After the holidays passed, it’s important to remember that we’re still in full winter and that our skin needs special care during this season, as the cold weather can cause dryness, flaking and irritation. The products we use during summer will not likely be enough to counter the dry winter air’s effects, so I want to share with you some skincare basics for this season, keeping in mind that the main rule during this season is keeping your skin hydrated.
- The first thing is to use lukewarm water. I know it’s tempting to use hot water when you’re washing your face and you’re freezing, but believe me, using hot water is not a good idea as it dries your skin quickly and if you don’t moisturize it immediately, your skin can develop cracks. Once you’ve washed your face with lukewarm water, you can apply a moisturizer that contains hyaluronic acid and ceramides (I’ll show you some of my favorite products further ahead).
- Cleanse without drying out the skin, try using a hydrating cleanser as it’s important not to strip the skin’s essential oils during this season. You can experiment with cleansing oils or cream cleanser that help restore he natural oils in the skin while cleansing away impurities. If you have oily skin, you can try with gel cleansers.
- Add an extra layer of hydration with a serum. Applying a nourishing serum before sealing it in with a moisturizer has become a winter skincare step you can’t skip. Using serums or oils before your cream is a great way to pack in extra moisture and key ingredients, and your skin will take all that it can get in the winter. If you have naturally dry skin or fear you’re on the brink of dehydrated skin, you can upgrade your serum to a facial oil. Plus, serums and oils are usually high in vitamins, antioxidants, botanicals, and other skin-nourishing and -hydrating ingredients that will boost your winter skin care routine.
- Swap your light moisturizer for something more emollient. Overall, skin needs regeneration. Since winter is nipping away at the surface, creating a buildup of dead skin cells, and causing discomfort from dryness to redness, skin needs some relief. That’s where a good moisturizer comes. You’ve probably heard that winter calls for an extra heavy cream. That may be true for some people, but pay closer attention to ingredients than heaviness. Look for face creams containing ingredients that winter skin needs: Hyaluronic Acid, Ceramides, Jojoba Oil, and Shea Butter to name a few.
- Don’t forget about de SPF! Remember UV damage can affect your skin all year around, especially if you’re somewhere there’s snow as it reflects the sun’s rays back onto you. his one step goes a long way to prevent premature aging. You may not have to protect your skin with SPF every single day during winter, but use your best judgment when you think the sun is hiding behind the clouds.
- Drink plenty of water. The air is drier in winter and as a result, water evaporates from your body easily. Hence, you need to keep your skin hydrated.
- Always carry a lip balm. Your lips usually get chapped because they tend to get wind burned, so applying a hydrating balm will help them a lot, also try to avoid long-lasting lipsticks because their ingredients tend to cause dryness
And these are some of my favorite products for this season:
* As you all know, I only recommend products I’d use myself, so this post contains affiliate links, that means if you use them to make a purchase I may receive a commission from that sale.*
XO
Sira
A few days ago I made a tutorial for my YouTube channel for foxy eyes, and let me tell you I loved the results and had so much fun recording it! If you haven’t seen it, go here and watch it! However I know it’s a little bit lengthy because we talked about skin prep, and the rest of the look, so here I want to focus just on the foxy eyes, so in case you’re in a hurry, you can get right to it!
The first step is to wear a clear concealer and apply it to your eyelids, be sure to blend it with a brush or beauty blender
Then we need to seal what we did with translucent powder and you can use the same beauty blender we used for the concealer. And then we go to the main step and the look’s star: the eyeshadows.
It is important to remember that we want to have a cat eyed look, so we need to apply the medium shade of our eyeshadow palette through the crease and elongating up and out towards the temple. With that same color we delineate the upper lashes
Use a darker shadow ans apply it on the outer corner (if you want to know how best blend it al, go to min 27:55 so you can see the right technique) and then use it just in the inner corner, and leave the middle without this eyeshadow. And then comes the eyeliner, remember to make a ver fine line and then blend it too, it needs to be a fine line so when you blend it doesn’t turn into a smoky eye, so it doesn’t look too harsh. Whlie you’re blending it, take it to the outer corner. Use the eyeliner on the upper waterline to make your eyes look deeper.
