As requested via our Facebook page, here are some quick time-saving beauty tips for you all. I hope that some of them come in handy for you and save you some much needed time and money.

Image via WeHeartIt.com

1. Cure Puffy Morning Eyes

• Leave 2 spoons in the freezer overnight and apply them to your eyes as soon as you wake up to treat eye bags/puffy eyes.
• Another puffy eye treatment is to make some caffeinated tea with 2 tea bags then put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning, pull them out and place them on your eyes. The caffeine that remains in the bags are great at reducing the appearance of sleepy eyes.

2. Lips Looking Like a Chapped Mess?

• When you’re brushing your teeth, scrape over your lips with your toothbrush to exfoliate them. Apply a lip balm or oil once you’re done!
• Another way to exfoliate is to mix sugar or salt with a bit of oil and rub them over the lips.

3. Need to Save Some Time in the Morning?

• Use your hair conditioner all over your body in the shower to let it double as a body moisturizer.
• For the quickest made-up face, simply conceal blemishes and dark circles, apply a pinky peach blush, some mascara (brown or black, depending on hair color) and put lipgloss on your cheekbones and center of your lips. For those ladies with rosacea or reddish discoloration, apply a cooler based powder according to your shade.
• If your hair’s a mess, learn to perfect a chignon bun or a french brain. Both can look very on trend if done correctly and are easy to do on dirty hair.

4. Problem Skin?

• It is always hard for people with problem skin as you need to invest more products and time into your beauty routine. Try to put some more focus into finding a good skin care routine that suits you rather than makeup to cover up your problems. The better your skin quality, the less makeup you will require in the long run. Start by finding a good cleanse/tone/moisturize routine first then move on to acne treatments, rosacea treatments, wrinkle treatments etc.

5. Embarrassing Feet Caused by Heels and/or Neglect?

• Cure dry, cracked and questionable looking feet and toenails by applying loads of lotion or body oil (i.e. coconut) then putting a small plastic bag followed by a sock over your foot. By the morning, everything would’ve absorbed and your feet will be feeling oh so fresh and moisturized. Also, summer’s coming so apply a quick coat of a brightly colored polish so your feet look beautiful in those sandals.

6. Frame Your Makeup Look

• Feel like your makeup look needs a little something extra? Get into the habit of always shaping and filling in your brows with a pencil/powder 1 or 2 shades lighter than your eyebrow color. It frames the whole face, polishes your look and makes you look younger!

7. The Never-Fail Cat Eye

• For quick but standout eye makeup (that looks like you put more effort into your beauty regime than you actually did), do a quick cat eye with liquid or gel liner. You may not be able to get it perfect in the beginning but it will come with practice. Here’s a hint, draw the flick at the same angle to the outer-lower waterline and fill in accordingly.

8. Banish Lipstick Anxiety

• Worried about taking a drink or giving a kiss in fear of smudging your freshly-lipsticked pout? Opt for a tinted lip gloss or lip tint instead. They are easier to apply than lipstick and their pigments usually last longer without the need for touch ups or lipliner.

9. Speed Up with Mineral Powder

• For the quickest foundation application, apply a face primer then find an amazing mineral foundation (naturally, our favorite is our Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder!) and apply it with a dense kabuki brush. Mineral powder also provides buildable coverage so just wait a few minutes in between application of the layers or apply a spray of setting spray between each layer of coverage.

10. Oily Hair, Don’t Care

• Do you suffer from hair that turns into an oily, lifeless mess too quickly? Keep some transluscent powder on hand and sprinkle it through the hair as required. Grab a comb, brush it through and perform a glorious hair flip and BOOM! Gorgeous tousled locks in an instant!

11. Stop it, You’re Making Me Blush

• Skin looking a bit sallow but you don’t have any blush on hand? Easy. Simply apply your lipstick as a blush by warming up your fingers, swiping them over your lipstick with your middle and ring finger then quickly applying to your cheekbones in upward motion. Keeping the lipstick warm and applying it quickly will allow it to blend easier.

It’s hard to find a modern woman’s makeup bag that doesn’t contain a few makeup brushes. However, something that goes by the wayside with these vital beauty accessories is how important it is to clean them at LEAST every couple of weeks. And here’s why…

Zoom into the bristles of those little suckers and you would find a myriad of things you would rather keep off your face: Dead skin cells, old makeup, rancid face oils and bacteria. Yeah, yuck!

