Eyeshadows: GREEN EYES

It doesn’t matter if you are born with green eyes or if you have deliberately chosen green contact lenses to draw attention, in either case, having green eyes is a blessing. This is because green eyes or cat eyes can make you look stunning. The trick is to play up your green eyes in such a way that it is flattering to both, your face and your overall personality. Women gifted with green eyes always have to be careful not to under-do or overdo their makeup.


Not all eye shadow colors go along with green eyes. Shades of violet and lavender, mixed with reddish or pink hues suit women with green eyes the best. This is because these shades in particular help bring out the natural yellow, golden tint in green eyes. Another way to feature such eyes is to use purple eye shadow, layered with shades of brown or bronze. This color combination draws attention to the bluish tinge in green eyes. Eye shadow colors do not stop there- you can also use gold, peach, deep green, copper, medium pink and apricot. Eyeliners in brown, golden brown, deep purple, steel grey or black make your eyes stand out even more.
Apart from this, your eye shadow should also match your skin tone. Experts suggest experimenting with dramatic colors such as amber, neon shades and jade, but to stay away from yellow hues, such as lemon and mustard, as these make your green eyes appear dull. Another thumb rule is to never exactly match your eye color with your eye shadow. Instead, contrasting these colors is the best.
For example, a light green eye shadow would not look very good on a green pair of eyes, but a turquoise blue one would look very attractive. Shades of silver and grey also make green eyes stand out, but you need to be careful while using these as there is always the danger that your eyes may end up looking too cold.
A smoky look goes well with green eyes, and so does brown eye shadow. However, while applying such shades of eye shadow, be cautious because if your eyes are more hazel than green, then a brown eye shadow would make your eyes look deep-set.
On the other hand, women with green eyes can never go wrong while applying shades of gold, copper and bronze. Remember, makeup for green eyes can never be restricted to any one color as it would either heavily contrast with the greenness of your eyes or make them look incredibly dull. The trick is to layer your eye makeup in such a way that your green eyes come across as striking.


Ensure that your eyebrows are plucked and well arched so that anybody looking at your face is captured by the well-defined green eyes staring back at them. If you have very thin eyebrows, then it is best to use a brow-pencil to fill them in. The idea here is that your eyebrows should frame your eyes in a flattering way, and also compliment them.
Second, while doing eye makeup always use a primer and base before applying eye shadow. This ensures that your eye makeup stays in place for longer and reflects well on your face. It is also a good idea to use eyeliner, mascara and an eyelash curler, as these cosmetics all work to bring out your green eyes. Also, keep a cotton bud handy to remove extra eye shadow.
Dusting a little waterproof translucent powder on your eyes helps ensure that your makeup stays in place no matter how hot or wet it gets. Since eyes are very sensitive, you need to ensure that all the cosmetics you use on this particular zone are of good quality and are dabbed lightly, rather than rubbed on.

Eyeshapes contouring

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How to contour forehead

The shape and size of your forehead is an important detail in corrective face contouring. While most women often ignore and take their foreheads for granted, many never bother applying any makeup to it and others spend their lives obsessing over the shape and size of their forehead and devising ways to hide it. Irrespective of which category you fall in, you simply must understand the importance of a proportionate and well contoured forehead, and its overall contribution to your facial beauty.


Generally, women with heart shaped faces have wider temples and foreheads. If you are one of them, then to get an overall balanced look, you need to focus on the temple area of such a wide forehead, shading it well. This shading needs to be balanced by highlighting the center of your forehead and the bridge of your nose.
Such precise, corrective contouring helps to make your face optimally oval and proportionate in viewing. Similarly, for women with a round face who have a broad forehead, highlighting the center of their forehead is a good idea. Such women should also contour the sides and temples of their foreheads to give their face an overall slim look.