And on with your lashes! Curl your lashes, apply a light coat of mascara and use false lashes. The main tip is to apply them in the eye’s outer corner. Finally you can apply a small amount of glitter in the eyelid’s center.
If you want to keep seeing the complete look, you can check it out in my YouTube channel after minute 45:34. And you can also find all the products we used there in the description box!
So, what do you think? I’d love for you to try out this tutorial and post your results. I make all these tutorials for you and I really want to know if they’re helping you. I also want to know what other tutorial I might make that you’re interested in, what do you want to see? Don’t forget to send me your results for this look!
XO
Sira.
Starting September I decided to upload on my IG stories, all my beauty picks because I’ve been receiving some messages asking me to share with you the things I use and I’d recommend and I decided to start this new section on my IG stories. However today I want to share it here with you because I’ve received some comments asking me where you can find what I recommended, so here it is! And I’ll try to make a monthly post with all the picks I’ve shared on my IG so you can have them as reference.
* As you all know, I only recommend products I’d use myself, so this post contains affiliate links, that means if you use them to make a purchase I may receive a commission from that sale.
- SUPER GLOOP GLOW SCREEN: This primer not only has an SPF40 but also protects you against blue light, so if you spend your day in front of your computer this is the right product for you! It has a slight tint but will leave your face glowy and hydrated!
- D-POLLUTION ESSENTIEL: This mist helps protect your skin against pollution and its damaging effects and I love that leaves my skin bright
- FALSE LASH BAMBI EYE BY LOREAL. I really loved this mascara as it leaves my lashes looking long, full and healthy and because it’s waterproof, it doesn’t smudge.
- LE BLANC DE CHANEL. What I love most about this is that kind of blurs your imperfections and illuminates your skin, it has a great texture and you can definitely see a difference when you use it.
- VOLUMINOUS BUTTERFLY WATERPROOF MASCARA BY LOREAL. This is another great mascara from L’oreal if what you’re looking is that your lashes have more volume, it doesn’t smudge either and you can be assured your lashes are going to look gorgeous all day long
- CHANEL CC CREAM. This CC Cream has an SPF 50 and has great coverage and last longer than some other CC creams I’ve used before
- NUFACE NUFACE FIX LINE SMOOTHING DEVICE. I love its size and that it can reach areas like around the eyes and mouth that are harder to reach, and helps you smooth those fine lines you could see around those areas.
What do you think? If you try some of these recommendations, could you let me know how they worked for you?
Xo
Sira
Last time I wrote about makeup, I gave you some very useful tips and in the process of organizing what I wanted to share with you, I realized that I’ve learned a lot of great and useful tips from all the talented makeup artists I’ve been so fortunate to work with, and probably I could end up writing a book about all the things I’ve learned!
Today I wanted to share a step-by-step kind of guide on how you may want to apply your makeup, because I want to make things much easier for all of you.
Remember that the first step to start applying make up is a very well moisturized skin, it literally can change the way all your makeup looks once applied, so never ever forget the importance of a good moisturizer (in another post I’ll show you how to pick the perfect one for you, so stay tuned!)
You can adapt this make up routine according to the time you have available, because honestly, sometime we don’t have the time or the patience to go all the way trough it, so remember, always adapt!
1.- CONCEALER. Concealers come in different textures depending on what you want to use them for. In this case, to use them under your eyes, make sure your concealer is moist and creamy. The color should be one or two shades lighter than your skin tone, no more! If it looks ashy, is too light for you, if it looks yellow, it’s too dark, if the concealer’s too light, you will draw attention to what you’re trying to cover. You can blend it with a sponge or a brush, the trick is to make it invisible.
2.- FOUNDATION. This is your most important makeup investment, so choose carefully, you want a foundation that makes your skin look flawless and natural, with a healthy glow. So, there are two main things to consider when buying a foundation: the first is to match your skin tone so that your foundation looks natural (and in my last blog I gave you a tip on how to choose the right color) and it’s also equally important to match your skin type. Use a brush or sponge to blend it.