So, if you’re suffering from breakouts for unknown causes, your makeup isn’t blending the way it used to or your eye brush is making your eyeshadow look muddy, these are all signs that your brushes are definitely due for a clean!

How to clean brushes:

1. Find yourself some natural/organic shampoo and conditioner, you want it to be as gentle as possible.
2. Fill a sink partly with luke warm water and squeeze in a tiny bit of your shampoo. Slush it around with your hand until a few bubbles are formed.
3. For each brush, dip it in the water and massage the bristles with your hand until the water from it runs clear.
4. Once all your brushes are done, refill the sink with warm water and rinse out the shampoo. Drain.
5. Fill another sink load of luke warm water and pour a teaspoon of conditioner into it. Repeat the same process as you did with the shampoo.
6. Rinse off the conditioner in another sink of water.
7. Squeeze the bristles back into the right shape then lay them flat of a towel to air dry.

Sidenote: If you find the shampoo/conditioner isn’t cleaning your bristles very well, squirt a bit of liquid soap and small amount of water into the palm of your hand and swivel the brush in it. Follow with the conditioner process.

Ideally, after each use of a brush you should spot clean it with a few sprays of rubbing alcohol onto a paper town or tissue. Doing this will mean you don’t have to do a full clean as often.

I know there’s a few of you that are guilty of neglecting this part of your beauty routine (I know I get lazy with it) but let’s make a pact to keep those brushes (and our skin) as clean as we can. It only takes a few minutes but will save you from unnecessary skin issues in the future.

Get cleaning ladies!!

If you have been living under a rock this past week then you may have missed that Sunday was the evening of the biggest red carpet event of the year – The 84th Academy Awards!

This year brought some stunning looks with an obvious trend and focus on enhancing natural beauty, something we here at Alexami strongly approve of. So, we thought we would give you all a few of our favorite faces of the evening and how you can recreate their look!

Emma Stone

Firstly, we have cutie Emma Stone. This look is perfect for almost any occasion and will suit you gorgeous gals with cool and paler skin tones.

1. The Base – On a clean face, apply Alexami’s Mattifying Primer to prepare the face. Follow with Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder in Matte, in the color that suits your skin tone.

2. The Eyes – As a base, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Pearl White with your finger all over your lid and up to your brow. Then using a blending brush, lightly dust Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Candy Pink over the lid and just above your crease. For the liner, dip a brush such as Alexami’s Vegan Angle Brush into a small bit of water. Dab of any excess moisture onto a tissue then using the slightly damp brush, dip into Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Matte Black. Line the very inner corner of your top lid and continue along the rest of your eye making sure to stay close to your lash line. Apply another line just above the one you made to thicken the line out slightly at the outer lid. Moisten your brush again if necessary then finish with a cat eye flick tapering to a fine point just beyond your outer corner (refer to image). Finish the eyes with Alexami’s Herbal Mineral Mascara in Black and lightly fill in your brows with the technique of your choice (either shadow or pencil).

3. The Lips - Exfoliate and moisturize the lips with lip balm. Follow with Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lip Gloss in Raspberry. Then pucker and press your lips to a tissue to mattify the gloss slightly.

4. The Cheeks – Being careful to keep this very subtle, lightly apply a dusting of Alexami’s Perfect Puff Minerals Blush in Candy Pink to the apples of your cheeks.

Octavia Spencer

Next up is something for the darker, warmer toned beauties using Octavia Spencer as inspiration. Her look, as Emma’s is very versatile. It manages to be sultry but not too dramatic at the same time.

1. The Base – On a clean face, apply Alexami’s Mattifying Primer to prepare the face. For a more radiant finish, make your own liquid foundation (for tutorial, click here) with Alexami’s Mineral Foundation Powder in the color for your skin tone. Apply to face with a sponge by blotting it onto the skin. Contour the face with Alexami’s Mineral Bronzer in Medium/Dark, focusing on your cheekbones, temples and under the chin.

2. The Eyes – Using your finger, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Camel all over the lid and up to the brow. Using a shader brush, press Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Cappuccino over the lid up to the crease. Put Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Black onto a small/medium blending brush and tap off excess to avoid any fall-out. Guide this into the outer crease of the eye and from the outer edge of the lid to the center. Blend well with a larger blending brush. For the liner, dip a brush such as Alexami’s Vegan Angle Brush into Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Matte Black and apply along the upper lash line. Finish the eyes with 2 coats of Alexami’s Herbal Mineral Mascara in Black and then lightly fill in your brows with the method of your choice.

