Last night, we hosted our first Masterclass Monday, a virtual event powered by BeautyPass (if you’re not a member yet—it’s free—sign up here) with the fabulous Annie Lawless, founder of Lawless Beauty. Not only did we learn all about Annie and the brand—she was inspired by her desire for clean makeup when there weren’t many options for high-pigment, long-wearing formulas—but we also walked away with some incredible beauty tips and tricks below that we couldn’t wait to share.
“Resetting” Your Lips Is Better Than Layering More Product On All Day
“This is a good hack if there are any reappliers out there like me,” Lawless says. “It’s just never the same throughout the day when you keep layering—sometimes you just need to take it all off and start over. So this is how I do it without disrupting all my makeup. I take a tissue or a wipe—I really like these Simple Micellar ones because they’re very wet compared to other wipes—and remove my lip color. And in doing this, it can sometimes disrupt the perimeter of your lip and your foundation, and your lips can be a little red or stained from whatever you had on. So I take my beautyblender that I used in the morning—I just wrap it in a tissue and throw it in my purse when I’m done with my makeup—and pat it over my lips. It always has this slight bit of foundation on it and that helps remattify, reset and bring my lips back to ground zero so I can build a new lip on top of it. I just blot everything out, and then I’m back to skin-toned, normal lips.”
Contouring Your Lips Can Make You Look Like You’ve Had Filler
“If you really want to be extra, which I do for special occasions, I’ll do a little contour with my Forget the Filler Definer Liner in Honey Rose.” (Watch Annie demo it here.) “It’s just like your face: shading and lighting. You want to light the areas that you really want to bring out, like the pillowy parts of your upper lip and the center of your lower lip, and you want to shade the areas you want to recede to let those other areas pop. My lips look like I’ve had filler, just from this one simple move.”
Overnight Lip Masks Are Not Only for Nighttime Use
“I consider our Forget the Filler Overnight Lip-Plumping Mask more like a serum because it has 50-percent more of the active ingredient MAXI-LIP than our Lip Plumping Gloss, which is where you get that a long-term plumping benefit. It also has 1,200-percent more shea butter, so you’re getting really rich, deep hydration. We launched it in a shade called Sweet Dreams, which is a classic clear-pink, and we recently launched it in Cherry Vanilla, a sheer, your-lips-but-better red that smells like cherries—I was inspired by nostalgic cherry chapstick. This is how I prep my lips every morning. I wash my face, do my skin care, put this on, and then I do my makeup so that it can sink in, really hydrate and prime my lips for whatever lip combo I’m wearing that day. It really does create the perfect canvas. My husband also loves it and uses the clear version.”
Faux Lashes Can Look More Natural With This Simple Hack
“I love lashes for the transformative effect because they can really take your look from zero to 60, but now that I have my daughter, I don’t have time to wear them every day, only special occasions. I’m really into faux mink—I don’t buy mink—and I like the Velour lashes because they have some amazing shapes. However, I never use a full strip lash. You have to remember they’re not one-size-fits-all and your eye is its own shape. I find that I get the most natural look by cutting it and using it here [watch Annie demonstrate here] or cutting it into two pieces to break it up and make it more natural. I like to slice and dice to create my own little accentuating moments. You’ll have to play around and see what works best for you.”
Establish a Self-Tanner Routine to Maintain Your Faux Glow
“I live at the beach in Southern California, so I’m outside every day—I’m also Italian and naturally have an olive skin tone—but I do use self-tanner. I have two favorites: I love +Lux Unfiltered—my best friend actually created the brand—which is a gradual tanning cream that you can’t mess up. It’s very forgiving. Mousses are just too committal for me, like if you place it wrong, you have a stripe. My routine is that I exfoliate, shave and use the tanner on Sundays. Then I use it again on Mondays, take a break Tuesday, do it Wednesday, and then I’m good for the rest of the week. If I need a little boost, I’ll use it again Thursday or Friday, but I usually just return to my normal body lotion and keep my skin hydrated, which also helps my self-tanner stay longer. I also love Loving Tan’s gradual tanner because it gives the best color, but I switched to +Lux Unfiltered because it wasn’t a clean formula.”
