Happy New Year Everyone!!

Well it's been quite a year and I have tons of memories to look back on and cherish from these past 12 months.  I would have to say that my kids have made this past year super special just seeing them grow and how they are turning into such little people!!  Children have such a way of putting many things into perspective that may have gone down- the good and the bad.

These are my two boys (in the matching pj's) with their friend Laura Frances, making a New Years toast!

We celebrated New Years Eve tonight with a bunch of close friends and their children- my how NYE has changed since having kiddos- we've been home for almost 1.5 hr since the party!!  And it's not even midnight yet;-)

My hubby and middle child W, sporting their festive 2011 glasses!

Even though the way we bring in the New Year has definitely changed and is a bit calmer (or is it with 3 children under the age of 5??) I wouldn't change it for the world.  Each year brings exciting growth with each of my kids, my husbands and mine relationship, and my freelance business.  Things are always evolving and we are should always be looking forward, and not regretting a thing!!

So before the clock strikes midnight, I must post one last look for 2010!! It's a reddish copper eye which I achieved with my new Stila Color Wheel Eye Palette ($38) I got for Christmas- Stila makes the best shadows that can be used wet or dry- love them!!

Me and my sweet Vivian ringing in the New Year- at around 8pm at night!  She couldn't hang until 12

I used a reddish copper from the wheel to line all around my eyes with a dark brown liner along the inner rims.

A big huge thanks to all my loyal followers and here's to hopefully more JennySue Makeup followers in the New Year!  I appreciate all your comments and ideas and I can't wait to see what the beauty biz has to offer us ladies in 2011!

We Have A Winner For The Apothica Gift Card!!

And the winner for the $25 Apothica gift card iiiissss...

RACHEL CRISMAN from the Dalai Mama blog!!

Rachel, please email me at jennysuemakeup@gmail.com, and send me your email address that you would like for Apothica/SkinCareRX to contact you at to further complete your giftcard redemption.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments, entries, tweets, "likes," and everything!!  I just ordered a La Mer lip balm and La Roche Posay moisturizer from this wonderful website that literally carries every beauty brand you'd want to own!

Have a lovely New Years Eve everyone- stay safe but party like it's 1999...JennySue

Makeup Books Make Great Teachers

I was fortunate enough to receive some great makeup books this Christmas (thanks to my awesome father-in-law- yes, a man was brilliant enough to buy these for me!!) to add to my already stocked library!!

I love love love big ole picture books about makeup and how to apply it.  Being a predominately self taught makeup artist myself, these books are basically my teachers.  That's how I was taught to learn things in school and college, so real life should be no different, right?? Books are the best way to educate yourself on anything and everything, because you can learn at your own speed and if you forget something, you can just re-read it and learn it all over!

In one of the new books I received (and have already read front to back!) by Kevyn Aucoin "Face Forward" I admire some of the statements he makes in his introduction to the book:

• ...there is really no such thing as "normal"-everybody's different, and that is the essence of their beauty.  To forgive yourself your differences and cherish them instead, is incredibly liberating. 
• Appreciating (even highlighting) individuality is one of the great things about makeup.
• I'm not saying that putting on makeup will change the world or even your life, but it can be a first step in learning things about yourself you may never have discovered otherwise.  At worst, you could make a big mess and have a good laugh!!

Not only do I use all of my books as teachers, I also use them as inspiration for different looks.  

Example- the cover of my new Jemma Kidd book, Makeup-Up Masterclass $29 (above)  inspired my low maintence look (below) with a quick winged eye.  

Luckily, for Christmas I also received Kat Von D's Tattoo liner pen $18 (again, a gift by a man, my incredibly generous hubby!) This can be used as an eyeliner or to create fake tattoos-extremely artsy! It is super skinny and pointed which helped me to make my smooth winged look that mimiced the Jemma Kidd cover.  Without it- my line would have been too fat.  

I liked this look because it wasn't too fussy but the addition of the perfectly lined eye made it slightly fancy!  

Here are the main components (products) of my look:

Eyes:  Shadow- Too Faced "Heaven" ivory shadow all over, with Lancome's "Sunset" in the crease.  Liquid liner- Kat Von D's Tattoo liner in "Trooper" with a thin line of black shadow along lower lashes.

