Life with Dylan

Category: makeup

  • A beauty product that is good for my skin and even better for the environment

    Beauty doesn’t have to cost a lot, nor does it have to be in fancy packaging. In fact, beauty can actually be good for the environment, good for the animals, and good for your skin.

    I have been searching for a new foundation and have tried just about every organic, all natural makeup line there is without spending a fortune. Although many of these products looked good on the outside, once they came in contact with my skin I didn’t like it. Either the color was always wrong or the makeup caused my skin to breakout.

    Being a huge fan of LUSH Cosmetics and their wonderful bath and body products, I spent some time looking over the other products available. Well, what do you know – they make a foundation!

    Not just any foundation, but a colour supplement that works three ways. Dab on as a concealer, blend with moisturizer for a tinted glow, or use alone as a full coverage foundation. Last weekend I went over to LUSH Cosmetics at Fashion Island to check is out. The staff there is so friendly and always spends time answering all my questions. I never feel as though I’m rushed – like they need to move on to the next person.

    I was matched for my color and happily bought a jar of Colour Supplements in Dark Yellow (along with some other things). The price is reasonable, the packaging is recycled, it is mineral-oil free, and best of all … no animal testing or animal products of any kind.

    Infused with fresh rose petals to calm redness and a natural sunscreen, titanium dioxide, this is hands down one of the best foundations I have used in a very long time.

    I have worn it both alone and mixed with my moisturizer for 3 days now. My skin tone is even, no redness, no pigmentation, and I don’t even feel like I have makeup on. Kudos to LUSH Cosmetics for offering a beauty product that is good for my skin and even better for the environment.

    Don’t be fooled by fancy packaging and big name ingredients. Keep it simple. Keep it natural.

  • Sometimes dreams do come true

    Today I want to do something a little different. I want to thank all of my friends who have supported me and my new blog – Beautyisms.
    I really do love writing about beauty and sharing tips, sales, new products and the ideology of living a life filled with beauty.

    One person who stands out and deserves some individual recognition is Jill. Many of you know her from her blog sandy toes & popsicles – but did you know that she is also an amazing designer? I had a vision for Beautyisms and with just a few bits of information, Jill was able to make my idea a reality.

    She created some wonderful logos and designs for me to use. In one of her emails she actually said “Are you that easy? There’s nothing you want changed?” Well … no … because she nailed it on the first round of design choices. Jill took my whimsy, flirty style … added a touch of my love for Hawaii and plumerias … and there you have it.

    Thanks again Jill for bringing my vision of what Beautyisms should be to life.

    If you need invitations or logos or anything designed, I highly recommend contacting Jill Parkin. Check out her site www.jillparkindesigns.com – because first impressions say it all.

  • Beautyisms – an ideology

    Have you ever had an idea that rolls around in your head with all the other marbles, but somehow gets lost among the daily to-do lists?

    Well, I did – and last week that little marble finally made its way to the top of the to-do list. I’ve been so consumed with transforming this idea from a marble rolling around in my head to something actual, that I’ve been ignoring this blog a bit. So be forewarned, there will be a heap of blog posts coming soon. 🙂

    However, in the meantime, I would love for you to check out what my little marble turned into. Many of you know that I have a deep love for beauty, makeup, skincare, and anything remotely related. After ending Shel Cosmetics, I started writing beauty articles for OC Moms – eventually adding Beautiful You Mondays to this blog so that I could get my weekly beauty fix.

    Well, it just wasn’t enough.

    Beautyisms is my new blog that will be strictly beauty. Anything and everything you ever wanted to know about makeup, product reviews, skincare, and even some daily beauty deals.

    Life with Dylan will continue, but as a lifestyle blog.

    The beauty stuff will be over at Beautyisms. Check it out, with my soft-launch (as I still have work to do on the blog) and follow @beautyisms  – the ideology of beauty has just begun.

  • Beautiful You Mondays – Golden Globe Awards

    Award season has started and the internet is filled with who wore what and who had the best makeup. Twitter was crazy last night and the blogs were posting in real-time. Today the fashion sites and newspapers are posting pictures and opinions.

    Next week the magazine covers will be adorned with Golden Globe beauties, along with the famous best dressed and hit and miss lists.

    My favorite had to be Nicole Kidman. She looked amazing. Showing off her slender, yet hourglass frame in a Versace gown with just the right color of beading to compliment her hair color. Nicole’s makeup was just the right amount and her skin looked beautiful as always.

    While I love watching for the dresses, the hair, the makeup, the jewelry, and who showed up with who – I noticed something very different this year.

    The shine. The wrinkles. The heavy makeup on some. And the natural beauty on others.

    Funny, because most of the pictures I am seeing today don’t have these flaws. The talk of edited photos has been quite popular lately, including this “fake commercial” (made to look real) for Fotoshop by Adobe. This is just another example of how women can’t always believe what we see in the magazines or on the internet.

