August 27. 2013 11:19PM

Fall is quickly approaching and the September issues of the top style magazines are out, displaying all the new hair trend colors – are you ready to make the change?


Working at the Sapphire Salon & Destination Spa, I see a lot of hair color clients come in every six-to-eight weeks for their color retouch. I also see the same people come in for their new spring/summer or fall/winter trend color looks every season.


This fall/winter, hair color collections are featuring soft cool brown tones, very bright whites, neutral wheat blondes and, of course, natural golden redheads. Whichever color you decide to transform yourself with, it is very vital to update your makeup collection to go with it, as well as fit in with the latest seasonal trends.


If you are making that drastic change, be sure to set aside extra time with your stylist or makeup artist for a makeup lesson to help sort out and pick up new shades of eye colors, lip colors, and cheek colors to compliment your new look.


I know from experience that whenever I change my hair color, I am quite weary about the initial transformation and second guess the whole thing until I change up my blush or bronzer.


When going with a new hair color, always take into consideration your eye color. Pick out different tones within your iris and go with them for your new color; that way you’re staying true to your natural chemistry and, no matter the level of drastic change, this new hue will still compliment you.


Take that same theory and apply it to your new makeup, taking the colors that are in your iris and using matching tones on the eyes, lips, and cheeks. If you have blue eyes or green eyes with no other golden tones in them, it’s obvious you can’t wear blue or green blush/lipstick. In cases like this, it’s best to look at a color wheel and use something opposite these colors that will be complimentary to them.


For example, blue eyes look amazing with bronze, golden, or copper tones. Green goes great with red, purple, or gold tones. Keeping your look cohesive and monochromatic is the best way to go; it’s very natural, and no matter who you are or what you look like, it’s the most flattering. Besides, no one really ever compliments how amazing your red and black mohawk makes your eyes look and, if they do, do they mean it?


Tip: Dark Coca-Cola-colored lips are a must this fall, but to maintain a sense of beauty, keep the rest of your look light and airy.


Trick: Change up your existing natural hair color with vibrant-colored shampoos that will add or impart specific tones to liven up your hair. Aveda carries such shampoos and conditioners for redheads, brunettes, black hair, golden blondes, and platinum blondes at aveda.com.

August 14. 2013 1:19AM

I recently ran a pole asking “What is one thing women would like to learn about with their makeup?”, whether it was a step-by-step, how-to, or recent trends. The winner was makeup for aging skin, the over-40 crowd and how to enhance their natural features and give the overall appearance of looking younger.


My first piece of advice would be to stay out of the sun, but that would be a more preventative thing you would do and this article is going to focus more on what your face looks like now and how to make the most of your makeup to perk up and give yourself a plastic surgery-free makeover.


When working with your eyes, if you have a heavier eye lid make sure to keep it simple; less is more when it comes to enhancing the eyes. Use a bright champagne light-catching color all over the lid, from lash line to brow bone. Then take a deeper, more matte color complimentary to your iris color and place that in the outer third of your eye, from the corner of your eye up toward your brow bone and slightly up onto it (in and upward and outward motion). This darker shade on the outer third of your eye will help to sink back that heavier section, giving you a more defined almond shape, which helps open your eye up. If your lid is extra heavy I suggest to even skip eyeliner altogether and just use an extra coat of mascara for additional definition.


For your foundation I would keep it clean and simple with a tintedmoisturizer or a cream foundation, as both will help hydrate and plump fine line and wrinkles while giving you a more natural, diffused skin appearance.


As for cheek color, I absolutely love using a cream blush; not only do they stay all day but they continue to give you that dewy, more alive skin with a pop of radiance.


Lipstick for maturing skin is tough only because not everyone has complete issues with puckering or lines appearing on the lips, but whether or not you have this particular problem I would advise you to start with a lip plumper. The lip plumper will help push out some of the lines in the lip, giving you a fuller smoother lip. Once the lip plumper has served its purpose, take a lipstain and apply it to both top and bottom. A lip stain won’t bleed on you and will also act as a nice base for anything you put on after, creating a brilliant longevity. Keep your lip color similar to your cheek color. If you have a more sallow complexion I suggest going with something a little more vibrant, such as a jewel tone.