Cheeks:  Hard Candy Hide & Glow Cheek in "Pillow Talk" ($8).  I'm super excited Hard Candy is available at Wal-Mart now- they have some excellent cheap but fun makeup products.  This cheek stain is a duo, one really pink side and a more coral side that I actually layered one on top of the other to create a very natural flushed look. This product is super sheer.  

Lips:  I used my Rimmel London lip liner in "East End Snob" and filled in my lips with it then just added lots of MAC clear lip glass ($14.50) for a super shiny glassy looking lip.

I'd be interested to know- what makeup books are your favorite that you've learned the most from??  Share with me!  

JennySue Makeup Wishes Everyone A Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

It has been a wonderful day filled with kids, gifts, laughter, noise, food, music, and most amazing of all, SNOW!!! Yes, snow here in Georgia- which is a BIG deal (bc we rarely see it- it's like seeing a reindeer in person), especially since it has actually happened on Christmas Day!!  And a little un-known fact, the last time this area saw snow on Christmas Day, was back in 1882 and the president was Chester Arthur- how many of you even knew we had a president by that name??

 A White Christmas at my front door- Perfect.

It's been a long and extremely busy day, so I don't have anything major to write about, but I just had to share with everyone that I was able to pull off red and green makeup (in honor of the big day of course) on Christmas Eve.

The key to making it wearable, was to keep the green only on my eyeliner (MAC "Club" shadow plus Rimmel's Spark it Up eyeliner in "Peridot" $5) and the red on my lips (MAC "Russian Red" lipstick of course).  The crease color was a shimmery brown to compliment the green liner- not compete with it!.

This is my, "Ssshhhh, I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus" face!

Me and my hubby...and my Santa cup;-)

I have just tried to soak in this last month of 2010 and remember all of the great things that have happened, even the not-so-great things, but how everything has shaped how this past year has turned out.  I have learned and grown from every single event that has occurred- isn't that what life is about anyway- constantly learning!??

The most important thing that has come out of this year for me has been the birth of my sweet baby girl Vivian.  She has definitely been the most precious gift we've been given this year...

...although my two boys would probably argue that, and say the best gift they've been given is the motorized vehicle Santa brought them above ;-)  Ha!  This is them enjoying their new ride in the wee early morning hours in the freezing cold weather.

I hope Santa was good to all of you- and if he wasn't, well, there's always next year to look forward to!! As I always try to remind myself...You cannot undo what the last year has brought you, but you can look ahead and shape how the new year measures up.  I thank you all for following JennySue this past year and can't wait to see what new year brings!!

Yes Vivian, There Really Is A Santa Claus

Well the countdown has begun at my house for the much anticipated arrival of the big man in red himself, Santa Claus, St. Nick, Kris Kringle, whatever you choose to call him!!

 Vivian with her two big brothers and Santa Claus.  Who says Santa isn't real- I'd say this guy looks pretty realistic to me!!

My two boys filling Santa in on what their little sister needed for Christmas- they were extremely serious.

I must admit, I'm pretty excited and ready for him too.  Of all the holidays in the calendar year, Christmas gets me the most pumped and keeps me in a consistently good mood throughout the month of December.

What I love about Christmas:

• the general hustle and bustle in the air 
• the free pass to be extravagant and decorate anything and everything in my home-including myself when it comes to holiday parties! 
• to put little lights all over the interior and exterior of my house and the thrill my kids get when lighting them up! 
• finding where our Elf on the Shelf has moved to each morning so that he can spy on my children and report back to Santa (see photo on the right- our elf "Jingle"made himself a spot in our nativity scene
• the smell of a real Christmas tree in the house
• eating yummy goodies that friends and family bake and share (bc let's face it- I have zero time to bake) more than I should and not feel guilty for doing so 
• wrapping up gifts and tormenting my kids by reminding them daily they can't open them until the 25th

• reading the "real" Christmas story to my kids (baby Jesus is the reason for the season remember?!) My 4 yr old was Joseph in the Christmas story this year in his school play- he's the one with his arms up high- I was so proud of his acting ability to portray such an important story!!

