I hope everyone enjoyed their Holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas. I have been taking a little break from the blog to enjoy these two weeks that my son has out of school. We had such a blessed Christmas. We have been having a lot of fun staying at home and building forts, baking cookies, and celebrating the birth of Jesus. He has really enjoyed being home but I hope he will be excited to go back to school.

 

 

Here is a glimpse of our Christmas!

 

 

My girly tree!

Cupcakes

Hello little birdy

I love polka dots

 

 

 

The little man is also enjoying all his presents. He got way too many. He is the only grandchild so he is spoiled! He is really enjoying his Furby! I wasn't too excited about him getting one because I was worried I was going to have to be the one to feed him and take care of him! (Have you all seen these things, they have a mind of their own! It's crazy!)

I was very excited to receive my gift from my boyfriend but I will post on that later ;)

 

Little Man looking at all of his presents 

 

Pirate Ship form Grandad

He loves Twilight, even though he has never seen it!

The Lorax

Santa ate all his cookies and drank all his milk

Earlier in December, our Elf Elvin brought back a letter from Santa

 

 It was nice to spend time with our families and it was a very relaxing day!

Family Tree

 

Santa Came!

 

I love displaying my vintage ornaments

 

Moms present that I wrapped for our gift wrapping competition

 

I made the blue bow by hand and it's huge.

 I sat it beside a normal sized bow just so you could see!

Our Christmas PJ's

(Little man in stripes, me in green with Santa, and my man in HOHOHO's pants)

 

We are now looking forward to the New Year and taking a quick trip to Tennessee to see my dad and grandmother. I will be back in full force soon with the blog/reviews/tutorials/and BIG NEWS! But right now I am just enjoying this time off with my family. I hope you are too!

From my family to yours Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

-A

Hey Everyone

 

Sorry I haven't been posting as much I am busy getting ready for Christmas! Hope your Holidays are going well. 

 

I recently got a few new brushes which I am excited to share with you soon! There was only one problem....

I didn't have any place to put them. I didn't want to just use any old thing (although some nice vintage canisters would be nice but since it was 11:00 at night I didn't think I'd be going out to the Peddlers Mall. And I'm Miss Impatient and I wanted my new brushes nicely displayed on my vanity ASAP! So here is what I did.....I used old candle jars. I sure am glad I saved them!

 

The particular candle jars I used (and are best for this particular craft) are the ones from Bath & Body Works. I just love their candles! The jars are nice and simple and the perfect height for my brushes.

 

 

Before

 

If you don't want to use them for brushes and are going to repurpose them to store things in keep the lids! They are great lids!

 

Why do I love this?

1. Because I am using something I already have
2. Because they are the perfect size
3. Because I don't have throw away the great candle wax (I use that too)
4. They can be used for SO many things!
5. It's super easy!


Here is what you'll need:

Old Candle Jar
Scissors
Baking Soda (optional but well worth it)
Scrubbing pad or brush
Plastic snack bag

 

I don't have any pictures of the actual process because this post was an after thought, I'm sorry! But Ill be descriptive.

 

1. Have a seat, take a load off! Take your scissors and cut at the wax. Just keep cutting till all the wax is pretty much removed from the jar. I started cutting the wax so it looked like slices of pie and then cut them vertically and horizontally so I got nice little chunks.
2. The left over wick should pop right out. I just used my scissors to pry them loose.
3. Once you have most of the wax loose just dump it in a little snack size zip lock bag.
4.  Remove the candle label from the jar and stick it on the bag so you know what scent it is. (These particular labels were super easy to remove)
5. Start washing out the wax.
6. Add some baking soda and start scrubbing the wax residue off the jar. The baking soda helps break down the residue and stickiness. This is also a good time to remove the sticker from the bottom too...it's a little tougher than the outside label.
7.  Keep scrubbing till you feel like it's clean enough
8.  Dry with a paper towel

After

(the jar on the left is a candle jar too, it was a Halloween candle

and I liked the orange so I kept it.)

 

I wasn't too worried about them being spotless and shiny because they are going to be around makeup all the time but if you want them shiny and sparkling I would clean with some Windex too!

