Your face shape determines the best application techniques to create the most appealing look. Instead of making this post a zillion pages long going into details about each shape I’ll discuss basic application tips and you can book an appointment with me today to discuss your face shape and get a custom color consultation for FREE!

The tips for choosing and applying your blush are:

• Never choose a shade that is darker than you naturally blush. This leads to the appearance of “racing stripes” on the cheeks and can also make you look much older than you actually are. Think about the color your cheeks are when you come in from the cold, or have had a good workout, use that shade as your guide.
• When determining where to place your blush there is an easy trick. First smile big and place your index finger in the center of the “apple” of your cheek. Secondly place your thumb (while keeping your index finger in place on the apple) at the point where the top of your ear meets your face. Slowly and gently drag your thumb down to meet your index finger on your cheek. This is where you should apply your blush.
• Build your color lightly and slowly! Remember it’s always easier to add additional color than it is to remove it.
• Start your blush from your hairline and work down towards the apple of your cheek, this deposits the most color in/near the hairline where it’s easiest to correct/cover up.
• Don’t extend your blush past the center part of your iris towards your nose.  This causes your eyes to be pulled into the center of the face and can highlight the nose as the dominant feature.

Hope these tips let you enjoy a healthy and youthful glow!

Applying mascara sounds like it should be an easy task; open bottle, withdraw wand, apply to lashes. Right?  Did you know that how you apply your mascara can dramatically change the appearance of your lashes?

First, a little housekeeping.  Mascaras are a perfect breeding ground for yucky bacterias that can cause serious harm to your eyes because the insides of the bottles are dark and damp.  This is why your mascaras need to be changed (regardless of how often you use it or how much is “left”) every three months. No, I’m not kidding.  Haven’t replaced your mascara in over three months? Come check out the great mascaras available on my website and give either our Ultimate, Lash Lengthening or Waterproof formulas a try.

Now, back to the application techniques.

• When applying mascara, be sure to wipe the wand off on the lip of the bottle and apply mascara in thin coats. Usually 1-3 coats is  a proper amount depending on the look you’re going for.
• Most important is to let the coats dry completely between applications which can take up to a minute for each coat depending on the formula.
• If you choose to apply mascara to your lower lashes, always apply it before applying it to your upper lashes to avoid smudging atop your eye makeup.
• For thicker lashes, apply the mascara holding the wand horizontally and wiggling the brush from side to side slightly as you coat the lashes upwards.
• For longer lashes, apply the mascara holding the wand vertically and coating the lashes in an upward motion from root to tip.
• Always take the time to curl your lashes; either with a crimping curler before you apply your mascara, or after you apply your mascara when using a heated eyelash curler.

I hope these tips and tricks bring you long, full and lush lashes!

Here’s what you need to know:

Don’t overpluck your brows. Go slow and tweeze one hair at a time.

Know the proper way to shape your brows.

1. Hold an eye pencil or makeup brush along the side of your nose, pointing towards your forehead. This is where the brow should begin (A).
2. Keeping the brush at the corner of your nose, angle the brush so that it crosses the center of your iris while crossing your brow. This is where the highest point of the arch should be (B).
3. Angle the brush further so that it touches the outer corner of your eye and crosses your brow. This is where your brow should end (C).

Soothe your eyes after tweezing with the botanical extracts of a soothing eye gel.

Use a brow liner or brow powder in a shade close to your current hair color, choosing lighter over darker when an exact match isn’t available.

Set and condition your groomed brows with a clear brow gel to make the color last throughout the day.

I’m excited to share my knowledge that I’ve collected over the years and hope that my readers will find that the tips + tricks come in handy.

We decided this year that instead of braving the throngs of people on a weekend we’d go on a Wednesday. Wednesday just happened to be “Read & Ride” day where you got a $2 discount on admission by showing your library card. Not wanting to miss a chance to save extra bucks to be spent on more fried crap later, we dutifully hopped down the block to our local library and met with the most devoid-of-emotion librarian I’ve ever met and walked out 10 minutes later with our shiny new library cards!

On top of that since Chris no longer worked just off Energy Park Drive, I volunteered the suggestion to drive over to GhettoTowner NorthTown Mall and take the Metro Bus shuttle that was leaving every 15 minutes and park for “free”. $5 bucks later each we were rumbling down the highway and driving the special bus-only highway headed for gate 20 at the fair.

We entered the fair and headed straight for the “Miracle of Life” barn that was just inside the gates to see what awesome baby animals had been born either in the past couple of days, or were being birthed RIGHT THEN! We got to see day old Calves, Lambs, Goats and piglets. On top of that there was a sow that was giving birth AS we stood around. Sadly the last piglet she gave birth to (the one we were RIGHT there for) was stillborn. She did however have 9 healthy, and VERY hungry piglets who were too busy trying to find a meal to be bothered by the throngs of people standing about staring at them. (I’m not posting the newborn piglets picture because there’s blood involved and it squicks me out even.)