To guarantee your makeup stays on all day, finish with a setting spray. I love any of the Urban Decay setting sprays which were created by a brand called Skindinavia (skindinavia.com) who specialize in makeup setting sprays.


Tip: Make sure you define your brows! They give you more character and a more youthful appearance the thicker they are!


Trick: Apply a few small or medium individual lashes to give you a natural shadow on the outer corner of your eye for a simple eye-defining enhancement.

July 31. 2013 12:49AM

With fall fashion shows and collections popping up everywhere this time of year, you have to admit to yourself that summer is almost over. Be ahead of the curve and start your fall makeup and skincare shopping now!


Most people are accustomed to owning a spring/summer foundation, which is usually a deeper tone and something lighter like a sheerloose powder, such as bare minerals. In the fall/winter, foundations tend to be a lighter tone and people usually go with a fuller coverage, like a cream compact foundation.


What people don’t know is that your skin changes with each season. In the summer our skin tends to be a little oilier and more hydrated, so using a foundation like a tinted moisturizer would be beneficial. A tinted moisturizer with oil-controlling properties will stay on the skin longer, plus it will allow your skin to breathe and sweat through it without ruining your makeup. You can still achieve a decent amount of coverage by layering the tinted moisturizer and finishing it off with a sheer pressed powder, allowing for a more airbrushed look. Plus, 99 percent of the time, tinted moisturizers have an SPF to help protect the skin from sun damage.


In the fall/winter our skin can be very dry. Colder air and harsh winds will draw the dewiness right out of our skin, causing it to look dull and lifeless. This fall/winter try using liquid foundation, even though it seems many people are afraid of the old, traditional liquid foundations. (You know, the ones that are super thick and crease everywhere - not to mention the smell!) Now, liquid foundations are so much more advanced, most of which include some sort of skin care benefit in them as well as having a medium-to-full build-able coverage that doesn’t feel tight or thick on the skin, still allowing it to breathe while keeping it hydrated.


A fantastic group of liquid foundations I love include such items as Stila: Stay All Day Foundation ($44), Benefit: Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation ($34), Urban Decay: Skin ($38), and The Sapphire Salon’s private label collection: Mineral liquid foundation ($14). Coverage without compromise, these weightless formulas diffuse most imperfections for a flawless finish that not only feels invisible, but looks professionally retouched/airbrushed. Another good thing about these foundations is they are infused with oxygen and minerals. This allows the skin to breathe, which will help to control oil and bacteria to minimize skin blemishes and impurities. These innovative formulas also help to slow down the onset of premature aging and promote healthy, hydrated and vibrant skin.


Lastly, when choosing a liquid foundation that is right for you, make sure to select a color that will last you from the start of fall all the way to the end of winter. There is no need to purchase multiple foundations for every single season. If you feel that the tone is a little pale in the beginning, add a little bit of bronzer to the areas the sun would hit your face (all the higher planes like the forehead, nose, cheekbones and chin). This will give a subtle glow and make your foundation a little more cohesive with the leftover bit of tan you may have.


For you guys out there that feel like your skin is lacking in the luster department, try a BB cream or CC Cream. The Sapphire Salon’s BB Cream ($16) will help all of your skin concerns, such as blotchiness, dryness, and uneven tone. The best part is that it doesn’t feel like you are wearing anything, so you still maintain that comfortable no makeup look with added UVA/UVB protection this season.


Tip: The fall complexion trend is a nice velvet finish, so go with a more matte/satin finish foundation and leave dewy for the summer! Add matte to your existing summer foundation with a matte-fying pressed powder.


Trick: Find a primer that has added skin care benefits to help boost the process of renewal and repair from your overexposed summer complexion. BB and CC creams used as primers, especially ones with hyaluronic acid, will do the trick.

July 17. 2013 1:15AM

Makeup Rules: The Real King Bob (Bobby Walsh)

You’re sitting by the pool and all of a sudden someone does a cannon ball into the water and splashes you. You are having a nice lunch outside when it begins to pour and you didn’t bring an umbrella. You become an innocent bystander trapped in the middle of a water balloon fight, or you are just simply enjoying your pool and hot tub ever so carefully trying not to go under the water. All of these scenarios will probably happen to you at some point this summer, and I’ll help you get prepared to take on all of these tasks wide-eyed and waterproofed. Nothing can stand in the way of these perfect treatments to keep your eye makeup smudge-free this summer!


