Make Up Mondays With Ginny Lee: Eye Opener

Welcome to our new mini series 'Makeup Mondays.' We hope to provide helpful information for any lady and her makeup bag. Brandi and I always get small tutorials from Ginny and helpful hints and secrets and we thought it was about time we started sharing the wealth.

Today, Ginny is schooling us in how to achieve a clean, day look for 'open eyes.' I have almond shaped eyes and I know I'm probably doing a lot of things wrong with my makeup because sometimes they just look like two little slits on my face. Melodramatic? Perhaps. If you ever feel like that or just want to toy with a new look, follow the steps below.

(btw, we will be filming these tutorials from now on... I was just being a bit of a space cadet and grabbed the wrong camera that day)

 




Step 1: Apply eyeshadow primer on whole top lid. It conceals redness, veins, and will allow the eyeshadow's truest color to show. We used MAC Soft Ochre




Step 2: Apply a nude eyeshadow to whole top lid. We used MAC Brule



Step 3: Taking a taupe eyeshadow and a crease brush, apply the eyeshadow along the path of the top of your eye socket in a round motion (my eyes are almond so we want to accentuate roundness* as much as possible). We used MAC Omega

*From here on out, every mark that we will be making with a brush with be 'round' with the most weight in the middle.


SEE. Once again, we will be doing videos from here on out, but we hope these photos will get you through this first time.


Step 4: Apply a medium thick amount of eyeliner. Remember, apply heavy and thicker in the middle and taper off to thin at both corners of the eye. This reinforces the round look.  Then along your bottom lash line, apply gray eyeliner (black if you want a more dramatic or night look).

Once both liners are applied, go back over them with a matching eyeshadow with an eyeliner brush to 'set' liner. This will not only help the liner to last longer, but will also make the colors richer.

If you are new to eyeliner or just not good with it, Qtips will be your BFF at this point.

 

 SEE.

Step 5: Time to add a little dazzle. Take a pearl white eyeshadow and apply it from the middle of your eye to the inner corner of the eye. Then apply a little to the brow bone, just under your eyebrow where it starts to arch as a highlight. We used MAC Phloof

Step 6: Apply white, peach, or nude pencil at the bottom water line of the bottom lid.

Finish off the look with an eyelash curler and mascara!






This is me attempting to laugh with my eyes open... I think I just got a bad deal when it comes to my laughing face. ha.


If you are going to spend the time on your makeup, please do the same for your hair. It makes all the difference.

Are there any makeup tips+tricks you are having trouble with? Ginny Lee will be back every week!

AROUND MY HOME/// THE LISENBE GUEST ROOM

maybe you have seen this room in THIS VIDEO before but...I decided to show you again with detail.


The room was clean but I forgot to take photo's before our guest arrived. This is the room while it's being used, and bless his heart, he made the bed everyday.
Here are some of the things we do to make our guests feel right at home.
- Comfy pillows
- It is very important to have clean sheets, pillowcases, and linens (make sure they smell good and fresh).
- Have some reading material on bed stand so they can look through incase they can't fall asleep.
- Scented candles. Because rooms are always better if they smell good.
- Fresh flowers or a plant makes it a litte more cozy.
-Have a bag for your guests dirty clothes. (hanging on armoire)
-Make sure you have a lamp on the side of the bed incase they get up in the middle of the night.

Set aside some essentials like water, snacks (goldfish, assorted nuts), candy, razor, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, loofa, shower cap, gum, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, wash cloth, towel. There is always something you forget when traveling.
I like making it feel like a hotel, but way better!

If you have an out of town guest a little welcome to Texas gift is a fun idea!
We silk screened yellow roses on a texas flag bandana for one of our guests. I hope he loved it!




This photo is awful! Jacob can't stand the bin of bags and purses I have on top of armoire but I don't know where else to put them for now. Yes I have a problem. I can't stop buying purses, bags, wallets, and fanny packs! HELP! How should I store them?
- We like having little inside jokes around the room. We can't show you, it might offend some.

-If they are on a business trip maps of your city, and lists of your favorite places is a big help!

- Little hook for their towels.




Just for fun we (Kelly and I) made a guest check-in. Every time we have a guest stay over, it's recorded and if we have film on us we take a photo. We have index cards too in case they want to leave us a note. They always leave a note:)

We also have an index box filled with polaroids for guests to look through. Polaroids are always fun.

As you can see we still have a long way to go with this guest room, but if you saw what it looked like before, you'd be proud. It used to be filled with rolling racks and boxes of clothes. Thank God my friend Susan came over and helped me load four huge boxes to sell and donate to the women's shelter. Also, thank God I have a seester that helped me put the room together!

I would love to see your guest rooms, or hear any tips how I can make my guest room even more cozy:)

-B

CLICK HERE for more photo's of our guest room and living room.

HOW TO: Style Music Fest Hair

Hey gals and guys! Anyone else running around like a chicken with its' head cut off this week trying to prepare for SXSW? In the spirit of SXSW and music fest season, Brandi and I have been looking for simple, but stylish hair solutions. We've been seeing a lot of the braided friendship bracelets come back into circulation and then we picked up NYLON magazine and they brought that same feel to some long locks. Watch the video to see how you can have a unique hairstyle that will look good all day without effort while at SXSW.  

WATCH SPRING STYLE VIDEO

*since this is how I plan to wear my while at SX (wednesday-sunday), I did a test run this week and so far, so good. BONUS, it's sleep proof. All I've been doing is using a little dry shampoo to freshen the look (starting around morning #3).




Music by Finnegan (will be playing at SXSW)