While some of these free samples were found quite awhile ago in Bionic-land, they’re still open today. If you’ve already requested them, you won’t be able to get another.
But if you’re new to Bionic Beauty…. you might have missed these gems!

• Everyday Minerals mineral makeup sample kits: These samples are generously sized- they lasted me for months and I still have a TON of the blush left. Anyhow, you *do* have to pay about $4 in shipping & handling. Pick 3 colors of foundation and finishes, plus 1 concealer, plus 1 blush.
• Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely fragrances: Visit Sarah Jessica Parker’s perfume website and click on the Request a Sample link. http://bionic-beauty.com/freebies-lipgloss-fragrance-makeup/
• Dove Heat Defense Therapy or Intense Damage Therapy hair care: Chose which line you’d like to sample for your personal hair’s needs.
• Signature Minerals mineral makeup free sample kits: You can choose six (6) different items. You can pick from Foundation makeup, Concealer/Correctors, Mineral Blushes and Bronzers, Eye Shadows (available in pearl, shimmer, matte and metallic finishes!), and Finishing Veils. Crazy, right? The only catch is you’ll have to pay $5.35 for shipping. Still, that’s a small price to pay for SO much makeup!
• Freebies of the new L’Oreal EverPure shampoo and conditioner: This new drugstore line of hair care products is now one of my absolute favorites. It’s Sulfate-free, gentle and smells delicious. Being sulfate free means it doesn’t strip color from my hair. The added herbals also help with body, moisturizing and overall hair health. If you ladies haven’t tried this line yet, get on it. You’ll give up your high-end hair care… or, at least I did.
• Pantene ProV shampoo and conditioner: Awhile back, Pantene and Walmart paired up to offer free samples under the marketing campaign slogan “The Secret to Great Hair”. You can still benefit by requesting your sample.
• Gloves in a Bottle lotion: I reviewed this shielding lotion some time ago (here’s my GiaB review). It’s a great lotion to prevent moisture loss, or I use it on my hands before applying sunless tanner (keeps my palms from turning orange), or around my hair line when coloring my hair. You can get 3 free sample packets by sending GiaB a SASE.
• Eucerin Aquaphor lotion: Get a free sample size of Aquaphor’s famous Healing Ointment. Perfect for throwing in your purse!

Inspired by my love of Old Hollywood, I decided to create a makeup look, suitable for everyday or Halloween, based on the lovely actress, Louise Brooks.

Read on for my version of the look, more photos, and a tutorial on the products…

For short haired gals, you can follow my lead and flat iron, pull, coerce your hair into a stick straight style. I used a smoothing serum (Alagio’s Silk Obsession) and then a flat iron. When you’re all super-straight, use your flat iron to twist the sections by your face to curve forward. Use a bit more smoothing serum or a dab of pomade to enhance the “points”. Finish with an all-over, generous spray of a shine spray (I used Biolage’s Color Care Shielding Shine Mist).

For longer haired gals, or curly-girls, play up the curls! We all know that curls and body were big in the roaring twenties and thirties. You could even rag-set your curls the night before and sleep on them. Again finish with a shine spray.

Makeup and Tools I used for this look:

1. Everyday Minerals makeup in Olive Fair
2. NARS lipstick in Tamango
3. Three Custom Color lip liner in Burgundy
4. Anastasia Brow Filler in Blonde/Brunette
5. Anastasia Eye Lights Matte pencil in Camille
6. Elke, The Model Brow brow tamer pomade
7. Physician’s Formula Mineral Wear mascara in Ultra Black
8. Clinique Stay Matte eyeshadow in French Vanilla
9. Lancome Le Stylo Waterproof eyeliner in Black
10. e.l.f. Cream Eyeshadow duo in Black Licorice
11. e.l.f. Concealer in Light

Start off with foundation across your entire face… your goal here is a flawless complexion and that one tone look that was so popular during the silent film era. I used mineral powder makeup (#1 above) in a few shades lighter than my skin tone. I always keep lighter foundations on hand just for looks like this. I wanted that super-pale look without throwing on white powder.

Next fully powder your face to get an even matte finish if you used a liquid foundation.

For Louise Brooks’ classic look, brush your brows as straight across as possible. Mine are highly arched, but I just did the best I could. Then fill your brows with a darker shade to really bring them out (product #4). (I probably should have gone with a slightly darker pencil on my brows to get a better result.)

Set your brows with an eyebrow pomade (product #6) or just use a few dabs of clear lip balm.

Moving on to the eyes, use a black or deep smokey gray matte eyeshadow (the darker color in elf’s duo, product #10). Start with placing most of the product by your lash line and slowly blending it up your eyelid until the end line disappears. Place a little extra along the lash line and outer corner for accent. Smudge more eyeshadow under your lower lash line.