 There are a few things need keep in mind while contouring your forehead:

Blending

It is generally thought that blending makeup is very easy and straightforward, given the relatively large area that the forehead covers. While this is true to a certain extent, attention still needs to be paid to detail. For example, if you have a long forehead, then you need to begin by dotting your foundation or contouring powder about half an inch under your hairline. The chosen contouring medium should always be a softer or bolder shade than the shade of your daily wear foundation.
On the forehead, you can use either a brush or just your index finger to blend your contouring medium in a downward, sweeping motion. While applying such shading on your forehead, you must avoid straight strokes at all costs, as these serve to make the makeup very obvious and visible. Similarly, if you are struggling with a wide forehead you need to apply small amounts of your contouring powder or cream onto the sides of your forehead and along the temple. In such a case you need to brush your makeup towards the center of your forehead and in upward, subtle and light strokes to give your forehead a longer and thinner look.

Experiment with your hair

Another solution of dealing with a forehead that is too wide or narrow, is to experiment with different haircuts and hairstyles that work well to camouflage your forehead discrepancies. For example, experts generally suggest maintaining a fringe haircut, if you have a long forehead or to leave your forehead open (no fringe) should you want to camouflage a small forehead. However, should you have a wide forehead you should never comb your hair back, as that would make your forehead even more visible and obvious.

Highlight other facial features

A way of drawing attention away from an unflattering natural forehead is to play up other flattering features of your face such as your eyes, cheekbones and your lips. For example, to take away focus from a very narrow and small forehead you can always use stunning eye makeup, give your lips a glossy makeover or even better flaunt well defined, chiseled, rosy colored cheekbones.

Define your eyebrows

Another way to draw attention from a problematic forehead is to ensure that you always have eyebrows that are well plucked and defined. Such chiseled eyebrows work to provide a visual break between the eyes and the hairline. Even to such an extent that people looking at you often tend not to notice your forehead or its shape. Team these eyebrows with well blended and colored eye shadow on the upper eyelids and no one is bound to notice your tiny or broad forehead.

Use powder to set

As with all makeup, always dust some translucent powder onto your whole face especially your forehead as this ensures that your attempt at shading and highlighting stays in place and doesn’t smudge every time you touch it or reach for your hair. The best way to apply such powder is to use a clean face puff or natural hair powder brush.

Camouflage with fun accessories

If all else fails, you can always depend on numerous fashionable cool accessories to combat your forehead size. In some cases, you can choose funky cool summer hats that serve to cover a wide forehead or you could try tying colorful scarves around your forehead. You can also use or weave in artificial hair such as an attractive set of colorful curls that cascade down your forehead, hiding it.

Cheekbones contouring

Your cheekbones play a very crucial role in deciding the shape of your face. After your eyes and lips, your cheekbones are the most defining feature of your face, and need to be played up using makeup to get that perfectly sculpted look. Like all other features on your face, your cheekbones too fight the onslaught of age and weight.
Corrective contouring emerges as a viable and practical solution to get the perfect cheekbones that you need as opposed to corrective surgery and cheek implants. Put simply, corrective contouring is a kind of advanced makeup that works to highlight and bring forward the defining areas on your face, especially your cheekbones, while shadowing other areas that are unflattering. Such kind of contouring offers your face a flattering new shape and dimension.


Shades of brown powder work the best on most cheeks, especially the ones with grey undertones. Once you have chosen your shade of powder, you need to use a good quality angle powder brush and sweep it across your color palette. Next, angle your brush in such a way that it brushes against the highest part of your cheek where your finger was earlier positioned.
Keeping in mind the 45° angle you had made earlier, firstly move the brush upwards in a straight line. Ensure that the brush movements are smooth and the color simply glides on your cheeks. Continue doing this till you reach the area at the end of your eyebrow. Take the same brush and make circular movements over the line that you have drawn. This technique ensures that the darkest shade of the color is near your eyes and then gets lighter as you move downwards.
However, if you think that the color has become too dark, dust some translucent powder on it to lighten it. Another quick way to do this is to take your foundation sponge and gently “sweep” over the dark area. Remember to factor in the time of day when you are stepping out. This is crucial because day time contouring needs to be more subtle and detailed, as the natural light is bound to reflect off it. On the contrary, contouring your cheekbones for a night event is easier as dull and dim light always flatters contoured cheeks.
For most women, cheek contouring means sucking in your cheeks and applying a darker shade of the contouring powder to the hollows of your cheeks, and a highlighter on the top of the cheekbones. They dust some blush or powder on it to ensure their makeup stays in place. While there is nothing wrong in contouring cheeks this way, you must know that there are different kinds of cheekbones, and each kind requires a different corrective contouring technique.