3.- POWDER. Powder helps your makeup to stay longer on your skin, it helps absorbing your skin’s natural oils and prevents your skin from shining through the day. I use loose powder to set my makeup, but you can always choose pressed powder.
4.- EYEBROWS. Define your eyebrows using a pencil, powder, cream or gel and remember to embrace your natural brow shape, because simply put, you can’t turn them into what they are not. Make short strokes of color if you think they look to harsh, you can soften them up by pressing loose powder on them.
5.- MASCARA. Choose the formula you need based on your needs and the effect you desire. Curl your lashes before applying the mascara and when you’re applying it, hold the mascara wand parallel to the floor and brush from base to the tips. Let dry for a few seconds and repeat with a second coat, making sure to coat your lashes at the inside corner and the very outside corners.
6.- BLUSH. Blush also comes in different textures: powder, cream, gel and liquid, and here your preference is what is important. Remember that blush can brighten your face and make it glow and he trick is to find a color that’s natural and neutral, but still adds life to the skin. To apply it jus smile and apply blush in the apples of your cheeks.
7.- LIPSTICK AND GLOSS. There’s a lot of things to say about lipsticks but I guess one of the most important things for you to remember is that dark colors age you faster than any other makeup product, and warmer colors always make you look younger. Use the natural color of your lips as a guide when choosing lipstick’s colors. A dab of gloss always creates great shine.
* As you all know, I only recommend products I’d use myself, so this post contains affiliate links, that means if you use them to make a purchase I may receive a commission from that sale.
If you want to see more recommendations, every Friday I’m posting in stories my week’s picks, I’d also love to hear which products work best for you and you’d recommend, so let me know here or in my IG!
XO
Sira
Some of you have been asking me about my hair care routine and I’m actually very excited with this post, because it’s one I’ve been wanting to write for a little while. Why? Because if you’re a woman, you know the special relationship we all develop with our hair along our lives, who can’t relate to the experience of leaving the salon feeling you can conquer the world with just a simple (but gorgeous) hairstyle? Or who hasn’t thought that the cut you’ve just asked your stylist to do, just ruined your life?
Sometimes your relationship with your hair can be a complicated one, especially if you don’t understand what your hair requires, and I consider this the foundation: to know your hair type. Is it fine, medium or coarse? Is it thin or thick? Curly or straight? So, if you want to find out which is your hair type, here’s what you can do to find out:
- Wash your hair with a shampoo designed for “normal” hair but don’t use conditioner.
- Let your hair dry naturally without using a dryer or toweling too roughly.
- Once you hair is dry, you can see its natural texture: is it totally straight or does it have waves? Perhaps you have curls, or perhaps you have a mixture of textures.
- Can you see frizz in your hair? Does it have natural shine or does it seem dry and dull?
- To measure the thickness pull out a single hair and look at it in front of a white paper. If the hair is barely visible and feels soft, it’s fine. If it’s easy to see but still feels soft, your hair is medium. If it looks thick and feels wiry, your hair is coarse.
- To measure the thickness, pull it back as if you were creating a ponytail and measure its circumference, if the circumference is five centimeters or less, you have fine hair. If it is between five and ten centimeters your hair is of medium thickness, if it’s more than ten centimeters, your hair is thick.
Having this information will allow you to narrow your choices in hair care products because you’ll know exactly what your hair requires to look healthy and shiny! And talking about shiny hair, I also want to share with you some tips to increase your hair’s shine:
- When you wash your hair, finish with a cold rinse to close down the cuticles.
- Blow dry with a large, natural bristle barrel brush, pointing the nozzle down your hair as you dry.
- Use a hair mask once a week, look for ingredients such as jojoba, olive or coconut oil.
- Boost your intake of vitamin E and drink plenty of water to prevent your hair from becoming dehydrated, brittle and dull,
- Use a serum for your hair type avoiding the roots and when your hair is still wet.
