Blogging 101: How I Edit Selfies

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be showing you how I edit my selfies! I try to take my selfies during the day so I get the best light and I do sit in front of a window or set of bright lights to get the best photos without the need of heavy editing. I take about 50-100 selfies depending on how I'm feeling on the day and then pick out the best photo.

This is the photo that I've picked out! My hair is in place, I'm looking at the camera, not blinking and it's a flattering angle for my face. This is sort of like my mini checklist for selfies, for the majority of my reviews I have a set of swatches/true to life photos which I don't edit (apart from brightness) and then I have a set of vanity photos. Why vanity photos? I like to look pretty, or what I consider to be pretty anyway! So this is a tutorial on how I edit the vanity photos.

Open your photo in your photo editor. I'm using Picmonkey. Crop your photo if you need to.

I like the rounded corner look, so I use the Rounded Corners tool in the Frames tab. Remember to check the Transparent Corners box so that the round effect is more apparent.

Now to have a quick fiddle with the exposure. Try clicking the Auto adjust to get a really lovely quick adjustment.

Now we're in the beautify tab. One of my favorite features to use is the Eye Brighten which is only available on the Royale account (sorry!) but it really is a great function to brighten and add contrast to your eyes. It brings out the white in the whites of your eyes and accentuates the shine of healthy eyeballs. I like to fade the effect to 75% (0% is SUPER UN-NATURAL BRIGHT and 100% is nothing) so that it doesn't look un-natural. You can see the difference between the left eye (brightened) and right eye (un-brightened). 

Another Royale feature is the Mascara feature. This basically darkens and adds contrast to anything you like! This also works well to add contrast to things like diamantes on nail art and eyebrows. Don't put this feature on 100% because you will look creepy. I obviously don't use this feature when I'm reviewing mascaras because that would be un-ethical.

Another great one is the blemish fix. This only works for little wee blemishes on mostly even skin tone. Watch out for shadows because the blemish fix will warp them and make it look weird.

 Blemished fixed!

Airbrush is another fantastic Royale tool, and one of my favorite ways to use it is on my grossly chapped lips. Fade it out and you'll get a nice natural finish! You can also choose a strong airbrush if you want a serious airbrush action. I'll use the airbrush tool if my skin is looking rough or uneven. No shame in it. It's a vanity photo and I want to look good.

 Watermark it, and that's the basics!

This is the basic vanity photo. I'm quite lazy so I usually just leave it at that, but there are some extra steps if I have the time/effort to do.

Photoshop. So taboo, so "disappointing" to some, but I don't particularly care. I learnt most of these tricks from a tutorial that Photoshop queen Xiaxue made a couple of years ago.

Open your photo in Photoshop. I use the free version (CS2) which you can download here. Click into the filters tab and onto Liquify.

The Forward Warp Tool is pretty awesome, it lets you can shuffle around your face shape. You're pretty much pushing the colour of the photo, but you have to be aware that the pushing is going to be affecting the rest of the photo too, which is why a plain background is optimal! I'm sure you've all seen fail Photoshop photos where people have tried to make themselves look skinny and warped the background in the process. Not something that you want to be doing to yourself.

It works best with quite a large brush, since your effectively warping a bigger area. This way you don't get awkward lumps, but more like a smooth roll. I like to push my jawline back a little (especially if I'm looking bloated) and sometimes my forehead if I've taken an awkward angled photo. 

Zoom in and you can use the Pucker and Bloat tool. Pucker will reduce the size, and bloat will increase the size. I use the Pucker tool to straighten out my nose which I unfortunately smashed as a child and now have a sweet flat bump. Hot.

Use a smaller brush to reduce the size of problem areas. Don't go over the top and make yourself look like a different person. I really wish I hadn't smashed my face as a child, but hey what can I do now (don't suggest a nose job, because it's not going to happen).

I also have one eye moderately bigger than the other, just like most people in the world. I use the Bloat tool to make it one click larger so they look more symmetrical. If you stare at them long enough, the weirder they look. You can use this to make your lips look bigger, or anything else that needs enlarging.

This is the end result! It still looks like me, just a me that's in the best possible lighting with amazing makeup. Photo editing wizardry! *waves arms* 

Here's a comparison between unedited, minorly edited and face edited. 

But lets have a quick moment of reality. I'm not telling you to Photoshop your face or body so much that you don't look anything like you normally do, that's unrealistic and will probably make you feel bad about things you can't change, because I know that's how I feel. 

But in the real world sometimes you just don't take flattering photos, or you do what I do and eat way too much salt at that time of the month and become extremely bloated. Here's a comparison of two unedited and samey posed photos. Flick between the two enlarged photos to see my face get super chubby and then skinny again. Awesome.

 Yeah.

There's no shame in taking a bad selfie. That's why I take a lot of them, so hopefully I can get one good one! Sometimes I edit the photos so I look less bloated and more like myself, and if you disagree with this then get off my blog.

But please please don't over Photoshop yourself. I can Photoshop all my photos to look round faced, even skinned and big bright eyed, but I don't look like that, and without the help of millions of dollars worth of plastic surgery I never will. It's un-realistic.

I hope this helps some of you princesses, and answers some of the editing questions! ^.^ Let me know if you're still curious about anything!