The first treatment that I found to be a great help with waterproofing your eyes and giving them that natural, no-makeup definition perfect for diving right into the pool is eyelash perming and tinting. When you perm the eyelashes it helps open up the eye, and then newly curled lashes will give you that flirty, natural, smoked definition to any makeup look.


The perming process is safe, fairly quick, and definitely painless. Customized soft rods hold the lashes in place as a gel solution is applied and, after a few minutes, wiped off, followed by the removal of the rods - voila, you’re finished!


Eyelash tinting will help add a deeper color to less visible, lighter colored lashes; you can choose from blue black, black, dark brown, brown and auburn. Tinting guarantees full color coverage from root to tip, making the lashes appear longer and darkening them to give you a natural definition along your lash line, as if you had a slight amount of liner on. Eyelash perming and tinting will last a good 4 to 6 weeks or until you fully replace your lashes naturally. Mine lasted me close to two-and-a-half months or so. I really enjoyed it since my lashes tend to point downward; it helped to open my eye up significantly. Locally, I know The Sapphire Salon & Spa (www.thesapphiresalon.com) offers these particular services for a combined total of $47 at around and hour of your time at the longest.


The other new and amazing service for waterproofing your lashes for a makeup-free, no-mess summer eye is semi-permanent mascara. A special quick-drying mascara formula is applied to your curled lashes ever so carefully, making sure each lash is separated, and a drying tool is also given to help speed up the process. Once your top is done they move to the bottom, then back to the top, guaranteeing sufficient lash coverage. This mascara formula, unlike the perming and tinting, will give you significant length and beautiful volume. This mascara will last 10 day to 3 weeks; I just suggest to research a little and make sure you aren’t using too many oil-based products around your eyes that will prevent the mascaras true longevity. Permanent mascara can also be found at The Sapphire for around $28, also a great alternative to the four-day lash stain I used to use from Tarte, since it has been discontinued.


Tip: Run your lash curler under hot water or lightly warm up the curler with a blow dryer before curling your lashes for extra longer lasting curl.


Trick: For additional daily definition with eyelash perming and tinting use a clear mascara, so if it runs you won’t have a mess under your eyes.

July 03. 2013 1:41AM

I recently read an article on using random household items in unconventional ways to make your life easier or to create something new altogether. Since then, I decided to go through all of my makeup and skin care products, as well as household items and, with a little research online and a few things I’ve heard, I tried some of these DIYtricks.


Here are the five things that I tried and found most useful in my everyday routines, first starting with the ever-annoying breakout.


Concealing is probably the best way to hide a monster pimple, but a lot of times you only get rid of the redness, not the large swollen bump on your chin. I have learned that warming up a tea bag in hot water then placing it on the problem area, repeating two to three times, will help loosen the debris in the clogged pore, allowing you to extract it easier. Follow this with a cold spoon to bring down the swelling, finally allowing you to conceal over the area much better.


My second favorite thing I like to do is, when I am out of hand and foot lotion, I like to take one of the many soy candles I have in my apartment and melt them; since it’s a soy wax it doesn’t get as hot as a normal candle. I then use the soy wax as a hand and foot lotion. The soy wax makes my hands and feet extra smooth and soft, great for rough dry skin. Plus it makes for an awesome massage lotion!


The third item is mascara as eye liner. If you have ever run out of your gel or liquid eye liner, just dip your angled brush into a water proof mascara and use that as a liner; it lasts all day with no flaking or running.


Item number four is rubbing alcohol, a great trick if you accidently smash your favorite blush or eye shadow. First continue to chop up the already damaged product into a fine powder, then place powder back into the compact or shadow pan and press down, packing the product in and flat. Saturate with rubbing alcohol and continue to smooth the product out. Once the alcohol dries and evaporates, your makeup will be like brand new.