 

Save the leftover wax in the bags and use them for all sorts of things:

 

• Poke little holes in the bag and place in closets or drawers
• Poke little holes and place under the seat of your car (although if it got too hot in the car it might melt?)
• Or do what I did and place them in a wax burner (mine is from Scentsy and it doesn't require a candle)

 

 

Use the jars for whatever you would like. I think they would be great for:

• q-tip
• cotton balls
• paper clips
• bobby pins
• tiny collectibles
• brushes
• lipliner/eyeliner

Do you have any other ideas for what they would be great uses for?

 Share it with us!

So that's it. It's that simple!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you liked it! If so, share it, pin it, like it, but most of all TRY IT!

Check out my other sites too!

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amelia-Evans-Makeup-Artist/217603118271715?ref=hl

 &

 

http://instagram.com/aevansmakeupartist/

 

Thanks again and have a Beautiful Day!

 

-A

 

 

 CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE

Time for some crafts!

We all wear many hats and this is the place where I like to hang those hats. Since Christmas is right around the corner I decided to once again pick up a hobby of mine. (I have a lot more time to now that I am staying at home.) I love to make wreathes! I love to buy wreaths! Thanks to Pinterest I have started making more than I buy! I was at good ol Target the other day and I saw this wreath for sale. I thought it was super cute. It's $20.00 which isn't horrible but when you look at it's just a bunch of yarn wrapped around a wreath form. I thought to myself

 "self-you have all of these materials at home. Go make it girl!"

 

And that's exactly what I did. Wanna know how...so you can make this cute wreath too? It doesn't take long at all and is great to sit in front of the TV and watch your favorite show while doing it. (I happened to be watching "Bill and Gulianna" on the Style Network. It was the episode where their son is born. Cry fest!!!! I set in tears as I made my wreath. Good tears though. Birth is such a beautiful thing. Anyway....on to  super easy cute crafting!

Supplies:

1 foam wreath form
Scissors
Yarn (about 4-5 colors)
Hot Glue Gun
1 Piece of Felt

I got my wreath form from the dollar bin at Target 1/2 off for a grand total of....

50 CENTS!-Gotta love that

Normally when I am making a light weight wreath that uses a foam form I just go to Home Depot and pick up some plumbing foam insulation things. (I don't know the technical term) They are just long pieces of foam to go around pipes and I cut the length I want and duck tape it together to make a circle. So much cheaper!!!

First you need to decide what colors you want to stand out the most. I used 5 Colors but you could really use as little or as much as you want. The colors you want to be the most vibrant will be applied last. I wanted the green and red to stand out because it is a Christmas wreath.

I wrapped the white first then pink, blue, green, and finally red.

Once you are finished if you feel like you need a little boost of one of the first colors you can always cut a good size piece of yarn and wrap it around but make sure its spaced apart. I would hold the wreath far back from me to see where the balance of colors was needed.

 

 

 

 

How easy is that!!!!
Think of all of possibilities and all the different colors you could use!

The Bow:

I made my bow out of felt. I wanted to keep with the yarn feel and I didn't feel like a velvet bow or store bought Christmas bow would look as "crafty". Feel free to use whatever bow you would like! This bow is sooooo simple to make!

I cut the felt into 5 strips. 4 of them are the same width and you can make the 5th one slightly skinner if you want. 

 

(You will need 5 strips even though I only took a picture of 4)

 

Take 2 of the strips and fold them in half to make the loops of the bow.

 I just stapled mine together

 

Take the thinner strip and wrap it around the two loops you made.

 

You can hot glue the felt together but for the sake of this tutorial and the fact that I was on my bed with my 5 year old watching Disney I didn't have my glue gun plugged in so I just pinned it which worked well too!

 

The other two stripes I pinned to the back and then I pinned it to my wreath! Super easy and fast!

 

You could make different sizes and different colors. It was really simple and easy to make and was a lot cheaper than the one at Target!

 

 

 

Well that's all for today! I hope you all like the "CRAFT" addition of the blog. If you all try this out let me know. I'd love to hear how it goes and see your wreaths!

 

Share the love with your crafty friends and pin this to Pinterest! You can also check out my other sites!

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amelia-Evans-Makeup-Artist/217603118271715?ref=hl

 

&

 

http://instagram.com/aevansmakeupartist/

 

 

Thanks and have a Beautiful Day!

