Client Question regarding Dark Spots & Dry Skin

QUESTION: I realized as I am getting older my skin is starting to change. I am getting dark spots on my face and my skin seems to be more dry than usual. I add baby oil, mineral oil and aloe vera gel to my lotion. I am doing my daily skincare face wash.

ANSWER: I would recommend a full skin care regiment, if you are just washing your face and not putting moisturizer on that is not gonna help. You need to clean,tone and moisturize daily in the am and pm.

If you want I can recommend a few products

MAC has an amazing product called prep and prime skin brightening serum. It will reduce dark pigmentation over time, it gives some moisture to the skin, it also kinda puffs up the skin to help with fine lines. You would use it after your cleanser before your moisturizer before bed its a great product.

Johnson Baby Oil and Mineral oil is the worst you can use on your face.It clogs your pores.

Philosophy has great products for regimens with kits already created for ease of selection.

Also if you are not allergic to retinol, you can try that as well. It will help exfoliate dead skin and resurface new skin to help with texture, acne, and age spots.That in a treatment serum that you can use as a night routine under a cream. You must wear SPF during the day.

-Peter Thomas Roth's Anti-Aging Cleansing Gel This product has salicylic and glycolic acid in it to help exfoliate the dead skin cells and clean the pores. It also has nice antioxidants from fruits that will help protect and brighten the skin. This line infuses grape seed oil extract which is a very nice antioxidant for anti-aging

-L'Occitane's Immortelle skincare line. The Immortelle in these products is the oil from the Immortelle flower from France. If you pick this flower from it's roots, 1,000 years from now, that same flower will still look the same. The oil from this flower helps generate collagen production up to 6x more than usual.

-Ole Henriksen's Truth Cleansing Wipes are anti-aging cleansing wipes with micro-algae extract which helps retain and lock in moisture to the face. It also has Vit C Ester to help brighten the skin.

SERUMS/TREATMENTS:
-Philosophy's Miracle Worker Retinoid Pads (night only). This treatment has the HPR technology, AKA "High Performance Retinoid" which is a micro-encapsulated retinol that penetrates fasters and deeper into the skin, producing faster results with no sensitivity.

Ole Henriksen's Truth Serum Collagen Booster - This is about 10% Vitamin C Ester. Safe enough to go up to the bottom lashline. This will help brighten, hydrate and produce collagen.

Peter Thomas Roth's UnWrinkle Peel Pads - This is a chemical peel with all AHA & BHA (exfoliate and clarify) + peptides and neuropeptides (proteins that help repair fine lines & wrinkles and the receptive cells within the skin to help produce more collagen) + Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, F to help brighten, lighten, tighten with antioxidants + chamomile and green tea extracts to help calm and nourish the skin from any irritation.

These are just some of the many things you can start incorporating with your current skincare products. I would make sure that the lotion you're using for your face, and not for your body. If it is for your body, you need to find something specifically for the face because the skin is different. Hope this helps. =)

Choosing Makeup for Bridal Photography

The wedding makeup you see in the mirror is not necessarily what your pictures will show. The time of day and lighting used has a huge impact on your appearance in photographs. Here's some advice you can try if you're doing your own makeup on your big day or are working with a novice makeup artist who has yet to build a bridal portfolio.

•1
Start always with a clean face ready and prepped for makeup application. Moisturizer is a must for skin hydration, as are a lip balm over exfoliated lips and a makeup primer so your makeup lasts longer.

•2
Use softer colors for a morning wedding. A lightweight foundation is ideal, as anything too heavy is bound to be very evident in the soft light. Define your features, such as your eyebrows and eyes, so they show up beautifully in photographs, but blend well everywhere so that there are no lines of demarcation. For this time of day, natural is best.

•3
Pick makeup with a mostly matte texture for a wedding held at noon. A tiny bit of shimmer is permissible, but use it as a highlight, such as on your browbones. At this time of day, you will appear too sparkly with a lot of shimmer. Your choice for makeup shades should ideally still be in the natural range, but feel free to define a little bit more as the sun's rays are getting harsher and you want to avoid looking washed out in pictures.

•4
Add more of a vibrant selection of colors to your palette for a ceremony taking place in the late afternoon. As the sun sets, you want to make sure your face registers in photographs and a tested way to do that is by indeed looking the part of the blushing bride. Blend your makeup so the colors don't appear harsh and unnatural, but you are more than entitled to deeper tones at this time of day. A safe and pretty choice would be colors that look like the ones naturally found on your face, particularly for blush and lip color, but considerably richer.

•5
Go more glam for a nighttime wedding. Smoky eyes, shimmery blush or lips-select a feature you'd like to play up and enhance it dramatically while keeping the rest of your face more toned down. Just keep in mind you still want to pick classic colors for your makeup as opposed to trendy ones. When you happen upon your photos a decade or two from now, would you rather look dated or as beautiful as though your photographs were snapped just yesterday?

I'm kinda stuck here... WEDDING PLANNING 4 THE MAKEUP ARTIST'S SISSY! O_0

So my sister is getting married next year! I AM WAAAAAAAAAY excited for her! But I am kinda stuck on do I charge or not, if so, how much??? It just doesn't seem right to charge her, but of course we can all use a lil extra funds. I just don't want to be in the wrong here.

She has asked me to be the "Maid of Honor" which holds a lot of responsibility that I don't mind taking on for my sister. Also she has asked if I could do the bridal party's makeup and also I am also pretty much the "Wedding Planner"! = ) Keep in mind, I already have my party & event planning business - "Lynique's Land" - Where U Party, & We Plan!

