How to build a quick brow.....

Its no secret everyone who knows me knows that I am an avid eyebrow drawer thanks to over plucking as a teen. In the 90s I needed to have those 90s thin brows and as a result the hair just doesn't grow back anymore. Without makeup, I sport a nice "Spock" like brow that has a bushy beginning with no tail end. After many many years, I can now create an amazing brow in mere seconds!

I'd like to share with you how I do a quick brow using just a eyebrow pencil. This process is for when you are on the go and need a brow now!! Sounds hilarious and you only understand the need of you require this kind of self help. 

First thing first, you need to start with a good pencil. I usually use a MAC brow pencil in "spiked" but for my quick brow I use this pencil by Rimmel. It is long wearing and has a great brush attached. 

It costs about $6-9 depending on where you buy it and I use it in the color Black Brown. My pencil is very well used so here is a stock image of what you would look for at the store. 

When I have more time I will use a combination of brow pencil, brow shadow and follow it up with some sephora brow gel to seal it. But back to the quickie! 😆

Attached in the photos below is my brows "au natural" followed by my upper brow line in which I follow the natural curve of my brow bone. After my guideline is complete I then create a bottom brow line and connect it with the tail end. Then I proceed to fill in the tail end with the pencil. The tail end of your eyebrow should line up with the corner of your eye. 

After my eyebrow is complete, I fill in the front bushy area of the eyebrow lightly with the pencil and then blend it in with the pencil brush thus resulting in a nice finished brow! 

Voila!! 

It takes practice to get the brows symmetrical with each other but Ive got it down to a science! 

As great as they look it's annoying when you accidentally wipe a section away so

I'm hoping to get my brows permanently tattood in the next year. Ive been doing a lot of research and I'm hoping this lady in Vancouver who does an amazing natural feathering technique will be able to do them. Fingers crossed I get into her bookings come August! Look at her results!!

Amazing!! 

And there ya have it folks, easy brow compete. 

It's not your size...it's how you wear it.

I like to shop. 

Grocery shop. 

Clothes shop. 

All shopping really lol. 

I'm plus size and I think that I'm pretty good at keeping up with the trends. I shop thrift stores 60% of the time and rarely ever buy clothing at full price. I'm a sucker for a sale and always hit up the clearance sections first. Even as a lady with curves I never let it deter me from dressing well and always keep in mind what my body type is. I'm small on top and large through the bottom with a big ol'watermelon butt and I'm cool with it. I personally would never strut my junk in a bikini or crop top but I love that there are plus size ladies out there who are confident and wear those items and totally rock it out. Let's look at Tess Holiday for instance, she is a size 22 and started her journey as a dental office assistant that blogged about her fashion choices, posted photos of her wearing the latest current trends and became a body positive advocate for plus size women. She has now become one of the first plus size women (and I'm talking REAL plus size not this size 12 crap) to sign an exclusive modeling contract. She's been in vogue, people's mag and a whole slu of other famous media publications/ platforms. She's bringing the big girl back to fabulous and I'm loving it!  She has given other women of size some inspiration and she really promotes "Beautiful at any size". I think it's Important to show everyone that you can still rock current fashion even if your body doesn't fit into the ideal. It's the way Tess made it all happen that is truly Amazeballs!! Let's let her be our inspiration for the moment. 

Stunning!!

Ok back to it. 

Today while thrifting, I observed a young woman who was plus size, wearing clothing to small for her body. Parts of her body were hanging over her shorts. The shorts were riding up her thighs and her tank top was tight and unflattering. I couldn't help but think about how I felt about it and how she shouldn't be squishing her body into small tight cut off shorts. 

Perhaps she was truly comfortable and has amazing self esteem but I know I had to do a double look so I'm assuming others did too.  It was however obvious that she was struggling. Pulling down her shorts every few minutes to alleviate the chub rub (ladies you know what I mean) and constantly pulling her shirt down to cover her body. I wanted to know if she understood her body type. Do people not get it? Or do they just not care? Look, you want to wear cut off shorts? WICKED!! Rock those shorts, but do it in a way that suits your body and show haters that you are FAB! Don't be a joke, be a statement! Invest in you!! You deserve it!! 

