Miyo Sia

Hi guys! I have added new pages on this blog to make things easier for me and you. ^_^ First, I have the "giveaways" page where I will be posting archived, existing and future contests that I will be hosting. There you can just easily access the specific contest announcement entry and view the latest status of the contest that you joined in. Next, I have the "suggestion box" to let you contact me and/or interact with other viewers. Feel free to post any idea that you want to share, suggestion that you want me to do, or request that you want me to feature.

Have fun and stay beautiful everyone! :)

I submitted this entry to a summer look contest and did something that I don't usually do with my lips. Usually we concentrate more on the eye makeup and contouring lips is usually taken for granted.

Plump and juicy looking lips can do wonders in your looks as much as how eye makeup does. The lips can make your overall look very sexy.

Here are some tips that you can use to make your lips naturally juicy looking without getting a surgery. You may use all techniques or just specific ones depending on how you want your lips to look.

1. Over lining your lips. Usually, when we line the lips, we follow the natural shape of it. To make your lips look bigger, you would need to over line the lips with a shade slightly darker than your natural lip color. Over lining is not just lining outside your natural lip line as it would make it look drawn.

There is a technique to make the shape of your lips it look natural and not drawn. Starting at the corner of your lips, follow the natural line and as you reach the center of your lips, you gradually move the line outside your lips. Make sure you keep the line as close as possible to your lip's natural line. When lining the upper lip, make sure you also start with the corners and move all the way up to the cupid's bow. When you start with the cupid's bow and go down the corners, gravity will tend to drag the shape down instead of making it look plump.

Then draw vertical lines, about half a centimeter away from each corner of your lower lip, creating a triangle and fill in both corners with liner. After lining your lips, take a lip brush and blend the color towards the center of your lips. Make sure that the line fades in naturally until you don't see harsh lines. Put on your lipstick.

2. Adding contours to your lower lip. Adding a shadow under your lower lip gives an illusion of thicker lower lip. Choose a concealer darker to your skin and draw a line, about an inch, under the center of your lower lip. Blend down the color to your chin so it gradually fades with your natural skin tone.

3. Adding highlights to your upper lip. Same with the contour on your lower lip, a highlight on the upper lip adds more volume to it. Take a lighter shade concealer and add highlights just above the cupid's bow. Then take a lighter shade lipstick and apply it on the cupid's bow.

4. Apply gloss. To make lips look fuller, apply gloss only to the center of your lips and blend it out towards the corners. Make sure you concentrate more on the center. The gloss serves as a highlight which makes your lips look juicy and plump.

The Body Shop, Philippines is giving up to 70% off on selected items from May 28 to June 14 :)

I just want to share the 2 additional summer looks I submitted for the Sigma Makeup Summer Look Contest hosted on their Facebook fan site. Most of my entries are soft and can be worn everyday :) We were also asked to hold a piece of paper saying ♥ Sigma Makeup. I enjoyed doing it so ye ^_^

If you haven't seen the tutorial I made for the first entry I submitted, you can view it here.  If you are interested in joining, the contest is open until June 9, 2010 :)

I joined the Sigma Makeup's Summer Makeup Look Contest  ^_^ I am not really hoping to win since there are a lot of creative people who joined as well but I still sent my entry LOL.

Who wants the Sigma SS187 Duo Fiber Brush? I have been using Sigma brushes for almost 8 months and I have been addicted to them ever since. I want to share with you guys the SS187 since it is my most favorite and most used brush. I have 3 of these already! :)

*photo taken from http://sigmamakeup.com
**The item to be given away is brand new, unused, and personally purchased.



Here are the simple steps to join this contest:
1. Visit my site, http://www.miyosia.com. If you are already reading this through my site, proceed to step 2.
2. Follow my site via the Google Friend Connect or click this link.
3. Connect through your Google, Yahoo or Twitter account and follow publicly.
4. Comment on the blog entry "May Giveaway" why you want to win the Sigma SS187 brush. DO NOT post on Youtube.
5. I will pick 30 best comments on May 31, 2010 10am CST and post them on the site. You must be a follower of this blog to be eligible to win.
6. On June 1, 2010, I will randomly pick one winner from the list via Random.org.
7. Once the winner has been validated I will post how you can send me your address for shipping of the prize.

