Fab 5ive: Fall Makeup Trends

Most people think that as the summer sun fades and the cooler fall weather arrives, you have to bust out the fall fashion staples of brown, grey, black with subdued makeup to match. If you have been following the beautiful looks of the New York, London and Milan fashion shows, you know that nothing can be further the truth.  As the leaves start turning breathtakingly red, gold, and orange; your makeup look should be equally as stunning.

Dewy Skin

Its time to shelve away your tinted moisturizer, the brisk autumn air is much drier than the hot humidity of summer. A more heavy duty moisturizing cream will help keep your skin supple and give you a more dewy finish. Use a luminizing moisturizer to brighten up your skin and keep you glowing.  A cream blush contouring your cheekbones can also give your dewy skin a soft finish.  

Bright Eyeshadow

One of the big trends at New York Fashion Week included vivid orange eyeshadow at the Narciso Rodriguez 2012 Spring/Summer Collection. While you might hesitate to wear such a loud color for your everyday look, a soft shimmery bronze or gold eyeshadow is a more wearable option. Contour your eyes with a dark matte brown eyeshadow to give it that extra pop. Add layers of black mascara and a thin line of black eyeliner to your upper lash line with a slight winged tip to make this into an evening look. Smudge your bottom lash line either with the golden eyeshadow for a fresh wide awake look or softly smudge the black eyeliner on the bottom of your eye for a subtle smokey look.

Full Eyebrows

Brooke Shields' eyebrows made a huge comeback this year.  Thick, almost unruly eyebrows have been a break from the over-plucked, barely there brows of past.  To help make the most of your natural brows, first take a small compact eyeshadow brush and dip into a brown shade a few shades lighter than your hair color. Then begin by stippling the eyeshadow on to your eyebrow. Be careful not to sweep the color on with the brush, by stippling the color on you will get a much more natural look.  Use an eyebrow gel or a clear mascara to shape your eyebrow after you are done filling it in with the color.

Strong Lips

A simple way to add a pop of fall color to your look is to apply a matte lipstick in either a burnt orange red, a berry fuschia, or a deep burgundy.  This will brighten your entire face and you will amp up your entire look to the max volume.  By giving your lips a matte finish, you keep your lips on trend for the autumn months. Still, a more easy-to-wear and refined version of this trend is to use a lip gloss tinted with the bright colors like the models at the Zac Posen and Naeem Khan S/S 2012 shows with their glistening orange glossy lips. Silvery grey eyeshadow or smudged charcoal eyeliner is the perfect pairing with this look.

Retro Glam

Old Hollywood glamour has been seen everywhere on the red carpet and the fashion runways.  The showstopping look not only has a strong eye but fire-engine red lips that can be seen for miles. This trend really combines all of the trends above for a fabulous look that will have jaws dropping everywhere you go. All you need for this Elizabeth Taylor-esque look, is the strong eyebrows, with a shimmering silver eyeshadow, a thick line of black winged eyeliner, and big dramatic lashes. A deep red or wine-colored lipstick with just a hint of gloss completes this look. 

With all the beautiful colors of fall around us, being boring is not an option. Incorporate color into your makeup and your wardrobe and you will feel like the sun is shining every day whether it is or not.

Picture courtesy of Flickr

"Arab Spring" Fashion Week

When revolution hit the streets of the Middle East earlier this year, news cameras captured courageous women (both young and old) fighting for freedom shoulder-to-shoulder with the men.  In fact, it was 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz's YouTube video and Facebook posts that have become the stuff of legends that will be retold for generations to come. She will go down in history known as the "Leader of the Revolution" for her role in sparking the the overthrow of the 30 year regime of the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Her fiery words, "Whoever says women shouldn't go to protests because they will get beaten, let him have some honor and manhood and come with me on January 25" inspired an entire nation to stand up for justice.

Probably not what most people think of when picturing an "oppressed Muslim woman" right? There is no such thing as a typical Muslim woman despite what FOX News might tell you. We don't all wear head-to-toe black burqa walking ten steps behind our husband.  Sidenote-I don't know why the walking behind the husband thing really bugs me but this is why I am constantly trying to get my husband to slow his roll and walk leisurely next to me.  Granted he's usually trying to corral our kids and keep them from running off, while I take my sweet time getting anywhere.

Muslim women have broken down cultural, social and religious barriers while facing down discrimination and prejudice in all walks of life. Newsweek recently did a profile about 2 successful high fashion models who not only happen to be Arab but also Muslim. Modeling may seem like it does not fit with the whole Islamic concept of hijab and emphasis on modesty for both men and women. Yep it's true, men are also encouraged just as much as women in Islam to dress modestly, something that *gasp* rarely gets mentioned in the media.

Still, as the Newsweek piece mentions, Middle Eastern women are the biggest consumers for haute couture fashion pieces.  But just where do these gorgeous French creations get worn? Usually under their black abayas, until the women are somewhere private either with their family or gal pals.  And despite what you may have seen in the disappointing Sex and the City 2 flick, there are not gaggles of Middle Eastern women waiting for Carrie Bradshaw and Samantha Jones to "liberate" them from fashion tyranny.

Muslim women make choices every day about how they follow their religion, while some choose to cover their hair or their entire body, many choose not to. The beauty of Islam is that we all have free will and we get to decide how we worship God. While my personal choices will not have me in a bikini anytime soon, you will see me splashing about the beach in a burqini.

My religious beliefs do not hold me back from anything I want to accomplish in this world. I love all things related to beauty and fashion. I may wear a scarf, but I love my MAC and Nars makeup and consider a trip to the mall a waste if I don't make a pilgrimage to Sephora. I watch all the award shows just for red carpet fashion and yes I am a beauty blog and fashion magazine junkie. I guess what this whole post was about is to figure out why I feel it is important that as a Muslim woman I add my voice to the world of fashion and beauty. People like the revolutionary Asmaa Mahfouz,  busy mom and fashion designer Gwen Stefani  inspire me to not be just any one thing or fit into a box that someone else created for me.

Yes I am Muslim and yes I am addicted to makeup. There should be self-help group just for me, but until there is I plan on using this blog to post about the things I love: the husband, our gorgeous babies (seriously they do not look like either me or the hubby, but at least they look like each other, I swear we didn't steal them), fashion, makeup, style, all while being a Glam Muslim Woman loving God for blessing me with all of the above.

Hope you enjoy my ramblings and leave me your two cents!