Quick Tip: How to properly get rid of dark circles

Under-eye circles are often caused by blood trapped in weak capillaries. They become visible when the already delicate skin around the eyes thins. This degeneration, resulting from a loss of collagen and elastin, sinus congestion, and/or hormonal change, discolors the eye area.

My Favorite Hyperpigmentation Correctors

Last week I posted my top 3 makeup tips for African American women. The first tip, about neutralizing hyperpigmentation seems to have created quite a stir. Several people have contacted me asking for product recommendations. So here you go…

Top 3 Makeup Tips for African American Women

Today I received phone calls from two makeup artist friends asking my advice on makeup for African American women. These were my top 3 suggestions.

My Vogue.it Tutorials for Jafra

On Monday I stopped by the offices of Jafra Cosmetics for their 55th Anniversary Celebration. The lobby was packed with consultants and leaders.  As the group was lead through a tour of Jafra’s newley designed office, I met up with Qiana Phelps.  She let me know that the African American market had not seen the tutorials I did for Vogue Bellezze Black. So I am posting them now. Just click on the link below.

Neutral Look

Smokey Eyes

Red Lips

For all those eyebrow questions I keep receiving…
I borrowed this image from ibeauty.com.
I hope it helps,

Aliesh

I am one of the spokespersons for Jafra Cosmetics International. This is one of three tutorials shot in NY  for Vogue Italia’s website vogue.it/belleze-black. Directed by fashion journalist Claire Sulmers. Enjoy!

Ok, so it’s been a really long time since I last posted something new, forgive me. But I always say it’s difficult to be in IT and find time to blog about IT. And that brings me to the topic of this post. IT. As in Vogue.IT, the website belonging to fashion bible Vogue Italia. Two weeks ago they posted an in interview I shot in Milan will promoting the launch of Jafra’s new color collection. I had a lot of fun. Three makeup tutorials will follow. I hope you enjoy watching.

http://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-black/black-beauty/2011/05/aliesh-pierce-

Thanks to Vogue.it editors Beniamino Marini and Rita Balestro in Milan and Claire Sulmers in New York.

A Survey for Spa-Goers with Pigmented Skin

I created this survey in an effort to depict a clear picture of the spa-going population. If you have richly pigmented skin and enjoy going to the spa, please take this survey. I am specifically interested in skin tones ranging from those of Japanese to Senegalese decent (and Mediterranean as well). Your participation is greatly appreciated.

Click here.

Peace to Roxanna Floyd

I first met celebrity makeup artist / creative consultant Roxanna Floyd over fifteen years ago in our NY agency Zoli Illusions. Roxie went out of her way to make sure I, the newbie, was comfortable. Whenever we were booked on the same set, she never hesitated to share her award winning tips & tricks on enhancing African American beauty. I just can’t believe she’s gone.

I am re-posting an article by Harriette Cole originally posted on ebonyjet.com honoring Roxanna’s talent and character. The beauty industry mourns the loss of this gifted artist.

We just lost a great one, Roxanna Floyd, a very special makeup artist whose precision and love sculpted many a brown-skinned face in the world of entertainment. Our company was fortunate enough to have worked with her for the past year and a half as she served as Creative Beauty Director for Fashion Fair Cosmetics. Just a few weeks ago, Ebony magazine had the privilege of enjoying her expert hand when we photographed our March 2010 cover subject, Gabourey Sidibe, the star of Lee Daniels’ movie Precious.

It is with mixed emotion that we celebrate Roxanna’s work so intimately at this moment. A sea of people who knew and loved her have been filling the Internet with memories of working with her, connecting with her, loving her.

Roxanna’s very first national magazine cover was for Ebony magazine that she worked on with Ebony fashion and beauty editor Alfred Fornay.

I had the unique privilege of working with Roxanna more than 20 years ago when I worked for Essence. I met her through photographer Dwight Carter who booked her for a shoot I produced for the contemporary living department of the magazine. She quickly moved from working with me to making up more than 30 Black celebrities for some 60 Essence covers over the years.

Roxanna Floyd worked with some of our greatest celebrities and models: Angela Bassett, Whitney Houston, Cynthia Bailey (most recently for the Fashion Fair Cosmetics campaign), Queen Latifah, Iyanla Van Zant, Halle Berry, Phina, Foxy Brown, L.L.Cool J. Sinbad, and Danny Glover, plus many, many more.

She was a genius with a set of makeup brushes. And she appreciated brown skin so much that she learned how to blend colors perfectly to ensure that a woman of any and every skin tone would be flawless before the camera. Roxanna was a perfectionist. Anyone who knew her will tell you that she was the queen of the eyebrow. She spent as much time as it took to sculpt a brow, so much so that you felt like even if you didn’t have anything but foundation and a brow, you were ready for anything!

As I worked with her over many years and countless projects, including multiple books, and several recent Ebony magazine covers, she would always be on set with a magnifying glass, eyeing her subject from a distance to ensure that every detail would translate appropriately for the image being captured.  And trust, when something wasn’t perfectly right, she would quietly but clearly pause the shoot to make a much-needed tweak before it could resume.

Roxanna took her craft seriously. More, she quietly and fiercely took her clients and her friends seriously. She was a true confidante. Celebrities loved her so, because she would beat a face but not tell! You know how makeup artists and hairdressers often get all the dirt on a person’s life? Well, if Roxie got it, she kept it to herself. A devout Christian, Roxanna Floyd honored the people in her midst. She felt it was her duty to uplift the people with whom she worked, to seek out their best qualities and nurture them. She did not talk about people. Rare for a person in her field.

Roxanna loved fully and consistently. I feel so fortunate that I knew her for most of my professional life. She was an ace in the hole for any creative project. But more, she was my friend. It was she who did my makeup at my wedding 16 years ago, trekking an hour and a half outside of Manhattan to ensure that I would be perfect on my big day. And it was she who has checked in with me again and again over the years to make sure I was fine—even when she was suffering her own private hardships. She was a class act.

She was a generous soul. The many people who knew and loved her are singing her stories right now through pained tears. We all have memories that make our hearts ache today but that likely will soothe us tomorrow.

Roxanna Floyd is survived by her husband, Rick E. Ramos, her mother, Alberta “Bertha”  Floyd, and a world full of beloved friends.

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Harriette Cole is the editor in chief of Ebony magazine. Roxanna Floyd was the makeup artist for her books Jumping the Broom, How to Be, and Choosing Truth.

Just before Christmas I went shopping for color inspirations to show to a new client I am developing an ethnic makeup line for. (Sorry, I can’t say who just yet) I went to three beauty supply stores that cater to industry professionals. I knew I could only find Christian Dior’s Visiora CN-102 at Image Exclusive on Melrose. I also knew that Naimie’s was the only store offering a discount on main stream lines Laura Mercier and Bobbi brown. But I wasn’t prepared for the next location on my beauty shopping spree. I know I’m a little late with this, but I absolutely love Nigel’s Beauty Emporeum. My assistant Stephanie has been trying to get me to stop by forever. She recently took a part time position there and is one of their biggest fans. Nigel’s is now LA’s only Makeup Forever pro store.

They also have these great vinyl brow stencils from Sorme. I found an interesting powder pallet for pigmented skin from Phaedra. (the pallet had a bit too much mica though) Last but not least, Nigel’s carries the full line of Kevin Aucoin.

*I also order Visiora CN-102 from Ruth Hiscott in Toronto.

*I loved the old Alcone in NY. I’m glad they brought it back.