Hello Hauteness

Big news Hauteness readers!  I’m very excited to announce that I am now contributing to the fabulous blog Pretty in Kate.

As the name probably gives away, this is a blog devoted to following the Duchess of Cambridge and her many outfits.  Not exactly a hard fit for me to throw in my two cents!  A princess + “get the look” posts = heaven for me!

So check out Pretty in Kate to get the latest on the former Miss Middleton’s fabulous style, along with other little tidbits we find out by stalking her every move.

P.S.  The blue Issa dress she wore in this picture for the engagement announcement is still my favorite piece she’s worn.

While I’m a lover of all things fashion and style related, I must confess that I’m a bit clueless when it comes to makeup.  I buy cosmetics at the grocery store and my everyday beauty regimen doesn’t even include foundation.  A self-professed girly girl in many ways, I know that when it comes to the area of makeup, I need help.

That’s why I recently called up Laura from Fashion.Art.Makeup.Elegance., another local Austin fashion & beauty blog, to deliver a holiday makeover and educate me on how to vamp up my look for the season.  Laura works as a makeup artist in her spare time while maintaining a full-time job and blogging (just like me!) and her makeup always looks flawless, probably due in part to her experience working for Clinique.  She grew up sitting on the bathroom counter as her mom and older sister did their makeup so it’s safe to say that she was trained well from an early age.

Laura met me at my friend Mere’s house where we set up shop and played with all of our makeup.  She gave each of us a holiday party makeover, complete with fake eyelashes (a first for me).  Since I’m intimidated by the smoky eye look and have no clue how to do it, I asked her to try it out on Mere and me.

Laura gave me the classic black smoky look and Mere modeled a brown smoky alternative.

Now these are bold looks that you wouldn’t wear on a typical day, but when going to a holiday party, it’s fun to do over-the-top makeup.  Here are some tips I learned:

• Don’t be afraid to apply a lot of shadow.  Start at the eyelid and work your way up as far as you want to go.
• Shop around for fake eyelashes.  You shouldn’t break the bank on these because you’ll most likely only get one wear.
• When it comes to eyelash glue, Laura recommends Duo, the pink version.  It goes on black and therefore blends in with the lashes.
• Try out pigments (which she used on us).  They can be used as eye shadow, liner, blush, lip gloss, and even nail polish.  Talk about a great investment!
• If you want the shadow/pigment to go on darker, don’t be afraid to use your fingertips when applying.  The oils from from your fingers mix with the makeup to create a darker tint.
• It’s ok to do a bold eye and a bold lip.  You aren’t necessarily limited to one or the other.
• In general, don’t feel pressured to buy name brand makeup.  Laura recommends buying a quality concealer and foundation, but aside from that there’s nothing wrong with choosing a less expensive brand when it comes to cosmetics.

For those of you out there that are as clueless as I am when it comes to makeup, be sure to follow Laura’s blog here and shoot her an email if you’re ever looking for a makeup artist for a special event, wedding, fashion shoot, or photography session.  I look to her for makeup expertise so I would gladly recommend that any of you do the same.

Laura told me recently that “all I really want is to make people feel good about themselves.”  Now that’s a girl that has inner and outer beauty and can make me over anytime!

Laura and me

This blog is about as simple as they come.  Nerd Boyfriend posts an image of a celebrity or well-known character (from a movie, tv show, etc.) and then gives you images of the items you need to create this look.  All you have to do is click on the images to purchase the items and look like the perfect “nerd boyfriend”.

This blog first caught my eye in a blogroll because of the name.  How could it not?!  Every girl wants a guy with a nerdy side.  We may not want the Revenge of the Nerds version of a nerd, but we respect a guy that is smart and a little dorky because well, we are a little dorky.  I always have an appreciation for a guy that has a certain something about his style…even if that certain something is nerdiness.  If he wears it with confidence, it’s appealing.

If I was a guy I would be all over this site.  I just like to look at it for eye candy but I wanted to share it with my male readers so you could check it out and hopefully be inspired.

An example of what they post from their May 26th entry on Buster Keaton.  Two words:  Love.  It.

Fatroll, meet Hauteness.  Hauteness, meet Fatroll.  I am writing this post for my two favorite blogs on the web…my own!

Out of Control Fatroll was started by me and three girlfriends in June 2009.  We all wanted to lose weight (whether it be a little or a lot) and we all struggled with staying motivated to do so.  One day, Jenni, Kristine, and Meredith called me via  conference call and said “Let’s compete against each other to lose weight and write a blog about it!”.  Needless to say, I said yes and Fatroll was born.  Our efforts to lose weight by laying everything out there on the blog, including our weekly weigh-ins, garnered us attention from the Austin American Statesman and in October 2009 we made the front page of the Life & Style section with the results of our first 17 week weightloss competition.  A year after launching we are still posting and still working hard to lead healthy lifestyles.  If you are a Hauteness fan and want to read the reflections of four girls trying to put the cupcake down, feel free to check out Fatroll here.

Hello Hauteness is my second blog child that I launched on June 1st of this year.  I have a fashion design degree from THE University of Texas at Austin and, well, fashion is my passion.  After helping a few friends with some personal styling advice their overwhelmingly positive feedback led me to take on Stylist work.  Hauteness is my forum for putting my thoughts, judgements, and tips on fashion and style out there for all to read.  In addition, you can learn a little about me and the services I can offer to help you look polished.  So if you’re a Fatroll reader, male or female, and have an interest in fashion and/or style, check out Hauteness here.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful blog friendship…