange color. And then, you know what to do, BLEND! In this step I actually took  my pinky finger and just brushed the coral upwards into my brown. Seriously, using your finger works wonders, because it doesn't take away a lot of the color while your blending. Again, if you start to lose color, just add more and blend. Once you've blended the coral, add your highlighter color under your brows and BLEND downwards into your brown. I also added more of the Avon's Bronze Stone color to the inner corner of my eye.

Here I used MAC's pigment, I honesty don't know what the color is called but its a Coral color. For my highlighter I used E.L.F's Studio Line in Butter Cream.

Step Four: Usually I use a liquid eye liner to line my top eyes, but in this look I just used my Rimmel eye liner, then brushed it out just a tiny bit so its not so dark. Then I used my Eye Kandy Sprinkles Glitter and put it over my thinly lined eye liner. The Sprinkles Glitter colors I used were a mixture of Caramel Apple, Toffee and Ginger Snap. I love the glitter because it gives your eyes a bit of a pizazz. Also I used the Rimmel on both my top and lower water line. For my mascara I used L'Oreal's Voluminous in Carbon Black. I also added the eye shadows underneath my water line, going a third of the way with each color, don't forget to blend that as well. And VOILA you're done!

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Weekend Looks

I know I need to put up more tutorials, I just haven't done it because it takes so much time trying to get the picture to take right on my Evo and having to cut and scale it down on Photoshop. So please bare with me I will try to get out as many tutorials as I can, especially now that spring is here. I have some great ideas on how to do spring colors on darker skin tones. Anyway, I do almost always take a picture of my eye shadow looks over the weekend so check them out. I'll probably start a "picture" page soon too so you guys can see all the different looks I like to do for fun or to go out in. These are only a few that I have on my Evo, I couldn't find my other pictures, but there will be more to come. Enjoy!

4/16/2011 Purple with a Periwinkle Blue

4/16/2011 Dark Purple with a Periwinkle Blue

2/2011 Bronze Browns with Black

2/2011 Bronze Browns with Black

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Sigma - Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush Review

I recently did a giveaway sponsored by Sigma for their Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush. I finally got the chance to use it the other day. One word, fan-freaking-tastic! Ok, I know that's not a real word, but it's how I felt when I used the kabuki brush. I used it for my powder and blush applications, and I love it. The bristles are really soft, I didn't get any kind of irritation from the bristles, everything went on smoothly and the color of the case is beautiful, its a really bright shiny purple. It retracts really easy and is such a perfect size for its use and storage in my makeup bag. I totally recommend this brush to all of my friends and peers and I cannot wait to buy some new brushes from Sigma. Anyway check out the picture below, sorry if it's blurry, I am so not steady when it comes to taking pictures with my Evo.

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Excitement

I am so excited about my Eye Kandy Giveaway. I have almost 200 entrants and the contest is over on April 30th. I've also had a few followers add me, so this is all very exciting for me. The more page views and comments I get, it motivates me to do more giveaways and get some more products in and do tutorials. But, I have no clue what to do next for the next giveaway? I'll figure it out though. In the meantime thank you everyone for stopping by my page.

Please be on the look out for a spring and summer picture tutorial. I had some rave reviews on my coral eye shadow, so that will be next!


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MIA

I know I have been MIA this past weekend. We had a family passing last week so I wasn't able to be on my computer much over the weekend. I may be MIA a little bit this week because my son is on Spring Break, yippy. Then this weekend I'll be at a funeral. So please bare with me on more tutorials. On another note, I hope everyone had a great weekend and up coming week!


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Brown with Blue and Purple

I know Spring is here and everyone is all about the bright and pretty spring colors. I love the bright colors, but since my skin tone is a little bit darker, I feel like I can't do the bold pops of corals and pinks. So what I did today was sort of stuck with my usual brown tones, but added a bit of blue and purple to give my normal everyday look some pizazz. Now, the blue and purple are darker, but they are pigments from MAC so they are super duper bright, but I love it. I am going to try to take you step by step through this picture tutorial. So hopefully you guys get the idea of the look, which is kind of like a Peacock but with out the greens. Maybe my next tutorial will be a true Peacock, so for this one we'll call it the Unique Peacock.

