False Eyelashes Info » Makeup Tips

Common Toxic Chemicals in Cosmetics

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:56:25 +0000

Whitening Products

Toxic Chemicals: Mercury, Arsenic, Lead, Phenol and Hydrochinone
Mercury, arsenic and lead helps whiten skin by inhibiting melanin production. Excessive amount of these heavy metals in cosmetics may impose dangers to human body. Mercury may irritates skin and harm the central nervous system which may lead to memory loss and insomnia. Lead may cause problems in nerve and digestive systems. Arsenic may lead to nervous problems and skin pigmentation.

Phenol is corrosive to skin and mucosa. Phenol may cause damages in nervous systems, kidney and liver. Prolonged contact with phenol may cause headaches, dizziness, cough, nausea, vomit and skin irritation.

Olay from P&G has once been involved in toxic Arsenic in China. But P&G insists on claiming saftey for its products.

Makeup: Mascara, Foundation, Eyeliner

Toxic Chemicals: Beryllium, Cadmium and Nickel
These chemicals can be absorbed by skin and causes minor and serious health problems. Minor health problems include headaches, vomit, diarrhea, hormonal disorder, poor memory, skin irritation and hair loss problems. Serious health problems include damages in lung, kidney and nervous systems and cancer.

Clinique Stay-true Makeup , L’oreal Bare Naturale Mascara and Cover Girl Eyeliner Pencil have been tested to contain at least 6 toxic chemicals including Beryllium, Cadmium and Nickel.

Nail Polish and Nail Polish Remover

Toxic Chemicals: Benzene, Formaldehyde, Acetone, Ethyl Acetate and Phthalic Acid Ester
Nail polish is mainly composed of solid content such as colorings and glitter and solvents. Common solvents include Benzene, Formaldehyde, Acetone, Ethyl Acetate and Phthalic Acid Ester. Bezene and Formaldehyde are carcinogenic. Phthalic Acid Ester may affect hormone balance.

Acetone and Ethyl Acetate make the nail polish volatile, hence dry quickly. But, Acetone and Ethyl Acetate are dangerous because they are highly flammable. Prolonged contact with such stinging and chocking smells may damage breathing systems.

Lipsticks

Toxic Chemicals: Plasticizing agent and Heavy Metals
Plasticizing agents or plasticizers have been proved to affect hormonal order and reproductive organs in human. Prolonged contact may toxify heart, kidney and liver. Heavy metals may causes irritation and inflammation on lips.

3 Best Makeup Books that Worth Reading

admin — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:59:20 +0000

Books always inspire people’s thinking and even creativity. I believe is a subject of art and an expression of beauty. Makeup artists, you and me need inspiration for our makeup, especially dramatic and creative makeup.

NAILED:THE HISTORY OF NAIL CULTURE AND DZINE

Nail art is under a quick development. Dzine, an artist in Chicago gives us a wonderful history recount of nail art. The pictures, artworks and creations in the book must surprise you. Dzine explores the relationship to art, music, fashion and popular culture in his book. Of course, there are creative nail art designs by Dzine.

BOB RECINE：ALCHEMY OF BEAUTY

Bob Recine is famous for the sharp image of Lady Gaga. He is a legendary hairstylist and artist. We have the chance to view lots of pictures, designs and drafts of collages and drawings. This book is definitely a combination of beauty and inspiration.

BEAUTY AND COSMETICS 1550-1950

This is a great book to understand the 400 years of makeup history in the western world. Sarah shows us the trend and history of makeup in 4 centuries. The book is not as long as ordinary history book, it has less than 100 pages. You may discover a lot secrets (dangers) about hair, skincare, makeup and perfume.

6 Toenail Art Designs with Rinestones

admin — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:17:27 +0000

Light purple and purple glitter nail polish with rhinestone at an angle. This is best to match with ethnic sandal with gold threads.

Duo color french nail with simple rhinestones is a good expression of retro style. .

Purple is one of the most popular colors in Summer. Make sure you choose a sharp purple.

How to Choose the Best Eyebrow Tweezer for Your Brows

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 02:52:25 +0000

Tweezing eyeborws (properly) is very important for me because it makes my eyes look more prominent. I love the professional tweezing service in salon, but I cannot go there very often. Sometime, I just need to tweeze the eyebrows at home.

Different Types of Tweezer

There are 3 types of ordinary tweezer, which differentiate by the shape of their ends. You may find slant tweezer, point tweezer and slant/point combination tweezer.

How to Choose the Best Tweezer

Material

Choose one that is made of stainless steel. Rusting on the tweezer may infect your hair follicles. Make sure the material is not irritating.

Length and Design

The best tweezer is around 8cm. It should be ergonomic so you can tweeze your brows comfortably.

Shape

Both slant and point tweezers are good to use at home. But, slant one is slightly better because it is easy to use and shape your brows. Point tweezer is usually use for ingrown and very fine hair. Do not choose round or flat ends because they are difficult to tweeze eyebrows accurately. You may tweeze several pieces of eyebrows at the same time which you do not wish to. But, they may be suitable for beginners because they are safer.