So we recently did the age old tradition of packing up the family and taking the kids to meet and talk with Santa once before the big day.  Now that I have children of my own, the thrill of them getting to meet Santa and talk to him, is really a huge deal.  My boys take speaking with Santa veerrrry seriously and I love that they actually have the thoughtfulness to tell the big man to NOT forget their little sister Vivian by telling him what they think she would like (she IS only 4 months old and can't speak for herself!).

Me and Miss Vivian after visiting with Santa- I think she really enjoyed meeting with him!!

My wish for my children is that they NEVER stop believing in the magic Christmas has to offer.  

Although we haven't seen Santa when he comes down our chimney to deliver joy, and although we didn't see Jesus born in the manger, we should always keep the faith and belief that both really do exist.  Thanks to the New York Sun writer Francis Church, he has answered (perfectly) the age old question that little 8 yr old Virginia asked back in 1897- "Please tell me the truth, is there really a Santa Claus?"


Here is his response.  And if you've never read this influential piece of history, here's your chance. I'm not sure anyone could explain Santa's existence or reason for being, better:


Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.


So yes my sweet Vivian, Jack and Walker, there really is a Santa Clause, and he lives in all our hearts.

What Makeup Brushes I Use

{Tiny sample of my brush collection.}

I love it when a follower gives me a subject to write about, that way I don't have to think of something creative since it's already been thought up for me!!  As you can tell, I always like sharing my opinions and advice on everything makeup oriented!!  My most recent request was to blog about "what exact makeup brushes I use when creating my looks."  So Andrea, this blog's for you!!

When doing eye makeup, of course it important to use a head/bristle size that is appropriate for the area you are working with. You wouldn't use a big fluffy brush to try and create a thin line underneath the lash line now would you??  So here are some step by step photos, I'll try to go in order, of what brush types I use for each part of my makeup repertoire.

If you are not much of a makeup girl,  you're probably going to be wowed and amazed (or appalled-ha!) by the amount of different type brushes I use to create my look- and this is just the tip of the iceberg.  When I work on clients, it's usually double this amount!  I use sometimes a minimum of 10 brushes on a person.  Okay, so here we go!!

{Brows.}

1. For eyebrows  I use a slanted hard bristled synthetic bristled brush (Sonia Kashuk, $6) that I apply my colored brow wax with to fill in along the natural growth of the brow hairs.

{All over color.}

2.  All over color and lash to crease color applied with a fairly large flat head brush.  I have a big eye bed space, so I like a larger head on a brush to cover all this area.  This one is by Face Secrets and is called an eye contour brush ($6) from Sally Beauty.

{Crease contouring.}

3.  For my crease color, I use one of my fave brushes EVER, it's by Kevyn Aucoin, and is described as the small eyeshadow flat tip brush ($28).  This is the one I use to press my darker color into the crease of my lid above the lash to crease color.  The bristles are perfectly rounded and fit right into that eye socket area.

{Eye liner.}

4. The brush I use for shadow over my liner and and my lash line, has a teeny tiny head, and is by Stila brush #4, the precision eyeliner brush ($20).  The word precision best describes what this brush can do for you- bc it needs to make a nice straight line!

{Bronzer.}

5.  For my bronzer, the brush sometimes varies in size depending on how much I want to apply. This one from MAC is #129 ($34) has a generous size head on it and is very rounded.  Remember, I apply bronzer around the perimeter of the face and into the hairline more so than just in the t-zone which can look muddy.

{Contouring.}

6. For my nose contouring (yes I do this- and it is a extra step most wouldn't do, but figured I'd throw it in there in case someone is interested;-)) I use a super fluffy brush, MAC 224, ($29) that is meant for eye shadow but I use it for applying my bronzer to the sides of my nose and also for applying translucent powder underneath my eyes on top of my concealer to set it.

{Blush.}

7.  My blush is always applied with a slanted bristled brush.  I find I have more control over my cheek color when the blush brush is smaller and angled ($15) like my Bare Escentuals brush.  I like it smaller so that I don't get too much color deposited onto my face.  I have found when I go through some clients blush brushes, they're using a brush that is way too fat and wide which leads to Bozo the clown cheeks, OR, the woman is so scared she'll look like Bozo, that she ends up not applying enough due to the scary big blush brush!!  Your cheek area is very small, therefore your blush brush should mimic that small space.