Step One: I always fill in my eyebrows because mine are so scarce. Once you have that done, primer, primer, primer. I cannot stress enough that primer is a must, especially with people with the darker skin tones like mine. Now if you have a white eye sick use it as your base because this will bring out the color more. (I don't have one). I started on the inner corner of my eye with a beige sparkly mineral from Avon, the color is Bronze Stone, which I love cause its so pretty.

Step Two: In this step I used my ELF studio line to contour my crease, the color is Coffee Bean. Notice how I didn't fill in the middle part of my eye lids because I'm saving that for the next step. It is okay to pack it on, because you will be blending it out. And of course if you need to add more color at anytime, please do so to keep the colors going.

Step Three: BLEND your browns. You can use a blending brush or even your finger. Finger you ask? Well I've learned that using your finger does not hurt at all. It actually works really well if you just take your fore finger and just kind of smudge your eye shadow back and forth and up and down. Or just use a blending brush and go from outer to inner back and forth. Add the Blue and Purple, in here I used MAC's pigments, I don't know the colors because I ordered these pigments on Ebay so I honestly do not know if they are even real MAC colors. But they work just the same. Anyway, once you have those colors on, blend again. Then once you've blended your eye shadows together, add your highlighter underneath your eye brows. I used ELF's studio line Butter Cream color. Love this color because its not too shimmery but it has a sheen to it, very pretty.

Step Four: Add your eye liner and mascara to your top lids. For my eye liner I used Maybeline's Stiletto in Blackest Black and my mascara I used L'Oreal's Voluminous in Caron Black. What I also did in this last step was use 4 of my Eye Kandy Glitters to put on top of my eye liner. I just mixed up the Hard Candy (blue), Tiny Tart (purple), Toffee (brownish color) and Black Bart (black). You don't have to add extra glitter to your eyes if you don't want to. Then line your water line on the bottom and top of your eyes, I used Rimmel's pencil in black. Next, take the same colors you used for you eye shadow and put them underneath your water line. and Voila you're done!

These are the items I used for this tutorial

I know some of those steps were a bit long to read, but please bare with me until I get a video camera to start doing video tutorials. Thanks for reading!

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Eye Lash Extenoions - By Michelle

I have always been told how nice and long my eyelashes are and yes, they are REAL! So I've never had to invest into fake eyelashes or eyelash extensions. I know a lot of girls out there who have to and it looks great, I'm not knocking on those that need to wear the fakes or get the extensions. On that note, my cousin in law recently got her eyelashes done, and they look amazing! She didn't just get the regular black, which is still pretty awesome too, but she did a variety of colors! It's so pretty and I love it because I haven't seen anyone do the eyelash extensions with different colors. Looking at her pictures it makes me want to get some colors into my lashes just for fun. Anyway, her friend Michelle does them, so please check out her Facebook Page and see for yourself. Go to the info section of her page and check out the pricing list. She's located in San Diego, so all of you San Diegans go like her page! =)

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Nail Polish with an Eye Kandy Twist

I love nail polish! It totally gives my hand a little umph to it. Lately I have been wearing black, because black is my all time favorite color. I've tried so many different brands of nail polish, usually I grab whatever is cheap. Right now I am using this Kleancolor brand that my sister bought me, and let me tell you, it works pretty good. I use 2 coats and its perfect! I don't really use a base coat, I don't know why, but I just don't. For a top coat I've always used Salley Hansen's Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat. I love, love, love this top coat! It dries your nails so fast, and stays on for 1-2 weeks. I say 1-2 weeks because it really depends on what you do with your hands, for example, if your washing dishes a lot of course your nail polish will more than likely last you only about a week. Now, if you had acrylic over your nails and then put nail polish on, your nail polish will last you a good 3-4 weeks. I have the tools at home to do my own acrylic, but it just takes so long and I hate the smell of the nail liquid. I mean I love acrylic nails, I just don't have a whole lot of time to do them myself anymore, and I don't have the cash to keep up with them every two weeks or so at the nail salon. So for a more cheaper route, I chose nail polish.