3. The Lips – Exfoliate and apply lip balm to your lips then follow with Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lip Gloss in Bronze. Blot the lips with a tissue to mattify the gloss slightly.

4. The Cheeks - Using a blush brush, apply Alexami’s Perfect Puff Minerals Blush in Coral pink along your cheek bone. Finish by highlighting your cheekbones with Alexami’s Mineral Illuminating Powder in Gold.

Jennifer Lopez

Despite the controversy over Jennifer’s small ‘wardrobe malfunction’, she still looked radiant and amazing as always. This look is so great for the evening and would suit neutral to warm skin tones.

1. The Base – Same as Octavia’s above.

2. The Eyes – Using your finger, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Soft Peach all over the lid and up to the brow. With a small/medium shader brush, apply Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Aubergine to the outer crease and into the inner part just below the eyebrow, avoiding the very inner crease (reference image above). Blend out well with a blending brush. Using the shader brush again, apply more Aubergine below the eye, focusing more on the outer side. With a clean shader brush, apply more Soft Peach over the lid, avoiding overlapping your defined crease that you just created. For the liner, dip a brush such as Alexami’s Vegan Angle Brush into a small bit of water. Dab of any excess moisture onto a tissue then using the slightly damp brush, dip into Alexami’s Mineral Eye Shadow in Matte Black. Thickly line your top lash line to the outer edge. With the excess powder that remains on the brush, line the very outside of your lower lash line and pull it up into a flick (as seen in picture). Now, using Pearl White and the damp brush technique, apply another line just above the flick you created. This opens and lifts the eye. Finish by filling in your brows and applying 3 coats of Alexami’s Herbal Mineral Mascara in Black along with false lashes if so desired.

3. The Lips - Exfoliate and apply lip balm to your lips then follow with Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lip Gloss in Clear. Blot the lips with a tissue to mattify the gloss slightly.

4. The Cheeks – Jennifer has very slight contouring which will be created with bronzer during the base application. To make the whole look pop though, apply Alexami’s Mineral Illuminating Powder in Gold to your cheekbones and the bridge of your nose.

We hope that you enjoy these looks and give them a try for yourself! Let us know how they turn out!

Now that summer is upon us, we thought it fitting to let you guys know about some of the current makeup trends for the season. This year, it’s all about timeless, minimalist beauty with subtle pops of color. Most of the trends won’t take any time at all to apply but will definitely make an impact.

Take a look!

Candied Lips

Image via TFS

The bright lip has slowly made its way into a lasting trend over the past few seasons. Moving from the bold, dark berry lip of autumn and winter, spice up your summer pout with orange-based reds, pinky pastels and lip stains of any shade.

Not in the mood for out-there lips? Opt for gloss, tinted lip balm or a pinky nude shade.

For Warm Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lipgloss in Raspberry

For Cool Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Vegan Lipgloss in Soft Pink

Mighty Metallics

Image via Style.com

You can never go wrong with metallics in the summer time. They have the ability to make your eyes look alive and are a definite attention grabber.

This summer, try earth tone metallics. To wear, apply some eye primer then sweep your shade over choice over the eyelid and beneath the eye. For a special night out, add a light gold or shimmering white around the tear duct and on the brow bone for an extra accent.

For Warm Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Eyeshadow in Bronze and Alexami’s Mineral Illuminating Powder in Gold

For Cool Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Eyeshadow in Cappuccino and Pearl White

Crayola Crease

Image via Style.com

A new kind of look for the adventurous women out there involves using a bright shade (purple, blue, green, whatever!) and applying it only to your crease with a blending brush and blend out. This is a wearable way to add a pop of color to your makeup routine without going overboard.

For Warm Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Eyeshadow in Blue Green

For Cool Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Eyeshadow in Violet

Peachy Keen

Image via We Heart It

We’re all very used to wearing a golden, illuminating bronzer in the summer months to emphasize our tans. This season, try keeping your metallics on your eye and opting for a matte peach cheek color to accentuate your cheek bones and make you look naturally sun-kissed.

For Warm Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Mineral Bronzer

For Cool Skin Tones: Try Alexami’s Perfect Puff Mineral Blush in Coral Pink

Until next time beauties!

Lara