We’ve heard a lot of times that beauty comes from the inside and I totally agree with that and today I want to talk to you about something that you’ve asked me a lot of times, and that I promised you in my Insta Stories I was going to do: my favorite supplements for skin glow.
Before we continue with this I need to emphasize the importance to go with your doctor before trying any of these supplements. As you know I always recommend what works for me, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that all these things will work exactly the same for everyone, so lets not forget being responsible about what we consume.
There’s no way that you can have a glowing and healthy skin if you don’t have the necessary nutrients, without them your skin can not restore itself or keep its health, so that’s why nutrition is the foundation for beauty and we all should be careful with what we consume. A healthy diet, that includes super foods and super herbs becomes a must, but sometimes even the healthiest diet requires a little boost and here’s where the supplements come:
VITAL REDS, GUNDRY MD.
This supplement has polyphenols and probiotics that helps you boost your energy and of course boost your skin’s appearance. Polyphenols have antioxidant properties, and also helps you improve your brain function.
GREAT LAKES GELATIN, COLLAGEN HYDROLYSATE, UNFLAVORED BEEF PROTEIN
Collagen has multiple benefits: increases energy, helps with muscle recovery, maintains a healthy skin and helps your hair a nails to grow, so what’s not to love about it?
MOON JUICE – BEAUTY DUST | BEAUTIFYING ADAPTOGENIC BLEND FOR SKIN
Adaptogenics help your body to resist stressors of all kinds and result In enhancing your appearance. It also helps to protect your cells from radical damage and enhance your skin’s elasticity.
BRAIN OCTANE
Basically this supplement keeps your brain on full blast, improves your immune system
THE SUPER ELIXIR BY WELLECO
This supplement improves your skin’s health, as well as strengthens your nails and hair, you can literally watch your skin glow with this supplement!
FIT 9 PILLS BY SASCHA FITNESS
This supplement is a fat loss support that helps in a safe and natural way. Thanks to its composition, it’ll help to improve your hormonal balance and to speed your metabolism, using fat as fuel.
SKIN NUTRIENTS BRIGHTENING BY GLISODIN
The ingredients in this skin lightener will help reduce oxidative stress and inhibit the enzymatic process that produces brown spots, while reducing blemishes.
So, these are my top seven favorite supplements and the ones I’m currently using, however I also recommend to do some research and select the ones that suit your skin best and keep trying and using new ones as your skin’s needs keep changing trough the seasons and trough your life.
Do you have supplements that you absolutely love and are like magical for you? Would you mind sharing them with me?
XO
Sira
Women have a very special relationship with makeup, it helps us out to amplify our beauty and we have been using it since centuries ago, for example Greek women used charcoal as eyeshadow and white powder to lighten their skin. Some people criticize using makeup saying that it’s an attempt to hide behind a “mask” and that is related to confidence issues, I think that in some cases that might be true, but a lot of us wear makeup because we love it and can be as confident with or without it.
For me, makeup is another way to express myself, just as fashion. Through makeup I can change the way I look giving a wide variety of options: I can choose an everyday, very light look or I can choose a very dramatic sexy look. And like a lot of women, I’ve personally experienced the empowerment of wearing a red lipstick and knowing that I look great!
Some of you have been asking me about some tips for doing my makeup and I really want to share with you some very useful tips that I’ve learned from some of the best makeup artists that I’ve had the pleasure to work with. While I was writing this, I realized that I, in fact, have a lot of useful tips, so I decided to make this a two-part post so you can have all those tips! And without further delay here they are:
- Before applying your makeup, take a moment to appreciate the “you” without makeup, fall in love with your features as they are uniquely yours.
- Try to get in the habit of using your makeup time to drink a glass of water (or two)
- Be sure to apply your makeup in a well-lit area, meaning make sure you have light on both sides of your face. Applying your makeup in front of a window is a great idea!
- Pick one feature you want to emphasize and the go for it
- Good brushes, like good makeup are worth the investment.
