Before you tumble into bed after a long day- how diligent are you about removing your makeup? Don’t mumble and groan! I know, it can be the last thing you want to think about; but your health and beauty depend on it. Leaving crusty eye makeup on overnight can spur nasty infections and accelerate the aging process of your oh-so-delicate eye area. Unfortunately, a lot of beauty reviews skip the how to remove eye makeup lesson to squeeze in more of the glitz and glamor stuff. Well, I love that too. But first and foremost this site is about you taking great care of you.

So…

1. Choose a product specifically designed for removing eye makeup. Anything else can be too harsh for the fragile skin surrounding your eyes. Try Bare Bare Escentuals i.d. bareEyes - Eye Makeup Remover 4 oz. This is only available online, but it has everything you need to do the job.

2. Shake the bareEyes bottle until the product turns a frothy white color.

3. Apply to a cotton ball, close eyes (duh!) and remove any mascara, shadow or liner you’ve use. Keep going until the cotton ball shows no residue.

That’s it for how to remove eye makeup- easy as pie. A breeze. A walk in the park. Well, you get the picture. But here’s the bigger picture. Beauty reviews aren’t just about making you look good on the outside. Beauty reviews should focus on getting into the habit of taking really good care of yourself overall. Because when you pay good attention to health issues like how to remove eye makeup, you’ll look better and feel better.

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

When I come up with blog topics for you girls, I try to do two things: teach essential beauty “how to” skills, and introduce to some of the most exciting and fun new beauty tools on the market. So for this little lesson on how to use a lipstick pencil, I wanted to do more than just give out the usual basic ‘ s - of beauty reviews.

So here’s the “how to” portion of our lesson. Choose a lipstick pencil that is creamy and rich. A great one is the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil Bahama. Sharpen lipstick pencil. This will make your lines more precise and remove bacteria from the pencil. Outline lips for results. Depending on the size of your lips - you can create the - illusion of bigger or smaller lips. This can be done by drawing the line just inside or just outside of the natural curve.

I recommend applying lip balm before filling in the rest of your lip color. - - - - Color in with pencil. Follow with gloss if desired. - - Now for the innovative and neat new stuff part. I recently discovered a reverse lipstick liner that I’m absolutely in love with. It’s the DuWop Reverse Lip Liner . It’s a colorless matte pencil that plumps up the lines outside of your lips, and also prevents your lipstick pencil from bleeding out. This is an amazing alternative or compliment to lipstick pencils, and highly effective for any fine lines.

If you are scanning beauty reviews for something new to try, I highly recommend a reverse lipstick liner. - And the directions are similar to how to use a lipstick pencil. You’ll just work outside the lip line, and of course, you won’t fill it in.

Let me know what you think of these products. These beauty reviews are for you, so I want to know what product s you love and what skills help you the most.

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

Like a frame around a picture, eye liner makes your eyes stand out. Really, other than mascara, it’s my favorite tool for the eyes. But my scan of beauty reviews for how to put on eye liner brings up the constant question of whether or not it’s OK to use eyeliner on the inner part of your lower lash line. You know- the part that is right next to your eyeball.

Well, I’ve always advised against it, due to the risk of infection. But there are some smoky eye looks that use this method. And a lot of the responses to beauty reviews claim that you won’t get an infection unless you’re sharing your makeup with someone who’ve infected.

Here’s my thinking. Even if you’re not worried about the risk of infection- my how to put on eye liner advice is to use eye liner below the lower lash line. Using it inside/above will only make eyes appear smaller. And if you are one of the few who truly desire that effect, there are other ways to achieve it. (Line the whole perimeter of your eye, for instance.)

Either way- here are the basic steps for how to put on eye liner.

1. Choose a versatile eye liner that will allow you to achieve both fine thin lines, and fatter smudgy ones. My current fave is Bare Escentuals Liner Shadow Compact Quad IV. It comes with four shades and a brush.
2. Hold your upper lid taut with your non-dominant hand, and use your writing hand to start at the inner corner of your eye and work outward. To really make your eyes appear larger you can focus on the outer edges by starting liner in the middle and working out from there.
3. Use a similar approach on the lower lash line. If using a pencil instead of a brush, try smudging staring through those lashes.

Remember to let liquid eyeliner dry before opening your eyes. And play around to figure out which type of liner you like best.

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com- a positive place for women and girls

Hi all

As many of you know I love to travel and I love a good deal. Whenever I can I find great deals on four and five star resorts or timeshares I go for it and let all of my friends know, as well. I don’t believe in paying retail for fabulous vacations and I don’t think that you should have to either.

In my quest to find a fantastic deal for my next vacation, I stumbled upon a company that specializes in four and five star luxury vacation packages. They offer a membership package that guarantees that you can stay in any of their four and five star resorts worldwide  for a price starting at $298 for an entire 8 days and 7 nights. And the best part is there are no black out dates! Also they guarantee that you will never pay more than $799 for an entire week at any of their luxury resorts, after you become a member. They can even arrange luxury cruises and airfare for you, as well.

