My favorite part about myself is the fact that not many people would be able to tell right off the bat that I have Chinese in me-woaaaaah shocker!  But yes, it's true!  If you ever wondered where I got my little eyes from, now you know haha.  I'm a Guatemalan/Chinese mix with a last name of 'Mazariegos-Chang'.  Anyways, to celebrate my asian culture today I decided to shoot my first ever beauty post to show you all my Lunar New Year makeup.  It's really simple and pretty much my every day wear (lol) but red lips are just a little more special today!  Oh and by the way, I realized of all days today why I need a tripod because if you guys could've only seen my shooting method, you all would've laughed haha.  Oh and one more thing-I also learned how to shoot a video on my camera HAHAHA.  I didn't know how until AFTER my shoot was done-so I'll keep that feature in mind for my next beauty post!  Okay let's get down to the nitty gritty!

What I used:

Urban Decay's Naked3 Palette: shop here// Benefit's Brightening Face Primer: shop here //Benefit's 'They're Real' Mascara: shop here //Benefit's 'Hello Flawless' Face Powder: shop here //MAC's Liquid Liner: shop here //MAC's 'MAC Red' & 'So Chaud' Lipstick's: shop here + here// MAC Blush in the Peachtwist shade: shop here

Steps:

Okay so here's my face washed and toned with Clinique's three step system, now to moisturize the skin.

Next, I'm applying Benefit's primer to give my skin a nice coat against the makeup I'm about to put on.

The magical part-face powduuuuh!  I've never been a fan of foundation or liquid face products, so I stick to pressed powder.  I've been using Benefit's for a while now and love how soft my face feels after applying it on.  

I'm doing a basic smooth pat down, making sure to get my under eyes, lids, cheek bones, top lip, chin and temples.

Next up, cheeks-your face cheeks not your bottom cheeks (because that would be really funny but weird)  

I usually do a 'kiss' face to really get around my cheek bones, it gives a nice contour look.  Don't forget to brush around your nose and t-zone for an extra glow!

The eye shadow is really simple:  I'm taking the lightest color and applying it all over my lids, then a neutral color and applying it to only half of my lid.  Then with a different brush, simply blend the colors together and you're done.  Nothing too drastic because I'm applying a bold lip later on.

And now, mascara!  I haven't switched mascara's in over three years because I'm obsessed with Benefit's 'They're Real'.  The length is real people, sooo real.  All I'm doing here is applying several coats of mascara onto my lashes, it's basically like brushing your eyelashes with a tiny brush.

Here's a trick, keep your old mascara's as tools to brush your eyebrows.  The old brushes make for great combs as they still hold a tiny amount of mascara liquid that helps shape up the brows. 

Next, lips.  I'm taking a tiny lip brush to color mine, I feel like if I don't use one everything looks botchy.  FYI, using a lip brush is an awesome way of skipping out on needing a lipliner-just simply brush around your lips and don't go outside the lines, like a coloring book!

I'm going to take my 'So Chaud' lipstick and quickly dab over the red I just applied to give it more of a bright, orange red tone.

Next up is the eye liner.  I use liquid because it's the easiest one to use for me, and all I'm doing is drawing a line right above my eyelashes starting from the middle until I get to the last eyelash, and then from the middle all the way to my inner eyes.

Add just a few more coats of mascara, and you're done!

Annnnd, the final product.  Look at those lashes!

Thanks for reading and following along, I'll talk to you all later!

xo,
Brocade Closet

Valentine's Day #WhatIWore

Outfit Details:

Top: Forever 21(shop here + similar here + here)// Skirt: I made it yay me, it's a Brocade Closet creation! (shop similar here +here)// Shoes: Dolce Vita: old (shop similar here+here)//Ring: Julz Junkie Jewelry (order your handmade ring here// Clutch: Another Brocade Closet creation (shop similar here)

All photography by Marisa Null: Visit her website here

Happiest hump day to you all!  I'm writing with incredible excitement because I have a few fun events/projects I'm working on for the near future and can't wait to tell you all about them.  Anyways, hopefully everyone had a great Valentine's Day and I really hope you guys were all stuffed with whatever makes you guys happy.  I used to feel very weird about wearing holiday colors on the actual holiday date, but lately, I've been all about it.  Why not match my outfits to holiday themes?  I tried to keep it very minimal but just couldn't resist when I saw Valentine's Day fabrics at Joann's that enticed me to make a matching hand clutch.  Throw it all together and I'd say I had myself a holiday chic Valentine's Day! My favorite part of this mix was (obviously the clutch lol) and new initial ring I recently purchased.  I'm a huge fan of handmade products and when I found Julz Junkie Jewelry's site, I made a list of items I really so badly want.  Of course none of this could have been documented without the help of a photographer, so many thanks for the flicks to Marisa of Null Photography.  I'll be working with her for my next few style posts and can't wait to share!



Check in with you all later, xo..Brocade Closet

DIY Sports Jersey Dress

It took a while for me to accept this, but what’s done is done-football season is over. BIG CRY FACE RIGHT NOW!  I’m a total football chick and absolutely love the glorious season where men smash into each other for score board points, like LOVE it.  Anyways, this year I went for a sports tunic dress that I came up with in the very last minute of Super Bowl prep.  I thought I would wear my traditional team jersey and green Vans outfit, but since I was still mourning my teams ‘we almost went to the Super Bowl’ loss, I felt I would come off as a super sore loser (which wouldn’t matter because I totally am) by wearing anything Packers related.  Enter, a sporty jersey dress to my rescue!  I’ve seen a few jersey dresses online at ridiculous prices that I just wasn’t really into purchasing, so I created my own.  It’s super easy to make and fitting to any sports event-let’s go over what you’ll need!

Materials

-Tunic dress (make sure this is cotton or polyester material-steer clear from silky/chiffon fabrics)

-Number(s) of your choice

-Scissors

-Iron

-Pins (optional)

Directions

1. Lay your tunic dress on a flat surface and place the number(s) where you’d like it/them to be and with your pins, pin the number down.  If you don’t have pins, it’s okay just skip this part.
2. My dad has an iron presser so I took my tunic dress with the pinned down number over to his machine to make the ironing part faster.  If you don’t have a press machine don’t freak, irons work just fine.
3. With your iron, begin pressing the number in divided sections.  Start from the top and make your way down towards the bottom.  Press your section down for about 10 seconds, pause and repeat until you’ve reached 30 total seconds.
4. After you’ve ironed your number down, iron around and on the number as you would if you were normally ironing clothes.
5. Check to see if the number is fully secured, if it’s not, repeat step number 3 until the number is completely ironed on your dress.
6. Now that you have your tunic dress ready, throw it on, accessorize it and voila you’re all done!

xo..Brocade Closet

Tuesday Shoesday {Spring 2015}

Just in case you guys didn’t realize this-it’s almost spring!  I was on a pinning spree last night on Pinterest and the inspiration was MAD REAL.  Other than spring essentials like florals and pastels, I plan on adding lace, brocade (duh), stripes and bright colors to my closet.  All is not complete however, without a pretty set of shoes-insert googly eyes here as everyone says hello to printed flats, espadrilles, detailed sandals and wedges.  I’ve developed a pretty crazy shoe fetish and literally can’t fit anymore in my closet, but where there’s a will there’s a way right haha?  Below are shoes I’m currently coveting for the spring season-which ones are your favorite?

Xo…Brocade Closet