August 2014

Tags: Body Brushing, No Itchy Grow-back

Take Care of your "Blue Suede Shoes"!

Think of your skin as a beautiful expanse of suede. A microscopic look at your skin’s surface will confirm just that. Now think of all the scuffs, scratches and stains that your personal bit of suede endures on a daily basis! How do you lift the nap on suede? With a good brushing!

Why has Bikini Kitty included a dry body brush in her system?

Physical exfoliation is KEY to the smooth success you will get with Bikini Kitty. You need to physically remove dead skin and uncurl potential ingrown hairs! Especially on the bits you shave or wax. Everyday, dead skin builds up. Everyday you need to take a quick 10 seconds to clear your target areas with a good brushing.

The positive effect of dry body brushing is well known in spas around the world. This ancient practice is still around because it works! Clearing dead skin, stimulating circulation, releasing toxins are just a few of the tricks a quick brushing of the skin can do.

But let’s talk about ingrown hair!

Shaving and waxing do their own form of exfoliation. But re-growing hair tips, trying to break free of the surface of your skin, are a whole other beast. They are the ‘nap’ of your suede and need to be physically lifted. The nap in our MOST problem areas, are usually the most, curly hair on the most folded, bumpy skin, and that just aggravates the situation! Hair is always growing. You need to direct it’s path up & out!

Dry brushing is a stimulating activity

Dry brushing is a stimulating activity and one that might take some getting use to. Daily brushing with a natural-fiber brush is quick, easy, effective, satisfying and addictive. Once you have added this little activity to your pre-shower routine (takes hardly the time for the water to warm up) you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!

Once you adjust to the activity, consider if you might like a stiffer bristle on your brush. Stiffer bristles are a bit more effective on stubborn areas. You can trim your Bikini Kitty (Dirty Dog) brush with scissors or clippers by about 1/3 to bring down the softer tip of the fiber to a stronger part of the bristle. The front brush in this picture has been trimmed.

Brushing ‘Tips’:

• Brush EVERY day, at least once a day!
• Brush more often if you get that itchy, re-growth feeling.
• Always use a dry brush on dry skin.
• Use short, circular brushing – as you need to lift many potential angles of hair growth patterns.
• Do not push the brush so hard that you bend the bristle – the tips are what do the lifting.
• If you need more ‘heavy’ lifting – YOU CAN TRIM your brush bristles by about 1/3 to get to a stiffer portion of the fiber.
• Getting your brush wet will make it will make the bristles softer (maybe too soft).
• If you feel the need to clean it, spray the bristles with rubbing alcohol.
• Always store your brush in a dry location where you will remember to use it!

June 2014

Tags: Eyeliner, Tight line

Start your SUMMER off with some EASY Beauty Tricks

As a makeup artist - I read tons of other tips - and I am just amazed how many tips will say 'now line your eye' - when I KNOW there are many out there who are truly stumped by this all important task. There are reams of detail - tones of videos -- but to break it down for you in simple, easy terms, follow this Bikini Kitty advice on how to get your liner on, done well and get you out the door quickly!

How to REALLY line your eyes "correctly".

Here is some good - practical advice: Think of your eye like a little mouth. When you need to line it - imagine the roll of your eye lid that holds your lashes - is your lip area. (NOT inside the waterline.) But just that bit of skin that starts to roll inward - just like your lip. This is the area you really want to line. Laura Mercier calls it 'tight line' - and sells you a fancy/$$, brush and a magic pot of goo to make it all happen! (BTW - I LV LM... Actually meet her once...Just say'n!)

What I'll show you can be used with any regular pencil liner... Or, a pot of goo and a perfect brush. But it's really more about HOW you do it than what you do it with!

So what does a picture of lipstick being applied have to do with eyeliner?

To get the liner on perfectly - easy, fine and with perfect control- do what you do to put on lipstick - come at it with a 40-45 degree angle. This will make a WORLD of difference...

Too many liners I see are drawn up on the lid - it comes out too thick - too limiting to the visual length of lashes... Think of it like this: If you put dark liner behind black lashes - you have effectively 'shortened' the visual length of your lashes! Take advantage of this piece of skin - make your lashes look THICKER & LONGER. Put the liner at the VERY base of the lash - and you will visually be maximizing your lash length!

You wouldn't put lip liner/lipstick on your 'mustache' area? Well, I HOPE not!

Get the BEST line with the MOST control:

Always hold the delivery device (pencil or brush) like a pencil you would be writing with. And, please, DO hold the outer corner of your eye a bit for maximum smoothness of skin. I have been doing just this for over 20 years - I do NOT see any ill effects from this 5 second pull on my delicate eye area skin. ;)

RELAX your target eye 'droopy' NOT shut. Lifting your brow will help stretch this area of skin just a bit more. Everyone has some crazy angle that helps them: Tipping your forehead toward the mirror, or perhaps your chin forward - might make all the difference. Try a few angles and see what works best for you.

Start from the outside and move in toward your nose- either in one swoop - or short strokes. The muscle in your lid drops 'away' to the outside - so if you draw 'against' it you will get MUCH more traction & control to the line. You can cover most of the lash line in this way. Then move from your tear duct, out to meet what you have already done, to finish the line.

Then think - do you need to give the outer edge of your eye a bit of a 'smile' (lift)? Yes? Most everyone will do well with this lifting trick. So, don't follow the natural eye line fully DOWN at the outer edge - just draw the last little bit out strait (not a 'cat-eye' necessarily) but a little WEDGE of liner that just gives lift to the outer edge of your eye.

Black liner will help pop the 'white' in your eye. It should be your EVERYDAY - 'go-to' color. Gray/blues can also have this effect if you don't want black. Browns that are too 'red' or 'yellow' can visually pull these 'unfriendly' colors into your whites. Not part of the plan!

Add a dash of a fun color just ABOVE the black liner if you like. Or use your iris's complimentary color to really rev-up the visual pop. Whatever your eye color - look across the chart to find your most complimentary color. This will always be your biggest bang for your makeup bucks$!

Feel free to do a bit of a line on your bottom lash line, if you like. But for most of us that just drags the the eye down. A good compromise for the bottom lash line, is to do a little smudgy bit in the inner/middle of the eye line with your complimentary eye shadow color. This will 'HALO' the iris in a color contrast that will really pop your true eye color and get YOU compliments on how great you look, how well-rested you must be... Ya, that's what we're after! But that can be a whole other entry...

Ok, now give this 3 - 4 days of good, concentrated practice, and you will be a quick, pro liner by the end of the week!

Line ON!

LV BK