Her budget has been set to $10,000.00

I am really excited about planning her wedding, doing the makeup and also honored to be her Maid of Honor. I only have 1 sister and I am the youngest of 3. We have an older brother as well.

I need suggestions and feedback from some of my readers please. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!= )

African Hair and it's Significance: Connecting to our Spirit

I thought this video was quite interesting. So I decided to share it with all of you! ENJOY! = )

How to Shape and Care for your Eyebrows

Let’s talk about brows–bushy, thin, barely there, and everything in between. This one is a bit long so grab a seat and a snack and let’s luxuriate.

Your eyebrows frame your face and believe it or not can help improve the appearance of your skin AND make you appear more youthful. Plus, what’s a fabulous eye look without equally fabulous brows? (hint: the answer is nothing).

But what’s the downside to not having beautiful brows? Let me first warn you that if you have little children in the room right now to put them to bed and brace yourself as you continue reading–yeah, it’s that scary.

The downsides of not having beautiful brows are:

*looking much older than you actually are
*facial features could appear much larger or much smaller than they actually are
*complexion can appear to have lost some of its brilliance

or look at this

OK—I was being over-dramatic, but I’m sure I made my point: your brows are everything.

Brow shapes have evolved over time and with changes in fashion. There was a time when thin was in when it came to eyebrows, but nowadays a thicker brow is the bee’s knees.

The ideal shape of your brow depends on your face shape.

As well as spacing between your eyes:
Close-set eyes: make sure your brows aren’t too short—you definitely want your tail as it helps make the eyes appear more evenly spaced
Wide-set eyes: leave more hair in the inner parts of your brow (though not as far as a unibrow) to visually “close up” some of the space in between your eyes

There are several methods in which to achieve your ideal brow shape…

Try plucking your eyebrows right after a shower. The heat from the shower helps to loosen hair follicles, making plucking easier and less painful.

Follow the guidelines in the picture for the correct way to pluck. If you want detailed “How to: Eyebrows” let us know!

Try plucking your eyebrows right after a shower. The heat from the shower helps to loosen hair follicles, making plucking easier and less painful.

Follow the guidelines in the picture for the correct way to pluck. If you want detailed “How to: Eyebrows” let us know!

The correct way of shaping your brow to your face is this, the start of your eye brow should be lined up with the inner corner of your eye. The ending point of your brow should be diagonal from the outter corner of your eye.

How To Prevent Dark Spots

Being brown isn’t easy (can I get an Amen). Though the melanin in our skin helps to protect us from many things, it also is the culprit behind those pesky brown spots that tend to show up right after you finally get a pimple to go away. *le sigh*

Can’t a girl just have beautiful, even-toned skin?

Well, yes and no. Once a dark brown spot rears its ugly head on your pretty face you should start treating it. Unfortunately if the spot gets too old, many over-the-counter treatments won’t be so effective and will need to enlist the help of a dermatologist. But even when you do catch it in time, you have to be both patient and diligent to remedy the issue.

More Clinique…

But we’re not out the gate yet. We should all know by now that we all need to wear sunscreen because although our melanin helps protect us from the sun, we are still susceptible to rare, more severe forms of skin cancer. Well, there’s another reason why you should slather it on–if you don’t, your dark spots will only get darker. If you’re concerned about how greasy and chalky sunscreens can be on brown skin, try Neutrogena Dry Touch Sunblock. You’ll get sun protection, moisture, and since its fast-absorbing, no more grease! And it’s waterproof. And it’s under $10. Score!

And if you were so inclined, there are a number of concealers out there that can cover brown spots while they fade away. Some of my favorite concealers include Becca Compact Concealer (seriously, this whole line is sooo on point with their foundations, concealers, and powders), Milani Secret Cover Concealer Stick (great coverage for a drugstore brand), Stila Perfecting Concealer (also works great for undereye circles), and Make Up For Ever Camouflage Cream (each palette comes with 5 different shades so you can custom blend your perfect shade).

More Make Up For Ever…

Be patient because unless you were born with continuously flawless skin, you’ll have to repeat this process to maintain your skin when new brown spots show up.
Good luck!

3 Photo Shoots NEXT MONTH\AUGUST & I am looking for YOU!!

M.A.D. Diva Makeup is currently looking to expand its portfolio. I am currently looking for models of ALL Ethnicities for 3 upcoming photo shoots in the month of AUGUST—2010

Here is the concept:
This shoot is mainly to build my makeup portfolio. All fashion designers, wardrobe stylist, & hair stylist are more than welcome to participate.

It will mainly be HEAD SHOTS, unless there are any designers that would like exposure for their fashion line(s). If so, we will do a few FASHION & FULL BODY shots as well.

The Photo Shoot Schedule:
8.10.10 @ 4:00 PM to shoot with SK Murray
Link to photography: “will post once I get it”

8.12.10 @ 3:00 PM to shoot with Seimone Loupe

8.22.10 @ 7:30 AM with Charrita Rainey

ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST PAY THE $25.00 REGISTRATION FEE 48 hours prior to the shoot date.

Here is what you will get:
You will receive your release form to be signed, your makeup done for the shoot by me, Lynique & a photo cd THE SAME DAY of the shoot with your selected images. If you would like any images retouched, you can get with the photographer on that for an additional fee.

To complete the booking submission form, please visit:
http://www.maddivamakeup.com/booking and be sure to specify which day you would like to shoot.

Registration Fee can be paid via www.PayPal.com by going to the "personal" tab, and then "send money"

Payment Information: MAD Diva Makeup
PayPal E-mail: BookMissLynique@gmail.com