#sarney

Whilst a bright red lip can be pared with dewy skin and a gorgeous winged liner, it’s not the best option of choice when you’re wearing a deep and dark smoky eyeshadow (it can sometimes look a bit over powering) or if you’re experimenting with colour on the eyes (purple eyeshadow or an electric blue liner) for those times when you’re wanting to divert attention to the eyes, or simply want a basic everyday makeup look, a nude lipstick is generally the go to for adding a little colour to your lips without over powering your face.

Picking the perfect nude lipstick requires more effort than selecting a red or bright pink as undertones, intensity and pigmentation can play a huge factor in determining how the colour looks against your skin.

COLOUR

When shopping for nude lipstick, make sure your lips are completely free of colour, and if possible make it that you are not wearing any makeup, this allows you to visualize the colour against your natural skintone without the interference of bronzers, blushers, and foundation.

With no makeup on, examine the inside of your lip by popping your bottom lip down and making a sad face, the inside colour of your lip will help you to see what the most flattering nude colour will be on your skintone.

Lighter skintones should opt for a shade that has a pink tone.

Medium skin go for something more beige and yellow based

Darker skin looks best something that is a rich, dark, mocha style brown similar to the natural lip shade.

Man this is hard because I have no idea what you already know or not or where you’re from so I can’t really make comparisons?? but i’m gonna try to give you a general??? hold tight

so I guess first thing is understanding the system, right?

Brazil has a… multi-party presidential democracy. Ish. Hasn’t always been like that tho, in fact, brazilian history is filled with coups and not so democratic republics. It’s our thing. But right now we have a President, in charge of the executive power, then there’s the upper and lower houses of congress (Senate and Chamber, we call them, basically), and the Supreme Court, I guess just like in the US. There’s a president to the Senate, a President to the Chamber, and a few more important figures in each part of the government, like the ministers, or cabinet leaders, that hold, well, cabinets, like the one for Education or Health or Culture, etc, or the Government Leader in congress that isn’t really a formal title but also kinda is a job. 

So, our parties. There are so many of them. SO MANY. Y’all wouldn’t believe how many. Ok, about 30-40 of them. But really, who the fuck knows all of them? I don’t, so we’re gonna stick to the most important ones. But for that, quick history lesson: 

Remember when I said we haven’t always been, uhm, this? Yeah, up until the late 80′s Brazil was on a Dictatorship (not the first we had, but the worst we had, arguably) (and I have to control myself not to tell you the whole thing cause I just love brazilian history???? but imma stick to what’s important) THE POINT IS: during those years, only two “parties” were allowed to exist, the… pro-dictatorship party and the… consented opposition party (we like to call them the “yes” and the “yes, sir” parties cause of the obvious). Consented opposition party was called MDB (founded in 65′). When dictatorship ended, they turned into PDMB (in 1980). You’re gonna have to get used to the acronyms because we only use them here. Sometime later, in 88, some people left PMDB to found PSDB, and at the time the plan was to have it a bit more to the left than PMDB that was a pretty center-right wing party. More to the left of both of those, also in the 80′s, our Workers Party is founded, PT. Not a socialist/communist party, whatever some may think until today. You might be wondering what happened to the dictatorship supporters party, right? They’ve changed names a few times through the last decades, nowadays they’re DEM, a right wing party (ironically enough, their acronym comes from Democrats).

Nowadays you can say PSDB is a center-right wing party, PT is center-left, and PMDB is wherever it pleases (mostly center-right, though). “Isn’t there a REAL left wing then????” there is, but it’s not exactly the most powerful thing in existence, so most people atribute the “left” nearly entirely to PT, cause up until a couple of years ago, it was majorly powerful. We’ll get to that. Anyway, some left wing parties are PCdoB and Psol and a shit ton of other small ones.

Back to history. When dictatorship was ending people made an awful lot of deals to get one dude (Tancredo Neves) into the presidency (not popular vote yet, some sort of electoral college) but cause we’re in Brazil and shit just can’t be simple HE DIED before taking office then his vice president (who had just kinda changed parties to make the run) became the first post-dictatorship president. This dude is called Sarney and he’s alive until today and we like to call him The King of a state because his family basically owns it. And it’s a big state and in pretty bad condition (if you want we can come back later to why so many families are so powerful and so entirely into politics and basically owners of whole states and how Oligarchies have always been a thing BUT in another post). He’s a senator now. Yeah, cause that’s a thing, you don’t have to end your career after being president here. Oh, both of those were like, from PMDB.

Then we finally got to vote and we elected this one young unknown dude who was promising to end corruption (I mean, they all do, but, big time), his name was Collor, and he got impeached for corruption a couple of years later. Yes, you’re allowed to laugh. He was from PRN, we’re not gonna talk about this party here, no relevance. His vice president took over, Itamar Franco, and if you guessed it you probably got it right: he was from PMDB. The country was still in a big ass crisis coming all the way from the dictatorship years and Collor had just screwed up massively too so when Itamar KINDA got things under control his economy cabinet leader got big time praise…… and got elected president a couple of years later for PSDB. His name is Fernando Henrique Cardoso (we like to call him FHC) and he’s still alive too. 

So we got a few years of PSDB there cause they approved reelection in congress at some point there - let’s be honest, it’s because they were scared of the increasing popularity of somebody else that had been running in the past elections too: Lula, the big leader of PT - and they were right to, cause Lula would get elected finally in 2003 and reelected after, staying until 2011, and would hand pick his successor and get her elected: Dilma Rousseff, who would also get reelected. As you might have heard, she got impeached last year, leaving office to her vice president, Michel Temer, from… PMDB. 

