Older Girl Beauty Blog

Maggie G at the Oscars

oldergirlbeauty — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:28:46 -0800

On Sunday, I was front and center for what I call "my own personal Superbowl" - the OSCARS®. I love all the granduer and glamour associated with it (*and apparently the letter "u") - and get choked up over winners to movies I had never heard before, let alone could pronounce its name. I just get "involved".

Part of the big "pregame" stuff before the show is the "Red Carpet". I love seeing what everyone is wearing & how they are made up. Now, I'm not going to get all "armchair quarterback" on you with my opinions on everyone. I just wanted to point out one actresses' look & how she was made up - and esp about one product that *immediately* caught my eye when I read about it. (*watch the bold words).

-Maggie Gyllenhaal's Oscar beauty look, by COVERGIRL celebrity makeup artist, Molly R. Stern:

"Oscar day with Maggie!!

Maggie is the muse of spring. Her Dries Van Noten gown is a swirl of bright colors that fades into white. For her makeup I wanted to bring out the color of her eyes with some depth while keeping with the brightness of her overall style.

We started off the look by refreshing the skin with Jurlique Rose Water spray. Then I prepped the skin with Shu Uemura red:juvenus vitalizing concentrate and lightly moisturized with La Mer moisturizing lotion.

For a flawless complexion I primed Maggie's skin with COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless Serum Primer (out in July!!).

Then I lightly applied some Chantecaille future skin foundation in the color 'cream' only where she needed it. Then lastly I dusted La Mer powder foundation in 'Ivory' to set the skin for the big night.

For her amber peachy cheeks I used COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless Sculpting Blush in Rich Cinnamon. And dusted some NARS 'dolce vita' blush on the apples.

For Maggie's eyes of layered copper smoke I based her eye with COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast in Bronze Fire.

Next I deepened her lid with NARS soft touch shadow pencil 'skorpios'. Then I blended into the crease Shu Uemura pressed eye shadow 'p brown 810' and lastly I lightly dusted Shu Uemura pressed eyeshadow in 'n me brown 860' all over the lid for a golden finish. For the undereye, I resmudged the
COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast under her lash line to bring out the blue of Maggie's eyes. Finally I defined her lashes by combining brown and black mascara. I painted the lashes with both colors using COVERGIRL LashBlast Length for perfectly flirty long lashes.

On Maggies lips I applied NARS 'schiap' lip color -it was the perfect shade to finish off the look. Its bright hue matches Maggie's vibrant sense of style and confidence.

The finished product was perfection. She looked like herself. Authentic, cool and beautiful. Being a part of Oscar day with a nominee is such an honor. It's like an actress' wedding day with Hollywood. I love being here. I feel so blessed."

Didja see it? Covergirl & Olay are teaming up again for another Simply Ageless product, to complement their existing Foundation, Blush, Concealer and Corrector - for a Primer! I love me some primer. In fact, I should really do a video about some different ones, soon, I think. Anyway...it's not going to be released until July, but I am hoping to get some info sometime May/June timeframe. As soon as I do, you know I'll let you know, too.

Beauty in all forms

oldergirlbeauty — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:30:39 -0800

You guys know, I don't get into "sizeism" here. I'm a big girl, I think I'm beautiful & I really try to encourage other women to appreciate how beautiful they are, too, by way of compliments and encouragement. That is why it just gets me so disappointed when I hear other people being discouraging - whether they intend to or not.

This is Gabby Sidibe. She is a beautiful and talented Oscar nominated actress that just radiates joy. She was so pleased with how she looked on Oscar night, she declared herself "fashion porn". Even famed film critic, Roger Ebert noticed it when he tweeted: "Gabby picked a great dress. But what do I know? She was so happy. Comfortable within her ownself.". I absolutely agree.

That is why I got so disappointed last night, when, while tweeting away with so many lovely people last night about all of the things going on, I recieved this message, re: Gabby:

"I do hope that she (*Gabby) loses some of the weight. She will probable (sic) never be an 8, but she is too pretty (*to be a big girl)."

This came from a (shall remain publicly nameless) beauty blogger that has been active for over 3 years & has over 4,000 twitter followers, so, they aren't a newbie or someone that people haven't discovered, yet. They are someone with a voice that can, and is, heard far and wide. I think that is what stung so badly - they actively promote beauty, yet they project an image of one that appreciates beauty in a narrowly focused vision, which is a damn shame.