- If you’re dealing with a pimple or a breakout, apply a couple of eyedrops to the irritated spot. This will reduce the redness a little… but it’s nor acne killer, it’s just a temporary fix so you can cover it more easily with makeup.
- If you want a smooth, flawless finish on your skin, blend, blend and blend. The best blending is achieved by moving your brush in a circular motion.
- When applying your foundation remember that you don’t want people to see it when you leave your house!
- To choose the right color for your foundation match it to the color of skin of your collar bone or chest, not on your neck as it is lighter.
- You can apply some contouring underneath the tip of the nose to give the illusion of shortening the nose.
- To find the apples of your cheeks, simply smile!
- Applying blush on the apple of the cheeks makes up the face more youthful, applying blush under the cheekbones slims the face and makes it appear drawn.
- Cream blush can be used on the lips for a softer and more natural look.
- When lining your lips, you can also use a pencil that’s labeled as “eyebrow pencil”, if you like the color, you can use it for lining your lips, in fact, it might last longer!
- Always be sure to line directly on the lip border or just inside it, but never outside the lips!
- When choosing your eye shadows try to pick the ones that contrast with your eye color, instead of trying to match the color of your eyes.
- For eyelashes that stay curled, hold down the eyelash curler for a count of 20 and then apply mascara immediately.
- You can warm up your eyelash curler by rubbing the part you apply to the lahes back and forth between your fingers
- Don’t pump the wand into the mascara as that incorporates air into the product and dries it out. Instead swirl the wand in the tube.
- When applying liquid eyeliner first remove the excess liquid on the palm of your hand, so that it’s not so wet and you can have more control when applying the line.
- If you mess up your liquid liner, just grab a q-tip, put a drop of corrector and wipe away the liner.
- Sometimes you can accentuate your eyes just with false eyelashes instead of putting eye shadow.
- If you want your makeup to last longer, spay a hydrating mist after you apply your setting powder.
What do you think? Do you have your own useful tips for make up? It’d be great if you’d share them so we all can learn more tips!
XO
I´m sure many of you have read and saw my different skincare routines here or on my Instagram, and I´m sure you have also seen in my stories some recipes I’ve shared with you that you may include in your beauty routines. This time I want to talk to you about the other part of my skincare routine. Let me explain, I’ve always thought that the foundation for a beautiful skin is to have first of all, a healthy skin and nutrition is the foundation of beauty.
“We are what we eat” is an old saying, but it keeps being accurate. We always hear how important is to have a healthy diet, but a good nutrition is more than just getting your daily allowance of vitamins and minerals, or counting calories, a good nutrition shapes all aspects of our appearance, our skin condition included.
There are a lot of great products for skincare in the market, and I’ve showed you my favorite ones, but if you notice that your skin is looking dull or dry, it could be a sign that something’s missing and could be the right moment to start nourishing your skin (and your beauty!) from the inside.
I could talk hours and hours about this topic, and tell you all I know about superfoods and superherbs and how great they are for your health in general, but I guess is a long long topic, one that we can explore together in different posts. So instead, I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes for skin care:
- 8 ounces of coconut water
- 4 inch piece, fresh aloe vera, without skin
- 1 orange, peeled
- 1 cup of fresh raspberries
- ½ inch piece of fresh ginger root
- 2 squirts of fulvic acid.
- 1 teaspoon MSM powder
- Stevia or raw organic honey
Blend all the ingredients in a high-speed blender and enjoy! This recipe hydrates your skin and the strawberries have more than twenty substances that prevent tissue from aging and taste great!
So, what do you think? Is this one recipe you would like to try?
A healthy skin will always be your best friend. It makes you look fresh, happy and regardless of your age, it helps you to look beautiful. On my A healthy skin will always be your best friend, as that is what makes you look fresh and that’s maybe why on my Instagram, I’m always sharing skincare tips, from the easiest routines, that don`t need any products in addition to those that you may have at home; to those that involve several steps, and several product. Today, I want to share a routine that I’m about to start, recommended by the dermatologist Amy Wechsler, who is Chanel’s skincare expert consultant. So let`s start!