{Tools for perfection!}

Beauty tools are very very important in implementing a look, so I definitely think that they are worth sinking some money into.  As you can see, my brushes are all over the place as to which brands I liked, but my top faves are by MAC and Kevyn Aucoin.  For drugstore versions, Sonia Kashuk takes my top award. And of course, if I can throw my last two cents in, if you invest in nice brushes make sure to wash them correctly and often!!

What is your favorite brand of makeup brushes??  How many do you own?

Christmas Cards Make Me Happy

JennySue's Christmas card display!

Since Christmas is my most FAVORITE time of year (totally beats out my birthday-hands down), it also comes with favorite traditions.  And my favorite tradition since I've owned a home with my husband, has been to display all of my Christmas cards that I receive that year in the mail.


I just love love love seeing what friends and family do with their cards every year and to see how my friend's children have grown and multiplied- even the ones with peoples pets!  I usually stick these cards all over my kitchen hutch (that I really love from Crate & Barrel that Scott (hubby) got me when we moved into our home 5 years ago) until it's completely covered then I stick Christmas lights and garland on top!  Voila, a festive feast for the eyes!!  I even have included all the holiday arts and crafts my boys have made at school which adds to the decor.  And for the really good cards we receive, I keep in a box and pull them out each year to look at them again.

The mother of all Christmas cards has to be the fiercely searched Kardashian family Christmas card. 

Apparently they go all out each year to top the previous years one, and this years 2010 one is fab-u-lous to say the least.  They are all decked out and fancy which is fitting of this reality tv show phenomenon family-although, couldn't we get a smile from someone - especially baby Mason??  Ya'll know from reading my blog, that I love this family, especially Kim K. (I can't get enough of her hair and makeup!) and since I've been watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians since the beginning, I feel like they should be displayed on my hutch!

My 2010 family Christmas card- seriously.

Well since I can't afford the postage to send to all my lovely followers, here's a little peek at my family Christmas card.  There is definitely no staircase, expensive clothing, or serious tone.  We went for a family photo that shows just how crazy and out of control our lives are with 3 children under 5.  You can't see the wording on the card, but it says "Peace, love & Joy."  Fitting and ironic, because we have very little peace in our house, but lots of love & joy!!

And if you think this might be a slightly awkward Christmas card to send out, you haven't seen anything yet.  Check out one of the most hilarious websites out there, Awkward Family Photos, and scroll through their holiday selection.  I'm not even going to try and describe what you'll see there, but they are extremely funny AND awkward and keep you entertained for hours!!  Happy Holidays everyone and I hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as I am!!

It's Giveaway Time!! Enter To Win A Giftcard From Apothica.com

What girl doesn't loooovvve a free giveaway to a beauty/cosmetic/skincare site?!  Wouldn't it be nice to get something for yourself, especially around the holidays when all you're doing is buying for others?

Well here is your chance to win a $25 gift card to Apothica.com!!

As you've probably noticed, I have Apothica.com as a sponsor linked on the top left hand side of my blog.  Luckily this gift card can be used at any of the following: Apothica.com, SkinCareRX.com, or SkinBotanica.com.  Apothica.com is a site where you can find the most popular and hip cosmetic lines like Too Faced and Stila, as well as some really cool but hard to find brands like Vincent Longo and DuWop.

If you even remotely read my blog you know how much I adore the brand Too Faced Cosmetics. Their packaging alone is so girly and glamorous and makes you want to own everything!! I personally use their Shadow Insurance every single day and just purchased the Natural Eye Kit and love it!  Here's a pic of my eye kit along with a few cheat sheets on how to create different eye looks.

Here are some of the many options you have for entering to win the $25 Apothica.com gift card:

(You only have to do one, but you can choose to do more)

1.  Required: Leave me a comment as to what product(s) you would like to treat yourself to from Apothica's website and why it would make your holi-day!

2.  Bonus entry:  Become a fan of Apothica on Facebook, then leave a quick comment on their page  to let them know you're a fan of JennySue Makeup's giveaway!

3.  Bonus entry:  Become a follower of @Apothica on Twitter and leave them a tweet with your Twitter name and this JennySue Makeup giveaway.

