Blinding Highlight

Good afternoon makeup lovers! Today we are going to talk about my FAVORITE makeup item: highlight. Highlight is a light powder or cream that is placed on the high points of your face that you want to emphasize. Because the powder is lightly colored, when the light hits your face, it catches on the highlight and emphasizes where you put it. The best kind of highlight, in my opinion, is highly pigmented and shimmery, causing your face to glow with dewy perfection. Below are some of my best highlighting tips.

HIGHLIGHTING TIPS:

• Place highlight just on the highest point of your cheekbones for a simplistic look. 
• For a more dewy look, place highlight on the cheekbones, the tip of your nose, on your brow bones, and the bridge of your nose. 
• To draw emphasis to your lips, place highlight on your cupids bow.  
• Avoid placing highlight on bumpy places on your skin. Highlight will draw attention to blemishes and bumps on your skin. 
• Have fun with your highlight! Go for different colors like blue, purple, and even rainbow colored highlights. 

There are a ton of highlighting palette on the market; some are super expensive while others are fairly priced. Below I have listed my favorite highlighting pallets and why. 

SLEEK: SOLSTICE PALETTE 

The Sleek Solstice Pallete, in my opinion, is probably the best on the market. The pigment is incredible, it is only priced at $12, and beats other highlights that are priced at over $40. It includes three powder shades and one cream shade. What I really love about this highlight is that that it comes with a purple! The purple color is my favorite and it is wonderful to put in the corners of your eyes. For people with fair skin, the lightest color is perfect because it shows up on the light skin. For a more bronzy look, use the peachy color. Lastly, the cream color can be used for a great shimmer on any skin tone. This palette can be bought on Sleek's website. (Link below.) 

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS: THAT GLOW 

Anastasia Beverly Hills has many successful glow kits and has many different colors for all skin types. This kit, in particular, is my favorite because of the light yellow. (It's blinding.) I love the yellow highlight because of its pigment and the glow that it gives you on your cheekbones.  All of Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kits are $40 and up. I think this pallet is a little pricey, but there is a decent amount of product and will last over a year. This palette can be bought at Sephora. 

BECCA x JACLYN HILL: CHAMPAGNE POP PALETTE

Champagne Pop is Becca Cosmetic's signature highlighter. It is sold separately and also in multiple palettes from Becca. This palette is wonderful because it has the iconic highlighter and two other shades. The white shade is blinding and the darker color can be used for more than just a highlight. This palette compliments all skin tones and can be bought for $40. This palette can be bought at Sephora. 

All of these palettes are excellent buys! Buy them for a friend or just treat yourself! Blind everyone with your fierce highlight and continue to slay! Happy contouring! 

Photo Credit:

Sleek: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/eu/solstice-highlighting-paletteThat Glow: http://www.spencesbeautydepot.com/uploads/3/9/0/4/39041847/3446979_orig.jpg

Champagne Pop: http://www.temptalia.com/becca-champagne-glow-palette-for-holiday-2015/

Sleek Solstice Palette: http://www.sleekmakeup.com/eu/solstice-highlighting-palette

Anastasia Beverly Hills: Brows of a Goddess

Welcome back makeup lovers! Today we are going to be talking about one of the most important parts of your makeup routine: your brows! Brows are the curtains to your gorgeous eyes and should not be undermined. They come in all shapes and sizes and can do different things for your face. Not one shape is the "correct" way to do your brows but different styles can have different effects on your face. 

BROW PRO TIPS:

• The inner ends of the brows will be in line with the ‘dip’ in your nostril. 
• The arch will be in a straight line with the dip and your iris. When determining your arch, remember that a higher arch lengthens the face, and a straighter one shortens. 
• The end of your brow will be in line with the outside of your nostril. 
• After shaping your brows, use eyebrow filler or pencil to fill in gaps and outline the shape. Then take an eyebrow brush and use it to blend the color seamlessly with the brow. 

As a makeup addict, I have tried brow products from many companies but my favorite, hands down, comes from Anastasia Beverly Hills. Other than their exquisite highlighting pallets and liquid lipsticks, Anastasia Beverly Hills is known for their top notch eyebrow products. Pictured below are brows that you could achieve when purchasing their products. 

All of these brows are different shapes and on different skin colors. One of the things that make Anastasia Beverly Hills the best, in my opinion, is that it is extremely focused on having products that anyone could use; not just one section of society. 