The first step is to remove all your makeup. We need to get rid of all the makeup that could block our pores, in order to let other products get through the skin and get the most out of them. I’ll be using L’Eau Micellaire by Chanel, that’s ideal for all skin types.
Then, it’s time to start cleaning pores through a deep cleaning. For this step, the recommendation is La Mousse, that will help you get rid of impurities and other contaminating particles like sweat. If you’re performing this ritual at night, after this step you could use Le Lift, also by Chanel. This product will help you decrease signs of tiredness.
Next step: Lotion. Why are we using this? Well, lotion helps revitalizing, illuminating and restoring out skin. And nothing better than Le Blanc Essence Lotion to help us with all this.
We can`t forget the eyes. For this, I`ll be using Le Lift Concentré Yeux. This way we can show off a radiant look! And that’s because this product will deflate the eye contour with its natural origin components. If you can’t wait for the effects to be shown, you can always use Le Lift Flash Eye Revitalizer. It takes a two step process: first, the roll-on will help spread the vitamin serum and the eye patches will help you revitalize the area. This is one of those products that you must have always on your bag!
Then, it will be time to apply a Serum. Le Lift Sérum is my choice, because Then, it’s time to apply aserum. Le Lift Sérum is my choice, because it’s 93% composed of elements of natural origin. It will smooth and prevent oxidation of skin cells.
We`re almost finished! We have to hydrate the skin, and Chanel offers many options, but because I want a bigger concentration of natural assets I’ll use Sublimage L’Extrait to regenerate, repair and protect. And becauseas youknow, it’s important to protect your skin, it`s always recommended to use sunscreen.
UV Essentiel SPF 50 by Chanel is my choice here. It’ll protect your skin not only against UV rays, but also UVA and UVB, oxidative stress and will keep your skin be hydrated.
An extra tip: if you want to refresh your skin during the day, use mist. And Hydra Beauty is an excellent option to feel fresh all the time! It will not only energize your skin, but also will be accompanied by a fruity scent!
For me, wellness has always been an essential part of my and my family’s life, and it can include different areas such as the emotional, spiritual, physical, social and intellectual among others, that’s why during these quarantine times, is especially important not to forget to do all those things we’ve been doing in all those areas, so we avoid a burnout.
So, I wanted to share with all of you my favorite 5 wellness tips for this quarantine:
1. Make time for projects that make you happy. Make the purpose to spend time everyday doing something that you absolutely enjoy, you can spend time reading, journaling, doing yoga and even knitting if that’s what makes you happy!
For me, reading while having a face mask always helps me unwind and one of my favorite face masks is a honey avocado one, that helps you to soften and hydrate your skin, and you can even do it yourself! Here’s how: a. Ingredients: You’re going to need 2 or 3 avocados and ¼ cup of honey.
b. Cut the avocados in half and discard the pits, pull the avocado and mash it up in a bowl, add the ¼ cup of honey and blend the mixture together, rub this mixture in your face and leave it for 15 minutes, finally rinse with cool water.
2. Exercise. Your body needs to move and during this quarantine, it could be tempting to spend all your time watching your favorite series, so why not try to find that workout routine that would make exercise fun for you?
Maybe you love yoga, or barre, or spinning, or maybe you can find a combination of different styles and routines. For me, a workout session during the morning is a must (quarantine or not), but I understand that for some people, exercising could be some kind of torture, so my advice would be to find something that’s fun for you and seeing this routine as a way to keep your body healthy and fit.
3. Social Media Blackout. Let’s be honest, do you really think you need to stay connected 24/7 to be informed? Of course, it’s important to know what’s happening right now, specifically with this pandemic, but this can also increase your anxiety.
So maybe you’d like to stay a day without checking your social media accounts, I do it once a week and I’ve seen that just that tiny change in my routine, makes me feel recharged… and is also good for your eyes, your neck and wrists!
What do you think? Do you have some other tips that could be useful during this quarantine? I’m also thinking about a post with a workout routine, would you like to see that one? Let me know! And in the meantime, stay safe!
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