Big Bold Brows and Beautiful

Hello readers,

I am loving every makeup trend that Spring 2013 has brought with it, mainly bold lips, bold lashes, bold black liners and bold eyebrows. This blogpost will be dedicated to the massive eyebrow trend that I am currently obsessed with. 

As a 90's kid, I remember seeing women with thin eyebrows, which was kind of cool that time, and please don't ask me why. I'm the least person who can make fun of thin eyebrows though. A year ago wasn't the 90's for sure, yet my eyebrows were crazy thin. I think I was trying to keep my brows thin so that my eyes look bigger, to maybe keep them in proportion, however, that was a big fail on my regards. I'm still not sure what I was trying to achieve. 

Drew Barrymore in the 90's ... because having eyebrows was too mainstream

As you can see, auto criticism and not taking yourselves too serious makes you good, and I decided I wanted to make them thicker. The process took quite a long time and some different shapes through the making. I'm still not happy with the current situation of my brows, but I think it's the best they have been so far. 

Eyebrow Situation Last Year

Current Eyebrow Situation

Every face is going to have a different eyebrow shape which goes with it depending on the bone structure and size of eyes. The best way in shaping your eyebrows is imagining the three lines you see in the photo. These lines guide you on where your brows must end, and where the arch must be. I would like my eyebrows to be slightly longer at the edges and heavier in volume. Filling with an eyebrow pencil and styling with an eyebrow gel helps you modify your eyebrows to a certain extent. 

To make it clear what difference eyebrow shape makes, Demi Lovato is a much better example than myself.

Eyebrows are like an accessory to the face, a bold statement which makes your eyes look more expressive.

 Here are some beautiful woman with big bold brows, notice how the three invisible line techniques applies to all of them even though the size of their brows: 

Ali Michael

Audrey Hepburn

Keira Knightley

Cara Delevinge

Lilly Collins

I will be showing you other makeup trends of this season in other blog posts in the following weeks, so if you have found this blog post useful or at least interesting, keep following. 

Choose to shine! 

Ruth x x 

Monday Morning Makeup

Hello readers,

People are starting to get angry at me because I haven't blogged for long, and I won't justify my reasons for doing so, the important thing is that I'm back, I hope you'll welcome me back. You know with a new beginning in government, and  pope, I figured out it was time for me to start again as well.

So it's Monday morning, and you have to wake up early, gear up for a busy week at work or school after a weekend out, and maybe a little hungover after Saint Patrick's Day. You need to look awake, yet you have a few time to get ready, you know it's Monday morning, and an extra 15 minutes sleep is never turned down.

5 minute makeup look

All you need to look flawless is 5 minutes, and few simple steps that anyone can do.

Products Used : Tinted Moisturiser, Lip Balm, Concealer, Blusher, Mascara , White Eye Liner

• You have to first cleanse your face, and put on a tinted moisturiser with your favourite foundation brush or fingers. This product will moisturise your face and even out your skin tone, hiding some redness or minor imperfections. It is perfect for when you're running late as you are using one product which has the function of two products, so you're saving time. Make sure that you blend well, and avoid any border lines on your chin. Your makeup must look fresh, clean and neat.

Face:
Step 1: Cleanser (good morning sunshine!)
Step 2: Tinted moisturiser
Step 3: Powder (optional) and blusher

• Apply your favourite lip balm to moisturise and give a glow to your lips.
• If you have any breakouts which the tinted moisturiser didn't manage to hide, put some concealer on your ring finger, and with dabbing motions apply on the areas. The ring finger is the weakest finger, and helps the concealer stay in place and hide imperfections for a whole day without smudging. This also does a great job on the bags underneath the eye, and makes the face look more awake.
• To make your eyes look bigger and more open, white eye liner is a great option. 
• To enhance the look even more, apply mascara on both top and bottom lashes. This simple step will make the eyes look bolder, and hence more beautiful.
• To avoid looking pale, add some blusher to your cheeks to shape your face, and look healthy.