Item number five is a cheap and excellent way with the use of olive oil as an eye makeup remover! You may need to use a little more product then you would with a typical synthetic cleanser, but the olive oil breaks down the waterproof properties of eye makeup with an organic approach, leaving the skin around your eyes hydrated, conditioned and makeup free.


I can probably go on and on with the many different items I learned that you can use in non-traditional ways to get the most out of your purchases. With that said, I will leave you with two more.


Tip: Use a flesh-toned eye pencil to open your eyes more by applying it to the water line. You can also use it to highlight your cupids bow to give you a fuller pucker, and spot conceal pimples or under-eye circles.


Trick: Before you try to conceal a tattoo for a special event try using a white waterproof liquid liner over the tattoo before applying the concealer; it will virtually vanish.

June 18. 2013 10:48PM
By Bobby Walsh (The Real King Bob), Special to the Weekender 

Most people don't wear makeup in the summer - in fact who wants to? It's hot, humid, rainy, and sometimes you're in and out of a pool or doing some sort of outdoor activity where you might sweat it all off.

So, I collected a group of products that I love for the summer to help prep, prime, calm, and enhance your complexion!

Not everyone has the same skin type, but a good majority of people are oily in the summer months and drier in the winter, so I like to start off with a good cleanser. I use Philosophy Purity gel cleanser ($21, sephora.com). This particular foaming gel cleanser is the sister or brother product to Philosophy's award-winning Purity Made Simple cleanser, but instead has a fresh-foaming deep clean that foams as you lather, removing dirt, oil, impurities, and makeup, even eyemakeup.

Once I am done cleansing my face I like to use an Aveda productcalled Botanical Kinetics Exfoliant ($20, aveda.com). This non-abrasive liquid exfoliant wipes away leftover dead skin cells, excess dirt, and oil, revealing a smoother, clearer, more refined complexion beneath, and pores that are ready for ultimate moisture absorption with its toner like qualities. You won't believe the amount of makeup and dirt that comes off your face even after you just cleansed; it's amazing.

Now you need a good moisturizer. I like to stick with something that is light, gel based, non-oily, and contains Hyaluronic acid or hyaluronate which multiplies your skin's moisture level tenfold, counteracting the effects of dry indoor heat, low humidity, and chronic dryness. Skin feels instantly comfortable and it helps fight dehydration. I like to use Mario Badescu Cellufirm drops and Cellufirm moisturizer ($18-$25, mariobadescu.com).

My final step to help even out your complexion, but to keep your skin comfortable and summer-ready, is a tinted moisturizer. Mmy favorite is Stila's sheer color tinted moisturizer with an SPF of 20 ($34, stilacosmetics.com) and Tarte's cheek stain in Tipsy ($30, ulta.com), which gives you that sweet proof long-lasting dewy finish.

You can then pick a long-wear lip stain or lip balm and a water proof mascara to complete your look.

Tip: Eyelash perming and tinting are great ways to get darker, more visible lashes that won't melt or smudge in the heat or water (great for vacations and swimming).

Trick: Don't have a cheek stain? Add a little bit of your favorite long-wear lip color or lip stain into your tinted moisturizer and apply on your cheeks for a homemade summer-proof cheek stain.

March 16. 2013 5:33PM
by Bobby Walsh, Special to the Weekender 

Blushing is a sign of attraction in men and women; itâ??s also involuntary and uncontrollable. What if I told you I can make you blushto maintain that attraction all day? Follow these simple tips and tricks to get the perfect flush good enough to make him blush!


When starting your blush routine, you need to decide whether or not your skin is cool or warm. To do so, take a swatch of gold eyeshadow and silver eyeshadow and place them on your skin. Next, look to see which of the shadows blend into your skin easier â?? that will determine whether you are cool or warm.


If your skin matches better with the silver shadow, you are cool, and when it matches with the gold, you are warm. Cool colored blushes have more of a blue undertone: for example, a pink, rose, and mauve. Warm colored blushes have a yellow undertone: for example, coral, peach, and bronze. It starts to get a little tricky â?? pink can have a blue or yellow undertone as well as any of the aforementioned cheek colors.