After we hit the Miracle of Life barn we headed for our first deep-fried food item of the day, because nothing says “I’m Hungry!” like watching animals being born right?  Needless to say we hit up the Blue Moon Diner for this year’s hit-or-miss treat; The Fry Dog. Basically this is a hotdog (on a stick of course) wrapped up in smashed waffle fries, deep-fried and the served with your choice of dipping sauces. While in theory it sounded good, in reality it tasted like crap. The hotdog was unremarkable, the fries had a weird plastic’y taste + texture to them and the cheese sauce I got was a grade below melted Velveeta. Our food quests were off to a not so good begining.  Fry Dog grade: D-

Disappointed, we spotted the Famous Dave’s building and headed over for another “new” food to the Fair this year; Apricot-Glazed Pig Cheeks. Ok, it sounds gross but in truth they were DELICIOUS. It was fall-off-the-stick tender (think consistency of a REALLY good pot roast) with a slight hint of heat tucked in the Apricot sweetness. I was hooked. We also got a cone of “Pig Lickers” which is chocolate-covered bacon. This disappointed me compared to the Pig Cheeks because while it tasted kind of good, the bacon seemed like the pre-cooked microwave stuff from Oscar Meyer vs what I’d hope a BBQ joint would have/use.  Pig Cheeks Grade: A, Pig Lickers Grade: C

Needing to walk around a bit, we wandered over towards the Grandstands and Carousel Park. This is where most of the major networks/radio stations have their booths so we made a bee-line over to the FOX9 booth to see who was around. Jeff Passolt and Ian Leonard were running a bit late, but Jeff finally made his appearance and started signing autographs. Ian was MIA and we didn’t get to see him till the 5 o’clock news, but that comes later. We wandered off in a random direction now unsure of what we wanted to do or eat next.

We ended up heading west towards the Midway, which is basically the amusement/rides area of the Fair. Neither of us was gung-ho to jump on any of the rides so we kinda doubled back on ourselves and tried to find a few other things on our “must eat at the Fair” list I had found on City Pages website the day before.  Not on the City Pages list, but amusing to us none the less was visiting the Summit Brewing tent/building in the International Bazaar. Sadly they were out of the sticks within which were nestled 3, 7oz beers. Not really wanting any beer besides their Octoberfest we passed on the beers and continued walking. We walked past the Food Building (which housed a couple of things on the list; Lefse + Nitro Ice Cream) but didn’t go in for whatever reason. I think it was more that we wern’t that hungry and just needed to walk. Skipping the Food Building took us in the general direction of the Ag Building next door, so we popped in to see what was inside.

In the Agriculture Building we looked longingly at the Honey Sunflower Ice Cream (on the must eat list), but passed as we had JUST tasted about 10 different varieties of honey (Basswood, Brazilian, Whipped + Green Apple & Cherry Flavored to name a few) and were on sugar-overload. Down one of the “spoke” hallways of the building we found the first crops of MN apples and were we were told (yes, on the list) to get an Apple Cider Pop. It was just what it said, a plastic sleeve filled with frozen MN apple cider. For a $1, how could you go wrong? I was disappointed in the lack of apple flavor in the frozen pop itself, but the liquid was delicious once it melted. I would have been better off getting just a cup of Apple Cider for an extra $1.  Apple Cider Pop Grade: B-

The next (and last thing on the list) place we hit up took us towards the Eco Experience building. It was a LOOOOOONG walk from the Ag Building (ok, only like 4 city blocks, but by that point I was getting tired of walking) up to the corner of Randall Ave. + Cosgrove St. There, outside the Eco building in a cute but unassuming little shack-like booth was from Renewing the Countryside. They were featuring Minnesota-grown foods which were undoubtedly a hit with the Localvores (along with their t-shirts) like caprese salad on-a-stick. We showed up however for the positively DELICIOUS Chokecherry Minne-soda made with Chokecherries picked by the Red Lake Nation tribe. My only complaint was that while eating (drinking?) local is pretty awesome, the high prices of their items turned me off of ordering a second soda though I was CRAVING it. Tart and sweet at the same time, it was a refreshing way to cut through the bevvy of fried goods. Chokecherry Minne-soda Grade: A++

After the soda we did a bit more walking about and we passed Bayou Bob’s and the signs amused us and drew us in futher for another “snack.” By far the most “adventurous” food item we ate while we were there, we noshed on some Deep-Fried Alligator and Hushpuppies. Alligator was interesting, the consistency was as if calimari and chicken had an illigitimate love-child and the spice of the batter made them worthy of eating more. The Hushpuppies were fabulous teardrop shaped fried balls of onion-laced cornbread. I was wowed more by the Hushpuppies than the Alligator itself, but I’d gladly revisit Bayou Bob’s on our next Fair visit. Alligator Grade: B, Hushpuppie Grade: A

At this time it was nearly 5pm so we wandered back towards the FOX9 booth to watch them broadcast live from the Fair. Ian (the weather guy) is hilarious and was having a blast with the crowds along with Passolt who was running around with a person-sized stuffed banana while on air. Afterwards we hung around and Chris got to talk to Ian a bit and I got a couple of pictures of the two of them together. It was cool because Ian seemed genuinely interested in the photos Chris had taken as well as in the GIANT camera Chris carries around with him ALL the time!