How to Use a Tweezer

Clamp the root of a piece of eyebrow, then hold and pull. Make sure you pull in the direction that the eyeborws grow as shown in the picture. Pull it quickly so that you experience less pain. If you are too sensitive to pain, you may apply moisturizer to your eyeborw. Tweeze after 15 minutes. Cool your eyebrow with a ice cooling pad after tweezing.

How to Store a Tweezer

If you just put your tweezer in your makeup bag, it may abraded. You should wrap the tweezer with a small soft cloth. Sharpen your tweezer when needed. Tweezerman provides free sharpening service for its customers.

Best Makeup and Foundation for Large Pores and How to Use Tips

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:54:55 +0000

Tips 1: Oil Control Primer

Apply oil control primer on face, especially areas with large pores. Oil control primer helps moisturize skin and maintain moisture and oil balance.
We love: Sofina PrimaVista
This long keep UV base from Sofina, a Japanese cosmetic brand moisturize skin instantly after application. It is light and has a good control of oil secretion. It makes the makeup stay well and keep longer.

Tips 2: Concealer

Apply concealer with your finger tips. Just dap the concealer onto your face areas with large pores. Concealer is usually thick in texture, so the warmth from your finger helps to dap in the concealer and make it natural.
We love: IPSA Creative Concealer
This is a water and sweat resistant concealer which provide high coverage. It perfectly covers many different skin imperfections such as large pores, rough skin and uneven skin tone. Just dap a really small amount is enough to cover the large pores.

Tips 3: Pore Primer

We apply pore primer in a circular motion in order to push or dap the primer into the pores and cover them. These products are usually transparent after application, so is best to use together with foundation.

The primer is very blendable and it really covers up large pores. You can see the before and after picture. But, we still suggest using it together with foundation.

Before and After:

Tips 4: Foundation

Apply foundation (liquid and powder) in a upward stroke to cover up pores. Then apply a sheer of loose powder.
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This foundation is really powerful and it provides really high coverage for all imperfections.

10 Must Have Mini Size Cosmetics and Makeup Tools for Travel

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 05:25:20 +0000

Benefit They’re Real Mascara Delux Mini

This is a mini size mascara of Benefit They’re Real Mascara. It is really handy to carry with you everywhere. It has a specially designed brush to be used both horizontally and vertically. The long-wearing jet-black formula lengthens, curls, volumizes, lifts and separates.

Tweezerman Key Essential Zip File

Nail file is definitely one essential tool to have in you travel cosmetic bag. This mini nail file has 2 sides, coarse and medium grit for shaping and smoothing nail edges. You can slide out and extend to your preferable length.

Sephora Pop Up Travel Brush

This little pop up brush comes a long with a mirror. Simply flip open the mirror and press your thumb against the bottom of the compact to pop out the brush. Sephora Pop-Up Travel Brush: Signature Black & Red

Sephora Brush Wand

This is a 4-in-1 eye brush. There are 4 detachable brushes (sponge, in this wand for applying makeup to the eye area. So, you don’t have to bring 4 different eye makeup brushes with you but just this one.

Bobbi Brown Face Touch Up Stick

This mini touch up stick is even smaller than a lipstick. It conceals your imperfections, redness and blemishes and helps keep your foundation looking fresh all day.

Lancaster Sun Beauty Care Eye and Lip Stick SPF20

This is a handy and highly protective sunstick for almost all sensitive areas on your face such as eyes, lips, ears and nose. It is a perfect sunstick for outdoor activities as it provides UV protection and is water-resistant.

DHC Oil Blotting Paper

This blotting paper is made with all-natural hemp fibers. They are wonderfully absorbent, so perfect for ridding your complexion of excess oil or performing makeup touch-ups.

Bourjois Little Round Pot Blush

This powder blush is easy to apply and blend. The color stays well with just 1 or 2 strokes. The most surprising element is the mirror and brush inside such little pot.

Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Cream

This set of sampler includes
Rosewater Hand Therapy (25g)
Lavender Ultra-Moisturising Hand Therapy (25g)
Iris Ultra-Moisturising Hand Therapy (25g)
These hand cream is enriched with conditioning shea butter and moisturising macadamia nut oil for hands that are noticeably softer with each use.

Chanel N°5 EAU DE PARFUM Purse Spray

This conveniently sized perfume spray is so elegant and handy to carry. Sometimes such spray is just too small and we use it up during the trip. So, it is so good to hear that it has sleek black refillable spray.

Dramatic and Cute Eyelash Jewelry from Natalie on Etsy

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:59:39 +0000

Looking for cute and special false eyelashes? If you are bored by the ordinary false eyelashes that you can get, you must try the eyelash jewelry from Natalie. Natalie is a girl living in Seattle. She makes beautiful and cute false eyelashes with high quality glass beads, plastic beads, feather and ultra fine wire, etc. They are lightweight, flexible, and reusable.

Eyelash jewelry is not exactly false eyelashes, but they do beauty up your eyelashes. I think we do not normally wear these eyelash jewelry, but they are perfect for costume and theme parties. They definitely make you stand out from people!

