Beauty Squared Round-Up - December 21, 2014

Happy Holidays, lovelies! Apologies for missing our Round-Up last week - things have been very busy. 'Tis the season, right?

If you've been busy, and a little stressed out, we hope that you'll take some time to relax for a few minutes and check out some of the beauty links we've compiled for you this week.

• This isn't a beauty link, but maybe it's relevant to more than just me right now. How to have a stress-free holiday.
  
• If you're fair-haired, this link is for you - eyebrow products for blondes.
  
• Holiday season is party-season. Whether you pull out the red lipstick for special occasions, or wear it regularly, here are some red lipstick tips and tricks.
  
• Traveling this season? You might come across one of these at the airport.
  
• Do you have lots of past-Christmas photos taken Christmas morning of everyone just awake and opening gifts? Not the most flattering photos, right? Here's a quick beauty look that you can do to look natural but refreshed in the photos from Christmas morning this year.
  
• Or, if you're travelling Christmas morning, or any morning, here are some in transit beauty tips and tricks, whether you're in the backseat of a car, or on the bus.
  
• Here's a simple and chic grey smoky eye that will look great at this time of the year or at any time!
  
• Full eyebrows have been in style for awhile now, and Beauty Editor wonders if Lea Michele presents a case for this particular trend not being for everyone. What are your thoughts?
  
• If you're seeking more natural beauty products, this link is for you - 4 Products for a More Natural Manicure.
  
• Makeup artist Troi Ollivierre, responsible for the slicked-back hair, clean, dewy skin and popping lip colour look of the J. Crew photoshoots, talks about the J. Crew beauty look.
  
• Damaged hair meets Kevyn Murphy's Born Again hair treatments.
  
• Cult beauty products to try (if you haven't already).
  
• Women who challenged the beauty status quo in 2014.
  
• Sephora is partnering with Pantone again for 2015's Colour of the Year. It's Marsala this time and here are photos and info of the colour collection.
  
• Remember Esther Honig's Photoshop experiment where she sent her photo to Photoshop artists around the world and asked them to make her appear more beautiful? Here's another where Bustle writer Marie Southard Ospina asked Photoshop artists to make her more beautiful. The difference is that Ospina is plus-size. Did the artists make her look slimmer? Click through to find out.
  

Beauty Squared Round-Up - January 5, 2014

Happy 2014! We hope your holidays were fantastic and wish you all the best in the new year.

This is our first round-up of 2014 so let's make it a good one. There is a lot to share with you!

• Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog shares some of her current favourite permanent collection products including YSL, MAC and NARS.
  
• Great tips on making your makeup last here.
  
• Pantone's colour of 2014 is radiant orchid. New Beauty has a slideshow of some products that'll help you be on trend!
  
• Eyeliners, eyeliners, eyeliners! Here are some great product options. Embrace those peepers!
  
• A review of Deborah Lippman's Sookie Sookie from the True Blood collection.
  
• Online beauty shops you may not know about...I didn't!
  
• What's a konjac sponge and why do you need one in your skincare regime?
  
• Why would you pay $$$ for a lash serum when you can make your own at home?
  
• The Makeup Girl shares her best beauty products of 2013.
  
• Some more best of 2013 from Daily Candy including Michelle Phan, Oribe Mousse and My Ten Friends nail polish.
  
• Love nails? Check out this best of 2013 collection of nail moments.
  
• Here are some of the most-hyped beauty products of 2013 - which ones got thumbs up and which got thumbs down?
  
• And check out Arianne, the Glitter Geek's most loved beauty posts of 2013.
  
• 22 cult beauty products from Asia!
  
• This is an amazingly cool Smaug (the dragon from The Hobbit)-inspired makeup tutorial. I want to try it!

MAC Makes Their Heroine Lipstick Permanent!

As you may have heard, Pantone has announced their colour of 2014 - Radiant Orchid, which replaces 2013's Emerald. Anticipate lots of soft purple-pinks in clothing, home accessories and makeup for 2014! And MAC is bringing back their cult favourite and limited edition lipstick Heroine (previously available with MAC's Fashion Sets release in 2013) and making it permanent! 

The powerful purple of Heroine Lipstick is back – so you can get the breakout fan favourite from M·A·C Fashion Sets anytime you like. The vibrant matte is now available permanently.

Available North America online starting January 2, 2014 at www.maccosmetics.com and at all North American M·A·C locations on January 16, 2014.

International online starting March 6, 2014 at www.maccosmetics.com and at all International M·A·C locations on March 20, 2014.

Heroine Lipstick
Bright purple (matte)
$18 CDN/$15 US

You can see swatches of Heroine done by Christine of Temptalia here. SUCH a great colour!

Are you looking forward to 2014?

Beauty Squared Round-Up - June 23, 2013

Hello lovelies! Here's your Sunday round-up post with the beauty-related links we've come across this week. 

• Tracy at Beauty Reflections reviews the Sephora + Pantone Universe Light Storm Liquid Shadows in Smoky Grape and Tuscany.
• Tracy also tries the new official Maybelline makeup look of Air Canada's flight attendants.
• An intrepid BuzzFeed writer attempts to replicate some Pinterest beauty tricks to some terribly comical results.
• Sam Chapman's contouring tutorial.
• Makeup artist extraordinaire for CityTV, Tracy Peart, offers tips for paring down your makeup for summer.
• The Beauty Blogging Junkie has tips for nude makeup.
• The New York Times' Rethinking Makeup's Sun Protection.
• Overtweezing. We've all done it. Here's help for when you've tweezed those eyebrows into an inch of their life (or less).
• Rae at The Notice reviews Essence's Vintage District It's Popul-Art Blush. So pretty and so inexpensive!
• Joe Fresh's Fall 2013 makeup previewed.
• Even short hair can get in the way sometimes, especially in the summer when anything on your skin can feel incredibly annoying and hot. XOVain has some ideas for short hair updos!
• Have you got a round face? Here are some makeup tips for you.
• Multitasking beauty products!
• In this list of DIY household products you'll find DIY bath salts, DIY body wash, DIY body lotion and DIY makeup remover, among many others.
• Summertime means humidity and humidity means frizz. Here are some tips for maintaining that smooth and shiny hair during the summer. 