Needless to say I started investigating and even called up one of their members to see if it lived up to the hype. From everything that I have heard and seen their members couldn’t be happier. Plus their customer support is absolutely amazing. Many questions that I asked were answered within ten minutes.

I was so blown away that I joined straight away and intend to book my first vacation in the next couple of weeks.  I just have to sift through my 5000 choices, pick one of the many locations that I have been dying to go to and book it. I am almost giddy with excitement.

Anyway I thought I would pass the information on to you. Here is the site:

http://www.globalresortsnetwork.com/luxurytravelnow

Also feel free to email me at Stockoptions101@yahoo.com if you have any questions. I may not have all the answers but I know who to call to get them for you.

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

P.S. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we all bumped into each other on one of these luxury vacation trips?

Let’s get one thing out of the way. There is more than one lipstick color out there that will look great on you!

One of the reasons that I think we women get confused about how to pick lipstick that suits your hair and complexion is that we want beauty reviews to tell us which is “the one.” Well there are definitely shades that will compliment your colors better than others, but please keep in mind that your options are wide open.

Still, you’ve got to know where to begin, right? Well, let’s start by knowing your basic skin tone. Is it light, dark or medium? Then think about the colors you usually like to use. Some of us love bright reds, while other know it washes them out. This is where you hear beauty reviews talk about warm and cool skin tones. Would you classify your skin color as having pink or yellow undertones? If it’s pink, you’ll go for cool colors. Yellow- warm.

What about your hair? Well, it’s all a package deal. One of my favorite tricks is to smear a bit of the lipstick on my finger, and just hold it up to my face. Then go with your gut reaction. But I know –you want specifics.

If you are darker skinned with warm colors try the Dior Addict Lipstick Spicy Red 647. Cool- try NARS Lipstick Afghan Red, which is a brighter tone. Medium warms might try Bare Escentuals Lipstick Cat’s Meow. Medium cools can give NARS Lipstick Catfight a go. And for light skin? I like two other NARS offerings: NARS Lipstick Blonde Venus for warm tones, and NARS Lipstick Gipsy for cool.

Just keep in mind- this is sooo personal. Beauty reviews on how to pick lipstick that suits your hair and complexion are just a starting point for you to see what suits you bests.

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

Caterina’s Beauty and Dating podcast

Give it a listen! How to Pick Lipstick

Enjoy! — Caterina Christakos

If you’re wondering how to do cool eye makeup, here’s your first clue. Jewel tones are the traditional recommendation for girls with cooler skin tones. If you’ve decided this is you, then tones like those in the Laura Geller Color Dots are what you’re after. Jade and Lapis tones play well against cooler skin tones.

Why? Well, cooler skin colors typically have blue or pink undertones. You will look better in silver jewelry than gold. (Great tests if you are unsure of your skin tone). That’s because the jewel tones compliment those undertones, while other colors seem to wash them out. There are a thousand beauty reviews that recommend certain colors for certain skin tones. But they all agree that a key to how to do cool eye makeup is by including these jewel colors in the makeup palette.

You’ll still need to take your eye and hair color into account when choosing colors that work for you. But here’s a start for how to do cool eye makeup.

1. Apply a light color to the overall lid.
2. Then brush BECCA Jewel Dust Xantho (bronze gold) under the crease line.
3. Follow-up with BECCA Jewel Dust Feeorin (a vibrant emerald green) on the outer part of the eyelid.
4. Blend with your brush.

For most girls with cooler skin tones these colors will make your eyes pop! There’s a reason that all the beauty reviews focus on jewel tones for how to do cool eye makeup. It works.

Sincerely,
Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

Caterina’s Beauty and Dating podcast

Give it a listen! How to Apply Cool Eye Makeup

Enjoy! — Caterina Christakos

Phew! Let me take a big breath after that title. But it needs to be a long title, because it hits on an important topic. A lot of girls are a bit overwhelmed by beauty reviews on eye makeup how to apply it and choose it. If you’re getting confused by the beauty reviews you are reading, then my advice is to stop reading. Beauty reviews should be simple and straight-forward. Not complicated doctoral theses on the chemical makeup of makeup!

That’s why I try to keep my beauty reviews short, sweet and on a single topic. Maybe two if they are related. Why? I really enjoy playing with makeup and learning about skincare. I think it should be fun. So here is my one quick tip on eye makeup how to apply it.

Dark eye shadow minimizes the areas you apply it to. Lighter eye shadow colors bring attention to those areas. So if you want to make your eyes look closer together put your brighter eye shadow shade in the outer corner. If you want them to appear further apart try you brighter shade in the inner part of the eyelids. Try the Too Faced Eye Shadow Duo for some stunning color combinations like Too Faced Eyeshadow Duo Cocoa Lilly with chocolate brown and lilac rose.