Dust your entire eye lid and brow bone with a matte cream or white eyeshadow (product #8). This sets the darker color and helps it look “smooth” and classic.

Line your lower inner eyelid rim with a white, beige, creamy pink pencil (product #5). I chose the Anastasia matte liner because it’s so soft and the staying power is amazing. This line helps open your eye and gives you that wide-eyed starlet look.

Finish with 2 coats of a long-lasting, lengthening mascara (product #7). If your lashes are on the straight side, I suggest curling them for this look to further open the eye.

Louis Brooks lips are more narrow and more pouty than mine and have a bit more “peak” on the upper lip line. I studied her picture and then sketched a similar outline onto my lips with a dark matte lip liner (product #3). To narrow my lips, I filled in the edges of my lips with a cream concealer (product # 11) and then set it with powder. My outer lip corners virtually disappeared! (pretty cool, eh?)

Fill in the sketched outline with a deep, dark, semi-matte lipstick (I chose NARS’ Tamango a brown-based maroon, product #2).

Finally, just for fun, I added a beauty mark. Since I don’t actually have one, sometimes it’s fun to pretend. I used a waterproof eyeliner in black (product #9).

Ta-da! Just be sure to pout a lot, since it seems like no one smiled too much in those days.

For the costume, I’d suggest sticking with black, white and gray clothing. Keep yourself in that “Black and White” film star frame of mind. Black stockings, a pencil skirt, and a flowing blouse (silk, velvet or other texturally alive fabrics). Closed toe pumps and even a rounded bucket hat. Carry your essentials for the night in a beaded clutch. And don’t forget to bat those lashes!

Alternatives to this look and further inspirations- check out your favorite classic Hollywood film stars, or watch movies that have great looks. For instance, I love watching Titanic and both versions of King Kong for ideas.

The Finalists for the Everyday Minerals (EM) Contest have been announced and voting has begun. Visit this EM page to view the finalists. And… I’m proud to say, that I made the finalist cut (my look is “Rockin’ the Glow” shown on a previous Bionic Beauty post)!

If you would like to vote for your three favorite looks register for their forum (really simple process and no spam), then go to the Contest and Polls topic to cast your vote.

Voting ends December 10th.

Oh, and yes, I’d appreciate your vote if you like my look and application techniques.

For the mineral makeup fans out there, Everyday Minerals has launched two new lines!
The first, a line of lovely lip glosses. The glosses are currently available in 8 shades and sell for only $3.50, making these a great holiday gift idea.

The second, a line of skincare and bath products. You can select from the following all-natural soaps:

• African
• Bergamot, Clary Sage, Niaouli
• Grapefruit Lime Peppermint
• Rosemary, Basil, Lemongrass

The soaps sell for $3.50 a bar.

Also available is a line of body creams/lotions in varieties such as Coffee, Chamomile, Green Tea, Horsetail, and Lavender. The lotions (called Everyday Everywear) are available for $4.

Enjoy!

This was my entry into the Everyday Minerals contest. I decided to share it with everyone since I found some creative ways to use the mineral makeup (I used my mineral blush for my lips!). Let me know your thoughts.

This is a super easy, very natural makeup application. It basically highlights your skin, yet keeps it showing through and allows your eyes to pop just a bit. This look would be perfect for a casual evening out, or a day at the office!

Makeup Application Process for My Look: “Rockin’ the Glow”

• I primed my face with a light application of moisturizer to ensure even application of the mineral makeup. Then I mixed a pinch of Light Olive Original Glo with Light Neutral Semi-Matte and applied with a baby Kabuki brush across the entire face and blended down under the jawline. Concealer in Intensive Medium was applied with a synthetic brush under both eyes, the inner corner of eyes and blended. The same concealer was then applied across the upper lip (due to my Melasma).
• Swept entire face with a large Kabuki brush to blend everything out.
• Blush in Sunday Brunch was lightly applied to the apples of cheeks and blended out in a circular motion.
• Using Chamomile eyeshadow, a light sweep was placed on the bridge of the nose and blended out.
• For the eyes, Countryside eyeshadow was applied to my lids and swept up into the crease. Brow bone and inner corner of eyes were highlighted with Chamomile shadow.
• With a small natural bristle liner brush, eyeshadow/liner in Black was applied dry to the upper lash line and remnants on the brush were swept under the lower lashes for a slightly smoky look.
• Lashes were coated with Physician’s Formula Mineral Wear Mascara in Blackest Black.
• Lips received a light coat of Burt’s Bees lip balm and then Sunday Brunch blush was applied over top and moved around the entire lip with a lip brush. A teeny dusting of Veranda face color was used as frosting for the lips.

