BlushPretty: Make-up Artistry Weblog

if i were anna paquin, i'd be wearing ...

by Siobhan Beyer

First thing I have to say…CANADIAN GIRL.

Now that that’s out of the way, second thing: TRUE BLOOD. Ah, such a great show.

Anna Paquin’s character, Sookie is a southern girl living in a world with vampires (one who happens to be her boyfriend) and possess’ an odd gift of being able to read people’s thoughts. Sounds corny right? It’s not. Not only do we get to listen to unbelievably sexy southern drawls, we get to watch Sookie’s boyfriend Bill Compton (who is played by Stephen Moyer and who Anna is actually engaged to), Sam Trammell (who plays Sam, Sookie’s boss), and my favourite Ryan Kwanten (who plays Jason, Sookie’s brother) speak with those drawls. I could just sit in front of the television all day.

Not to mention the promiscuous scenes in the hit series. This show is to die for (aha, get it)?

Anna Paquin is stunning in the series, and has gained much media attention because of her role. You may know Anna Paquin from her character as Rogue in X-men, but most know her from True Blood. This Canadian star actually grew up in New Zealand and spent most of her childhood there.

Her look? In True Blood she’s usually wearing a fairly nude look since she does play a southern sweetheart. Her lips are always a pale pink colour, and her eyes usually resemble a very subtle smoky eye. Now, though shall not crave thy neighbour (as they say in True Blood), but though can definitely crave this look!

Here are 5 products to help you look like Miss. Sookie Stackhouse:

if i were christina hendricks, i'd be wearing ...

by Siobhan Beyer

Ohhh Mad Men.

How can we not love the hit AMC series?  ... And Cristina Hendricks’s character Joan Holloway, a sexy (yet serious) business woman.

If you’ve seen the show then you know this girl can play with the big boys. Taking into consideration the time frame that Mad Men is based upon, Christina plays a crucial role in taking control of her life and embracing the fact that yes, she is a woman. Her character is a true trailblazer for women in the work force. You work it girl, you work it.

And her look?

I’m not even going to get started on her clothes (I wish I could dress like that every day) but her makeup? This is definitely going to be fun.

To begin with, since this takes place in the 60’s, her makeup has to be appropriate, right? So of course, we’ve got the defined crease, the dark lid, the extremely long lashes, and my favourite, the infamous winged liner. Uber gorgeous, sleek, professional, sexy vixen, and completely do-able.

Wanna get her look? These five products can help you to look like you just stepped out of the 60’s:

1) To start off a 60’s business look you want to start off with a taupe shadow. You don’t want to bring too much attention to your lids, because the liner is the main focus. I would suggest an eye shadow from The Body Shop in “10.” It’s a satin finish and slides over your lid wonderfully. Perfect for blending, which is what you want. Available at The Body Shop or online for $12.00 CDN.

oh no she didn't: really bad eyeliner. really bad.

By Siobhan Beyer

So, for the second edition of the “Oh No She Didn’t” series, I decided to go out in public with horrible, horrible, liquid eyeliner.

Now, many of us girls sport the cat eye style with the gorgeous black wing. Depending on how steady handed you are (and how well you can flick your wrist) this can end up looking glamorous or it can end up looking … well, like I did it.

Uneven, messy, and amateur.

To show off my Lady Gaga-esque look, I went to a local pool hall in Ajax on a Friday night with some of my friends. They all happen to be guys which made the whole situation that much more entertaining. Since my eyes looked so dark and so extreme, some of my guy friends liked it at first (you know ... it looks kinda sexy from far away) until they got close enough to see how it resembled a kindergarten kid's re-creation of a dark faced super-hero.

A pool hall is a very interesting place for girls and women of all sorts. As per usual, there’s scandalously dressed women with all kinds of different makeup around.

A friend of mine that we met up with there asked me if I was deciding to go Goth and wasn’t I going to school for makeup? I guess she was wondering why my eyeliner was so thick and pre-teen looking. The local pool manager that’s always there when we go, and who knows my friends and I by name, gave me the odd sideways glance.