Today I had a little bit of time to paint one hand and do an "Easter" Twist, as I call it. Of course I used black as my base color and then I added the Eye Kandy Sprinkles Glitter for a little bit of fun. You can do any design you want, I just went for diagonal lines, then add your clear top coat and Voila! Pretty sparkly and festive nails. I know I didn't do a perfect job, but it beats going to the salon and having to pay $2.00 extra for a design, not to mention the $20.00 manicure. Don't get me wrong I love going to the nail salon, but when you're out of time or cash, its funner and cheaper to do it yourself.  Sorry if it's all messy, but you get the idea.Check it out below.

"Easter" Twist

Sprinkles Glitter Colors: 

Double Bubble - Pink

Tiny  Tart - Purple

Green - Pixie Stick

Hard Candy - Blue

Eye Kandy Sprinkles Glitter, Liquid Sugar and Large Brush

Love the Insta-Dri from Sally Hansen

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Shoes

Who doesn't love shoes? I know I do. I was looking through a fellow blooger's website and found Karmaloop. What in the world is Karmaloop you ask? Well, they are an online re-seller of name brand underground streetwear & fashion and are located in Downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Anyway, back to the subject of shoes. I found these super cute Betsey Johnson shoes on their website.

I mean how cute are these?! You can check them out at the Karmaloop. If you're going to purchase anything enter my rep code SOMPATH and you'll receive 20% off your entire first purchase!

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Sigma Beauty - Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush

As some of you may know, I am an affiliate of Sigma Beauty. I was actually referred to them by one of my friends who's as in love with makeup as I am. She loves, loves their brushes, and recommended me to buy some from them. So when I can, I will be purchasing some Sigma Beauty Brushes, or I'll probably get one of the professional kits. Their pricing is descent, nothing to outrages which works well for me and I'm sure works well for a lot of you out there. Anyway, I recently did a giveaway, sponsored by Sigma Beauty for the Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush. Let me tell you, this brush is outstanding! I love the purple case it came in and the bristles are so soft! The brush easily retracts back into place, no bristles hanging out where they shouldn't be. Overall this brush is great and has many uses.

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Eye Kandy Cosmetics - Sprinkles Glitter

Since my twin boys were feeling better today, I had a chance to play with my new Eye Kandy Sprinkles Glitter. I went a little bold today and did what I call a "cotton candy" look because it reminds me of cotton candy =). The glitter colors I used were Hard Candy (blue), Tiny Tart (purple), and Double Bubble (pink). Along with my Sprinkles I also used some of my MAC pigments to help get some color under the glitter. I had a lot of fun playing with my new products and what I love most about the Eye Kandy Sprinkles Glitter is that it was super easy to use and it didn't flake into my eyes at all. Once you put the glitter on you just wait a few seconds for it to dry and voila! Perfect bright colors that glimmer and shine and doesn't flake or fade, it lasts pretty much all day until you wipe it off. I totally recommend Eye Kandy Cosmetics to everyone who loves glitter. They have awesome glitter products, not to mention their minerals are pretty fantastic as well. Check out my pictures below. I didn't do an actual tutorial on this one because I just wanted to play with the glitter a little bit first. So stay tuned for that!

::EDITED::
Check out the tutorial on how to get this look at [Tutorial] Eye Kandy Cosmetics - Cotton Candy

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Eye Kandy Cosmetics - Giveaway

So here it is girls, check out the pictures below to see what I will be giving away this time. After trying their products myself, I figured I could do a giveaway since this stuff is so awesome!

Giveaway:

What: Eye Kandy Cosmetics Bag with a value of $28.00.
          In the Bag:
          1 Liquid Sugar Base
          3 Sprinkles Glitter - Colors: Ginger Snap, Toffee and Double Bubble
          1 small brush

When: April 9, 2011 to April 30, 2011

How to enter:

1.) Like this giveaway link through the Beautiful Inside and Out Facebook group page, its open so anyone can join! You can like it as many times as I post it in one day, so be on the look out I might re-post this link a few times through out the day. One like on the link equals one entry.

