Brighten Winter's Dull...

February's dreary weather report may have you feeling a little less than energetic. Take time to treat your skin nicely, and invite a little color in to brighten your mood--the rest will follow.

Shape magazine (February 2011) had a great spread called “Winter Brights”. It talked about “taking a vacation from your neutral makeup and dark clothing” to encourage happy thoughts about the way you look and feel. Favorite hues like hot pinks, lemon yellows, luscious lilacs, creative corals and gracious greens colored each page with enthusiasm.

These shades are fun and exciting, and this is a great time to ease into spring. If it’s cold outside, but your lips are hot (pink), you’ll reek of happiness... Adding something new and different is a treat, especially when you can do it one piece at a time. Start wearing these colors now, and come Springtime you’ll be blooming.

The next step to brightening your day is finding your color. Shade selections from sarimotley are at the ready, so follow the links below.

• Pinks: Stript Lipstick Pencil in Clover, Stript Crushed Mineral Blush in Devine and Mineral Cheek Color in Pink Quartz
• Yellows: Mineral Eye Shadow in Canary Diamond and Mineral Matte Eye Shadow in Limonite (coming soon)
• Lilacs: Mineral Matte Eye shadow in Hyacinth, Stript Crushed Mineral Blush in Sugar (deep lilac)
• Corals: Mineral Matte Eye Shadow in Terra Peach, Mineral Eye Shadow in Peach Quartz, Stript Crushed Mineral Eye Shadow in Jasmine, Mineral Blush in Coral Sun, Mineral Matte Blush in Adobe, Creme Blush in Just Blush (coming soon)
• Greens: Mineral Eye Shadow in Mojito, Stript Crushed Mineral Eye Shadow in Roxie

SariMotley Cosmetics: Five Under Twenty-Five

From daily doings to holiday happenings, there is always a need/want to feel pretty, and who doesn't want to do that for less? Here is a list of the top five (in no particular order) sarimotley products to give or to get for under $25.

Bare Beautiful Body Oil

This ultra-light, body-smoothing oil graces your bareness and beauty with nourishment and a hint of light. A skin-nourishing treat for just $18.

Tassi

The Tassi is a simple solution for keeping your hair out of your face when washing, applying makeup, getting a facial or anything. Tassi is for doing what you do without messing up your doo; a must-have for only $15.

Stript Mineral Veil

This weightless, translucent powder is designed to create perfect luminosity. Prime skin for a smooth and even mineral application, dust over finished makeup or use alone for effortless radiance. You'll feel flawless for just $19.

Senna Spot Lites Pencil

With pearly pink and champagne colors, this double-ended duo highlights brows, eyes and more. Twenty-two dollars will put this perfect pencil in your purse.

Eye Shadow

Stript Crushed Mineral Eye Shadow: high-intensity, crushed mineral color specially formulated to be worn wet or dry... $15. Or find a favorite shade or more (at only $.7.50 each) in the Mineral Eye Shadow sold in single color blister pack pan to go in your eye shadow pallet.

Stript Lipstick Pencil with Sharpener

This one-of-a-kind lipstick liner crayon allows you to line and fill lips in a single component. The ultra-hydrating formula is naturally scented with aromatic hints on vanilla extract and almond ($15). And to prevent excess loss and breakage of your colorful lip crayon, add the Stript Pencil Sharpener for only $6.

If you have questions about these or other products, send a email to sari@ sarimotley.com or visit our contact page.

Have a happy & healthy holiday season.

Being Bronze

Allure magazine offered valuable skin-warming info in the article Bronze Works, June 2010. Plainly stated, "with expert tips on avoiding the most common mistakes, you'll have healthy, pretty, natural-looking color in no time..." Visit Allure.com for article information.

This article was hugely inspiring for our blushing bride's sun-kissed photo shoot... We played with multi-dimensional colors from creative corals to tempting tawnies, and a NEW limited edition mineral eye shadow foursome that really got her glowing. The color story was simple, expressive and sultry.

The cheeks were dynamic (a little sneak peak at Fall 2010, read: blush is big for Fall); from coral sun to a pinch of un-tame fun this delightful combination delivered.

The smoldering summer eye, crafted from the limited edition, mineral foursome was beautiful and brilliant.

For more information on this look or to schedule an appointment, send an email to sari@sarimotley.com or visit the contact page. Images courtesy of Sara Catherine Photography.

Suncare!

I could not wait to tell you about this great find! I have searched for natural, chemical free suncare for years, and I have something special coming really soon.

Meet COOLA. COOLA meet my friend who has been longing for natural suncare products sans the harsh chemicals…

The COOLA Natural Mineral Sunblock Collection merges the perfect blend of natural and organic ingredients with Zinc and Titanium Dioxide. This new collection has a little something for everyone (face, body, sport and baby), and they are easily integrated into your daily skincare practices. In addition to COOLA's natural sunblock features, find moisture-rich products that are chock-full of anti-agers, organic extracts and anti-oxidants. Every product is free of PABA, Parabens, Petroleum and Phthalates; and it's made right here in the USA.

COOLA is bringing a multi-functional collection of natural, organic suncare to sarimotley cosmetics, and I am very excited about that! I have testers available for you to touch and try, and I am taking pre-orders now (sari@sarimotley.com). Product will be here June 23, 2010.

Spring Update Twenty-Ten

If you haven't already noticed, Spring is in full swing - as should be your makeup. Maybe you'll enjoy a new take on your favorite neutral or find fun-to-wear colors that bring out your creative side. Whatever you do, do it with confidence and flair.