You can order Everyday Minerals from their website and don’t forget about their free sample kit (you just pay shipping and handling- great way to figure out your colors!).

If you like this post, please read the follow-up article: Finalists in the Everyday Minerals Contest Announced!

Are you make-up challenged? With a few of theses great products from Benefit Cosmetics you will look your best all the time.

The Mythbuster Beauty blog has a fantastic contest going on right now in honor of Halloween. Share your scariest moment in makeup and be entered to win a prize from Everyday Minerals!

Hint: If you read the comments, you’ll see my “Scariest Moment” which to this day gives me the shivers!

Mythbuster Beauty is also the latest addition to my blogroll since I believe Bionic readers will love the style and honest product reviews.

Everyday Minerals is holding a very unique contest. Those Bionic readers that use Everyday Minerals, please read on. It’s EASY to enter and the prize is SPLENDID!

Contest! It’s time to put your Best Face Forward! Submit a photo of you or a friend wearing Everyday Minerals products and get a chance to win a dream Day Spa Resort Getaway. Find out the Official Rules before entering (must be at least 18 years old and a US resident. Note: Be sure you read the Email requirements, there’s a list of items you need to include!)

This is your chance to win 4 days and 3 nights at the luxurious Lake Austin Day Spa in Austin TX. We will fly you and a friend first class and bring you to one of the top 5 best destination spas in the United States. So make sure you “name your look,” tell us all about it, throw in some helpful tips! Whatever you do, make sure and show us the versatility and endless possibilities of Everyday Minerals colors. Most of all have fun! Please visit the Lake Austin Day Spa website.

Submit your looks to win@everydayminerals.com.
Alright ladies, I’m off to do my makeup, take a photo and enter. Crossing my fingers for that spa trip!!

Today I decided to amp up my standard natural makeup application with a bit more drama. Still suited for daytime, but with a little extra jazz.
The products I used:

Read on for details and the final look.

Cosmetics Used:

• Face: Everyday Minerals in Intensive Medium
• Blush: Sonia Kashuk in Shimmering Posy
• Brushes: by Sonia Kashuk (as pictured)
• Lips: L’Oreal Color Juice Stick in Mango Tango
• Eyes: Physician’s Formula eyeshadow quad in Metallic Canyon, Jane eyeshadow duo in Browny Points and Hazlenut.
• Eyeliner: Physician’s Formula Eye Definer in Ultra Black
• Lashes: Physician’s Formula Mineral Wear Mascara in Ultra Black

Applied my normal mineral makeup foundation, followed by a light peachy blush on the front circles of cheeks.
Swept the light taupe color from the Physician’s Formula shadow quad onto my lid, into the crease, and slightly above the crease.
Applied the light shimmery color (Jane’s Hazlenut) across brow bone.
Then applied the dark matte Browny Points (by Jane) into the outer corner of my lid (I *love* this color by the way!).
BLEND WELL!

Then I lined my upper lash line with the Eye Definer in Black. It’s a standard pencil but twists up to keep the point semi-sharp. It’s a very smooth product and doesn’t pull your lids. Smudge the line very *slightly* by using a teeny brush and lightly swishing over the eyeliner.

Apply one coat of the Mineral Wear mascara.

Lips get one coat of Mango Tango and good to go. Mango Tango smells delicious and is nicely moisturizing.

Final look:

Estimated time: 10 minutes.
Everything is available at Target or your local drugstore with the exception of the Everyday Minerals.

Suggested reading: Bionic’s Smoky Eye Tutorial, and Going Green eyeshadow tutorial.

Are you make-up challenged? With a few of theses great products from Benefit Cosmetics you will look your best all the time.

Many women frequently question how exactly they should apply makeup and cosmetics, especially when going for a natural, everyday look.

This video (by Michelle Phan) on YouTube outlines how to apply a “natural” makeup look. An excellent cosmetics tutorial… judge for yourself:

The video is available on YouTube here. I removed the viewer of the video since it wasn’t playing nice with my blog.

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out Bionic Beauty’s “Amped Up Natural” makeup tutorial. It’s natural makeup application, with a bit of attitude!

Everyday Minerals is offering a fantastic freebie starter pack of their mineral makeup. You can pick 3 colors (and finishes) of foundation, 1 blush color, and 1 concealer color.

The sample pack is free, however you do have to pay Shipping and Handling, which came to $4 for USPS shipping. Everyday Minerals seems to have a wealth of color choices, the samples seem nicely presented in teeny sifter pots. Their mineral foundations are offered in 4 “finishes”: Semi-Matte (soft n dewy), Matte (well described), Intensive (high concealment), and Original Glo (for dry to normal skin- dewy glow).

For the minor expense of the S/H, I’ll be excited to get these and start trying them out!