Now itâ??s time for application. Begin applying your blush in an upward and outward motion towards the top of your ear from a finger space outside the apple of your cheek. You can also make little â??Xâ? motions with your brush, allowing the color to hit both top and bottom of your cheekbone to maximize color coverage and to help blend out the blush, so there are no harsh lines.


Highlighting your cheeks will give you the appearance of having higher, more prominent cheekbones. To highlight, take any lighter shimmery, semi-translucent powder or eyeshadow, and in the same motion as before, sweep along the top of your cheekbone. To locate the area for highlighting, take your pointer finger and touch the apple of your cheek and rotate your hand so that the bottom on your finger is towards your ear; that is your cheekbone, and your highlight should go one finger space above that.


Contouring your cheeks will add more definition to the structure of your cheekbones, giving you a slimmer, more constructed appearance: think Victoria Beckham. The use of a darker foundation powder or bronzer will be perfect for any contour.


To find your cheek contour, locate the area known as your â??hollow.â? Your hollow will be located one finger space below your cheekbone. Then, in an upward and outward motion like the highlight and blush, apply the contour color. Once finished, I like to take a clean, fluffy powder brush and lightly dust over the entire application to subtly blend everything together for a very natural, healthy glow!


A simple trick to find a good blush is to keep it similar to your lip color, creating a very monochromatic overall look (unless you are wearing a trend/high fashion color, then stick with a neutral blush).

June 05. 2013 1:00AM
By Bobby Walsh (The Real King Bob), Weekender Correspondent 

Fake your way to a healthy glow this summer by staying out of the tanning beds and replacing all that beautiful, yet harmful, sun with self tanning products. The future of self tanners has arrived: no more bright orange skin, sticky messes, stained hands, and nasty odor. Get that sunkissed look and keep it all summer with these easy steps and amazing products from Fake Bake.
Step one is to exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate. The use of a loofah makes things much quicker and efficient, but the products you use in the shower really do play an important role in prepping and maintaining that tan. Make sure your body wash is in the oil-free family and has exfoliating beads in it; the oils in the body wash will affect the spraytan in a negative way. Oils will create a barrier on the skin, preventing the tanner to penetrate. Also, once the tan is on, any oil based products will draw the pigment of the tanner out of the skin, making it not last as long. (Just like if you put a lip gloss over a lip stain, it's not going to last). Fake Bake brand has a passion fruit body polish ($14) that is designed to go hand-in-hand with the self tanner, and smells amazing.
Next, dry off really well and make sure you do not put any other products on the skin, especially any type of fragrance, deodorant or body lotion. The Fake Bake products are organic and have a color guard (tinted base) in them that works with the self-adjusting formula and will react with any synthetic products on the skin, creating an unwanted green cast.
Now it's time to apply the self tanner. I suggest using Flawless selftanning liquid from Fake Bake; it comes with a velvet mitt that you can use to apply the product directly to your body without making a mess on your hands. The total application will only take five minutes and because of the tinted base you can see where the product is applying.
I suggest small circular motions, like you're buffing that tanner right onto yourself. Fake Bake flawless ($26) dries quickly, so you can get dressed just minutes after. I suggest keeping the Flawless on for six to eight hours before washing off, or do it at night and sleep in it! The next morning wash it off, allowing the color guard to rinse off and reveal the natural customized tan that works with your own natural melanin so that you have a rich brown tan, and guarantees you're not orange!
Finally, reapply after four to six days to keep that tan going strong, and just make sure to keep that skin hydrated and protected with at least SPF 30. Also, ensure all of your maintenance products are oil free!
Tip: Fake Bake also makes a new 60 min tanning liquid that only takes one hour to process for a light tan, two hours for a medium tan, and a maximum of three hours for a dark tan!
Trick: Take the remainder self tanner that is on your mitt and gently rub your face to give you a subtle glow without packing on the face tanner!

May 22. 2013 8:56AM
By Bobby Walsh (The Real King Bob), Special to the Weekender 

I want to take a break from makeup this time to focus on another area of cosmetics that we all love – nails! The past few months we have seen feathers, newspapers, crystals, beads, flocking, charms, studs, and LOTS OF GLITTER, but this season, we're taking a step back and keeping things simple.