4.  Double Bonus entry:  Tweet about this giveaway that includes a link to their Twitter account name, @Apothica.  Then come back here to my blog and leave a comment with a link to your tweet.

5.  Double bonus entry:  Leave me a comment about Apothica AND Too Faced in my comment section of my blog.

6. Triple bonus entry:  Post this giveaway on your own blog.  Make sure to post the link directly to the Too Faced brand on Apothica's website, using the words "Too Faced" in your link.  Leave me a comment with a link to your posting.

This giveaway will end in 14 days on Thursday, December 30,2010 at 5:00pm EST.  Best of luck everyone!  

The big winner will be announced the next day on Friday, December 31st on my blog, and will need to send me their contact info to my email address, jennysuemakeup@gmail.com in order to receive the gift card.  If no response within 48 hrs, an alternate winner will be chosen.

JennySue Makeup Links :: Holiday Eyeshadow Ideas

So I definitely check out other blogs and websites when I get a spare moment to breathe (and I'm not working on my own blog) because I feel you can always learn something new from others.  Here are just a few links I really like recently that can give you some holiday makeup inspiration.  The big theme here is shimmery smokey eye looks for holiday parties- and sprinkled in these link suggestions are pics of my own "Blue Christmas" eyes I wore to a girly wine and cheese holiday party!!!

1st Link:  Compliments of one of my fave reality celebrities Kim Kardashian (I can't tell you how happy I am that Paris Hilton is not a reality celeb that you hear about much anymore-Kim seems like such a better business woman in terms of being famous for being famous!), and her blog on a makeup look created by makeup artist Joyce Bonelli.  I like this blog bc Joyce gives a step by step of how she created Kim's look and exactly what products used on her for the Vogue Fashion Fund Awards.

2nd Link:  This is from The Budget Babe, which I get emails from daily, and it's different celebs with various types of smokey eyes.  And who wouldn't want to wear smokey eyes for a holiday party?? It's the ultimate party look in my opinion!!!

I sprinkled in a little gold shimmer product over my cobalt blue eyeshadow with black eyeliner.

3rd Link:  This last link is from the New York Times website which is always on the cutting edge of EVERYTHING beauty and style related.  I mean, it's New York, the beauty capital of the United States!!  This is also a slideshow from makeup artist Mally Roncal, and shows you step by step how to get pretty shimmery party eyes!

It's going to be a very sparkly, shimmery, smokey eyed Christmas this year!!

Personal Shopping For Makeup Is Fun

Like I always say- I have the most fun job in the world!!  As a freelance makeup artist I get to work with really cool chicks (and sometimes dudes, but not as often;-)) and ALL brands of makeup!!  I work to make women feel more beautiful and confident with what God gave them, and that's a pretty cool job in my book.

Me & Raechel at my all time favorite beauty store Sephora!! Can't you just see the joy on our faces?!

I offer all sorts of services to my clients, but one of my favorites is to go makeup shopping with them.  A sort of "personal shopper" service if you will.

My clients enjoy hiring me to do this with them because:

• we don't go and drop their money at ONE single makeup counter  
• they don't have to sit in someone's chair/stool for an hour and have the whole general public stare at them as they get made up at a local mall!  awkward...  
• most importantly, I make product suggestions based on my clients BUDGET.  And as you know, I do not believe that ONE single makeup manufacturer does everything right.  Nor do I believe that you have to buy ONLY high end department store makeup to achieve the perfectly pretty face.  

Drugstore brands like Cover Girl and L'Oreal have been around a long time for a reason- because they're good at what they do!! I mean, hello, uber makeup artist Pat McGrath is the global creative design director for Cover Girl, and with genius like that behind a brand, I'm buying drugstore all day long!

  My favorite drugstore- I am at Target atleast once a week, maybe twice.

So I got to work with a wonderfully sweet, soon to be mom of two (yeh! I'm so excited for you about this Raechel!), and we did a little makeup hopping and shopping. She was such a trooper since she is literally about to have a new baby any day now (you'll notice in these photos she looks fab through this pregnancy-lucky girl!!).

She has her face chart in her basket that I had scribbled all sorts of product suggestions on!

