So I open the door to my bridal client this morning and there stands the cutest girl with big blue eyes, a grown-out pixie haircut, and perfect skin. Sweet. Easy day.

Not so much. Nicole wanted a ‘natural’ look and, like many clients requesting this look, loved pictures that actually have much more makeup detail than they think. I find that most brides love the end look even though it requires more makeup than they anticipated they would like, but Nicole was one of the few who wanted the look without the makeup.

I know exactly what she’s feeling. In the magazine pics, the makeup seems as though it’s being magically emitted from the skin in the form iridescent color secretions or something. In real life, however, yes you have to use shimmer to make shimmer, and yes you must wear blush for your wedding (at least a slight flush).

The thing is, brides and ladies who dress up at least once in a while, you’ve got that dress on. The event will be much documented with photographs. Possibly for frames that will adorn your house for a lifetime. You can’t have a face, no matter how beautiful, that looks like it’s hanging out at a Saturday afternoon drum circle/pig roast.

If you feel that the makeup you have planned for a special event is too much, take some pictures with your outfit and makeup on together. Makeup shows less in pictures, as I’m sure you know. If you’re having a trial done for the makeup, try and schedule it for the day of your engagement photos so you get a great idea of how you’ll look. Focus on the particular aspects of magazine pics you like. Is it the brown eye shadow in particular? Maybe you really want the brown shadow and none of the shimmer in the same picture.

At the end of the day it is about feeling like the prettiest version of your self. If, after experimenting, you still feel like no-makeup natural is the only natural, at least moisturize and pinch those cheeks!

That is kind of a saucy title, I know! The 30 days of Ramadan began at the end of last week and I know you Muslim ladies are not only feeling the drain of the daily fast, but also seeing it on your paling cheeks and hallowing eyes.

Some practitioners would say that women in Islam shouldn’t wear makeup except for their man or solely around other women folk. But all the ones I’ve known here in the states love to accentuate their exotic beauty whether old or young. In fact, I recently attended an Iranian wedding and every woman there was beautifully made up for the occasion from Grandma to blushing bride. So there.

Here are some tips for staying beautiful through the month of Ramadan:

1. Obviously you need an under-eye concealer. Check out the previous post Exquisite Every Day: Eye Circles of Death for my favorites and a how-to on picking the perfect shade.

2. In addition to using blush to create rosy cheeks, dust a bit of the leftover powder on your brush just under your eyes/on upper cheekbones as well. That’s a tip to brighten up that area and look more awake.

3. Your lips may be getting chapped from the lack of liquid intake. My current balm fav is Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer. It’s perfect for Ramadan too because it adds color almost like a stain for a subtle, pretty look in keeping with your mellow mood.

4. To keep the skin nourished and emollient, try a basic oil like DermaE Vitamin E Oil at night. It won’t clog your pores and will help the skin maintain happy tissue.

5. For late-night dinners with friends and family add a touch of shimmer shadow to your eyelids (shimmer not glitter, ladies). Choose a warm pink or gold to look the healthiest and glowiest like NAR’s Cypress or Cairo.

Follow these easy beauty tips for Ramadan and, much like doing vaginal muscle exercises at your desk, no one will know you’re busy absolving your sins all day.

Particle physics or even budget-balancing it is not, but applying individual false eyelashes can be a challenge. With the right step-by-step and a certain degree of tweezer dexterity, there is no reason you can’t master the ability to take natural to au-not-so-relle, though, and without anyone suspecting the true degree of your vanity.

Here’s your tools. I’m using the Andrea lashes here, but really I prefer Duralash or Mac has a great set that comes in all different lengths. Like 90% of people should get the short size.

1. Curl and apply mascara to your natural lashes.

2. Put a dap of glue where you feel you can comfortably dip into it. I like to use my left hand. My rock looks pretty conceited here.

3. Use the tweezers to pull off a lash from it’s base.

4. Dip the base into the glue so that just the tip is coated. Let it chill for a few seconds while turning the tweezers in your hand so that the lashes line up with your lash line. Just like keeping your eye on the ball, keep your eye on a spot amongst your natural lashes where you want the lashes to go and touch them in delicately.

5. Repeat with the next lash moving inward. You may want trim the lashes or use a smaller size as you move in. Trimming is a skilled process using tiny cuticle scissors to trim each strand individually so that they aren’t straight across. If you have smaller eyes, placing the longest lashes in the center of the eye will help it appear larger.

6. When the glue dries you should have a nice and natural lash line. Individual lashes look good even without other makeup. Granted you’ve put them on right.

Our smarty pants brains have built us an amazing world of skyscrapers, airplanes, sex tapes, and Targ-ette. This quick communication world filled with instant gratification is truly amazing, but sometimes sucks the spirit out of our pretty and leaves it a sticky facade of Orgasm blush and Addict lip gloss.

Keeping in touch with the basic elements of the planet keep us calmer, more grounded, and better able to radiate that beauty from within to be and look exactly how we want. Last night a summer storm rained down outside and the sound felt so nice. I slept the best I have in weeks and woke up ready to (happily) get some shit done.

Earth: Eat food that grew from it! Fresh foods filled with tasty nutrients grow happy, pretty people. Take some time to ride out of the city or take a stroll through your local forest every once and a while to tap into the smells and sounds of the Earth too.

Air: Take a couple minutes to learn to breath deep into the lungs. Put a hand on your tummy and practice inhaling and exhaling until your feel the rise and fall of the breath on your tummy, not your chest. Open a window once in a while and let the fresh air blow through those fluorescent-light grown fake plastic weeds in your brain. Chill at a park while feeling the breeze blow over your skin or ride a bike to feel the wind through your hair.

Water: Drink it. Soda and other bottled substances are just fine in moderation, but the majority of your hydration should come from water. Water is also such a calming element to enjoy, from taking a bath or swim to buying one of those trickle fountain things. Water is my favorite element and it’s kind of cheating, but I downloaded some of those creek, ocean, and rain sounds to listen to at night for when it’s not really raining.

Fire: Keeping in touch with the elements of the planet should light a fire under your ass to make you want to be the person you feel you were meant to be! But in addition to that, lighting a candle for dinner or sitting by the fire place in the winter are really nice ways to bring fire (safely) into your daily experience.

A great way to jam-pack all the elements into a weekend is to go camping this late summer or early fall. From beaches to mountainous creeks, there’s tons of camping locals all over the country for a quick, fun, cheap, and sometimes exciting mini-break.

Lips make the look. Without the lips, it’s just the smokey eye, the cat eye, the natural eye, the jeweled eye, the shimmer eye…. yadda, bla, etc. From past to present lips have held the key to creating an iconic look.

First of course must be the RED lip. Classic Marilyn Monroe and current Gwen Stefani:

Next is the romantic deep BROWN or maroon. Classic flapper and current Rachel Weisz

A sexpot look that’s stood the test of time is the pale lip. Classic Bridget Bordot and current Kim Kardashian

A current trend is the bright pink lip. Classic Debbie Harry and current Rihanna

Let’s wrap up with the natural lip. Classic Sandra Dee as Gidget and current Iman