The three main (and best) brow products Anastasia Beverly Hills sells are: The Dipbrow Pomade, The Brow Wiz, and The Brow Definer. Pomade is a creamy pigment that is applied with a brush while the Brow Wiz and Brow Definer are more like a pencil. I have used the Dipbrow Pomade and the Brow Definer before. From experience, the better buy out of the three is the Dipbrow Pomade because it comes with more product and helps define brows more sufficiently than the other two products. This product will help change the shape of your brow, fill in patchy spots, and help achieve a sharper and cleaner brow. You will need an angled brush to apply the product and it will help you have cleaner lines. Makeup companies will make specific brushes for certain products but sometimes they aren't really necessary. The Dipbrow comes in eleven different colors. Pictured below are some of the colors, the packaging, and an angled brush. 

The Dipbrow Pomade is a must have for spectacular brows. It retails for $18 and can be bought on the Sephora website or in the store itself. (Link below) If you are unsure about the color of brow you should go for, visit your local Sephora to be color matched. For more information and pictures of their products on actual people, visit @Anastasiabeverlyhills on Instagram. Happy contouring! 

Link to Sephora: http://www.sephora.com/

Link for Dipbrow Pomade: http://www.sephora.com/dipbrow-pomade-P384060

Photo Credit: @Anastasiabeverlyhills on Instagram 

Contour & More! The Intro

Hello fellow makeup lovers! Welcome to Contour & More! 

Ever feel like you're lost among all of the makeup products and trends and never know what the hell to buy? Well you are in luck because I, Michaela Stewart, have your answers. I will give you all you need to know about highlighting, contouring, and how to get eyeliner sharper than a knife. We will talk about the latest trends, upcoming/established makeup artists, and products that are just a must have. Before I start sharing my reviews, I want you to know a little about me. 

My name is Michaela Stewart and I am 19 years old from Southern Illinois. I grew up all over Illinois and Kentucky but have been in Illinois for about 10 years now. I have been playing with makeup since I can remember. It began with my grandma's makeup and then, in middle school, my own makeup. (Cringe.) You have to start somewhere, right? The first thing I wore to school was mascara and the boys said I looked "weird." When you are 12, you wear makeup to "look prettier." When you are 19+, you wear makeup because you want to, not for other people. My makeup progressed from mascara, foundation, eye shadow, and so on. Around the end of high school and the beginning of college, I began to dabble in "big girl makeup." This is when I met Sephora and my life became whole. (Sarcasm.) But seriously, if you have never been to Sephora, go right now. It's freaking amazing. The Sephora ladies took my hand and led me to the light. Aka: blinding highlight. Now I am VIP Rouge status at Sephora and am never going back to the old days of caked on foundation and raccoon eyeliner.

Now for what you came for: the reviews and tips on makeup. 

If you have been living under a rock, you might not have heard about this lovely product called liquid lipstick. If you haven't been living under a rock, then you have probably heard about it. (Liquid lipstick is the true love of my life and will continue to slay my existence.) Anyways, if you do not know what liquid lipstick is, let me tell you. Liquid lipstick is lipstick in a liquid form. (Duh.) It comes in a tube and you can apply it either with the doe foot applicator it comes with or via brush. I have tried various liquid lips across the market including: Anastasia Beverly Hills, Kat Von D, Too Faced, Kylie Cosmetics, Color Pop, etc. Out of all of these competitors, there is one in particular that beats the rest: Jeffree Star. 

If you have not heard of him, let me introduce you to Jeffree Star. 

Jeffree Star is not for the faint of heart; he is known for being provocative and causing commotion. He has been a makeup artist/musician since the MySpace days, but is now exclusive to cosmetics. Jeffree Star is his own indie cosmetics brand that was created in 2014. He is one of the first to come out with a velour liquid lipstick. After him, many followed in his footsteps. Although others have tried, they cannot beat his formula and pigment. Jeffree's formula is silky smooth and matte. (For those of you who don't know, a matte formula is meant to dry completely.) Unlike other formulas, Jeffree's is light and does not dry out your lips. It is easily buildable and the pigment is to die for. 

His lipsticks have spread like wildfire and, in my opinion, one of the best liquid lipsticks on the market. His liquid lipsticks retail for $18 a piece and can be bought on his website. (Link below.) Enjoy liquid lipstick like I have and bring your lips to life. Happy contouring! 

Photo Credit: Jeffree Star Cosmetics/ Jeffree Star Instagram 

Link to website: http://jeffreestarcosmetics.com/collections/all