You may post as many comments as you like. I will read them and if I liked it, then you have better chances of winning. This is open internationally. Good Luck! :)

eyeliners are usually avoided by some people because they smudge and give you a what most people call "raccoon eye" which is definitely not pretty. proper way to apply an eyeliner is a key to prevent, if not, minimize smudging. here are some tips that may help you achieve a smudge free look:

There is an eyelid glue kit, Koji Eye Talk, that is out in the market to help you get double eyelids without surgery. I've seen this being sold in Amazon for $10.50 but I found a cheaper alternative. I experimented on using false eyelashes glue (or if you want cheaper Elmer's glue) and a piece of bobby pin to do the trick.

This is the look that I submitted to the contest I won sponsored by Sigma Makeup. Here's a tutorial on how to get the same flawless look. NOTE: I have uneven skin tone due to unprotected sun exposure, dark circles around my eyes and red areas around my nose and eyebrows. (I refuse to post my before photo here LOL)



Skin Prep - this is the most important step in creating a flawless look. The skin should feel soft and supple in order to allow easier application of makeup. Also a clean and moisturized face will make a lot of difference in achieving the perfect look.
1. Start with a clean face. You may wash your face with a gentle facial soap or foam to remove dirt which may prevent makeup to settle nicely on skin. If you are doing makeup of someone else and there is no accessibility to washing, use a facial water spray, like Evian facial spray, and wipe off with a facial cotton or beauty towel.
2. Tone. Facial toners help remove surface skin cells, oil and soap residue. This is important to make sure that the skin is free of residues that normal washing cannot remove.
3. Moisturize. A well moisturized skin will give a healthy glow even when there is makeup. For dry skin, this will prevent makeup from cracking. I have very dry skin so I apply a regular moisturizer and Paul & Joe Moisturizing Foundation Primer to my face. For oily skin, this may be omitted, instead you can use a matte primer to prevent makeup from caking. I recommend using the MAKEUPFOREVER All Matte Primer. If you are not sure what skin type you are applying make up on, use the matte primer.

Face Makeup - a clean, even skin is very important to create a flawless look. The first thing you need to do is identify problem areas of the face. Check where skin tone is uneven and identify dark areas and red spots.
1. Know the right shade for your skin. There are 2 types of skin tone, cool and warm. Asians are usually warm tone and Caucasians are cool tone. There are many ways to know what your tone is.
Vein Test - Check the color by looking through the veins of your wrist. If it is green in color, then you are a warm tone and if it is bluish, then you are a cool tone.
Gold/Silver Test - You can use a gold or silver fabric by holding it under your chin and see if you look better with gold or silver. If your face lights up under gold fabric, then you are a warm tone. If you look better with silver, then you are a cool tone.
Warm tone foundations are yellowish and cool tone foundations are reddish. Once you are able to identify your skin tone, you can then choose the shade that matches the skin color. By applying a thin amount of foundation on your chin will help you determine the right shade to use. You may need to mix foundations to get the exact match. Also choose the same shade and a lighter one for your concealer.
2. Even out discolorations. Use a corrective concealer to cover discolorations on the skin. You may refer to my previous entry for more details on using corrective concealers. Concentrate on the undereyes and areas around your nose. Using a slightly lighter shade apply concealer under your eyes and the V area under your eyes to the center of your face. This will give you a fresh look. Also apply area above your lips and under your eyebrows.
3. Apply foundation using light layers. I used MAC Studio Fix and the product is a bit thick so I applied very thin layers. I wanted to achieve just the right amount of coverage without looking like I have too much makeup on so I used my stippling brush to lightly apply the foundation and layer thin amount of the product until I get the desired coverage. By doing this, you are evening out your skin without applying too much. Make sure you apply very thin layers. What I did is pump a small amount of foundation on a mixing palette. I dip my brush into the product and pat it on the palette until I only have small amount of product left on the brush. I stipple the brush starting over my eyes moving outward and down. Then stipple layers over the cheeks to the nose. Start with the center of your face outwards. You would normally want to fade the foundation out to your jawline and hairline. Less layers should be applied to these areas to make it look more natural. Be very patient stippling foundation and blend it well. A clean well blended makeup base is the key to a flawless look. Set the foundation with a loose powder.
4. Contour the face. Sometimes foundation makes the face look flat and the natural shadows disappear specially when taking pictures. Contouring the face will help accentuate these areas and make it less flat. Using a darker shade matte powder, apply to the area below the apple of the cheeks, on the sides of the bridge of the nose, area near the hairline and jaws. This will give the face dimension.
5. Highlight the face. Highlighting will help give your skin natural glow and shine. Using a shimmer powder or creame, apply this to the high areas of the face - bridge of the nose, cheekbones and brow bones. Apply a bit of high light on the area over the cupid's bow to give emphasis on the lips.
6. Add blush. Apply a little tint of color to your face by patting on peach or light pink blush to the apple of your cheeks. Blend it out letting the color lightly fade towards the hairline. Do not put too much color since we are aiming for a natural flawless look. A subtle hint of color is enough.