While we may not always agree what is "beautiful", we all should know that we can, and do, impact other people with our opinions and actions. All it takes is encouragement to spread joy, no matter what we see. Please take the time to continue to foster that thought, instead of knocking something because it's not what *you* would like to see. Especially on this "International Women's Day".

*Edit: As of this morning, before this post, the quoted tweet was deleted. I'm going to hope that they reconsidered what they said, instead of just not wanting to deal with the possible pushback from people seeing it.

Live tweeting at the pageant

oldergirlbeauty — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:58:22 -0800

You guys - I am so lucky today. I have had the opportunity to "live tweet" the behind the scenes rehearsals, and the pageant itself, for the Mrs. Oklahoma pageant.

If you are on twitter (*and why wouldn't you be?), then follow @TheMrsOKPageant. Or if you *aren't* on twitter (*Why not?), or you just don't want to add to your follower count, you can follow along by searching the hashtag #MrsOK2010.

I do hope you will check in with what is going on here at the pageant, as these lovely ladies have been working very hard and would love the support of their platforms, too.

It's not always a powdery world

oldergirlbeauty — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:04:50 -0800

When I was growing up, the only kind of blush I ever used, or was even introduced to, were powder blushes. I have come to learn that there are so many variations besides powder now, that I want to make sure you know, too.

In this video I mention several different types of blushes/brands. They are:
Three Custom Colors Crème to Powder Blush in "Morning After" (*PR provided)
tarte Cheek Stain in "True Love" (*discontinued - boo! - GWP)
Clinique Blushwear Cream Stick in "Shy Blush" (*mine is a mini-tube GWP)
MAC Blushcreme in "Florida" (*PR provided)
Benefit "Posie Tint" (*from a gift bag)
NARS Cream Blush in "Penny Lane" (*from a giveaway)

I forgot to mention a couple of brands/products that def deserved to be shown, too. The first is the Sue Devitt Starbrights Lip & Cheek Gel in "Capella" (*got in a gift bag). This cheek gel scared me when I first saw it becaus it is *purple*. But after the lovely MUA put it on my cheeks and showed me how pretty it could be on my skintone, I was hooked.

The second one that should have been in the video is the Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Sculpting Blush. Besides being a creamy blush that goes on easily, it is also the only blush that incorporates Olay's Regenerist Serum into the mix - making it not only pretty, but good for your skin, too. (*of course, I can't help but to mention that I was lucky enough to have celebrity MUA Jake Bailey apply it on me and it looked *good*). (*warning: I may be biased).

Like I said in the video, the colors are going to look more intense in the package, but with a light touch, you make just about any color work for you. Also, don't forget what I said about layering - you can start with an alternate type of blush, finishing off the top with your powder blush for a longer lasting cheek.

Let me know if you have tried any of these, or if you have heard of another blush type that I didn't list here. I would love to hear about it.

Easy on the eyes

oldergirlbeauty — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:59:39 -0800

You guys know that I have talked about Talika on the site before. Heck, I even gave away a Beauty of Your Eyes kit in my blogiversary giveaway. Well, one of the products in that kit deserves a post/rave of its own.

Simply put, the Talika Lash Conditioning Cleanser is one the most gentle, effective eye makeup remover you will use. Of course, this is merely my opinion, but I think if you try it you could def be persuaded to think the same. It is described as "An oil-free eye make-up remover for waterproof mascara.". I don't wear waterproof mascara, so this just dissolves my regular mascara as if it wasn't there. I know it says its for mascara, but I use it for all of my eyemakeup just as easily.

This is a gel that feels cool to the touch, without any scent. It is not sticky, nor does it leave a film after use. It doesn't burn or sting my eyes, nor does it blur my vision after I use it. I put one or two pumps, depending how much eye makeup I have on, on a cotton round, fold it over to spread it out and then place it on my closed eye for about 10seconds or so. Then I wipe it away - along with my eye makeup. It may take a swipe or two to get it clean, but that is only to make sure it gets it all, not because there are layers of film to wipe away. As for lash conditioning, my eyelashes do feel softer, but I truly can't tell much of a difference with anything else. I'm just more impressed by the cleansing, which I think helps them anyway.

Don't just take my word for it, either. Meredith, from RetroDiva's Beauty Bar recently had a chance to try it and I think her exactly words were something like, "Holy Crap - that really works! I have got to get me some of that!" (*I may be paraphrasing, as there might have been a curse in there somewhere, but the sentiment is the same). If you do try it/have tried it, let me know what you thought & if you didn't like it, I would love to know why.