This may sound like a simple technique on eye makeup how to apply it, but in my experience, the simplest beauty reviews are the most effective.

Hi ladies! You know I get a ton of requests for beauty reviews on really specific areas of need. For instance, how to put on eye makeup for brown eyes is a biggie! But don’t worry if you’ve got baby blues or glam greens, the basics of these beauty reviews will apply to you too. And I’ll get to your specific issue eventually. Promise!

The difference between how to put on eye makeup for brown eyes versus other eye colors simply comes down to choosing complimentary colors. The techniques will be the same. But pay attention to the part where I said complimentary colors. You don’t need to match exactly (please don’t!) or go to the opposite side of the color wheel. A tone that is similar to your eye color can go along way to act as a background for letting your brown eyes shine.

To make life easy you might try one of the Summer Eye Shadow Trios by Stila. I really like the Stila Summer Eyeshadow Trio Mazatlan and the Stila Summer Eyeshadow Trio Acapulco color combinations for brown eyes. (Besides, it sounds like taking an exotic cruise.) Some colors that go well with brown eyes are copper, bronze, soft champagne and khaki green. For a bit more pop you can add a brighter pink or more vibrant green. Your specific skin tone matters, but these are pretty safe places to start your search.

Keep in mind that any beauty reviews you read, whether for something as specific as how to put on eye makeup for brown eyes, or as general as choosing lipstick, should be a starting point. As you get more comfortable with the basics, you get to branch out on your own. And that’s where your creativity and individual nature really get to shine!

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

There are a million beauty reviews on how to use smokey eye makeup, and some are so complex it’s ridiculous. Yes, there is a technique to be learned, but if you focus on the basics, how to use smokey eye makeup actually makes a lot of sense. Just think about the name. The whole focus of a “smokey eye” look is to eliminate harsh lines and create a dreamy, yet dramatic effect. The darker colors in smokey eye makeup immediately create drama, while the blending creates sultry warmth.

If you’re new to the look try using a premix of colors like the Pop Beauty Eye Class - Smokey Eyes Smokey Eyes. Then this is what to do.

1. Use a good brush and apply a heavy amount of a light color to the entire lid.
2. Use either a creamy black liner, I like the Stila Kajal Eye Liner Onyx, or a black shadow and a good eyeliner brush to line the upper and lower lash lines from outer to inner.
3. Use a smudge brush on the lower portion to extend and smooth the liner in inward and downward strokes.
4. Repeat on the upper lid, but be careful no to create streaks. Do this by adjusting the direction of your brush.
5. Choose a very dark or black tone for your upper eyelid. With the brush apply an ample amount below your crease line. It can follow the natural shape of your brow. It will look dark and messy at this point and that’s fine.
6. Finally, holding your brush so it’s straight up and down, smudge the color to completely fill in that portion of your lid. Add a slightly lighter color above the crease line. Blend both until no harsh lines are apparent.
7. Complete the look with a lot of dark mascara.

Yes, I could get a lot more complicated, but you don’t need to. How to use smokey eye makeup is really a lesson in blending more than anything. Think of it as drama without the fuss!

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos - founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls

One of the most frequent questions I get on makeup is how to match eye shadow colors. This is really confusing for a lot of girls. Should you try to match your clothes, your eyes, the season, your skin tone? My scan of the beauty reviews out there makes the reason for all the confusion clear. Most beauty reviews give you the writer’s opinion, but not the reasons behind it. And for any free-thinking woman, you want to know why you’re doing what you’re doing!

The Makeup How to Match Eye Shadow Tutorial

In my humble, but experienced, opinion I always advise that you work on complimenting your eye color, and then give consideration to your skin tone. Here’s why. Your eyes are set immediately against your face, not your shoes, your handbag or that really cute dress you just bought. Trying to pair your eye shadow with clothing is like choosing a picture frame to compliment your furniture, rather than the picture and the wall it is set against.

Also, a key to makeup how to match eye shadow comes straight from that color wheel your elementary art teacher showed you. Remember how it’s broken into the primary and secondary colors, and gradually moves from one to another. Most beauty reviews don’t bother to explain that this is how you learn which colors compliment your eye color. Take a look at a color wheel, and then try to choose colors close to your eye color, but different enough to make an impact. You wouldn’t frame a mostly green picture in the same green color frame. It would get lost. Most likely you’d pick a complimentary color a few tones away off.

OK- brown isn’t actually on the color wheel; it’s a combination of all the colors. Still the best colors for brown eyes tend to be coppers, beiges, and champagnes, all tones of brown. Get it? If you’re still unsure try a makeup how to match eye shadow kit like the Pop Beauty Eye Class - Blue Eyes Blue Eyes. Let them do the initial work for you. Eventually you’ll learn enough about complimentary colors to writer you own beauty reviews!

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos- founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls