Let's Get Naked

Happy Monday, everyone! 

I hope you had a fantastic day yesterday, full of family and barbecue fun :) At my house my uncle, Alex came over with my two cousins, Brandon and Jake, to celebrate Father's Day with us. I was so excited since I don't really see my cousins that often. Every time I see them they are so much more grown up. It makes me feel old, even though I'm only 20 ha ha.
Yesterday was non-stop moving. The day started out great with some Zumba. My mom, Maritza, and I are both certified Zumba instructors and I go to her class on Sunday mornings. It was the perfect, high-energy way to start the day. My sister, Sam does it too, but she is not certified. She joins in on the fun though and should get the certification :) Anyway, after that we went to the super market to pick up barbecue essentials.
As soon as I arrived back home I got crackin' on making apple pie... from scratch. It was my father's request that I make him one, and how could I say no on his day? He's lucky it was Father's Day :p. That was my present to him I guess ha ha. My and my sister also split a gift for him.
Making pies from scratch is a long and grueling process. The dough is the hardest part, but after an hour of slaving over the dough, it came out okay.

Concentrated Niki

All done!

I was really scared that this pie would not come out good, but I had a taste and it was actually good. My dad liked it and it was gone by the end of the night. Success! 

Now on to the important stuff; makeup. This was my look:

It was basically a light, bronze-y smoked out look. And here's how I did it...

I started out by priming my face with Urban Decay's Naked Skin BB Cream. It was really humid yesterday. For me that means oily skin, so the BB Cream helps control that.

I love this BB Cream. It has very light coverage and works well as a primer. Primer's pretty much work to keep your make-up from sliding off. It also has eucalyptus in it, which soothes redness. Think irritated pimples.  

Then it was time for my Smashbox CC Cream that I buffed into my face with a foundation brush. 

CC Creams also have a primer built into them, but I wanted double the primer. Why? Because I can :).

(Note: When putting on face makeup, avoid putting it on the eyelids for it will cause your eyeshadow to crease and smudge).

I decided to stay on the face before moving to my eyes. I took a very light bronzer and used it as a blush. I applied it to the apples of cheeks, blending it back into my temples. I chose to do this instead of a pink blush because I wanted to look more bronzed then flushed. 

 Maybeline Fit Me Bronzer in "Forever Warm"
Oh and I forgot to mention that right before the bronzer I concealed under my eyes and down the bridge of my nose with my index finger. I used Benefit's Boi-ing Concealer in Shade #2.

Back to the bronzer. Since I used "Forever Warm" as my blush, I needed a darker bronzer to contour my face with. (Contouring is pretty much a technique we use to structure the face. It is also slimming and flattering to the face). For this I took an angled blush brush (say that ten times fast) and my Stila Bronzer in Shade #2 to contour my cheeks, temples, and jawline. 

I show you, I show you...

All you're doing is pretty much framing the face.

Then it was time to set everything with my setting powder. Face is done.. for now ha ha.

Of course, for the eyes, I started by first priming them with my Urban Decay Primer Potion and blending it in with my fingers. Then it was time to get naked! With the Naked Palette that it. This is my favorite set of eye shadows ever. I wear it pretty much everyday, so of course that is what I automatically went to. 

First step was putting "Half Baked" on my lower lid. Then I blended "Smog" into my crease.

Left: "Half Baked. Right: "Smog".

For the highlight on my brow bone and inner corner I mixed "Virgin" and "Sin" together. "Virgin" is the first on the left and "Sin" is right next to it. I also took the color, "Naked" (the next color over) and dusted it over the crease color to buff out any harsh lines.

 I wanted to define my eye a little more. I was looking for something a bit more dramatic than mascara to do this, but didn't want to put on a black line. Solution: Use a brown liner instead. For this I used a brown Stila eyeliner.

Line your upper lash line like normal. For the wing I started on the outer corner...

 ...then drew a straight line upwards, using the end of my eyebrow as my guide.

I then connected that line to the normal line on the lash line.

Bam. See how you get that sultry winged out look, without it being too harsh. This also looks really pretty if you wanna you a purple liner. Plus, that makes almost eye colors pop.

Lippies! For my lips I chose a nice rosy pink from Guerlain.

This brand is kind of expensive, but plenty of dupes can be found in its place. I like it though because it smells like candy :)

The last step I did is completely optional, but for that extra glow I used an illuminating powder. Laura Mercier just came out with an new illuminator and it has become a staple in my makeup routine. 

Pretty, right?

I took a thin blush brush to put it on the high point of my cheek bones. Its almost at the corner of the lower outer corner of the eye.

I also do it down the center of my nose. We contoured to darken certain areas of the face to slenderize them, and we highlight the areas we want to stand out. For me it is the cheek bones so that when I turn my face it catches the light. I also like to do down the nose, since it makes it look more symmetrical and straighter. Makeup is magic, I tell you!

All that was left to do was set with spray and c'est fini.

Outfit

My last post was all about outfits for Father's Day or other summer outings. So, I thought it would be cool to show you what I ended up wearing. I ended up taking things here and there from the outfit ideas I came up with. 

Fedora: Charlotte Russe

Dress: Express

Sandals: Dolce Vita via DSW

Earrings: Forever21 or Charlotte Russe (I can't remember!)

I never mentioned the dress on the outfit post, but I honestly forgot I had it. I thought I might as well wear it since I never had before. It was nice and cool, and incredibly bright. I love how it almost looked glow in the dark. Adding the coral/orange earrings also had this color blocking affect that was awesome.

Oh and remember how I mentioned that I was always put to play with my little cousins? Well last night I ended up playing basket ball and I almost won, guys! Not bad for wearing a dress and flip flops :)

What did you guys do for Father's Day?

What did you get your dad?

What did you end up wearing? 

Let me know. Yours always,

Nicole xo.