Eyes :
Step 1: White Eyeliner on water line
Step 2: Mascara on both top and bottom lashes
Step 3: Liquid eyeliner

End result: Eyes and Cheeks 

Those are the simple steps I suggest to do, however if you are willing to, you can touch up a little bit more:

• For those whose skin is oily like mine, I suggest to set the tinted cream with a face powder before you do the blush. This is to avoid ending up with a greasy face after a few hours, or minutes. 
• I also like to put my eyebrows in shape with an eyebrow gel. If your eyebrows tend to go all over the place like mine do, this will make a huge difference to both eyes and face final shape and look.
• Ever since I discovered eye primer, I couldn't live without it. I know I have told you countless times how oily my skin is, given that, my eyelids are twice as oily as my whole face. This product keeps my eyelids presentable all day, and keeps any eye shadow or eye liner stay in place as well. 
• I use this option only if I have enough time, because I never get my eye liner neat when I'm in a rush. Eye liner can be varied, thin, thick, liquid, gel, pencil... Chose your favourite, it's a matter of style and taste. 
• Finally, I always like to give some extra colour to my lips with some lip stick, or if you prefer lip gloss. Chose your colour according to your mood, and never be afraid of bold colours on your lips. It's a fun and easy way to spice up your look and stand out, you never know who'll notice ;) 

Other Products (Optional) : Eyebrow Gel, Eyeshadow Primer, Eye Liner, Powder, Lip Stick

Brushes used for: blusher, foundation, lip balm & lip stick and powder

The Final Look

I hope you have enjoyed this post and that you'll try this easy tutorial. If you're a beginner in makeup and have some further questions about this look, do not hesitate to ask in the comments below or on my facebook page. I'll be happy to help.

Choose to shine! 

Ruth x x 

Quccija Speech

Hello Readers

I want you to do something, close your eyes, and imagine yourself, exactly last year, the third December 2011. What were you doing? What were your worries, ambitions and dreams? Have they changed? Have you reached any of the goals you had? How many things have you crossed out of your to do list? 

I had a little dream back then, a hobby, which I wanted to share. I had never thought that people were going to like what I do, but I started to blog about fashion and make-up just for myself, and told a couple of friends about it. I came up with the name Amor de Girasol on Google Translate, where I started to write random names, translating them to different languages, until this came up, and I have loved it ever since. 

Here I would like to thank Tiziana from Rouge Reveries who was of great support from the very first day. I wouldn't have started without her encouragement and advice, and help with technical problems on the blog. 

My first Fashion Related Post

I continued to blog, with just a few followers, but with great feedback from the few who followed. My special friends Brian Dimech and Martina Gatt were of great support throughout the whole scholastic year, they heard about all my ideas, my worries, my thoughts, everything, and they were always there to encourage me to keep doing what I love. Brian used to spell check my blogs before posting, but he is now studying in London, and the spell check job was shifted to my other special friend Elaine Cutajar, who is always the first to read my blog and give me feedback. 

Once I started to believe that my work was getting better, I wanted to expand my follower range and not just form my circle of friends.

Another special friend who has helped a lot, is the photographer Robert Bajada. He suggested to do some outfit of the day posts, where he could help me with photography, and of course I couldn't refuse. In May, we shot four outfits in Imdina, where the pictures came out great, and the outfit posts were of great success, and I started a page on Lookbook as well. The posts had many viewers, and I saw a drastic change in the number of followers, which gave me so much more enthusiasm to keep up my work. We also shot five more outfits at Xaghjra for the autumn weather, last month. 

All OOTD's with Robert Bajada Photography

As soon as summer started, Karl Muscat, told me to put make-up on three models for a shoot to promote a party he was organizing. That was my first time doing make-up on others (other than my mum). In the holidays I have worked on different shoots with Robert and Karl again, and I built up a Makeup Portfolio. If I had to choose my favourite makeup work, and photo shoot which I enjoyed, it would be the one I did with Robert and Martina Spiteri for Martina's clothing line, Celeste. 