    I enjoyed seeing some of the older actresses actually look their age – Meryl Streep never tries to hide her age. While Jessica Lange looks like a plastic catastrophe. I love her as an actress, but I wish she would have not done so much to her face.

    The one woman who stood out for me, more than just her face, was Angelina Jolie. Aside from her thin frame and gorgeous dress, her face is what seemed to look different in every picture I saw. Definitely not the same face I saw on my television. In some pictures her skin looks very pale and white, almost like a geisha. In  others she looks tan and flawless. On the television she looks shiny (even oily) and sick with sunken eyes and dark circles covered by layers of makeup.

    Don’t get me wrong – I think Angelina is a beautiful woman and I believe what she does for children and the United Nations is wonderful. I just don’t like when women look up to these people and aspire to look like them when what we are seeing in the magazines is not always what we would see in real life.

  • Follow your Passion

    Have you ever done something for so long that you just burn out?
    The thought of doing something one more time is just unbearable?
    Well, that was me 6 months ago. After doing bridal makeup for close to 12 years, I had to just walk away. I couldn’t imagine packing my kit one more time, or cleaning my brushes, or dealing with one more small cramped hotel room with poor lighting.

    It felt great – no wonderful – to have my weekends back, but something has been missing. I started getting depressed and unmotivated to style my hair (the ponytail became my new best friend) and only wore makeup when I had to. This was and is not me.

    I love makeup. Makeup is my passion.

    I recently spent 2 whole weeks home with my son for the holidays and spent more time than I care to admit on the computer. Tweeting. Pinning. Googling. Writing. You name it and I did it. However, one thing I realized a few days ago is that all of this activity seemed to be focused around one thing – Beauty.

    I was drawn to it. Makeup, skincare, beauty articles, and fashion magazines seemed to fill my days and nights. Is this just a coincidence? No. It’s my passion – and I’m good at it. Beauty is what I know. I can pick apart a photo in a magazine and tell you what is real and what is airbrushed. I can take that photo and recreate the look. I can tell you which ingredients are good for your skin and which ones you should stay away from.

    So I started asking myself why did I leave? Why did I give up on my passion?

    The answer was really quite simple. I just needed a break.
    Rather than quit, I should have scaled back. Less weddings and more photo shoots. More variety.

    Sometimes it’s good to take a break, but even better to know you still have a passion for something and just needed some time away to realize it. Michelle Fryer, Makeup Artist never left – I was just hiding out for a little bit – but now I’m back and ready to make 2012 amazing. One beauty article and one face at a time.

    The Facebook fan page is back, Beautyisms is new and the website will be getting a makeover soon. Now it’s time to hit the beauty stores and start revamping my kit!

  • Beautiful You Mondays – Makeup Brush Caddy

    I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for a new way to organize and make my life less chaotic. Spending over a decade of my life as a makeup artist, I have acquired quite a bit of makeup and makeup brushes. I clean things out on a regular basis, but I know there is always something new and better waiting to be discovered.

    Over the holiday I tried getting caught up on my magazines – I’m up to November now – just shows you how far behind I was. Anyway, I found this great DIY project for organizing your makeup brushes while reading In Style magazine. How cool is this? No more fumbling through the makeup bag or plastic cup looking for the brush you want. Why didn’t I think of this?

    I did a little searching and found an etsy store that has something very similar (wonder if they got the idea from the magazine) – Address the Mess sells these already made ($25) for those that aren’t so crafty or handy with a drill. I think this would make a great weekend project.

    Find a friend who has a drill and make a trip to the art store or Home Depot … before you know it, you will have all your makeup brushes standing at attention and ready to work their magic.

    How do you store your makeup brushes? Share your organizing ideas in the comments below.

  • The Dark Side of Halloween

    This Halloween was one of the best we have had. We started celebrating in early October by decorating the house and getting in the ghostly mood. Then it was time to start making the rounds … visiting the Irvine Railroad Pumpkin Patch, previewing OC Zoo-tacular, attending the ENC Fall Faire, and finally some Brick-or-Treat fun at LEGOLAND California! Whew, I’m exhausted just writing all of the things we did.

    But it didn’t stop there. We still had a pumpkin to carve and some trick-or-treating to do!

    Pumpkin carving has always been something I look forward to doing. It’s another outlet for my creativity – this year, I let Dylan be the creative one. I know, so selfless of me huh?

    He chose a simple design that he thought would be just scary enough for the neighborhood. Evil eyes, no nose, and a monsterish looking mouth filled with sharp teeth.

    The initial cut is always exciting because you never know what you will find inside. Will it be filled with seeds and “guts” that will take major elbow grease to get out, or will it be a hollow pumpkin that only takes a few scrapes to clean out? Dylan’s pumpkin was just about in the middle this year and it didn’t take too long before we started carving away.

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