Eyebrows - defined brows make a huge difference on how you look so it is very important to perfect your skill with shaping eyebrows. Use very light and small strokes when filling in your brows and follow the natural shape to make it look natural. Lighter color should be used so it makes your face look really soft.

Eye Makeup - eye makeup is important to help awaken the eyes. The eyes are very important since it reflects alot of emotion. If the eyes look tired, no matter how flawless the skin looks, then the overall appearance would not be great. Choosing the right color is important as well as knowing how to apply the color correctly depending on the type of eyes that you have. I have previously posted tips on how to apply makeup for monolids.
1. Apply eye primer to make colors look more vibrant and to prevent creasing.
2. Using a blending brush, apply a light yellow eyeshadow starting from the inner corner going up to the center. Blend out the color until it fades toward the outer corner of the eyes.
3. Using the same blending brush, apply pink shadow starting from the outer corner of the eyes going up towards the crease area. Extend the color towards the center gradually letting it fade to the yellow shadow applied to inner corner of the eyes.
4. Apply a lilac eyeshadow the same as you did with the pink shadow but concentrating more on the outer corner.
5. Apply a light brown color and sweep it over the crease to soften the color.
6. Apply black liner, to upper lash line and apply white liner to lower lash line. Soften the white liner by smudging it with a q-tip.
7. Curl eyelashes and apply mascara.

Lipstick - Choose a lipstick that is close to your lip color. Too light lips for your skin color makes you look sick and too dark makes the look very strong. If you are aiming for a natural soft look, then choose a color that will compliment your skin tone that is not too light or too dark. Put gloss in the center of your lips as highlight to finish the look.

A friend from YouTube posted this funny spoof on makeup tutorial so I wanna share with you guys :D

2 weeks ago Sigma Makeup announced on their facebook page their Before and After contest where people has to do makeover of themselves or other people and come up with a flawless look. We have to submit a before picture (yes I actually let people see how bad I look without makeup LOL) and the after picture.

I woke up today to check and I WON! :) I am so happy because this is the first makeup contest that I have tried and I won wee! Now I am more inspired than ever! I can't wait to get the Sigma brush kit that I've won, which will be my 3rd Sigma brush set. ^_^ I fell in love with their brushes since I got my first set.

For those who want to try out Sigma Makeup check out their site.

1. Prime eyes to avoid creasing and help colors pop out.
2. Using a blending brush, apply a matte yellow base along the crease starting from the outer corner going to the inner corner of the eye. Apply a good amount of yellow specially to the outer corner.
3. Using the same brush, take a hot pink matte shadow and apply it over the yellow base concentrating on the outer corner and gradually fading the color towards the inner corner.
4. Using a fluffy brush, blend out the color until there are no harsh edges.
5. Using a new blending brush, take a light yellow shimmer shadow and apply it from the inner corner of your eye going up to the center. Blend it over the pink shadow letting it fade gradually. Apply as much as you want and gradually let it fade towards the pink color.
6. Using the same brush, take a silver shimmer shadow and brush around the inner corners of your eyes and extending it down to your lower lash line.
7. Using a flat eyeshadow brush, pat on aqua green shimmmer eyeshadow over your lids. Use the fluffy brush to blend harsh edges.
8. Using a pencil brush, take a black shimmer and apply it to the outer corner creating an outer V shape. Blend it well and make sure that there are no harsh edges.
9. Using another pencil brush, apply the same hot pink color you used and apply it to the outer half of your lower lash line. Blend the silver and pink together at the center of the lower lash line.
10. Apply eyeliner. You can make it dramatic to accentuate the eye shadow, or keep it simple to show more of the green color on your lids. Apply liner on your lower lash line and smudge the edges with a q-tip to soften it.
11. Curl your eyelashes and apply mascara. You may add false eyelashes for a more dramatic look.

I used a peach color blush and lipstick to finish the look.

I came up with a spring inspired wearable look but still letting you play around with colors. Here's how I did the eyes. For tips on how to create a flawless look, refer to steps 1-5 of the smokey purple makeup tutorial that I have previously posted.