One of the very first shoots

The team for Celeste's Shoot

Brian, Martina Gatt, Elaine, Karl, Robert, and Martina Spiteri, believe it or not, are all my class mates at UOM. #thankgodforearthsystems My biggest wish was to start working with strangers, with people who saw my work and liked it, and wanted to work with me just because they liked my work, and not because they knew me. Fortunately this dream was realised as well. I have worked with another photographer, Martin Fenech, and I was also approached by Jenny Lyttle to join her team for an online magazine, 'thei-lander'. This magazine will be out weekly, and I will be having my articles in every issue. Two editorials I did with Robert, Karl and Martina have been also featured on PavliMag. The feeling of seeing 'makeup by Ruth @ Amor de Girasol was incredible. 

PavliMag featuring Indian Girl, collaboration with Karl and Robert, and Celeste, collaboration with Martina and Robert

I have a makeup portfolio on tumblr, but I still don't call myself a makeup artist. I am just a girl who loves doing makeup and writing, and would like to take it seriously. I was nothing a year ago. This all happened so fast, and looking back how step by step I have reached some of my goals, I cannot be more thankful to all those who have helped me and who believed in me from the start. 

These are all links I recommend you to take a look at: 

• My Makeup Portfolio: CLICK HERE
• My Lookbook: CLICK HERE
• Tiziana's Blog: CLICK HERE
• Robert's Page: CLICK HERE
• Karl's Portfolio: CLICK HERE
• Martina's Page: CLICK HERE
• Thei-lander Magazine: CLICK HERE

If these people didn't believe in me and gave me their support, I would not be as happy as I am now for sure. I still have so much more work to do, improve, and ambitions to reach. I am still nothing compared to so much more talented people in this business, but I believe I can get there, someday, with your help. 

To all those who read my blog, please keep following, keep liking my statuses and posts so I know you are there. A simple like always brings a smile to my face. Thankyou for being there, without knowing, you have brought out the best in me. Share my facebook page and blog with your friends whom you think would love to follow a fashion blog. 

Choose to shine,
Happy Birthday to me,
and Thanks, a lot.

Ruth x x ( a blogger, a fashion victim, and your friend - since one year)

Rainy Day Woman

Dear Readers 

A new issue of Thei-lander Magazine is online! I have an article about Rainy Day Outfits, where I gave three different ideas of outfits one could wear in this particular weather. You can read the article HERE , but I have the fourth outfit over here: 

One cannot write about rainy day outfits without mentioning leather jackets. Leather jackets are always chic, and can be dressed up or down very easily. This dashing white lace dress is dressed down with the jacket, and lace-up boots which make the look more edged and daring, but kept sophisticated with the structured bag. The look is perfect for rainy days, and if you’re worried that the rain will ruin your hair, just add a cute beanie and you are ready to go.

I hope you found this article useful and that you'll enjoy pairing outfits this winter. Keep following thei-lander magazine for more fashion tips in the following week. 

Choose to shine!

Ruth x x 

The Pavli Mag's Third Issue

Dear Readers

Considering how small our island is, we really do have great potential and talents in the fashion industry. One of the things which I think has a really high standard is Pavli mag, an online magazine created by Pavli Medvedova, who is a stylist living in Malta. I am going to review the third issue which had Nicholas Cutajar as the art Director, Shideh Ofasson as the Editor, and Alexia Fenech, Stephanie Lauri and Nicoleta Illiescu contributed in the writing. This team together has produced an issue of certain level, and I recommend to every fashionista out there to take a look at it.

Front Cover of  the third issue

The cover of the Mag featured photography by Kris Micallef and model Emilie (Somanagement.eu). The Mag starts with a series of behind the scenes photos of the last September's Runway Show, taken by Kris Micallef ( www.krismicallef.com) and another set by spysessionz.com. Runway is a fashionshow organised by Pavli herself and the Somanagement team and their beautiful models. It is a great opportunity for bloggers, designers, photographers and anyone who wants to get into the fashion business to showcase himself.