 Due to the fact that she didn't like the thought of going to a counter or Sephora alone, bc let's face it those places can be overwhelming/intimidating, she asked for my help.  She needed to treat herself to some new beauty products appropriate for her skin tone and coloring since she hadn't bought any new products in awhile and wanted to spend her money wisely and get the most bang for her buck.  In walks JennySue to take the confusion out of it all!!

We hit Target first, the mecca of all drugstores, and got most of our products here.  Check her basket of goodies out!  My fave type products to buy from drugstores- mascara, lipstick/glosses, lipliners and eyeliners.




We then hit up Sephora, which literally makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.  I'm like Charlie in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!!  This place is great bc we could actually try out and test certain products to make sure we were finding the right colors for her.  Here, we spent money on products like- concealer, blush, eyeshadows, and brushes.


After it was all said and done, she walked away with hopefully more knowledge on what colors work for her and what products she needed to fill in the holes in her current makeup arsenal!  And to top off an already very fun day with Raechel, it actually snowed- okay, snow flurries, but that's a big deal for us here in the South!

Here is me and my son Jack amazed by the fact that there was even the tiniest bit of white stuff on the roof- can you even see it??  It was the best type of snow- light, white, and didn't stick, so it caused no messy roadways!  Here's to hoping for the possibility of a white Christmas here in Georgia.  I've seen crazier things happen...

Timeless Beauty :: Tips For the Mature Lady

I've gotten to work with a lot of young brides in my career as a makeup artist.  But I've also been given the honor of working with a lot of their mothers, or the MOB's as I like to call them (Mother of the Bride- or MOG's, Mother of the Groom)!!  I'm going to post a few examples of women throughout this blog I've been lucky enough to work with and turned out to be beautiful examples of ageless beauty.

A stunning MOB I worked with- this is Mrs. Susan!  Wish my camera didn't have this green cast applied to the picture, but you can still see how gorgeous she is.

Now that I'm a mom, I can say that I now truly appreciate my own mother.  Not to say that I didn't appreciate her back in junior high and high school, but honestly, that appreciation is on a much higher level now that I'm in the thick of the parenting thing and see what she went through raising me ;-)  So when I get to work on a bride's mother or mother-in-law, it is truly a pleasure to help make that woman feel beautiful since she went through all the hard work of getting her daughter to where she was today!!

When I work on these women, they are inevitably always too hard on themselves and worried about the aging process and how to slow it down.  But we women are always our own worst enemy, right?? Now I'm no Dr. Oz, and am not skilled on the inner workings of how to keep the body and face young with certain vegetables and vitamins, but I do wield a mean makeup brush!!  And makeup can hide a multitude of things;-)



So here are my top makeup suggestions for being a timeless beauty:

1.  Smooth skin and flawless foundation is key.  With wrinkles and large pores being the #1 problem older women complain about, the best way to combat that is with a makeup primer or pore filler before applying foundation.  The silicon in most primers helps to fill in the "cracks" so to speak and minimally reduces the look of fine lines and wrinkles.  I like Becca Cosmetics Line & Pore Corrector ($36).

And dry skin is a big factor you want to knock out bc makeup can sit in those dry spots and cause all sorts of problems!  So be sure to moisturize moisturize moisturize and to use a retinol product at night time to help with the overall skin aging issue.

2.  Eyeliner is your friend.  There's nothing better to open up an eye and bring them out of hiding if the eyelids are starting to droop a little than eyeliner.  A great tip for eyelids that have fairly thin skin on them and its tough to get a straight line across- blow your pencil tip with a hairdryer for 5 seconds or so to warm up the tip which will make it glide easier across the lid.

3.  Don't be afraid of color.  So many women get stuck in a rut with neutrals that they don't experiment with brighter colors or anything that is not brown!!  I say that brighter blushes and navy or purple eyeliners are great subtle ways to experiment with color.  But of course, always choose ONE distinct feature to play with your vibrant color so that you don't end up looking like a circus clown:-)

Taking care of ourselves as we age is extremely important- from the inside to the outside- from the foods we eat to the creams we apply on our skin.  I am FINALLY becoming more aware of how I need to start treating my body more like a temple than a tent.  I believe beauty definitely comes from the inside out, but a little makeup can't hurt to help things along- or backwards!!!  And like my mama always said- "Pretty is as pretty does."