2.) Become a follower to my blog, Breen Life, and you'll receive 5 entries. For those of you who are already on my subscribers list, you will automatically receive 5 entries unless you email me to notify me declining to be in this giveaway. (Note: This is a one time deal, you only get 5 entries once)


I will chose a winner via random.org on May 1, 2011. Once the winner has been chosen, they have 2 days to respond with their mailing address. If they do not respond within 2 days, I will then choose another winner. When we have a winner who has acknowledged that they won, I will post the winner in my Blog as well as in the Beautiful Inside and Out Facebook group page. Good luck to everyone!

If you have any questions, please email me at sammiesweeps@gmail.com (please do not spam my email). Good luck to everyone!

**Note: Unfortunately I cannot make this giveaway an international one due to shipping costs, I apologize for this inconvenience, but hopefully the next giveaway I can ship internationally. Open to all U.S.A. residents** 



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Eye Kandy Cosmetics - Review

 I recently ordered products from Eye Kandy Cosmetics, and they are quick to ship the products! I received them in 2 days! Really truly amazed at the fast shipping and awesome packaging. Nothing was out of place, nothing was broken so that is always a plus.

I have never really worked with this type of glitter before, but it wasn't very hard. I had no trouble applying the Sprinkles Glitter in Black Bart as an eye liner, which came out perfect! I loved the way it gave my eyeliner a little more shine than normal liquid eye liner. And no, the glitter didn't even flake into my eyes at all! I wear contacts so that is a big plus for me. They have tons of pretty Sprinkles Glitter colors so that you can create any look your little hear desires. I will have to play with the glitter a little more since I have never used this type of makeup before, but this will be tons of fun!


I absolutely positively love the Sprinkles Mineral colors. Usually I have to apply my make up with a damp brush because colors don't really like to show up on my eyes cause of my dark skin tone. But the Sprinkles Mineral colors are a-freaken-mazing! You don't have to pack on a ton of the minerals, which is another plus for me. I really wished I would have chosen and bought more mineral colors, but I always have time for that later =).

Overall, I really like the products, easy to work with, and you get a lot of color for your buck. I love the little pods, because now I can put like 10 different colors in my makeup bag and still have room for other stuff. Pricing is fairly descent, I think that's why I chose to try them out. At times I am a cheapo so this works pretty well for my budget. On that note, I am doing an Eye Kandy Bag giveaway, sponsored by me, so check it out under giveaway tab.

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Eye Shadow Tutorial

So, I am going to start doing more picture tutorials, but I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts. What colors/shades or styles should I do next? Or, more like, what would you guys like to see next? Times like these I really wish I had a better video camera! I know its so much easier to learn how to do makeup by watching a video, but a picture tutorial is the only thing that I can do for now, so bare with me. Anyway, let me know what your thoughts are on what I should do next! Thanks!


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Sigma Beauty Giveaway - Winner

I just want to thank everyone who participated in my Sigma Beauty Giveaway, but we now have a winner. I used the Random.org website and entered everyone manually. I did a test run before I did the real drawing to see if it really worked and it does because the test draw came up totally different from the real draw. Ok, anyway, The winner is Diane Chintharasy! Congratulations, you have won the Miss Taylor Kabuki Brush. I hope you enjoy your new brush! For those of you that didn't win, don't worry I will be having another give away soon!

 

I know its hard to see, but you get the idea!

Eye Kandy Cosmetics

I was looking through the exhibitors list for the I.M.A.T.S for the Los Angeles location and came across Eye Kandy Cosmetics:
                   
                             " Eye Kandy is a brand new company that offers the latest
                               breakthrough in glitter cosmetics. Our revolutionary liquid 
                               adhesive base, Liquid Sugar, sets us apart from all other
                               glitter cosmetics."