First Impression: MAC Strobe Liquid

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about the younger sibling of an iconic product, MAC's Strobe Liquid. You've all heard about Strobe Cream before (who hasn't with the glowy, dewy skin trend going on) but what about Strobe Liquid? I was recommended Strobe Liquid by a MAC artist when I asked their opinion on the product and happily took a generous sample pot home to test out.

What Is It?

"Blending soft focus diffusers with iridescent pigments, this ultra-fluid strobe formula produces a soft radiant light on the skin, reducing the appearance of skin imperfections by providing a natural looking glow. Spreads on smoothly and absorbs quickly leaving the skin looking healthier and more radiant. A lighter weight addition to the popular strobe cream." (1)

Like all of my primer trials, I've photographed this primer with three different types of foundation, a BB Cream, High coverage foundation, and a difficult foundation. Click these photos to enlarge.

First up is my High coverage foundation - Estēe Lauder's Doublewear Light. I found that the Strobe Liquid did exceptionally well with this usually matte foundation, making my skin softly glow. Because of the foundations long lasting properties, my face still looks great at the end of the six hour wear.  

Next up is my Difficult foundation - NARS Sheer Glow (in Siberia, of course). Even though this is named Sheer Glow, it's neither sheer nor particularly glowy, but of course the Strobe Cream gives me a lovely glow. However, since this foundation doesn't last particularly long on my skin (3 hours at best) the end result looks quite oily rather than glowy. Looking sweaty isn't cute.

Finally we have my favorite BB Cream, Missha's Signature Complete BB Cream in shade No.13. I actually quite liked the combination of the Strobe Cream and BB Cream because it made my skin look incredibly healthy and strangely plump.

Look at the glow! Let's all take a moment to appreciate my acne scar free cheeks and to ignore my allergerific chin. I love seeing a little of my freckles beneath foundation, I think freckles are super cute!!

The Strobe Cream worked beautifully for the majority of the foundations I trialled it with, although I wouldn't wear it on it's own since it does make my skin look greasy. It was super easy and smooth to apply and dried down to a matte finish instead of feeling greasy.

Would I Purchase This Product?

I'm pretty keen to purchase the Strobe Liquid! I'm also interested in trying the Strobe Cream as well as the L'Oreal Lumi Primer which is supposed to be quite a good dupe for the MAC Strobe products! All in all, this primer works well underneath foundation (as well as over the top) giving me gorgeous glowy skin. It doesn't make my foundation last longer, nor does it claim to. This is a beautiful product for girls with oilier skin too!

What do you Princesses think of the Glowy, Dewy skin trend? Are you a fan of the look? 

Review: Olay Essentials Skincare

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about some skincare that I've had for a little while and truly thought nothing of until I tried to clean out my skincare closet (it's pretty full). I trialed this set for a month and rediscovered my love hate relationship with it all over again. I wasn't even initially going to make this post because I thought the products had been discontinued!

I bought this set of four products from an online "deal" website that often brings in products from outside of New Zealand. They were really cheap, I think about $20 for the set (cleansers retail for $20 in NZ) and Olay was a brand that I was very familiar with having had one of their moisturizers since I was 13!

Honestly, I only like two out of the four products, but I really really like them, which is why I'm featuring them here! Lets get the two average products out of the way first.

Gentle Cleanser - Refreshing Face Wash

This cleanser has a pleasant fresh scent and is easy to lather into fluffy bubbles. However it is a really gentle cleanser, so gentle that it doesn't really feel like it's doing anything at all, and my face still feels dirty afterwards. What's the point in using a cleanser that doesn't cleanse? 

Refreshing Toner - Normal/Dry/Combo

This toner isn't bad, and for $5 it's actually quite good. However I have been quite spoilt with a Shiseido toner for too long to look back now. It sounds amazingly elitist, but once you try expensive skincare it's quite hard to go back to the cheaper stuff. I can totally appreciate the gems out of the cheap skincare or cheap Korean Skincare (which is a whole different ball game) but this Toner just didn't cut it for me. 

Conditioning Milk - Normal/Dry/Combo

This is one of the cheap skincare gems. This conditioning milk is the best friend of the campers or lazy girls that can't be bothered cleaning their skin at night, or don't want to take off their makeup, because it cleanses and moisturizes at the same time, all without the need for water. Simply massage the conditioning milk onto your face and remove with a wet or dry cotton pad. If you're using it as a makeup remover I would recommend using a cleanser afterwards (just to be sure) or do the same step twice to get the best cleanse. It leaves the skin looking clean and plump and you can pop straight off to bed after those simple steps. Awesome.

Eye Makeup Remover - Normal/Dry/Combo

This is another awesome product. The main awesome point is that it takes everything off your eyes (including the Benefit They're Real line) gently, doesn't seep into your eyes like oil based cleansers do or leave your eyes feeling greasy like wax based removers (I'm looking at your Ultrabland!) It's one of my favorite makeup removers, I'm just about of the tube and it's not available in New Zealand. :C

If you can get a hold of this line of skincare I would definitely recommend the Conditioning Milk and Eye Makeup Remover, because they are seriously great products for very little money!

I hope you Princesses enjoyed this super short, to the point review! Are these products available in your home countries?