I’m sure if I was in downtown Toronto I would get lots of people pulling over on the side of the road to talk to me. And, I don’t mean in a good way. I definitely felt like a call girl on her night off. She wants to ditch the intense liner, but can’t seem to part ways.

covergirl clean pressed powder

by Siobhan B.

I have recently been using COVERGIRL’s Clean Pressed Powder for Sensitive Skin in Buff Beige and I’m torn in several different ways.

First, the colour looks like it would suit my skin perfectly but tit does go on a tiny little bit too dark - just a bit. Second, (as almost all the reviews I read online about the product said) the packaging is absolutely horrific. It’s very bulky and extremely difficult to open.  Last but not least, with respect to the coverage and finish of the foundation - I liked it. I don’t like it as much as the COVERGIRL Smoothers Pressed Powder but it does give my skin a natural, soft look.

On the website they say that this powder is supposed to control oil and shininess. I found that it worked just like any other powder and there wasn’t anything particularly different about this one. It has no smell, my skin didn’t get irritated, and I didn’t have any breakouts from wearing it so I would say that it delivers on the sensitive skin bit.

What I have been doing with this powder is wearing my normal foundation and powder (which is the COVERGIRL Smoothers) and then swiping this across my cheekbones and collar bone, sort of like a contour. There’s no way that this powder is THAT off from my colour, but it does tend to give my skin a little bit of a pop. I don’t, however, like to use it all over my face.

All in all, I give Clean Pressed Powder for Sensitive Skin by COVERGIRL a 6 out of 10 - mainly bumped down because of the annoying packaging!

-bp-

oh no she didn't: wearing the wrong foundation shade

Oh yes. She did.

Editor's note: It's a new column/theme for blushpretty.com and thank goodness my intern, Siobhan, was totally game. Ever wonder what people think when they see a lovely lady wearing the completely wrong shade of foundation? I'm sure you already can tell by Siobhan's photo what her task was... yes, yes she did step out with her face like that ... read on!

“Did you go tanning?”

This is one of the many responses people gave in regards to my makeup this past long weekend.

Most of us are guilty of doing this at least once: wearing foundation that does not match the rest of our body; foundation that is clearly not the right colour for us. So, this weekend I took it to a whole new level (as a joke, of course) and applied my foundation about ten shades darker than it would normally be. I have very fair, white skin so the difference between my face and neck was, let’s just say, more than a little bit noticeable.

So, to test out my new look, my boyfriend and I went to the mall on Saturday to see what people’s reactions would be. I went to some of my favourite stores and got the funniest looks I’ve had in a while. To be fair though, I did look like an oompa – loompa shopping for cute tights in the middle of H&M.

A group of high school girls giggled as I was strutting my stuff in the food court. To take this joke even further, I went to several different cosmetic counters to look for some advice. Most of the women tried to tell me nicely that I was wearing the wrong colour foundation. Many of them suggested trying out a new colour, but the majority just gave me the whole ‘you’re hopeless’ look. I feel sort of sorry for them now but it was absolutely hilarious.

People who didn’t know me just gave me weird looks, and whispered to their friends as I walked away. But I wanted to see what people who knew me would say. My boyfriend’s older brother is one of the most oblivious people I know, but right when I walked in the room he looked at me for about 15 seconds before asking “Siobhan, what did you do to your face?”.

My cousin asked me if I’d been tanning a lot lately and my mother almost fell over when I told her I had gone out in public with my orange face.

Many women gave me the once over and that was it. I assume it’s because they feel sorry for me because they know exactly what went wrong. But the men just stood there in line at Timmies with their eyes glued either to my dark face, or white neck trying to figure out what’s going on.

I guess it’s better than where they usually stare, but I could hardly stand somewhere for longer than two minutes without breaking into a giggle, or full on laugh.