 People with round faces are generally known to have full (not always visible) cheeks, which lend them an air of looking younger for longer. A truly round face is known to have a rounded chin and a short fairly wide forehead. To make such a face appear slightly oval, you must draw attention and highlight your forehead and the area underneath your eyes that sits just on top of your cheekbones. This helps draw attention to the center of your face. Here, you can use shading on your cheeks and jaw line by using a bronze shade powder or cream foundation, which is likely to suit your skin tone.

Jaw line contouring

Today, makeup experts swear by this method and recommend it over surgical procedures such as facelifts and Botox injections. They believe that while you can fight the process of ageing, you can never really beat it.
The best way forward is to make the best possible use of the jaw line you are gifted with and camouflage it to look your best. Corrective contouring is a method/technique of applying advanced makeup which essentially uses shadow play and shading to create the desired effect on the face.


Corrective contouring although simple, is tricky, more so during the day as direct light on the face can easily betray your secret. To ensure your attempt at corrective contouring goes undetected, here are a few tried and tested tricks and tips that promise you the best possible contouring for the jaw line.
-Get rid of your side fuzz – To begin with; remove your side burns or your facial fuzz. You can do this at home or in a parlor since easy to use creams and waxing strips are now available especially for this purpose. This exercise helps in two ways; it works to highlight both your cheekbones and your jaw line. Removing your facial hair will lend your cheeks a kind of a hollow look, exposing the lovely L shape of your side face and pushing out your jaw line. After doing this you will be sure to easily identify your jaw line and contour it accordingly.
-Blend, don’t mix – While anyone can apply basic makeup, not everyone can blend it well. It is this, the process of seamlessly blending different shades of foundation, blushes and highlighters, which is responsible for the success of any corrective contouring attempt. You need to practice shadow play and shading your jaw line as often as you can, because an unblended jaw line stands out like a sore thumb, garnering you unwarranted attention and comments.
-Don’t ignore the neckline – When we talk about shading the jaw line, it doesn’t simply mean the line along its jaw. Corrective contouring focuses on providing a well camouflaged, seamless look so no matter what color highlighter/foundation/blush is used, always make sure that it is blended in. When doing contouring around the jaw line, it should not stop there- the color should also be applied in the under ear area, under the chin and blended into the neck line. If this is not done then your face would end up with an unflattering line showing everyone that you tried your hand at corrective makeup.
-Keep that hair away – Always tie your hair before you start the process of corrective contouring on your jaw. Your hair may impede on your vision of the actual length and shape of your jaw line. Even if you have completed your face makeup, always tie your hair or push it back from your neck area, to get the best view of your jaw line. This also ensures you have unrestricted access to your whole jaw line and that your hand can glide smoothly across it.

How to contour different nose shapes

When you think of hiding or camouflaging your facial flaws, you often don’t consider your nose at all. The nose is perhaps the most neglected part of the face and people don’t realize that they are able to change its appearance. There is no such thing as the perfect nose shape. What makes a nose look perfect is that it is well proportioned to the overall face. Most women don’t have such good luck as a deviated nasal septum, childhood injury or simply genetics have left them with noses that are either too big, too long, crooked or too small for their face. For such women, corrective contouring helps the most as it creates the illusion of a well-defined and contoured nose. It is quick and easy to do, so there is no need to go spend big money on surgical procedures.


Large, prominent nose: Such a nose simply stands out on the face and becomes its defining feature.
Wide nose: This nose normally has a very wide bridge.
Snub nose (tip-tilted): This kind of a nose is short and flat, sloping upwards at the tip.
Thin short nose: While this kind of a nose looks similar to a snub nose, the nostrils are more defined and stand out.
Long nose: Such noses tend to appear long and pinched, especially when viewed from the side.
Hawk nose: This nose is normally long with a very prominent bridge and down turned angle tip.



