Teal Appeal

Joyeux les sunny-days!

It is beautiful out! Come to New York and experience the best weekend of the year--Memorial Day weekend aka the beginning of summer and beach season! I've been safely catching some sun rays in the park by my house and already have a slight tan happening. I bronze über quickly and most of my friends say that I look like a different person in the summer, which is probably true because I feel like a different person. I swear I wasn't meant to live in cold weather and I would easily go without snow for the rest of my life if I could.

Beauty-wise, summer season means less is more, and though I generally like to follow that tradition, I also get really excited to wear bright colors for a change. I love how poppy colors bounce off a nice fresh tan and make everything seem so cheery and fun. Today's maquillage du jour is a two-in-one, featuring my favorite summer color--TEAL with two ways to wear it on a hot summer day and/or night. Hope you like my interpretation :)

Daytime Teal

Read more for more pix, Evening Teal maquillage, products, etc.

Bang Bangs

Hey guys,

So I'm thinking of getting bangs... please help me decide from the following celebrity hairstyles :)) Thank you! Merci! Gracias! Danke! Спасибо!

The front runner: Hillary Duff

Read more for more choices...

Sunny Yellow Nail Enamel :)

Hi friends!

The sun has come out and I am basking in its glory. I just completed my finals and have about a week to celebrate before I start my summer courses... womp womp. I could be sad, but I'm excited because that will be the end of that! Anyway, here are my nails of the week (last week), they've been making me happy at times when I needed a pick me up. My awesome yellow nail polish is Unicorn by Sinful Colors (I always thought unicorns were lavender, but oh well) and surprisingly, this color is extremely easy to wear. Check it out!

Left (flash), right (no flash)

Wanna see my maquillage? 

Rainy Day Makeup Fix

Salut les filles :)

How many of you are from the NY/NJ area and are sick and tired of the humid grayness we've been experiencing? ::Raises hand:: This weather is cute for 2 days and 2 days only... any longer than that, it makes me want to chop off my frizzy hair and curl up under my sheets until its all over. Unfortunately, I can't afford to curl up and lemons must be turned into lemonade :) Anyway, here's my makeup attempt to brighten up a very gray rainy day...
P. S. it worked!

Read more for pix & info

Purple spLASHes

Bonjour mes amis :)

Some of you may have probably been wondering why I've been swaying away from my original topic of makeup/beauty and posting stuff about my friends' musical achievements. Not to reveal too much, but music, art and performing arts are a huge passion of mine, and I have been in the arts my entire life. Both my parents are artists, as well as most of my friends that I met in high school--the FAME school in New York City. I definitely plan on revisiting this topic in the future and perhaps even post a video or two of my own artistic endeavors, so stay tuned! :) For today, I'll stick to beauty and maquillage.

Today's post is featuring my makeup of the day or maquillage du jour, starring moi and some newly acquired cosmetic products. Let me know what you think of my purple spLASHes ::wink wink::

Read more for products & more pix :)

"Make-Up Love"

Salut mes amis!

I don't care if it's raining for 2 weeks straight in NYC, I'm happy cuz its Friday! I hope you're all finding yourselves happy, healthy and in the company of good friends, love and laughter. As you know, I am very passionate about my friends and am so very proud of each and every one of them. Today, I'm taking this space to say I LOVE YOU to one of my bestest friends in the world, my one and only "Barnesy" aka MikeLyrik. 

Let me tell you about my "Barnesy"...  

MikeLyrik is an internationally known performing artist  who's been rocking the stages of the underground music scene for as long as I can remember. His awesome talent, drive and determination have landed him to perform as the opening act for many of today's hottest artists, as well as tour for major music venues in Dubai, Hong Kong, Muscat, and Abu Dhabi, just to name a few. Read his official bio on reverbnation.com

Last night, MikeLyrik performed at a Fashion Event in NYC's posh & fabulous Juliet Supper Club, which was attended by everyone and their mother... and I kinda hate myself for missing it! I never miss his shows, but last night was a bit crayzay... I'm still mad, cuz I should've been screaming and hollering for my Barnesy... 

after all, I am his biggest fan :D

Spirit perfectly captured!