Spring is about an alluring glow that not only oozes radiance, it also boldly states you know who you are. This is the time of year when it's OK to play with delicate shimmer on the eyes and cheeks. Were not talking disco ball here, think softer and less assuming. Achieve this with Stript Mineral Veil before or after applying Stript Crushed Mineral Foundation (available in ten shades).

This season's color palette offers a fresh new energy to sheer and glossy: imagine just picked when in comes to reds, pinks and corals. Yes, corals... yesterday's corals are tuckered out. Seek out present-day melons, peaches and tangerines with hints of honey and soft gold like Stript Lipstick-Liner Pencil in Holly - my favorite of the day.

Red lips are moving forward with brighter intensities than before, and gold is just glorious - being seen anywhere from eye lids to tiptoes. For a great multi-use gold, check out Stript Crushed Mineral Eye Shadow in Misty.

Keep your go-to neutrals close by, but this time pair them with one bold color like a cherry-red lip (Stript Lipstick-Liner Pencil in Scarlett or, for your pinker days, Clover). Earth tones always feel safe, and knowing you can freshen them up with accents for your eyes like honey golds (Misty), peachy corals (Jasmine), perfect plums (Latoya), mossy-like greens (Roxie) or beautiful blues (Venus) is a real treat.

Lastly, lashes are stepping up to bat, read: all the rage! Find your favorite glue-on pair from simple to snazzy. My personal favorites, NTR 13 & 14.

To revamp your look for Spring or schedule a makeup lesson, send an email to sari@sarimotley.com or visit the contact page.

Happy Spring.

What Are You Not Wearing?

It's almost here: a long awaited collection of makeup that is CLEAN and BEAUTIFUL.

You heard me right, girl. I have happily provided you with beautiful mineral and fashion makeup for 4 years, and I am super-excited to share this eco-sexy collection of new, pure and long-wearing marine minerals.

Meet Stript. Developed out of a tireless search for a brand of cosmetics that not only talks the talk, but can also walk the walk! Stript is 100 PERCENT paraben, fragrance and talc FREE, and VEGAN. This brand unites purity and product safety and is chock-full of some of the best ingredients nature has to offer. Experience Stript at sarimotley cosmetics, and love what you are not wearing!

Brow Coiffure

As I continue in my 2009 series of "before & after" stories, I want to introduce you to lovely Laurel. Laurel came for a "brow lesson" tonight, let me share.

First off, there aren't many women who feel complete, without paying a little attention to the brows; so Laurel, you are not alone.

Powder is a great and natural looking way to fill in (sparse) brows. I like the mineral matte shadows in sand, dusk, cashmere or twig. The powder is more likely to stick to the skin, not the hair. If you don't have a lot of hair, shading in the skin where you want a fuller brow is ideal. I picked two shades for Laurel to find the most natural look. One color was very similar to her own brow color, and the other was slightly deeper.

After we had the shade selections, we prepped the brows. You can do this with a brow comb or clean mascara wand. Next, I showed her how to fill in the scant areas using a combination of our two colors and an angled brush. Short, feather-like strokes applied in the same direction the hair is growing gives a more natural appearance — think of it as creating a feathery line to mimic hair.

Last, we finished with a clear brow gel to help keep brows and color in place.

Allure Says

I happened upon an ALLURE article, and wanted to share. It's called: The 10 Beauty Mistakes That Add 10 Years. I found the information so valuable to looking great and being timeless. Here are six points that really spoke to me, and I added a little sarimotley adaptation:

Foundation is Too Thick
When your makeup is too heavy it can draw attention to features you are likely trying to diminish. Go with a sheer foundation, like the sheer mineral tint (with spf 20). Cake may be tasty, but looking "cakey" is no real treat.

Foundation is Too Light
Here you go: note to self, go warmer as you get older. When foundation is lighter than your natural skin tone it can magnify fine lines. Also, incorporate a little luminescence. Try the sheer mineral veil, its light reflective minerals will have you looking gorgeous, not gloomy.

Too Much Concealer on Dark Circles
It's apparent that under eye skin gets thinner as we age, so applying thick concealer will only accentuate what we are trying to hide (conceal). Keep this area light and bright by using mineral products and always apply with a brush. With a brush you are better able to get the product right where you want/need it.

The Big Apple... Of Your Cheek
There was a shift in blushing, suggesting that applying to apples of the cheek created a more youthful appearance... And it does when you are 20!! When we age, and gravity is more apparent (sagging skin), applying blush to the apples will likely draw attention to gravity's work (sagging skin). Apply color (my new favorite: coral sun) on the highest point on your cheekbones, and not too close to the nose.

The Migratory Pattern of Lipstick
As we age, the natural lip line begins to fade, which causes feathering and bleeding. Trace lips with a nude or clear lip pencil to keep color in its intended place, your lips. My favorite lip "tools" are: nude lip pencil for recreating that vanishing lip line, and the lip volumizing gloss in five sheer shades. When used regularly (3 x day for 29 days), this gloss will help increase lip volume, reduce lines and improve lip moisture.

Shimmering Shadow
If you're like me, then you probably love a little shimmer... But as we age, it's best kept to the inner corner, center of lids and just under the brow bone. Create your best look with a combination of eye shadow textures from matte to a slight shimmer.

Read this ALLURE article in its entirety at: http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-look/makeup-skin-care-hair/staticslideshowallure.aspx?cp-documentid=19543405&GT1=32032.