Light creamy pastels, natural nudes, and soft creams are taking over, allowing more focus to be directed towards the makeup and clothing. Sheer glossy, almost candy coated colors are popping up everywhere from every brand; one of my favorites is “Oxygen” by China Glaze ($7.50), which is a light, almost white semi-sheer eggshell color.

Another in the same family of color is “Jacqueline” from the new spring collection by Zoya ($8.00). Sticking with the same spring collection from Zoya, the color “Neely” is a soft creamy sea foam green. Butter London also has that perfect creamy opaque mint green called “Fiver” ($15.00). If you are going for the sheer pink French manicure look minus the white tips, I suggest “Bubble Bath” by OPI ($9.00) or “Go Ginza,” a soft cherry blossom pink from Essie ($8.00).

The term “ombré” isn't just for your hair or lips anymore; now you can create a simple ombré look on your nails simply by taking some of your older colors from past collections in similar families of color and apply one color to each nail going from a medium color to one of the new sheer pastel colors! If you want a more advanced nail ombré take a makeup wedge and run it under water, then wring out any excess water. After you apply a nice base coat to your nails, take a pastel color of your choice along with a natural nude color and apply them in a swatch-like pattern next to each other on the wedge, then press onto the nail. Repeat this step until you have your desired opacity, then with some nail polish remover, clean up the area around your nails (trust me, its messy) and you're finished!

I like to finish all my looks with a matte top coat; my favorite is “Matte About You” from Essie ($10.00). It even gives glitter polishes a more sand-like appearance for a more satin shimmer without all that glitter glimmer.

Tip: Base coat is an absolute must; it's that special barrier that keeps unwanted oils away that cause chipping!

Trick: Create your own nude polish that matches your skin tone perfectly by adding your shade of your favorite mineral foundation to a clear nail lacquer or top coat, mix well, and voila, the perfect nude for you!

May 08. 2013 12:19AM
By Bobby Walsh (The Real King Bob), Special to the Weekender

Go big or go home! Luscious lashes are a must-have this summer, a quick and easy way to spice up any makeup look, or you can wear them alone to create a natural smoke to your eyes. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on eyelash extensions and spend hours in the salon getting your lash extensions filled! Yes, they are beautiful, but the maintenance and cost isn't necessary. Strip lashes can give you an even more dramatic trend-worthy look this summer with unique cuts and placement that a 3D lash extension can't give you. Here are some great tips on how to use and maintain a worry-free dramatic lash this summer!

To start off, you need glue that will outlast the competition but will still be less damaging to your natural lashes. I suggest DUO EyelashAdhesive – it's a latex-based glue that, once dried, still maintains a descent elasticity so your real lashes can move and breathe. This formula comes in two shades: original, which is white but dries clear, and dark tone, which is grey and dries to a nice black. I prefer the dark tone since the black color helps to fill in the lashes and hides gaps, also giving a fuller appearance.

Now for application of your strip lashes to maintain that worry-free non-lifting experience. Cut the strip lash in half or even thirds. You can then easily apply each section to your lid instead of trying to get it all on in one try, or you can just apply one of the pieces to the outer corner of your eye to give you that subtle, smoked out outer corner, which gives you that perfect almond-shaped eye.

Individual lashes that come in small bursts of hair are also easy to apply and will give you that little something extra every day of the summer, and unlike a strip lash, which should only be worn for eight hours or so, individuals can be kept on for a few days, and as you lose one or another, you can just reapply. A good tip is to take two longs and apply them to your outer corner, then going inward, apply three mediums, and finish with one or two smalls to help blend them in to your real lashes. Then finish with your favorite waterproof mascara for an all-day luscious lash application that will amp up any look you're going for this trend-tastic summer!

Tip: Worried about applying false lashes to your bottom lash line? Scared that your bottom mascara will run if applied to your bottom lashes? Don't worry – just apply some waterproof eyeliner to give you the definition you need to your bottom lash line and smudge away. A smoldering/smudgy bottom lash line is totally in this summer!

Trick: When applying lashes, holding a mirror under your chin and looking down is a great way to see where exactly you're placing your lashes!