Why You Should Own a Black Lip Gloss

You ever see a lipstick that you loved in the tube, and maybe even swatched on the back of your hand…but on your face it’s just a big super bright mess? That was a problem I had with a very beautiful lipstain by Stila. It’s a very bright fuchsia that is honestly too bright for me. To wear it I would have to lightly dab it and blend it with a darker lip liner in that same color family — which is a great solution…but there’s another one…
Black lip gloss. Yup — I said black.

WHAT THE AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH A BLACK LIP GLOSS??

Calm down, I know you’re scared…but a good black lip gloss will take a shade of lipstick that is far too bright and tone it down into something totally wearable. If it’s a red, pink, coral, purple, or even neutral — you can customize it so that it fits better for you. A good black lip gloss can transform those lipsticks that don’t quite work for you into some of your favorite and most used shades. You can also deepen colors just for fun to see what colors you come up with. It’s a total kit essential in my book!

For this post I’m using MAC’s Blackware Glimmerglass (from the Style Black collection from ’09)
I will say though, this is one of the better black glosses I’ve come across. As a matter of fact, the Glimmerglass products are gorgeous and very practical as they can subtly deepen a color or even be worn alone. They’re all beautifully sheer, and sometimes sheer is good.

It’s a shame that Glimmerglasses were limited edition and discontinued, because I think that a great black gloss is a staple in everyone’s bucket of beauty products. There are many other cosmetics companies that make the black gloss. Its just a matter of finding which is right for you.

How to Look a Hot Ass Mess

So you wanna look a hot mess? Of course you don’t. Nobody really intends to look a hot mess, but sometimes it just happens. Some of us don’t have good friends to pull us to the side and say “Hey girl, that blush is pretty but I think you should use a little less”, or “Girl your eyebrows are so close together they’re about to start dating!”

I think at some point in our lives we were guilty of a few of these things, even to this day. Nobody is perfect, makeup isn’t meant to be perfect by any means. We’re all trying to learn though, right?

9 MAKEUP NO-NO’S

• 1. The super strong, super sharp boxy eyebrows. They never look natural and they can make you look like a man. Unless you’re doing a drag look, try to avoid this. Fill in your brows according to their natural growth. Use a color close to your natural brow color and use a light hand. Remember this folks, your eyebrows will make or break your entire look. If they’re not right, the whole look is ruined.
• 2. Overdosing on a highlight color for your brow-bone area. Oh boy, do see how heavy that highlight is? I’ve seen girls actually do this and they think it’s cute but it’s not. Your brow-bone highlight should never be this frosty and out there.
• 3. Un-blended eyeshadow. I can’t even begin to tell you how many girls I’ve seen walking around with strips, literally strips of color. They don’t blend them, they don’t even attempt to. They just pile bands of color on top of each other, or they’ll wear one color alone and it just looks terrible. No matter if you’re using one color or five colors, always blend your eyeshadow.
• 4. Messy mascara. We all make mascara messes (I know I do), but clean it up as much as you can. Also, try to avoid adding 20 coats of mascara if you can.
• 5. Over-contouring. Yea, try to avoid that. Blending is key folks!
• 6. Which brings us to the super bright blush. You only need a tiny bit for everyday wear. The Raggedy Ann look just isn’t it.
• 7. Bright white eyeliner on your water-line. It doesn’t look natural. Try using a shade warm enough for your skin tone like a creamy beige, tan or wheat color
• 8. Fake moles. I mean really, are we still doing that??
• 9. Last but not least….STOP. LINING. YOUR. LIPS. WITH. BLACK. OR. BROWN. LINER!!!!!!!! This is the ugliest and most common makeup no-no I’ve seen done multiple times by numerous women. Lining your lips should never be too obvious. Blend the liner out folks! It’s not hard, just smush your lips together until you don’t see a harsh line anymore. Then apply your lip color and blend so that everything comes together.

BEAUTY BREAKDOWN ~Kim Kardashian~

Foundation
Georgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in Golden Beige

Concealer
Make Up Forever Full Cover Concealer in Beige under the eyes

Powder
Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder in Translucent applied with a velous puff

Bronzer
Smashbox Bronze Lights in SUntan Matte framing the face and in the hallows of cheeks

Blush
M.A.C. Powder Blush in Springsheen

Eye Shadow
NARS Single Eyeshadow in Cyprus on the lid; Smashbox Eye Shadow in Wlanut in the crease; M.A.C. Eye Shadow in Vanilla on the brow and lower lash line, extend out past the eye

Eye Liner
(On upper lid) Make Up Forever Eyeliner Waterproof in Black, winged out; (on the lower lashline) M.A.C. Eye Khol in Fascinating also extended out

Mascara
L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara on top and bottom lashes

Lips
NARS LipLiner Pencil in Fantasia, Dior Addict Lipcolor in VIntage Coral and Josie Maran Plumping Gloss in Optimism

Celebs WITHOUT Makeup...

As, it turns out...they really look like regular people. With the illusion stripped away from these celebs, some still look outstanding, while some are pretty clearly the product of VERY talented Make Up Artists. Here’s a few of our fav celebs without makeup: