Highlighters for Fair Skin

So, when I say I'm "fair," what I mean is I'm pale. Very pale. Having to mix white pigment into most foundations in order to make them work.

This post was inspired by an Instagram back and forth between one of the beautiful women I follow @cherryvixen89 and myself, where she posted a question asking about highlighters for the fairer flesh. And I proceeded to probably overwhelm her with my response, but hopefully it wasn't too overwhelming. 

I love highlighters. Since I've been employed with Benefit Cosmetics for almost three years now, this affinity has just grown. I came into this job with my favorite product, ever, being a pretty little highlighter called High Beam. So in honor  of Instagram and @cherryvixen89 and highlighter lovers everywhere, here is a post about my favorites!

On my arm(left side, with flash, right side without, and going left to right/top to bottom) I swarched Nars "Copacabana," Benefit Cosmetics "High Beam," also by Benefit (and a tie for my absolute favorite,) "Watts Up" (other tie for favorite,) Too Faced's "Candlelight Glow," one of my very first pieces of makeup ever, MAC mineralized skin finish in "Porcelain Pink," and last but not least, a forever favorite and now discontinued high-lighter, bronzer duo by Benefit "10." (Also pictured is Benefit's "One Hot Minute" loose powder bronzer)

Creamy liquid base:

Nars "Copacabana" is very similar in both texture and color to Benefit's "High Beam." Copacabana is a bit more of a liquid and High Beam a bit more of a gel with a slightly thicker texture. Both are great when you need a buffer to blend a cheek stain, my current favorite being Lollitint, into. Copacabana definitely dries more silver and High Beam more pink. 

Cream-to-powder:

Watts Up by Benefit. Cream to powder stick. A soft champagne color. Gorgeous on almost all skintones, so easy to use. Has a blendy sponge on one side if you don't feel like blending with your fingers, because that's crazy... 

Powder:

Generally, when I'm doing a full face of makeup on someone and I want to add a bit of highlight, I find powder to be the easiest to work with. You just sorta throw it on le face with a brush and you don't have to really worry about the application. Whereas with a more liquid base, you sorta have to press it on so as not to smudge off the face you just made. 

Anyway!

Two Faced, "candlelight glow" is radiant. It has a bit of a gold finish, one side is white and one side is pink, but it is nowhere near to a rosey blush. This was basically everything I was looking for. I wanted a damn powder highlighter that didn't have a bronzer attached. 

"Porcelain Pink" skinfinish by MAC was honestly one of the first makeup purchased I ever made, outside of lipsticks. I was led to this product, about ten years ago (yikes) by someone I ghost-followed on livejournal, who is still one of my favorite bloggers Keiko, who I still stalk, ten years later, on http://www.keikolynn.com if you aren't already following her, I suggest it. She's pretty famous now, but still sweet and humble. Anyway! I think the product she used was called "petticoat"(maybe?) and as I've always been more of a highlighter gal than a bronzey gal, I gravitated towards porcelain pink instead. Now, she is very very subtle, a very very soft pink that is a wonderful first piece of face makeup! It definitely has a warmer tone to it, in my professional opinion. 

And last but not least, Benefit Cosmetic's now discontinued "10." Powder soft silvery pink on one side, and a VERY VERY light bronzer on the other. To quote Benefit, "a highlighter and bronzer in one sexy swoop!" 

Next on my blog to do list is a post on bronzers and how to contour fairer skin without looking dirty! However I always just want to find a bronzer that is grey so that I may have Lilly Munster cheekbones! 

Limecrime, a discussion..

So if it wasn't already apparent how addicted to lipstick I am, I'm going to go into more detail. Specifically with the brand Limecrime.

Despite the fact that this brands popularity seems to be increasing by the hour, not everyone has heard of it. 

And what's particularly strange is that despite its ever growing success, there seems to be a bit of controversy surrounding the founder, who goes by the name Doe Deere. In a world where you have the freedom to broadcast a photo of the socks you wore today, you must be prepared to accept the added spice of drama that comes with it. Everyone has an opinion, and unfortunately it ain't all compliments! 

I'm not here to feed the flames of discussion about Doe Deere and what is the truth (though I know it is out there...) I am here to talk about my favorite accessory: LIPSTICK.

Black Saturday, I purchased my very first limecrime velveteen. The new, ever anticipated Pink Velvet. Why have I never purchased the two reds offered in the velveteen category, you ask? Because I feel like they are exactly the same as the sephora cream lipstains, except pricier. In addition to that, it is very hard for me to justify the purchase of yet ANOTHER red lip color. 

Despite my inability to let my guard down and actually purchase a red velvet or a suedeberry, I HAVE tried them. Both of them. Courtesy of my favorite twin, Miss Ashley Miller. And to the delight of my wallet, it was exactly how I expected it to be... It was a pricier sephora brand cream lipstain. 

So what made me finally cross over and buy one? Well, it is pink. Not red, AND I also scored a Poisonberry for some sweet Black Friday deals! 

Inglot's Gel Liner

Definitely a fan!

inglot's gel liner

A blog post about blogging

So if you aren't familiar, Independent Fashion Bloggers is a great resource for the world that is Blog.

One of their posts the other day mentioned the whole "have great content" thing that is every blogger's advice to those just starting out (me.)

I suppose this is just a post to summarize that post real brief like and then maybe I'll give some sort of mission statement or declaration of content or a list of things, because I love lists.

On the whole, IFB stressed the importance of thinking about the readers, and the reason they are reading things on the Interwebz. We read things to get inspired, to be entertained, to be informed.

Just some snippets that really stuck out for me:


"I hear bloggers talk about their blog’s topic, that it’s about “fashion” and/or their “inspiration” which is great, but it doesn’t communicate how the blog helps another person. Even more so it does not communicate, WHY another person should read a blog about a perfect stranger’s inspiration."

"Do you take AMAZING photos, have AMAZING style? I’m saying AMAZING, like knock me out of my chair amazing. Like “Holy moly!” amazing. The sad fact is, that the market is so saturated, and has become so competitive, that if you want to make it taking photos of yourself, that you have to have AMAZING style, unless you pair it with another component, like solving a problem or making people smile."

If you want to read the whole post, which I think you should, here's da link http://heartifb.com/2013/03/21/why-great-content-helps-readers-keeps-them-coming-back/


So, on that note, my photos and style are not particularly knock you outta the park amazing. This isn't me being modest, I take most of my photos with my cell phone camera and my style doesn't really waver from The Jetsons(a little from the past, a little from the future) and/or slutty grandmas.

What I do have to offer is a vast... I don't know if "knowledge" is particularly the right word, maybe "experience" is better suited. If this were a persuasive speech, my ethos would be "my job title is "makeup artist" (well technically 'beauty artist') and in addition to that, I am addicted to makeup. I like to try everything, ever. And maybe this blog is just an excuse to buy myself lots of makeup, but I do have every intention of reviewing it. At some point.

So here is a list of my stats--if you will-- so you can compare yours to mine when it comes to picking out your own makeup...

- I'm incredibly pale.A lot of companies do not even make a shade of foundation that is light enough for me.

- I have combination skin.

- I recently had a good six month battle with cystic acne caused by what I am about 98 percent sure was the birth control shot. Which was horrible. And now the acne is mostly gone (woo hoo ! / knock on wood so I am left with:

- terribly blotchy red skin because of said acne.

- awkwardly dry lips that basically lack any pigmentation without lipstick. So colors may look a lot different on me than others.

- lashes that stick straight out so my mascara search revolves around getting them to be curly.

- brown eyes that are fairly large.

- and other "strong" features that I sometimes hate.


So that is a list of things to be considered when reading a review of mine.

Oh, and my cat is the cutest and cattest cat. Just sayin'

Sister Turquoisehair

So, I'm ever so sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this blog. I'd like to say that I've been busy, but it really doesn't seem like I have. Just a whole lotta bad things, mixed with a whole lotta good things. Not a lot of in between time, and if there is, you bet your buttons you would find me napping.

All that aside, I'm here to discuss Benefit Cosmetic's new line of eyeshadows and a little more of my makeup routine, and just briefly how I've found THE ONE in regards to lipstains.

So in these photos I am wearing two of Benefit's new cream shadows: "blue my mind" and "holy smokes" and on top I am using their "magic ink" liner, which I've oddly grown very fond of. As for mascara I'm still using that leopard print one. My brows are done with Benefit's "browzings" which is my second favorite Benefit product and the one product I could probably not live without..




For my complexion I'm wearing my face armor. LORAC full coverage liquid foundation and MAC's full coverage studio fix powder.

An aside... Although my breakouts have become under control, my face is now red and blotchy from scars :( for that, I spent a million dollars on this product by Dr. Gross that has retinol in it. Which I am very pleased to say is working wonders.

As for cheeks, I've fallen in love with a product called "candlelight glow" by Two Faced. This is really something I've been looking for for a long time. A powder highlighter and blush duo. Most makeup people know that generally ALL highlighters seem to come equipped with a bronzer. And, frankly, that ain't what I want. Unless the bronzer is whatever contour Lilly Munster uses. So to find a powder highlighter of this nature has pleased me greatly. And the blush side is still mostly just a different shade of highlighter. On top of that, I throw on some Super Orgasm.

The lips are Firm Form by MAC. And NYX eyeliner used as a lipliner. I swoon over these lips.

Oh and yes, my hair is currently turquoise. And the cut (I was aiming for a blue Louise Brooks) done by my lovely friend Kris. She nailed it.

Oh and the cream lipstain that is... The one... Is the Lip Maestro by Armani..  Expect me to eventually post something entirely on how awesome that is.

Candy Apple Review !

So my whole life I've been searching for both a matte red lipstick with red glitter and a matte red nailpolish with red glitter. I realize layering can happen but I just don't understand why some colors (my nailpolish for instance [by Flossgloss]) are so much more present than others when it comes down to glitter.




The closest I've come to this holy grail is a lipgloss by Limecrime. One of their "carousel glosses" in the color "candy apple." As far as the nailpolish goes, maybe Flossgloss will have one that comes out soon.

--a brief aside, this Flossgloss nailpolish is a gold opaque glitter in one coat.(called "stun").... way too fantastic.--

Anyway! My review of this gloss. So, I bought it for myself Christmas of 2011 after a breakup that I thought would kill me. I'm addition to that baby, I also bought retrofuturist, which is my all time favorite red lipstick. (Both gloss and retrofuturist are from Limecrime.) and for some reason Christmas 2011 I wasn't all that impressed. This was almost entirely due to the fact that I layered it over a red lipstick and the glitter just wasn't glittery enough. Lifeissohard. So I kinda forgot it existed for a good year and Christmas 2012 my twinfriend Instagram'd me a photo of that gloss and I was like "Mehhhhhhhh." So she wanted to see it, so I pulled it out of my treasure chest/bottomless pit of lipsticks to try out again.

What was discovered, it does get fairly glittery, but only if you wear it by itself. I do pair it with a lipliner, in the case of these photos I'm using NYX's "hot red" (I lost my regular red lip liner from MAC) what is nice though, is that despite it being a gloss, you can still get it to be pretty opaque. Yeee!

The only drawback is I'm not too much of a gloss girl, as after a while it just ends up all over my face. (As is the case with these pictures!)

PS plz excuse how awkward my makeup looks because of da flash.
PPS plz excuse my skin, it is still in recovery.

PPPS my coworker Tiara is cute. Go stalk her. =)

In the beginning..

Why hello,

This is Sarah Goldenhair of Goldenhair Beauty, makeup experimentalist extraordinaire's take on beauty products, fashion, and makeup (which is definitely separate from beauty products for some reason) and anything I deem beautiful.


A brief introduction….


I am obsessed with all things vintage, french and/or foreign, soft, colorful, made of fur, and black and gold. I like pets, vintage, writing, red lipstick, fashion, and all things creepy, cooky, mysterious andor spooky. I collect useless things and am beginning to walk the fine line of hoarderdom. I like to incorporate lingerie into my work attire as much as possible, and I work for a big makeup company now owned by an even bigger company and this makes me completely correct about all of my opinions about cosmetics. ;) I am also quite sarcastic.


My addictions include: David Lynch (with a big underline for Twin Peaks,) John Waters, B-Horror, Netflix, chocolate soy milk, buying things off the internet (blackmilkclothing.com swanclothing.com,) creepy silent films, bad/nerdy/trashy television shows, and drinking red wine whilst slow dancing to 70s French music. And rakija, which is an alcoholic beverage that tastes like Tom Waits and you want to make out with me.


And I have one(1) white cat named Smudgecat who used to have a gray smudge on his head when he was just a Smidge but he has grown out of it so it is now just kindof silly. He will make many appearances in anything I do, as he is a princess.



lovelove and bisous,

Sarah Goldenhair of Goldenhair Beauty