Unfading [beauty]

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I did an almost two-week stint with no makeup. It was harder than I expected, and my confidence and my own opinions of myself were challenged almost daily. I'd been feeling quite self-actualized before this challenge, but afterwards, I realized there had been a lot of things in me that I hadn't been challenging.

 Day One

It sat there mocking me.

I don't think I'd fully accepted the reality of the challenge I had just accepted. I kept looking wistfully at my makeup stand, hoping against all hope that somehow staring at it would make it magically transfer to my face.

Protip: it doesn't actually work that way.

All in all, day one wasn't too terrible, as my hair actually looked pretty good. So I felt naked and exposed, but I didn't feel ugly.
Maybe this wasn't going to be hard after all!



Day Two
I woke up. I made the mistake of glancing in the mirror. To my dismay, pimples that had not been there before had popped up all over my chin and cheek area. Immediate reaction was to reach for the cover-up but I stopped myself.

I think I saw hell flash before my eyes. It looked a lot like a makeup-less wasteland.





Day Three
I found that I had begun to care less and less about my appearance in general. So I rocked the hobo look. Yes that is a blanket--I was freezing.

At this point, I really honestly felt like crap and I didn't know how I was going to make it through the next eight days. People had already begun to ask me if I was sick or if something was wrong. I was ridiculously annoyed--this is just my natural face, people! Then I remembered that very few people had ever seen me without makeup on and I had to remind myself to be a little kinder to them.

But I still couldn't find it in me to be kind to myself.

Days Four-Six and a half

Honestly nothing too eventful happened on these days. I still felt like crap, but my skin was starting to look tremendously better. Kay told me it was because I didn't have any chemicals crowding my pores to make me break out and suggested I do it for Lent as well. I debated slapping her.

At the end of day six, I went to a meeting, where someone I'd been working with for over a year sat down, looked at me and hastily apologized that he thought I was Juliana. He was thoroughly embarrassed when I informed him that I was, in fact, Juliana.

Day Eightish 
It's a blur of makeup-less torture. But I've figured out how to still look cute and not completely be a bum.


Day Nine
Almost there. Freaking thank you, God. The retreat is tonight. Only a few more days and I can be pretty again.




Day Eleven


The retreat is over and I can wear makeup again. But this weekend was pretty great--I clearly can see the deep self-hatred I have if I don't fit an arbitrary standard of perfection. I can see that my worth isn't tied to my physical beauty, but my heart and soul. My worth is in the Lord, who made me beautiful in His Image.

Lessons Learned: my worth is inherent. I am beautiful because of my soul. I am loved.

Now all I have to do is start believing it. Yikes!  Wish me luck!

Love abundantly,
Juliana

It's been a while! Life suddenly decided to throw all its punches at me in a short little span of time. It's definitely been stressful but I'm powering through. My cousin got married which was beautiful, but I had to fly halfway across the country! Nothin like a little trans-continental travel for the middle of your semester.

The skies of Baltimore

So I'm starting a self challenge today...about 11 days without makeup. I'm really really bad at going more than about an hour without makeup on. And when I say nothing, I literally mean that I can't have anything (including foundation). *insert cries here*

Anyway, I'm offering this challenge as a sacrifice for the success of my upcoming retreat. God grant me the ability to see unfading beauty and dignity in myself.


So in 11 days, you'll see me again and I'm going to tell you all about what I learn about myself through this 11 day process.

Love abundantly,
Juliana

Oh here we go...

So here's a story: there was this guy. This guy was convinced he knew everything. Guy always thought girls shouldn't wear makeup. But if one didn't wear makeup, he would wonder why they looked so bad. Guy did not know the difference between natural and neutral.

 This lovely picture to your right is natural. As you can see, I'm not wearing a stitch of makeup. My naturally multi-toned skin, my freckles, my obvious dark circles. It's not 'put together'.
Some days, I'm totally okay looking like this. Other days, I have majorly low self-confidence and I can't stand to walk outside without looking somewhat decent. That's the way it is.  If I wear makeup or don't wear makeup--it doesn't matter. I like myself; there are just some days I  need a boost!

The Neutral makeup look is really easy to achieve if that's the kind of effortlessness you are looking for! And that's what I'm gonna show you today.

Juliana's Effortless Neutral

• Products needed
• Concealer
• Foundation
• Powder
• Brown or Copper Eyeliner
• Pink Eyeshadow
• Mascara 
• Blush
• a nude or light pink lipstick

• Steps
• If you use Foundation Primer, this is the time to use it. I used MakeUp For Ever's HD Primer.
• Now, taking concealer, conceal your under eye circles and your splotches. For this step, I used two products: Kat Von D's Tattoo Concealer Pencil and benefit's Watt's Up concealer. 
• For my under eye circles, I used the benefit concealer--> I draw a downwards pointing triangle. The "bottom" of the triangle is under my eye and the point is on my cheek. This allows for more even blending.
• I use the concealer pencil on my acne spots and blend.
• Next step is the foundation. Mine is TooFaced BB cream in Snow Glow. I put a small dot on my finger and blend blend blend! Then I use a kabuki brush to blend even more!
• If you contour, this is the place to do it.
• Okie--powder. I use Revlon's Nearly Naked powder. 
• Take a powder brush and lightly apply the powder to your whole gorgeous face. This keeps shine down :)
• Eyebrows. Fill in. Fix.
• Eyeshadow
• I used Urban Decay Magic for this look. It is a gorgeous pink that has amazing pigment! I applied it to the whole of my eyelid and a little bit under my eye to help widen it.
• Then I took the pale pearl pink side of the Urban Decay Aura shadow and applied that to the arch under my eyebrow. 
• Eyeliner--I tightlined my eye with a copper eye pencil.
• Apply mascara! 
• Blush up those beautiful cheeks. I used E.L.F for this. It's got great pigment and is blessedly cheap.
• Lipstick. Kiss kiss :)