We did more walking after that and swung by the MN Republican Party site at the Fair and took a peek at who was running in the next election for Gov. We swung by the MN DNR building and peeked inside at all the kinds of fish in the lakes + rivers around MN, found out what watershed we live in and looked at animals that had been poached and read about the people the DNR prosecuted for doing so.

After that we grabbed a cup of hot french fries from the Fresh French Fries booth near the Ejector Seat ride. While they were piping hot and perfectly salted, my threshold for eating fried food had exceeded its maximum and I couldn’t enjoy them as much. Also my feet had done enough walking for the day and were screaming at me to call it quits. As we walked towards Gate 20 again to board our bus home, the signs for Elk and Buffalo outside Warner Colleseum caught our eyes so we stopped by and found a few places we might be able to get some Elk meat to cook with. YAY! Further down the row of booths there was an Alpaca farmer who had awesome craft things (teddy bears, hats, etc) made from the hair of the Alpaca. It was INSANELY soft and I almost broke down and got a teddy bear, but I resisted. We made our way back to the busses destined to bring us home and tried not to nod off on the drive back.

So went another year at the MN State Fair. Hopefully it won’t be another 3 years before we go back. I ALMOST want to go back on Monday just to have another Chokecherry Soda and some Hushpuppies.

Declare your independence. . . from whatever it is that you are allowing to hold you back.

Declare your independence. . . from small thinking.

Declare your independence. . . from making excuses.

Declare your independence. . . from trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Declare your independence. . . from trying to fit into a mold that’s not YOU.

Declare your independence. . . from unhealthy habits.

Declare your independence. . . from debt.

Declare your independence. . . from relationships with people who drag you down.

Declare your independence. . . from trying to be all things to all people.

Whatever it is, declare your independence, and know the peace that comes with being truly FREE.  Free to be the best YOU that YOU can be.

What personal freedom will you celebrate on Independence Day? 

Can you get behind that? I know I can! Happy Independence Day!

(Click Read Full Post to enjoy the video)

In 2009 I hope to:

1. Travel more with Chris
2. Be more comfortable in my own skin
3. Continue to work towards improving my body and my health
4. Have a fantastic, outstanding, stage-walking year for my Mary Kay Business
5. Get our puppy (finally)

I’m sure there are a lot more “things” I hope to accomplish this year, however instead of trying to wrack my brain to come up with them all in one day, I’m going to choose to make them up as I go along and see where life takes me this year.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year and can always manage to find the beauty in each day, each hour, each moment that you spend alive.

But hey, we want to take advantage of all the Darkness out there on tap before we have to start breaking into our bottles at home. So tonight was the “Official” release party of Surly’s Darkness over on the U of MN campus at Stub & Herbs.

We got there a little late (ok, an hour late) because I had a Mary Kay appointment that night and got caught up in all that jazz. At least Chris was nice enough to wait for me to go and didn’t leave me behind. When we finally got over there, after I got all disoriented because I hadn’t been on campus in over 10 years really, we managed to snag a parking place right in back of the bar. That in itself should have been a miracle, because the place was PACKED. The entire patio was filled, the bar was hot, cramped and full of people wearing Surly gear and the back room while cooler was also quite filled.

We managed as we passed the bar to grab our first beers of the night, a Darkness for me and a Coffee Bender for Chris. We grabbed a table in that back room and ordered some food since neither of us had eaten much all day. While we were back there a table full of people and a guy in a blue Surly brewer’s shirt were passing around a 7-week old baby. As I was talking to the baby’s mom I found out that she was Omar’s wife. Who’s Omar you ask? Well he’s one of the founders/owners of Surly Brewing Co. and one of the nicest, most down to earth guys I could have imagined meeting. For some reason I had built him up a bit in my head to have some kind of “celebrity” status, thankfully I couldn’t have been more wrong. Chris managed to snap some pictures of the baby who was adorable in his little pumpkin snuggler/onesie.

We ended up getting another beer a piece, a Surly Cynic for me and a Tyranena’s Rocky’s Revenge for Chris. While I thoroughly enjoyed my second beer, Chris not so much. Since he was driving, I convinced him (not that he needed much help) to not drink the rest.  When we were ready to go, we headed for the door but I stopped at Omar’s table to thank him for the great beer he’s creating which lead to a good 10 or 15 minute converstation with him as he let us in on upcoming events involving Surly beers and said he hoped to run into us again soon.

All in all a pretty good night, even if the food was greasy and salty and made me get up in the middle of the night thinking I was dying in the desert of thirst.