Why Make-Up Love? Read more to find out :)

A Natural Woman

Salut mes amis!

Today's post is inspired by and dedicated to one of my bestest besties, Christen Satchelle, check her out if you haven't met her already. Chrissy is an accomplished singer, songwriter and Broadway producer, who is now participating in the Avon Voices singing competition. In the link above, Chrissy is putting her spin on the Aretha Franklin classic (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and she needs votes to win the darn thang. If you can spare 3 minutes, please register to vote for my bestie, she really is the BEST singer that this competition has to offer and deserves to win because she is incredibly talented. Listening to Chrissy sing gives me goosebumps every time and I can't wait for the world to feel what I feel--she is AMAZING!

Here's my natural woman and YES, she has insanely white teeth! :D

Read more to see my take on the "Natural Woman" look

Smokey Eyed Ninja

Ni-hao everyone (^.^)

In today's makeup post, I'm featuring my go-to classic gray smokey eye. As we know, makeup is meant to enhance our features--not change them--and keeping this in mind, I want to show how the smokey eye can be flattering to asian eyes. I notice that a lot of asian girls use the smokey technique to hide or "conceal" their monolids, applying dark shadow all over and covering the natural cut that makes our eyes so distinct. Not only do I see this as unflattering, I strongly believe that ethnic features should be highlighted and emphasized rather than covered up and downplayed. Anyway, my rant for the day... on to the maquillage!

Click "read more" to Read More!

Stained Glass Nails

Hola darlings :)

Today's post is all about fun, bright and carefree nails. I was going to show you my current bright yellow manicure, but after receiving a nail pic from my friend Kenya, I decided to save mine for another day. Hers were way more immaculate than mine and simply too fabulous not to share with the world!!! Here they are, tell me they don't remind you of beautifully crafted art deco stained glass windows?! :)

At first I thought Sally Hansen made another sticker design, but knowing the creative and detailed Miss Kenya, I quickly realized this was all her doing! She really inspired me and now I want to remove my yellow polish and start all over!!!

Check out the rest :D

From Vintage Barb to Barbarella

Salut everyone!

Is Blogger finally back to normal? I apologize to all of you whose comments were deleted... I'm as confused as you are...

Anyway... I've got a lot of material to share, so I'll start with my latest maquillage du jour and coiffure du jour (makeup & hairstyle of the day), voila!

Vintage Barbie = Daytime makeup & hair for the office a la Mad Men :)

The Look: Simple, almost natural blushing makeup with a hint of color and retro "good-girl" hair to match. I was going for sweet & innocent... did I pull it off?

Read more for products, directions, etc.

Rolled-outta-bed waves

Bonjour!

Today's quickie post is about my fave springy-summery hairstyle: messy, just-rolled-out-of-bed waves. I am clueless about hair and how to achieve these looks, so I kinda just wing it... here's the style on Gossip Girl's Blake Lively and on Vanessa Hudgens (not sure why she's famous)...

I was going for something in-between... check out my version :)

Makeup BFFs

Salut chicas!!!

Today's post is another glimpse into my life through the lens of beauty and makeup. Here's a pic of me and my bestie Larissa (I call her Larry) at her baby shower last Sunday... hope you like our maquillage :D P. S. First thing she asked me when I got there was whether I approved her skills lol... (pshh I kinda liked her makeup better than mine!)

Read on for more details :)

PastELLE

Salut les filles & les graçons :)

I've been a bad girl and I apologize for not posting and not getting back to some of you. It's been a he// of a week... but I'm back! The weather has been amazing and since I am a creature of my environment, I've been enjoying every single ray of light. In spring, I like to keep my makeup simple and my wardrobe more on the sunny side, so I tend to wear a lot of pastels and light colors. Since I've been super busy and haven't had a chance to buy anything new (plus I'm kinda broke, as always) I've been recycling and bringing back some of my old clothes. In doing so, I rediscovered a cute pastelly top that I got at Naf Naf in Paris 2-3 years ago and I've worn it twice in the past 2 weeks! I cinched it with a snake-skin belt from Banana Republic et voila--spring spirit perfectly captured :)

For my maquillage, I was inspired by the whimsy and airiness of the top, so I went for a shimmery light eye, with a gray-purple contouring of the socket. I tried the same effect on my lippies: pale pink in the center, then contoured with a light brown-nude.