Nose contouring is best suited for night occasions and parties, as the generally dim and soft lights work well to support the nasal illusion you have worked hard to create. However, nose contouring during the day requires detailed care, as daylight is usually harsh and unforgiving to makeup.

• Blend well – Makeup on the nose and around it needs to be blended very well. This is crucial as natural light is prone to expose your attempts at corrective contouring should your highlighter or shader not be well blended with your overall face foundation. In such cases, your nasal flaws may become even more obvious.
• Don’t limit yourself to the nose alone – When we talk about nose contouring, it is good to remember that whatever makeup you use on the nose, you needs to start from the inner corners of the eyebrows and extend it till the end sides of the nostrils, as this whole area comprises the nose for makeup purposes. If you are using two shades of foundation in this area, then both need to be blended seamlessly or else their application lines will be visible.
• Stay shine-free – Another common problem that makes most nasal flaws obvious is a shiny nose, as it immediately draws undue attention to itself. The only solution to this is to ensure that you stay shine free. For this, you must never moisturize your nose before applying makeup, as it obviously tends to make you sweat. Another solution to the problem of a shiny nose is to frequently powder your nose as loose powder is known to absorb all the excess oil. Also, when you buy foundation, highlighter and a dark powder for shading, ensure that you buy their matte counterparts and not the glossy or shiny versions, as they could prove counterproductive to you.
• Use translucent powder – Irrespective of the shape of your natural nose and the corrective contouring you do on it, remember to always dust some powder on it once finished. This is because good quality, well matched transparent powder is known to hold the makeup in place and set it in a way that it stays the same for a long time.
Draw attention to your eyes or lips – Another good idea to ensure that no one catches your nasal contouring is to draw attention to some other part of your face, such as your lips or your eyes. Highlight one of them in flattering shades and hues and blend them well with the overall foundation on your face. This age old makeup trick works well because it is so simple and easy and ensures no one examines your attempts at nose contouring too closely. Broken or snub nose; feel free to experiment with smoky eyes, metallic eye shadows and hot lip colors that draw attention above and below your nose.

Face shapes

1. Round Face

You have a round face when the vertical to horizontal ratio is equal. The majority of your features are soft and rounded. You also probably have a round chin. Your cheeks are the widest part of your face, which gives it that rounded shape.

Celebrities With Round Face:

• Ginnifer Goodwin
• Mila Kunis
• Emma Stone

Makeup Tips For A Round Face

1. Arched Eyebrows: When you have a round face, it’s always better to add lines and definition to your makeup look. The first thing you should do is have well-defined brows. Do not keep the eyebrows rounded as this will make your face look even longer. Go for an angled arch while shaping and filling in your brows.
2. Contour: Contour those cheeks! When you have a round face, your cheeks are probably the widest part of your face and if you want to give your face some depth, contouring can be your best friend.
3. Blush: You may think that if you have sightly chubby cheeks, you shouldn’t use blush, but that is NOT the case. A shimmery blush will enhance your cheeks and give them a healthy glow.

Hairstyles For A Round-Shaped Face

• Tousled Pixie
• Asymmetrical Lob

2. Oval Face

An oval shape is a longer version of the round face. Your chin still stays rounded, but the length of your face is more than the width. Your forehead is probably the widest part of your face.

Celebrities With Oval Face:

• Blake Lively
• Selma Hayek
• Julianne Moore

Makeup Tips For An Oval-Shaped Face

1. Balance: Try and keep things balanced when it comes to your eyes and lips. This means that if you’re going for something heavy on your eyes, like the smokey, keep the lips simple and nude.
2. Naturally Arched Brows: Follow the natural shape of your brow. Don’t try to make it anything too dramatic. At the same time, do not overpluck them! You want a clean eyebrow shape.
3. Highlighter: A highlighter can help in bringing certain features forward. If you have an oval-shaped face, then you can use this along the bridge of your nose, your forehead, and at the top of your cheekbones.

Hairstyles For An Oval-Shaped Face

• Side Swept Pixie
• Tousled Bob

3. Square Face

Self-explanatory, people have a square-shaped face if they have comparatively straight sides with minimal curve at the chin. They also have angled jaws. The face is also proportional. This means that the vertical to horizontal proportion is nearly one to one.