The struggle is real.......

Late night venting....

Plus size clothes shopping is like being tortured by small seam ripping rodents constantly pulling at every roll or clinging to every inch of your imperfections. It sucks! 

I'm sure all women experience this and not just us ladies with "more to love" (a term that I also despise). You see when you require a size larger then a 16/18 you have to shop at a specialty store which means big $$$! I want to be modern, trendy and hip just like all women but walking into a "plus size" store is like accepting that you are in fact different from the norm and will now be paying $80 for a $10 shirt that you would by in a regular store. Not only is the pricing crazy but because you are plus size you must 

1) be at least 5'10

2) have ginormous breasts

3) have arms the diametre of a large basketball and....

4) be extremely fond of high waisted pants

Why are stores so afraid to carry a size bigger than an 18?! Why can't plus size clothing be trendy and affordable. Seriously I don't want to wear large prints and slacks!! 

ALSO, if you've ever shopped a good sale you know that the only sizes left are always the xs/s so this has to be saying something!!

Please tell me someone out there understands what I mean!!

Contouring. It's all kinds of strange yet fascinating.

So I've been emerged in you tube contouring videos lately. I find them very intriguing and I'm in awe of all the varieties of ways you can "sculpt" your face with just a little bit of makeup. 

I wanted to try this contouring trend out. 

I am usually one to just dabble in a small variety of makeup products. I use a good skin cream, wear minimal face makeup (concealer, powder, mascara &bronzer) and always rock a stellar fake penciled eyebrow thanks to over plucking in my teens. The thought of caking on a monumental amount of makeup on my face has never been appealing but I just have to try!!! 

So let's bring in technique #1. Clown contouring. I have to say I failed with the application mostly because I was uncertain on the amounts I needed to use especially pertaining to foundations of which I do not wear on a regular basis. Mix that with a variety of complicated brushes and you ha e what looks like war paint on its worse day. However, I was feeling determined so I blended that bitch out and in the end felt pretty fierce. More practice is required but all around not a bad first attempt. Messy, but ok!

Check it out!

A few new handy products to add to my already flourished collection. Found these as recommendations on a website called hairsprayandhighheels.net. Not bad and very budget friendly. 

Maybelline stick foundations (one shade lighter then my skin tone and one but more like 2 shades darker. Oops)

NYC translucent powder (to seal your look)

Hard candy 12 hour primer. Super awesome!!

NYX creme stick blush. Also super awesome. 

A nice blending sponge and a flat top stippling brush for the perfect blending experience. (Which I found hard to master)

Now enter the process. Helpfully aided by a photo I found on Google. Yes that's right. I googled the contouring process for a help me photo. 

Started off fresh faces in the worst bathroom light ever. My apologies.

The results were not bad but I for sure needed less light concealer, more dark contouring and more in the blending department. 

Over all I felt pretty happy about the process and looking forward to trying it out hopefully more "properly" tomorrow! Stay tuned peeps!

It's me!

I've returned! It's been awhile since I was really into blogging. Life gets busy, throw some kids in there and voila you have no time to enjoy the things you used to. So where do we start again? Well I've been pretty into plus size fashion and over all self care these days. As a plus size mom of 2 girls, I really feel the pressure to make sure I am the best role model I can be. It's going to be hard to instill positive self love and esteem into my girls when society is telling them to be everything but who they are. I for one am guilty of participating in things that promote what our society has deemed  as "normal" or "beautiful" such as fad diets, hating your curves and becoming disgusted at the sight of your body because you don't fit into the "norm". I've decided that I just need to love myself. Enjoy what life has so graciously given me and live in the moment. If I become a healthier me in the process then wonderful but I have to show my kids that life is great at any size and there is no guilt in being who you are.  With all that being said, I hope you can relate and follow me on this blog journey as I have fun discovering beauty, fashion and fun as a plus size glam guru!