The Completed Look

I've already admitted I have a slight problem with makeup--so I re-downloaded (and have subsequently deleted) the Sephora App. And because I have a slight problem, I bought 4 Clinique Chubby Sticks. I have no shame.

I absolutely love to travel. But I hate the process. All the security hassle and the waiting and the uncomfortable seats...!? And you know what else happens on planes? Breakouts. That's what happens on planes. The dry air literally saps skin of moisture and causes breakouts like none other as the skin tries to overcompensate by producing more oil. Then skin dies and the dead skin cells get flaky and trapped in your pores and you breakout even more. It's a vicious cycle and all of it is terrible.

Juliana's Anti-Breakout tips and tricks
The key here is hydration and moisture. As a traveler, you have to ensure that you are drinking 8 oz of water per hour you are on your flight. (Yes you will have to pee. Sucks. Deal with it.) This is going to prevent dehydration and overall, keep your body healthier.

Now for the skin care. A day before I go on a flight, I exfoliKate everywhere.  ExfoliKate is the intensive exfoliation treatment by Kate Somerville; it clears up the skin of all the yucky dead cells really quickly. It's a little bit pricey, but I think it's 100% worth it (until I can find a good dupe ;)).

Anyway, the exfoliating treatment is so there is no dead skin and buildup in my pores before I start my flight, as those spots would just become acne sites in the dry air.

Now, on the flight, I always bring my emergency skin care bag--it contains Laura Mercier Foundation Primer, Simple Oil Balancing Wipes and a mini moisturizer. The Laura Mercier Foundation primer is literally the most amazing thing on this planet--it is a moisturizer and a primer combined into one. I use my wipes and foundation primer throughout the flight, about once every hour and 15 minutes, to make sure I'm keeping my skin nice and hydrated.

When I do get off the plane and get to where I'm going, the next step is to use Simple Exfoliating Wipes. This is to get all the fallen dead skin out of my pores and prevent breakouts over the next few days.

Waiting at 8 am to fly to Maryland!

Take care of your skin, shining stars. Skin care is the foundation of all beauty routines.

Products I like:

• Simple SkinCare: My absolute favorite brand of skin care products. Simple is the UK's #1 skincare brand and is made with no perfumes or harsh irritants that can cause sensitive skin like mine to break out. My favorite Simple products are the Radiance Skin Care Wipes, the Replenishing Rich Moisturizer, and the Foaming Facial Cleanser. I found that Simple controls my skin the best and prevents breakouts!
• ExfoliKate: So, so expensive. So, so good. I recommend getting the 0.5 bottles as they last for a few uses and cost significantly less than the 2.0 bottles 

It's my Old Hollywood look of course! A few years ago I was very inspired by the elegance of Audrey Hepburn--I went through a classic movie phase where Roman Holiday was on repeat. Yikes.
Anyway, I bought a lot of my pieces those next few years to imitate the "Audrey" look that she has throughout her movies. And I've gradually started adding my own favorite pieces to create a timeless, classy and yet, adorable, look!

Outfit of the Day
So this "Old Hollywood" look...
Audrey never wore peplum. But one of her classic looks is the slim leg pant and a basic shirt. I don't own anything with horizontal stripes to imitate the look I'm going for, so I adjusted. I took a polka dot peplum top from Bohme Boutique (site here) and paired it with dark wash jeggings, by Flying Monkey.

Instead of pulling an Audrey and opting for a cute flat, I decided to pair the outfit with a cute red heel from Mossimo Supply Co.








Makeup
My absolute favorite look is the basic cat-eye with a bold lip. For the eyes, I did a light, neutral smokey eye, using a set from Ulta, with navy blue liquid liner (Sailor's Kiss) from Sephora.

Steps for eyes:

• Prime the entire lid with Sin eyeshadow primer from Urban Decay
• Using light pink eyeshadow, cover the inner half of eyelid
• Now taking a contour brush, use a light brown on the outside of the eyelid. This adds depth and interest and makes your gorgeous eyes stand out beautifully!
• Liquid liner time! I always line the eye itself before attempting the wing. Best tip for beginners with wings and cat-eyes: you can use tape to create the angle you want, use your liner and peel away the tape! Ta-da--perfectly sharp angles.

I was in sixth grade when my great love affair with makeup and beauty began. It was that time in a young girl's life when she begins to become interested in the finer things of life...like not wearing a ponytail & scrunchie everyday. My lovely momma took me to the Clinique counter in Macy's to get my makeup done and as the stylist whipped out her purple and gold eyeshadows to make my blue eyes pop, my life was irrevocably changed.