For the past couple of decades, our political scenario pretty much got divided into PSDB and PT running against each other (and against a ton of minor parties that didn’t quite make it) in every election, with PT winning all of the ones mentioned above. But in any and all of the governments, deals had to be made to get - you guessed it - PMDB support. If there’s one thing you have to know about these last years of Brazil is that no one, no one can govern without PMDB. And the reason to that is on it’s historical basis: it’s basically the oldest and biggest party we got. So EVERYWHERE there’s someone from there, so they get plenty of space in government, they make most of congress, they make most of the senate, they make most of the local powers, etc. And like that, unelected, they got to the Presidency quite a few times. When I said before that they go wherever they want to, is because they’ll lean to whichever side can grant them power, and not even collectively - you can see some of them aligning to left wing politicians in some parts of the country while others get allied to right wing politicians in another part in the same election, since there are no rules against that. Today, since they hold the presidency and most of the other important roles, their main ally is PSDB, but a few years back they were the main supporters to PT, so, really, the rule should be “don’t trust them and expect anything and everything”. 

Curled and fluttery lashes are the perfect accompaniment to various eye makeup styles (or just worn on their own without a hint of eyeliner or eyeshadow)  A gorgeous curled lash looks pretty, soft and delicate but sometimes a little more work than just applying a coat or two of mascara is needed for the best results.

The curling:

A good eyelash curler is essential, this doesn’t mean an expensive lash curler from a cult brand like Shu Uemura, but it means that the $1 version from the drugstore may not cut it.  To use an eyelash curler start with clean lashes, hold it at the base of your lashes and squeeze for a few seconds, then walk it out to the middle of your lashes squeeze and then to the very tips of the lashes and squeeze again,  you can also repeat the step but only use your lash curler before mascara, using it after can damage your lashes. Using heat will also make the curl last longer, you can either opt for a heated eyelash curler wand (which can be used before and after mascara) or heat your eyelash curler under a medium heat (just make sure you test it on the back of your hand first to ensure it is not too hot) for a more effective, long-lasting curl.

Try: Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

The primer:

A lash primer will help to make your mascara last longer and will give more length and curl to your lashes which is a huge benefit. To use a lash primer: wiggle a coat on either side of the lashes (both the underside and the topside) after curling your lashes, but before applying mascara. Allow the primer adequate time to dry before moving on to your mascara application.

Brow pencils are great, but take it one step further to a pen and you’ve got a totally different brow game. If you’re a fan of ultra-full brows, are missing hair in certain areas, or love the micro-bladed look but don’t want to commit to tattooing brows on your face a brow pen may just be for you.

Whilst not the easiest of brow products use (beginners may find them especially tricky) the finished result of a brow pen can make all the hard work and extra care worth it. A felt tip pen (similar to a liquid liner) needs a steady hand to master and a good spoolie on standby for the best results.

How to Use a Brow Pen: Mastering Application

The application of a brow pen is not an easy one, and an artistic touch and steady hand are two necessary tools. Much like how you would paint tiny fine strokes to create eyebrows on a painting if you were to draw a portrait the same technique must be applied and adapted for this style of product. Start off by brushing up your eyebrows and then very gently use small, light, feathering strokes and flicks to create the illusion of eyebrow hairs. It’s important not to use too much pressure when applying the product or you may end up with the dreaded sharpie brows. Once you’ve finished filling in the brows brush them through with a spoolie and set with a good brow gel.

Who Should Use a Brow Pen?

Brow pens are ideal for people who:

love a really full, naturally thick looking brow

may have over-tweezed their brows in the past

have lost a large amount of brow hairs in the past due to medical reasons

love the look of micro-bladed brows, but don’t want to commit to the process (or find it too expensive)

In the age of niche beauty, luxe brands, anti-consumerism, zero waste, and more “exclusive” scents, it can be easy to turn your nose up at fragrances produced for the mass market; but doing so means you may miss out on a fantastic scent.

A rare gem amidst a sea of luxe, department store scents, Jo Malone Rose & Magnolia is so strikingly beautiful you almost second guess whether you smelt it in a major department store or a niche fragrance boutique in France or Milan.

If you tend to avoid traditional florals and “feminine” scents, Rose and Magnolia are two words which may make you instantly turn your nose away. Don't fret. Even if you’re some who stereotypically avoids rose and floral scented fragrances, it’s worth giving this one a try.

If you write for a site called Makeup Tips, it’s pretty much a given that you will be asked “What is your favourite makeup tip?” on the regular. In this article our team of writers share their very best, top favourite, holy grail makeup tip.

“Mix orange lipstick with your concealer on the back of your hand! This is my all-time favourite makeup tip. It makes your concealer creamier and the orange helps to counteract any blue tones underneath the eyes. I like to use one with a bit of shimmer in it for the very best results!”

Two step lipsticks are generally considered to be quite an old school beauty product. Despite being super long lasting, their popularity has decreased in  recent years as many people often opt for a modern mattifying liquid lipstick instead. Although liquid lipsticks may be easier to apply, they can also be incredibly drying and uncomfortable to wear. If staying power and comfort is what you’re after, a two step liquid lipstick may be the answer.

Start with entirely dry lips

Two step lipsticks are often met with a lot of confusion as many products contain a lip balm and a colour, but it’s important to resist the temptation of applying the lip balm first. It is essential you start the lipstick application process with completely dry lips, keep them as dry as possible (it’s best to moisturise the night before instead of the day of) and don’t apply lip balm.  If necessary, it may be helpful to press a light layer of mattifying powder over the lip surface before applying any colour, this will remove any remnants of moisture on the lips.

Apply colour