Celebrities With Square Face Shape:

• Cameron Diaz
• Lucy Liu
• Rihanna

Makeup Tips For A Square-Shaped Face

1. Contour The Sharp Angles: When you have a square-shaped face, you probably have a wide jaw. Contouring really helps to soften the sharp angles that accompany a square-shaped face.
2. Highlight: You can try the highlighting technique to enhance certain facial features. In the case of someone with a square face, use a concealer that is one shade lighter on your forehead and under the hollows of your cheeks. This creates a perfect balance when you contour the jawline.
3. Dramatic Lips: You want to take the attention away from your jaws, and the best way to do that is by drawing the attention to the lips. Go bold! Go for a bright red, coral or purple, based on what you prefer.

Hairstyles For A Square-Shaped Face

• Side Swept Bangs
• Angled Bob

4. Rectangle (OR Oblong) Face Shape

This can also be known as an oblong face shape. The only difference between a rectangular face and an oblong face is that an oblong face is slightly less angled. It follows the same basic rectangular shape though. You have a rectangular face shape if your forehead, cheeks, and jawline are nearly the same width. The chin is only slightly curved.

Celebrities With This Face Shape:

• Alexa Chung
• Meryl Streep
• Liv Tyler

Makeup Tips For A Rectangle-Shaped Face

1. Soften The Angles: The tips for a rectangular face shape would be a combination of both an oval face and a square face. The trick is to soften the jaws and temples, so applying some bronzer and contouring, it would really help.
2. Cat Eye: Since you have a long face, winging out your eyeliner helps the eyes look bigger and wider, and the attention is drawn to this area.
3. Blush: While applying a blush, apply it to the tops of the cheeks instead of right in the middle.

Hairstyles For A Rectangle-Shaped Face

• Long Pixie
• Shoulder length hair with bangs

5. Diamond Shaped Face

Women with diamond-shaped faces will probably have high cheekbones and pointed chins. You might think that this could be a heart-shaped face as well, but not really. The main difference is that the forehead is narrower for someone with a diamond face.

Celebrities With Diamond Shaped Face:

• Ashley Greene
• Jennifer Love Hewett
• Scarlet Johannson

Makeup Tips For A Diamond-Shaped Face

1. Pouty Lips: Don’t be afraid to go all out on the lips. Use a bold color!
2. Contour Sides: Since the width is the most at the sides near the cheeks for someone with a diamond-shaped face, contour this area for dimension.
3. Highlight: Additionally, make sure to highlight the forehead, cupids bow, the chin and along the bridge of the nose.

Hairstyles For A Diamond-Shaped Face

• Long Layered Waves
• Chin Length Bob

6. Heart Shaped Face

The main characteristics of a heart-shaped face are a pointed chin and a wide forehead. It doesn’t really matter whether you have a widow’s peak or not. This face shape is also called an inverted triangle, because when you think about it, your forehead is the widest part of your face and the chin is pointed.

Celebrities With Heart Shaped Face

• Reese Witherspoon
• Ashley Olsen
• Halle Berry

Makeup Tips For A Heart-Shaped Face

1. Smokey Eyes: When you have a heart face, you probably have an angular jaw, so anything too sharp might be a little overpowering. Therefore, a soft smokey eye would be a perfect look for a heart-shaped face.
2. Bronzer contouring: If there’s a theme to be followed with a heart-shaped face, it’s to go for a soft look. The same applies to contouring. Use a bronzer to contour, since women with heart-shaped faces already have some definition to their face.
3. Max Volume Mascara: Another great look for heart-shaped faces is to add intensity to the eyelashes.

Hairstyles For A Heart-Shaped Face

• Lob With Bangs
• Long Way Layers

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN DAYS!!!