The handmade eyelashes Jewelry are more expensive compared to ordinary ones. They cost from USD10 to USD50 depending on the designs. Though they are quite expensive, they are definitely special. The only concern for me is the cleaning of eyelash jewelry.

Share with you some of my favorite designs:

Cupcake Eyelash Jewelry

The false eyelashes is crafted out of tiny beads and ultra light-weight polymer clay slices. It would be the perfect finishing touch on any dessert-themed costume.

Ace of Spades

The false eyelashes have metallic clubs embellished with miniature googly eyes and tiny playing cards.

Speckled Crystal Rainbow

This is one of the most expensive eyelash jewelry costing USD50. This amazing set of eyelash jewelry has feather in rainbow colors and turquoise and purple peacock feather filaments accent the outer corners of the lashes. There are 4 glittering 2mm Swarovski crystals on each.

Raver Flamingos

2 metallic flamingos contrasted against a background of vivid neon green feathers. The hot pink beads in the band are black-light reactive!

Tear Drops

This eyelash jewelry is to put onto your lower lash line. They look like tear drops from your eyes. It is just perfect for drama and costume.

Color Changing Nail Polish from Taiwan

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 08:13:18 +0000

Hi guys, I have just read about this color changing nail polish from Taiwan on the web. It is just fascinating. The nail polish changes its color automatically according to temperature. So, the tips of nails are in darker color (lower temperature) and the roots of nails are in lighter color (higher temperature). It creates a natural gradient nail art! But, I think it is very difficult to buy in the States. See if you can get it from your Taiwanese friends or during your trip!

Candy Colors Line

French Gradient Line

Multi-Color Gradient

How to Dry Nail Polish Quickly in 5 Ways

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:59:05 +0000

I hate waiting for my nail polish to dry because I can do nothing without my hands. It really takes more than 20 minutes to let each coat of nail polish dry completely, especially when I am doing nail art. I have tried several ways that help my nail polish dry QUICKER!

Blow Dry

Nail salons dry our nails with professional nail dryers. We can dry nail polish fast with our home blow dryer as well. The only thing to remember is to blow dry on COOL air because the nail polish dries slower under hot air.

If you do not like using your blow dry, I have used one portable nail polish dryer which you may wish to buy. It switches on automatically and dries my nail polish in 3 to 5 minutes. Its size is approximately 15cm x 10cm x 6 cm. It requires 2 AA batteries. It is very popular in Korea and Japan.

Ice Water

Low temperature facilitates the drying of nail polish. Dip your fingers into ice water for around 1 minute before applying nail polish. This also prevents nail polish from cracking.

Quick Dry Nail Polish Spray

Quick dry nail polish spray is a fast-drying top coat. Just spray onto your nails and it dries in minutes. Very convenient! I suggest OPI Rapidry Spray.

3 Coat of Sheer Nail Polish

Usually we apply 2 coats of thick nail polish and it takes up to 20 or 30 minutes to dry completely (without dryer). There is a way to make you nail dry quicker. Apply 3 coats of sheer nail polish instead of 2 thick coats.

Quick Dry Top Coat

Apply quick dry top coat. Quick dry top coat dry quicker and it protects and add shine to my nail polish. But I do find some “ripple” when I apply the top coat immediately after the last coat of polish. So, it is better to wait 60 seconds after applying your last coat of polish. I use OPI Rapidry Top Coat.

Hello Kitty Makeup from Sephora

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:17:04 +0000

Sephora Hello Kitty Collection

If you are a Hello Kitty lover, you must not miss the full line of Hello Kitty cosmetics from Sephora. I am so excited to have so different makeup products in the shape of Hello Kitty.

Hello Kitty Brush

This set of brush comes with opalescent finish and metallic silver Hello Kitty container. The set includes 5 brushes: 1 face brush, eyeshadow brush, 1 shader brush, 1 angled brush and 1 lip brush. Brushes in opalescent finish have grey tips and brushes in metallic silver container have pink tips.

Sephora Retractable Kabuki Brush – NEW

This retractable kabuki brush is suitable for applying loose powder, pressed powder, bronzers, and cheek colors. The ultra-soft, synthetic white bristles show a little extra flair with pale pink tips and the super shiny. You can choose gold or silver color.

Big Pink Bow Perfume To Go Ring

Hello Kitty Hello Pretty Palette – NEW

This is a two-tier eyeshadow palette in the iconic Hello Kitty shape. Colors include pearlized golden cream, matte chocolate brown, glittery nude, pearlized soft blue, iridescent purple, glittery charcoal black, pearlized white, and glittery soft pink.

Hello Kitty Big Pink Bow Roll-On Parfum

This is a roll-on perfume. I really love the subtle design that has no Hello Kitty.
Notes:
Frangipani, Juicy Pineapple, Gardenia, Pink Honeysuckle, TiareFlower, Coconut Water, Vanilla, Kissed Skin Accord.
Style:
Sweet. Delightful. Fun.