Beauty Squared Round-Up - March 9, 2013

Welcome to this past week's Round-Up where we gather the beauty links we've been checking out for your surfing pleasure...

Beautylish explains what face primers are and why everyone could benefit from using one (not just oily skin types).

Sarah Jessica Parker's poor feet have taken the toll for all those stilettos she wore on Sex and the City. 

InStyle.com has some tips on how to comfortably wear heels.

Sephora's Pantone 2013 colour collection is in stores. In the above video they show you how to wear the emerald winged eyeliner.

LouLou Magazine has some Spring/Summer 2013 beauty looks to try right now (even though it's not quite feeling like spring yet).

This past week, Dita von Teese modelled a 3D printed gown in New York City. See more photos and video here. 

Just as model Andrej Pejic has blurred his maleness into a modelling career as a female model, female and former Olympic swimmer Casey Legler is doing the same for the world of male modelling.

A pretty genius way of fixing a broken nail.

These porn star before and after photos are pretty fascinating.

Buzzfeed has photos of extremely corseted French singer Marie Bouchaud (AKA Polaire). 

Refinery29 has a round-up of the best beauty jobs.

Introducing Fashion Magazine's brand new Beauty Panel, including Arianne of The Glitter Geek and Michelle of LipstickRules.

Check out this new ad from Dove's Real Beauty campaign as they take on the photoshoppers of the world. 

Pantone's Colour of 2013: Emerald

The Wizard of Oz's Emerald City

Let's go to Emerald City! Every year, Pantone chooses a featured colour and 2013's colour is emerald. I am VERY excited about this news. As a fair-skinned redhead, green is one of my best and favourite colours. There's going to be a lot of green in the stores this year!

I've seen a few posts about this already and wanted to do one of my own since there seems to be a bit of confusion about what colour emerald is. There are many shades of green but emerald is the colour of the gemstone, emerald, the birthstone for May babies.

Here's what it's not:

Khaki green.

Chartreuse.

Kelly green.

Mint.

Forest green.

Bottle green.

Teal.

Apple green.

Lime green.

Emerald is described as a bright and light green with a faint bluish cast. Take these photos as your inspiration:

Angelina Jolie's jawdroppingly gorgeous emerald earrings and cocktail ring.

Keira Knightley's stunning emerald green gown in the 2007 film, Atonement.

Sexy, ladylike blouse. 

Rihanna's bright emerald cat eye.

Gorgeous t-strap pump from ModCloth.

I own this gorgeous snakeskin-print silk shirtdress. 

And some makeup options:

Make Up For Ever Pure Pigment in Emerald Green.

Dolce & Gabbana Nail in Wild Green.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Covet.

Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Veridian. 

butter LONDON Nail Lacquer in Henley Regatta.

And some make-up tutorials featuring emerald green:

I hope this helps! I'm a sucker for jewel tones.

Is anyone else super-excited about all the emerald green that will be flooding 2013???

C.

Beauty Squared Round-Up - July 29, 2012

These are some of the links that caught our attention this week.

Sephora and Pantone are teaming up again but this time with a foundation matching system called Colour IQ.

Dragonette frontwoman and girl crush, Martina Sorbara is interviewed by MTV about her favourite things (style-wise). 

More and more makeup is incorporating suncare elements. The NY Times looks at some of the newest innovations.

Photos of Lush's new makeup collection!

A look back at some Olympic hairdos. 

Tips on keeping your eyeshadow from creasing from MTV Canada's Lucky.

The stunning and charming Christina Hendricks (girl crush!) takes Harper's Bazaar's Laura Brown to some of her favourite vintage shops. 

Christine of Temptalia.com shares her recent experience dealing with copyright infringement.

If you've seen AMC's Walking Dead, you know that one of the biggest stars of the show are it's makeup artists. AMC interviews it's key makeup artist and hair stylist here.

Check out these stunning before and after photos of drag queens.

Imagine what Jennifer Aniston and other celebs would look like as regular people and then click through to see these amazing photos.

Andrej Pejić is one of the world's top models. He blurs the line between male and female beauty with incredible ease and challenges our idea of beauty.

Beauty Squared Round-Up - July 15, 2012

Here are this week's clickable beauty links. Enjoy!

Tips on taking better photos for your beauty blog. 

Tips on how to pose for more flattering photos. 

Impossibly chic street style photos show you how to wear a red lip. 

Sugar is bad for your waistline, but it's also bad for your skin.  

From the MTV Fora blog: Cosmetics brands you must check out

And Beauty Brands that won't break the bank

I hate getting sunburnt. Don't you? Try not to let it happen, but if it does, here are some tips on how to get rid of it. 

Eight easy eye makeup tricks to update your makeup routine. 

Makeup and men.

Beautylish.com lists the best foundations for sensitive skin.  

How to walk in heels. 

Banish foot pain for good!

Check out this "Shabby Chic" DIY manicure.  

Tips for fixing your manicure. 

Is your makeup trying to kill you? 

Should those with gluten allergies be using gluten-free makeup?

The Pantone Chart of Human Skin Colour.