Your Best Legs Ever

It’s summer and that means one thing: legs. Everywhere. In everything. Whether it’s your swimsuit, sundress, or running shorts, your legs must stop hibernating in your jeans and sweats and face the world. Sound a little scary? Don’t worry. We’ve got your back…or should we say we’ve got your thighs? Either way, follow these five steps and in no time, people will be asking if you’re the girl from the Nair commercial.

1. Scrub and Shave
Chances are you’ve let the skin on your legs go. After all no one (except an adoring boyfriend perhaps) has seen them all winter. Slough away dry skin and flakes to reveal the smooth, less-scaly skin underneath. I prefer Neutrogena’s Energizing Sugar Scrub. Simply rub the scrub in circular motions, from your thighs to your feet, during a warm shower. For extra exfoliation, apply using a loofah. Exfoliating before shaving makes for a smoother shave, as it gets rid of all the dead skin cells that clog up your razor. Once you’ve exfoliated, lather up your legs with a thick shaving cream and shave using a brand new razor.
2. Caffeinate
Whether you’ve got cellulite or just want to tighten up your tush and legs, it all comes down to caffeine. Caffeine tightens skin for the appearance of firmer, smoother legs instantly. Rub your legs with a tightening cream like My Firm Legs primer, that contains caffeine, collagen, and antioxidants once a day after your shower or bath.
3. Get em’ glowing
A little color on your legs can cover a multitude of flaws. But don’t you dare hit the beach without SPF or run to the tanning salon. For subtle, natural looking color, I love Nivea’s Sun Kissed Beautiful Legs Gradual Tan Moisturizer. It smells nice, goes on evenly, and BONUS includes ingredients which allow you to shave less often. For more dramatic color you can’t go wrong with St. Tropez’s line of sunless tanners or Clarins Self-Tanning Gel. Just remember to put lotion on your knees and around your ankles before and after applying the tanner.
4. Contour
Now that your legs are smooth, hair free, and have a subtle glow, it’s time to shape them to perfection. Hit the gym for 8 million lunges? Yeah right. The simplest way to make your legs look longer and leaner is to take a waterproof highlighter powder and run a straight line right up the center of your leg, from the ankle, up the shin, and all the way up your thigh. This will draw the eye to the long, center line creating that legs for days illusion. Really want to sculpt your legs? With body makeup the possibilities are endless: shape calves, slim thighs, or lift your booty in minutes.
5. Finishing Touches
Now that your limbs are lovely, make sure your shoe wardrobe only maximizes their smokin’ hot appearance. Consider investing in a pair of heels that match your skin tone. Nude heels blend with your legs to give the appearance that they are several inches longer. If you have short legs, avoid wearing shoes with ankle straps as they will cut your legs off making them look shorter.

Who where’s short shorts? Now you can. Get out there girl and show em’ some leg!

Shape Up!

One of my favorite things about working at It Cosmetics is helping women to draw out their natural and unique beauty. Beauty comes in all shapes, ages, and sizes. It also comes in a range of face shapes. My Sculpted Face allows you to hide a double chin, create cheekbones, or narrow your nose, but it also allows you to perfectly define God’s masterpiece…your face!
Square: Square faces have a broader jaw line and forehead. To soften up the angularity of a square face, apply a matte contouring shade (1 to 2 shades darker than your skin tone) to all four corners of your face. Then, highlight the center of your forehead, on top of the cheekbones, and your chin, using a white matte or shimmer highlighter. Add a pop of blush to the apples of your cheeks and you’ve just softened up your square! Square-faced stars include Calista Flockheart and Demi Moore.
Round: The good news about a round face…they are typically associated with youth! You have a circle face if your measurements are the same for the length and width and your face has a circle look to it (think Kate Winslet and Drew Barrymore). The distance between the forehead and the chin is shorter, creating full cheeks. To define your cheek bones, brush your contouring shade directly underneath your cheek (to make it simple, make a fish face and contour along the line of definition you’ve created). Then place your highlighting powder above the cheekbone.
Heart: Heart shaped faces are wide at the forehead and narrow down to the chin…just like a heart! Famous sweetheart faces include Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Love Hewitt. To create a more proportional face, apply your contouring shade to the edge of the forehead, near your hair line, and along the temples.
Oval: The length of your face is longer than the width of your face, typically one and a half times longer. Your face is shaped like: Julia Roberts, Tyra Banks, or Jessica Alba. Because you have a perfectly proportioned face (lucky!) you don’t need any contouring, except to slim your nose, hide a double chin, or sculpt more defined cheekbones.

Whether you’re square, round, heart, or oval, embrace your shape…it’s beautiful on you.

News Anchors...Makeup Tricks of the Trade

Imagine waking up at 2:30 in the morning and going to work. Sound awful? Maybe some of you do it already. Now, imagine waking up at 2:30 in the morning, going to work, and having to look absolutely flawless. And we mean camera ready flawless: the whole deal... hair, makeup, jewelry, nails done, suit on. Welcome to the life of TV news anchors! Fortunately these morning news personalities have an arsenal of makeup tricks up their suit sleeves, and since the Creator and CEO of It Cosmetics, Jamie Kern Lima, is a former morning anchor herself, we’ve got a few for you right here:

Good morning bright eyes!

Whose eyes really look awake (wait whose eyes even looks alive) at 2:30 am? Not many. But if you place a gold or pearl colored shimmer eye shadow in the corner of your eyes and below the eye brow (#1 and #2 in diagram), your eyes will instantly look like you’ve had a full night of sleep!

Wide awake!

Another great way to open up your sleepy eyes is to line the inner rim of your bottom lid (#5 in diagram) with white liner. The light reflects off the white line, making you look like you’ve slept like a baby for a full 8 hours! To finish off your fabulous eyes in a snap, use a neautral color all over the lid. Then, use a darker contour shade with lots of gold or copper flecks (#3), across the entire crease. Use the same color to line underneath your lower lash line (#4). A rich coppery or golden shade will bring out the flecks in your eyes, and are universally flattering on any eye color.

Bye bye double chin.
Now here’s an issue that no amount of beauty sleep is going to change…a double chin. Fortunately, news anchors know that the face shape they were born with isn’t the face shape they need to show the world. By placing contouring powders, one to two shades darker than your natural skin tone, underneath your chin (right over the “double” your trying to hide), you can turn your two chins into just one.

Coffee-Stain Busters!
Newsrooms are notorious for the insane amounts of coffee they go through. Since newsies work around the clock, coffee is a must. And, coffee stains are quick to follow. Try Go Smile’s Touch Up Mini On-The-Go Smile Refreshers. And follow the cardinal rule of smile conscious news anchors…ONLY wear blue based lip shades. Orange based shades make teeth appear even more yellow.

Whether you're a news anchor, a party gal, a career woman, or a busy mom, put these trips to use next time you need to fake your beauty sleep!