My favourite part of the mag starts on page 23, with the Autumn/Winter 2012 fashion trends, being : ‘Modern Military’, ‘Lush Leather’, ‘Gone to Print’, ‘Dart Elegance’, ‘Future Fantastic’, ‘Baroque Rocks’, ‘Burgundy Belle’ and ‘Wanders of the East’, with great tips of how to style and rock these fabulous trends using different garments.

‘Sasha is wearing’ was another part of the Mag, where several outfit ideas from ZARA were featured. 

Sasha is wearing

The next article was Alexia’s most wanted list, being Spiked necklace; Metallic jacquard blazer; Sci fi tee; Little black dress; Faux leather jacket; The go anywhere bag; Flat shoes and Trench coat. All these items are must have items for this season, and Alexia Fenech explains why she wants them in her closet, and gives great tips and tricks on how to style these particular garments

The Next two articles were the one where Nicoleta illiescu shares her own experience of the Milan fashion week, and Real style people  which was a street style of fashionistas and bloggers on the internet. 

Milan Fashion Week

Real Style People

The last article talks about make-up. Beauty by Stephanie Lauri where Steph features both high end and drugstore products to give different make-up look ideas, and how to apply them. It is a great article which shows how make-up is not just for experts but everyone can give it a try using simple steps. 

The Mag ends with four editorials, two of which I took part in doing the make-up. 

Well done to the whole team and everyone who took part in making this online Magazine such a success. I really like the editing and how professional it all looks. It has a little bit of everything, which makes it the ideal magazine that any girl can use as guideline for this season. All you have to do is click HERE to view the whole issue. 

Choose to shine! 

Ruth xx 

Street Style for the Colder Days

Hello Readers

Here are some outfits from some other fashion bloggers on the web. I think the best way to learn fashion is to look around, and notice details in other people's outfits, and then reproducing them into outfits which are suitable for yourself.

Isnt't that the cutest coat? ... and the cutest umbrella!

I love oversized jumpers, which I usually wear with jeggings, but another cute way to wear them would be with shorts, tights and boots. 

Jumpers with Skirts are so adorable together

Love the colour scheme, the bag, the necklace, and everything else

Note how the edge of the pants and the studs in the collar, are balanced out with the cuteness of the jumper. 

The would be a great DIY! Taking an old denim jacket, and adding studs 

Here's something for the boys. is it beanie time yet? please say YES ! 

Choose to shine!

Ruth x x

Take me to Neverland

Hello readers

Here's another outfit post, suitable for those winter Sundays  where you want to look classy, yet casual and comfortable. I love how versatile this pleated skirt is, in fact you have already seen it in a previous outfit post 'HERE', where the look was much more dressed up. The peter pan collar t-shirt is also one of the items I manage to include in every type of outfit. I can either wear it with jeans for a casual look, with a high waisted pencil skirt of any colour for a more dressed up look, or else as I did here, with a more flirty skirt, where the look is more feminine  playful and still able to make a statement with it.

My favourite part of the outfit is the combination of the black skirt, black tights and black shoes. It makes the same effect of the nude shoes with bare legs in summer. The fact that you’re visually seeing the same colour of shoes as your legs, alludes the eye of seeing a more solid thing, which you see at one go, making the body to look taller and slimmer. 

The brown cardigan, gold accessories and matching bag, together with the dark nails and red lips complete the look into one which is warm and pleasant to look at. 

Top: Zara

Skirt: Vintage

Cardigan: Pull and Bear

Tights: New Look

Shoes: Peacocks

Bag: Accessorize

Set of Bracelets: Accessorize

Ring: Accessorize

Sunglasses: Mango

A Big thank you to Robert Bajada for the pictures. Visit his work over 'HERE' ! He is brilliant. 

Choose to shine!

Ruth x x