They have some pretty amazing products with fairly decent pricing and I'm really interested in becoming a reseller for them. So I ordered a few things and cannot wait for them to get here so I can play. Of course I will be doing another tutorial on their products. So, on that note, I ordered an extra Eye Kandy Bag from them which I will be doing a giveaway on, so please stay tuned for that giveaway! Here's a sneak peak at what the giveaway will be, valued at $28.
This Bag will include
        1 Bottle of the Liquid Sugar Base
        3 Eye Kandy Sprinkles (mineral colors TBD)
        1 Applicator Brush

I'll be sure to post better and up close pictures of the product once it is in. Don't for get to be on the look out for this giveaway!



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Beautiful Inside and Out

I have created a Facebook Group page, Beautiful Inside and Out. This group is there for everyone who needs help in the how to's in makeup and hair and everything else to make you feel beautiful on the inside and the outside. Anyone can join, male, female, it is open to the public. You can post about anything you've tried or heard about to beautify yourself from the inside and out. Anyone can post about deals and steals because who wouldn't love a good deal on makeup, hair, nail, and health products? Anyway, check it out and feel free to join!


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True Colors Original

 I remember when I was working at the local Mall when I was in High School, I know that was way too long ago, anyway, there was this kiosk there that had this makeup brand called True Colors. I wasn't into wearing a whole lot of makeup 10 years ago, but now I have a passion for it. I'm not too sure if True Colors has changed their formula from 10 years ago, but I'm thinking they might have. I used my friends stack before (along time ago) and I really liked the colors and how it came out because if you hadn't notice I am on the darker shade of the color scale and its hard to find make up that will show up on my darker toned skin. I think with any pigmented eye shadow it will of course flake a little if not a lot. The answer to that, is to use a makeup wipe and clear the flakes off your face. Anyway, check out the colors of some of the stacks I found. I think it is awesome that they color coordinate their stacks because frankly, some people do not know how to color blend or mix and match colors, the color coordination really helps those in need of color mixing.

So on that note, I'm kind of looking into doing a resale program or a home party program for this product. Let me know what you guys think!

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Matte Brown Eye Shadow

I was totally bored the other day and decided to do a picture tutorial on how I apply Matte Brown eye shadow. I don't have a video blog, mainly because I don't have a good enough video camera and the video camera on my phone doesn't upload to you tube clearly enough. Anyway, here goes!

Matte Brown Eye Shadow look

Step One:
Fill in your eye brows if you need to, here I used a mixture of the Caramel Ice and Charcoal. Next apply an eyelid primer, this helps your eye shadow to stick and last longer. I used an ELF Eyelid Primer, works great and is a pretty sheer color.

Step Two:
Apply the brown eye shadow to both eyes, I used Caramel ice from my Sheer Cover Sophisticate Palette. As you can see I just packed it on, in this step you will see a line between your brown eye shadow and the primer. No need to worry about this because the next step is to blend that line.

Step Three:
Now, blend the brown shadow. I always blend in a circular motion going from my outer eyelid to the inner eyelid. Repeat this process to your other eyelid. as you can see in the picture, on the right, my left eye is blended. I did this to show you what the difference looks like.

Step Four:
Apply the black to the outer corner of your eyelid. I used the Charcoal color from my Sheer Cover Sophisticate Palette. Again, pack it on because you will blend it out in the next step.

Step Five:
Blend the black into your crease. The crease is the contour of your eyelid (notice the line of my eyelid, that is what you want to aim for when blending the black). The picture on the right shows both eyes blended.

Step Six:
Apply a highlight color underneath your eye brow and blend into your brown. Here I like to blend downwards in a circular motion from the outer eyelid to the inner eyelid. I used the Ballerina color from my Sheer Cover Sophisticate Palette.

Step Seven:
Apply eye liner to the top eyelid and follow with mascara. I always do a thin line of eyeliner, because I like the thinner look better than the thick look. For the eyeliner I used Maybeline's Stilletto Liquid Eye Liner in Blackest Black. For my mascara I used L'Oreal's Voluminous in Carbon Black.

Step Eight:
Apply a pencil eye liner to your bottom eyes. I also like to apply eye shadow directly beneath my eye liner. Here I used Ballerina in the inner corner of my lower eye to probably about a third of the way, then I used the Caramel Ice another third of the way and lastly I used the Charcoal for the remainder third of my under eye. Be sure to blend a little bit as you go.

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