-A

Hello Everyone!

So I realize it has been a WEEK since my last blog and I am so sorry for that! Along with trying to prepare for Christmas I have also been teaching myself how to edit videos so I can FINALLY do video tutorials. And GUESS WHAT...

I finally uploaded one to YOUTUBE!

Get the champagne out! (jk)

I have a lot of emotions going on right now. Mostly embarrassment and excitement. Embarrassment because I had to use the camera on my phone but I am excited that I finally edited the video and uploaded it to YouTube.

 

It took me a while to get the hang of the video editing program but I think I have the basics down.

Please be patient if it takes me a while to film, edit, upload, and post to the blog. I told you all I am not good at this kind of stuff! :) In time, I will get better. For now....here is my first video!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and watching! Make sure to "Like and Subscribe" to the YouTube Channel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9lHy09UM0U
 

Also, as always check out my other sites:

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amelia-Evans-Makeup-Artist/217603118271715?ref=hl

 

www.instagram.com/aevansmakeupartist

 

 

Thank you all SOOOO much! Lots of hug to you all!

and as always

 

 

 

 

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

 

-A

I’m having a BLAST pulling out makeup that I haven’t used in a while and rediscovering its beauty all while making a tutorial for you all.

 

I appreciate the continued support and I hope you all have been enjoying all the blog has to offer!

 

 

 

I did this look really quickly so I will go ahead and say upfront, there is no lipstick in the final look and there are no directions on me applying my brows. I will be doing a separate blog about how to apply eyebrows! The lipstick was applied in the parking lot (I wore this look to a meeting) and I used Oak lipliner from MAC and my Nivea Milk & Honey Lip Balm (all of which can be found on 'my favorite things' part 2 blog post)

 

 

This starts out the same way the Smokey Eye Tutorial did. We are going to use that for our basic outline and as I said in my last blog, the smokey eye has changed over the years and has been added to. This is one of those looks I was referring to. We will start out the same way but we will be using 2 more shadows for a total of 5. We are going to lighten the inner corner of the lid and deepen the outer corner. Also we will have 2 sections to our crease this time. I have a picture to illustrate.

 

What you will need/What I used

 

• 1-2 Eyeliners. 1 needs to be black and if you choose to use another one it needs to be a dark color that compliments your lid shadow. I used Tealo from MAC. It is a hunter green. I chose this because I wanted to emphasize the green in my lid shadow.

• 5 shadow colors- 1 for the entire lid, 1 for the entire crease, 1 for the outer corner of the lid and crease, 1 for your brow highlight, and 1 for your upper crease (I’ll explain that later)

• Mascara

• 2 different colors of concealer one lighter than your skin and one darker than your skin- if you want to contour using this method

• Your foundation/powder/bronzer/and blush

• Brushes and a SMILE!

Warning- below you will see me with NO BROWS! You have been warned :)

 

1. With a clean, primed eye (just use some foundation and powder to prime your eye) apply your eyeliner. Start with your normal line and continue to thicken the line until almost your whole lid is covered. Just like in the Smokin EyesTutorial. I didn't use black this time I used a hunter green because I wanted to pull more green from my eyeshadow.

 

 

2. Thin it out all across the lid as your base. Make sure to have a good shape and it's not blotchy

 

 

3. Apply your first shadow. I used a pigment this time which has a huge color payoff, it's more intense and has a lot of shimmer. (Mine-MAC Steel Blue) REMEMBER- turn your brush so the bristles point down towards your lashes too! This really gets the color as close to the lash line as possible. 

 

 

4. Apply your crease color from inner corner to outer corner in that "rainbows arch" movement. I used another pigment by MAC called Copperized but using shadow is just as good too. This is a grey/brown/with gold shimmer. I don't know why copper is in the name. Anyway.....

 

 

5. Next I darkened the outer corner of the lid and the outer crease. With a crease brush, like the one you used in step 4 do small wiggle motions in the outer corner of your lid and outer crease and apply a really dark color. I used Femme Noir by MAC which is a dark dark green. Blend well.