Wee trip along Scottish Union Canal

The Union Canal, full name the Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, is a canal in Scotland, running from Falkirk to Edinburgh, constructed to bring minerals, especially coal, to the capital. It was opened in 1822 and was initially successful, but the construction of railways, particularly the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, which opened in 1842, diminished its value as a transport medium. It fell into slow commercial decline and was closed to commercial traffic in 1933. It was officially closed in 1965. The canal is listed as three individual Scheduled monuments by Historic Scotland according to the three former counties, Midlothian (Edinburghshire), West Lothian (Linlithgowshire) and Stirlingshire, through which it flows.
It has benefited from a general revival of interest in canals and, as a result of the Millennium Link, was re-opened in 2001 and reconnected to the Forth and Clyde Canal in 2002 by the Falkirk Wheel. It is now in popular use for leisure purposes.

How to apply false eyelashes

Long lashes frame your irises and make them stand out with stunning effect. You can achieve a picture perfect look by using false eyelashes. You can even create different looks, for example the sultry look with long curving eyelashes or the innocent look with thick short lashes and much more.


Applying false eye lashes for that perfect look requires a lot of patience and a steady hand. Of course, the results are better the more you practice. Before applying false eyelashes you should know how to make them appear as natural and as attractive as possible. Keep these facts in mind:
• False eyelashes appear natural only when the individual lashes are of varying lengths.
• The longest clusters should always be positioned at the outer corner of the eye.
• Always apply individual lashes, one at a time and check the effects before going on to the next. This will help you avoid the ‘obviously made-up’ look.
Before you apply false strip eye lashes, ensure that they are trimmed to fit your lash line length correctly. Apply a very small portion of glue to the strip lash. You can apply the glue to the back of your hand or a clean, disinfected hard surface and run the lash strip across it for an even spread of the glue.
Blow on the false lash for a few seconds to get the glue to start hardening. Applying the lash at this stage keeps it from shifting position once you have placed it the way you want. Position the lash exactly over your natural eyelash line (using a tweezer) to get a seamless full eyelash that looks and feels most natural. Use the backside of your tweezer and softly run it over the strip lash to make sure that it sits tightly.
Individual lashes need trimming so that they are not unnaturally long when compared with your own lashes. Use shorter lashes towards the inner corner of your eye and leave longer ones for the opposite end for the most spectacular effects. Make sure that the gap between the real lashes and the fake ones are even so that they look most natural. At the outer end you can position a cluster of lashes or a couple of clusters for that attractive sultry look.
The method for application of these lashes is the same as strip lashes except that you take each one at a time, apply the glue and position it where your natural lashes are sparse. Always start applying individual lashes from the outer corner of the eye and work your way inwards.
You may use an eyelash curler over your lashes both natural and false and then apply your mascara to complete the look. I recommend that you don’t use a lash curler when applying false lashes because the curler may shift the applied lashes and then you it will be difficult for the glue to set again.

Fill in eyebrows

Eyebrow filling gives your overall facial makeup a completed look. Mismatched brows or overly sparse brows pull the attention away from your best features and impair your overall appearance quite significantly. Eyebrow filling is also important because it helps to showcase your eye makeup.
Whether you use pencils or powders, keep in mind that they stick to skin far more than they do to hair. For making sparse eyebrows look fuller, fill in the areas where the hair should grow for a perfect eyebrow. Before you put pencil or powder to your brow, comb it out well and examine exactly where you need to work. Always apply the strokes in the direction of hair growth for a natural look.
Use brow powder to fill in your plucked eyebrows for a natural look. You get the greatest control over color placement when you use a stiff brush for the powder. If you have thin eyebrows or you have inadvertently over plucked, use a brow pencil for the filling. Finish the filling properly so that you avoid the penciled look. Never ‘draw’ the entire brow. This makes your eyebrows the most obvious features of your face but gives them an extremely artificial appearance.
To keep your eyebrows in place, use a gel if necessary. Tinted ones are ideal if you would like to add a color to your eyebrow. Blondes should go one or two shades darker than their hair color while brunettes can opt for the same color or a couple of shades lighter.
Before the perfect fill- in, brush the brow downward and then draw a line along the upper edge to mark where the arch should peak. Now comb up and out. Add volume to the sparse areas with a sharp brow pencil. Feathering strokes with your pencil give the best effect. The final natural look is achieved with brow powder. If you have colored your brows too dark, lighten the shades with a toothbrush dipped in shadow or neutral powder.