Check out the rest

Spring Frenchie

Hi guys,

It's a super busy week and I barely do my maquillage... no bueno... For now, take a look at my Fresh French--the ultimate trick for transforming my boy hands into feminine ones. I took these pix with my iphone, hope it suffices! I layered a sparkly pink nail polish over a bluish lavender one for a shexxyy spring shimmery French and I'm lovin' it :)

bisous,

Maryam Maquillage

♥

My best friend's wedding

Salut les filles!!

Friday was a special day :) As the world celebrated the royal wedding of the century, I celebrated my best friend's wedding, which was equally royal and joyous, if not more, and so incredibly dear to my heart! My bestie had a city hall ceremony, followed by lunch at a lovely restaurant, where the wine was flowing and the laughter was overflowing and spilling onto the streets of Jersey... haha

I caught myself getting super emotional during the vows... I'm not the mushy type, but this time I was. I guess 15 years of friendship will do that to an ice princess! I can't wait to be a part of my bestie's BIG celebration in the Philippines cuz it's gonna be amaaazinggg!!!

Check out the details ;)

Coral mani, grandma's vintage Alexandrite, brocade skirt

Teal spLASHes

Salut friends...

My vacay is over and I find myself sad and melancholy... To brighten up my day, I'm using LA Splash mascara in a beautiful teal on my lower lashes and some black on my top ones. Check it out, let me know what ya think :)) P. S. Keep in mind, my bottom lashes are itty-bitty, so the effect isn't as dramatic as it would be on my top ones, but you can still see it fairly well.

Jazzy-Eyez

Salut mes amis!!!

I've had a lovely weekend and I hope you've all enjoyed yours as well. Since I'm still on vacay (for 2 more days), my Monday is looking very bright and I'm eager to make the most of it. My maquillage du jour or makeup of the day is from Friday's jazzy celebration of my bf's bday. I wore this purple look during the day and then applied some more for a slightly heavier eye for the night time. Let me know if you're tired of my purple theme, cuz I seem to have entered a pattern... haha. If you're feeling the purple, however, do check out my other purple-themed makeup looks: Sparkling Selena, Lady Vengeance & Pretty Purple :)))

Check out the close-ups!

Blooming Eyebuds

Salut les filles :))

Hope you're all well and enjoying the holidays that Spring has to offer. Since I'm on vacay this week, every day has been a holiday and I've been using this opportunity to find inspiration for my bloggy. This week, I've been embracing the pastels and spring greens and incorporating these colors into my maquillage, nails, and wardrobe. Today, I want to share with you a makeup look I wore a few days ago that was inspired by none other than blooming spring flowers and I think this look is perfect for Easter! Check it out :))

Blooming Eye Buds

Pastel Nails

Salut!!

Today's quick post features my nails of the week. Any of you ever heard of this brand? I get it at my local Korean beauty supply and have never seen it sold in any major stores. Gotta say, I'm a fan. Let me know what you think about this color for spring.

bisous,

Maryam Maquillage

With FLASH

Without FLASH

What's your favorite pastel nail enamel?

Leopard 101

Salut old friends and new!!!

Welcome to my bloggy, hope you like makeup and stuff ;) Aside from doing makeup looks and cosmetics reviews, I'm also into other beauty related topics such as hair care, nails, accessories and fashion. I haven't yet swayed too far from maquillage, but I'm planning on "diversifying", so please let me know what you'd like to see on here. I'm eager to share and also to learn from each and every one of you!!

Having said that, my maquillage du jour is inspired by my Leopard top that I recently bought from H&M... Given that I am from Russia, I love all things leopard, regardless of how tacky they may be. Take that Ilan (my French bff who loathes leopard) Pow! 

half a bisou