 

 

6. Now we need to lighten the inner corner. I used my brow highlight for this. I think it’s important to make sure when you lighten the inner corner of the lid to have a similar texture of eyeshadow. The Steel Blue pigment I used was shimmery so I wanted to make sure I lightened it with another shimmery light shadow. If you used a really light matte color over that dark shimmery lid color it might look muddy. I used Vellum by MAC. Which made it go really frosty white with a blue undertone because Vellum has a blue undertone to it once applied.

 

 

7. Next apply your brow highlight. You can use the same one as in step 6 or is you don't want that much shimmer, use Vanilla by MAC. It is a really warm shade. If you have darker or tan skin use Orb by MAC.

 

 

8. Next we are going to work with something new. I have basically divided the crease into 2 horizontal sections. There is the deeper part or "fold" of the crease where the Copperized is, then there is that tiny space that is above the fold but isn't right under your brow. It’s what you see when your eyes are open. In the last tutorial I just used one shade over both sections for a quick and simple smokey eye. I did not want Copperized to meet and blend with my brow highlight. I wanted it to look more polished so I used one of my favorite colors (for this technique) Arena by MAC. This is going to soften the flow between Copperized and my brow highlight. I use the tiniest amount and make sure it blends with the Copperized and the brow highlight. See the last picture in this step below to see what I mean about not having this "blender" color. Also, you will notice below I broke the eye up into horizontal and vertical sections. Section 2 and 3 are what I am referring to with Copperized and Arena.
 

 

 

This is the sections of the eye I am using for this look

Put the 'Arena' in area #3

The black lines are your horizonal sections and the white circles are your vertical sections

 

 

 This is not the look we are going for-as you can see

 there is no blending color here.

 

 

 9. As always if you need to repeat steps to achieve the look, darkness, or drama that you would like then now is a good time to do that.

 

10. Apply your eyeliner. I used MAC's Blacktrack with a #266 brush and I winged it out and then tight lined. Line the bottom lash line as well. I lined the water line and then used a pencil brush to smudge it out.

 

 

11. Next I used my pencil brush to add a little Copperized and Arena to the bottom lash line to create a smokey look.

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure to clean up around the eye

with a baby wipe or q-tip

 

 

12. Time to contour! I use a large short eyeshadow brush from MAC to highlight and contour my face with my Ben Nye concealer wheel. Notice the areas I highlighted. Anything I want to stand out I highlighted and I contoured anything I want to recede. I don't blend it in to the skin I just make striped. The highlighted part uses a lighter than skin tone color and the contoured areas I used the darker concealers. Make sure you don't use anything too orange to contour with.

 

Contour applied (first top picture)                  I drew all over half of my face so you could see    

Contour blended with foundation                           exactly where I highlight and contoured.

        (second top picture)                                                Black-Contour/Red-Highlight

 

 

13. Then I take my foundation and apply it with a brush.. The foundation will blend and buff the highlighted and contoured areas so they don't stand out so much. Now, I don't look like I’m wearing stage makeup!

 

14. Apply a loose powder to set everything. I used Makeup Forever HD powder because it is super fine and makes my skin feel like silk. It doesn't look powdery and it is translucent so even though its white, it does not go on white. Its kind of like using clear powder.

 

 

15. I apply a little bronzer to the same areas which I contoured(the hallows of my cheeks.) And then blush to my cheeks in a peachy tone.

At this point I really had to get going or I was going to be late for my meeting so I drew my brows on and put my mascara on. Took a quick picture of the end result (with no lips) and left the house. I did my lips in the parking lot :)

 

 

So there ya go. You’re done! It’s just a few of more shadows than the Smokey Eye Tutorial, just to lighten the inner corner,darken the outer corner, and soften the flow of our crease and brow colors. Play around with it. Choose whatever colors you would like.
 

I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Sorry they are so lengthy but I really like to explain. I’m far more of a visual person so when I go to explain something it takes me three times as long because I want to a picture in your head instead. I am always the one that looks at the picture on the box instead of reading the directions....but I know some people are just the opposite!
 

Check out my other site- SHARE- LIKE- PIN IT! It’s so much FUN!

But most of all TRY IT!

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amelia-Evans-Makeup-Artist/217603118271715?ref=hl
 

www.instagram.com/aevansmakeupartist

 

 

Thanks and have a BEAUTIFUL day!

-A