If I had a nickel for everytime my friends begged me to do their eyeshadow before going out, I’d be a very rich woman!  Pretty eyeshadow looks are simple to learn, but I find that women are often shy dipping their toes (or makeup brush, so to speak) in the waters.  I filmed a video showing how to create a simple daytime look that can easily be pumped up for evening.

Some tricks:
- Apply eyeshadow before foundation; if you make a mistake, you can easily wipe smudges away
- A quality-but-inexpensive set of brushes will help with shadow application; the gold standard are MAC’s brushes (217 for blending, 239 for all-over shading), although I personally love Caroline Chu’s set.  Meanwhile, CVS has some great-but-affordable brushes from Boots No. 7 and Essence of Beauty
- Use gray liner for a softer daytime look
- Blending shadow and liner well is key!

Celeb and makeup artist-fave Smashbox is coming to Fred Segal Studio and throwing a huge launch party next week to celebrate!  The party is January 29th, from 6-9pm, and you can attend by RSVPing rvega@fredsegalstudio.com.  (Tell ‘em Jolie sent you!)  If you’re in the LA/Santa Monica area: run, don’t walk!

Li’l Jolie is turning into Plus-Sized Jolie; the metabolism which served me so well in my early twenties is sputtering out, aided by a steady comfort diet of pasta and mucho less exercise then I normally get.  (It’s winter!  It’s cold!  What do you want from me?)  Jolie has never been the skinniest filly in the stable, but what she lacked in svelteness, she more than made up for in good hair and smokey eyes.  Alas, I’m hoping that viewpoint will carry me through the next few months, as I try to right myself–please do cut me a little slack, men of Los Angeles; I’ve just been through a major life trauma–and make the most of this wonderful, healthy body that I do so appreciate.  (Not looking to be anorexic, just want to be truly healthy!)

Here’s the latest photo of moi, gorgeously tressed courtesy of the divine Neil Weisberg and Amanda George, co-owners of Neil George Salon.  I saw them this weekend and was absolutely blown away.  You’ll know them from, oh, every starlet in Hollywood (Reese Witherspoon, Ashley Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Applegate, Cameron Diaz…the list goes on), and let me tell you, a cut and color with them is worth every second, and every dime.  Check out their brand-new, buzzed about, color-friendly line here.

I will be returning to Neil George in precisely one month, on Saturday February 21st, for my book party at Fred Segal Studio in Santa Monica.  LA-dwellers, it’s the day before the Oscars, at 2pm–cocktails, nibbles, a book signing, and makeup from Laura Mercier, Smashbox, Stila and Dianne Brill.  Please mark your calendars, tell your friends, and come for an afternoon of fun!

When a beauty product becomes discontinued, panic ensues.  How will I live without that perfect, exact, nothing-else-in-this-world-even-comes-close shade of slightly pink, slightly coral, not-too-shimmery, not-too-matte lipgloss?!, you curse the gods.  We girls are damn crazy about our favorites, stubbornly clinging to crumbling compacts and nubby tubes and waxy pencils, angrily shaking off friends who try to press a newer, fancier, better version on us.  (Better?  Ha!  I’ll be the judge of that.)  Sure, there may be scores!, hundreds!, nay thousands! of allllmost identical eye shadows, nail polishes and lipsticks out there…but we likes what we likes, no?  Lucky Magazine’s Beauty Blog lists a few soon-to-be-discontinued gems, including Lancome Juicy Gelee Crystal Clear Lipgloss and Smashbox Smokebox Palette.  Get ‘em before they’re gone!