When it comes to makeup, one of the most important things to accentuate is your lips. Adding the right shade of lipstick is essential to completing a look and choosing the wrong color can ruin the effect of even the most skilled makeup application. So that you don’t have to make any more lipstick or gloss mistakes, here are some rules of thumb to keep in mind.

General Rules

• Choose a shade of lipstick that is only one or two shades darker than your actual lip tone. Trust the color on the package; it is correct and will let you know how the lipstick will look.
• Red is not always too powerful, but it’s best not to match red lips to your outfit. That effect can be overpowering. For a simpler red, try a tinted lip balm or gloss.
• If you bring home a lipstick, which can be quite pricey, and you don’t like it, don’t get rid of it. Blending and mixing various shades might create a color that really works with your style.
• Avoid painting beyond your natural lip lines. Doing so gives that unfortunate cartoonish look that everyone should steer directly away from.
• Using a lip liner that is only slightly darker than the shade of lipstick you have selected will give a more natural look to your lips.

Choosing lipstick according to your skin tone

Fair skin

• Use light apricot-type shades.

Medium skin

• Use slightly darker shades, such as mauve or a berry color.

Dark skin

• Use reds, purples, or chocolate colors of lipstick and gloss.

For the rest of your beauty questions, or to pursue your long-time dream to become a cosmetologist, contact the best beauty school in Arizona and Utah! -Kassandra Konecny  

So you’ve decided to start a career in cosmetology. One of your first and biggest decisions will be the difficult task of choosing the right school.  You have lots of choices, with different schools offering many different “hooks” to try to get you to choose them.

Fortunately, there are a few objective traits you can look for to help you decide which school is right for you:

• Accreditation – You will want to make sure that the school you are considering is nationally accredited.  If a school is accredited it means that the school has met national standards and that it is eligible for federal student financial assistance programs.
• Reputation – A great school has a great reputation in the industry.  You will want to attend a school that is known for its knowledgeable faculty and staff and for the high quality of its graduates.
• Location – It may seem obvious, but make sure your school is in a location that is convenient for you.  If you can’t easily move from your current location, a long commute to get to and from the school can be a deal breaker.
• Respect - Most importantly, a great beauty school cares about you as an individual.  Some schools are simply interested in money—they churn out as many students as possible, without bothering to make sure that each student is getting the support they need.  A great school will work with each student individually, making sure that each leaves with the tools needed to succeed in the world of cosmetology.

Avalon is the premier school of cosmetology in Arizona and Utah, and we truly believe that we offer the best programs in the West.  If you want to get a head start on your career, contact us!

“When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our eyes often say more than our words. People who avoid eye contact during conversation are often perceived as disingenuous, dishonest, or untrustworthy. Looking directly into the eyes of the person to whom you are talking sends a message of confidence and straightforwardness. Frequent blinking creates an impression that the speaker is nervous or uncomfortable, possibly because they are lying.

The appearance of your eyes speaks volumes. Here are five tips for accentuating the natural beauty of your eyes:

1. To make your eyes appear larger, apply a white accent to the inside corners, by your tear ducts.
2. For more noticeability, draw your eyeliner from the inside corner of your eye, but stop halfway across the length of your eye.
3. When applying eye shadow, put light highlights up by your eyebrows with a light pink, white or cream.
4. Create a small wing at the outside corners of your eyes to accentuate your features. Don’t overdo it, however, if you’re not going for the Cleopatra effect.
5. Once your first application of mascara is dried, brush the tips of your lashes with your brush pointed towards the ceiling to make them appear longer.

Your appearance sends a powerful message about your personality. To learn more about creating the image that you feel best portrays yourself and others, contact a Utah beauty school today.

We may have come a long way since the shoulder-pad-wearing days of the 1980s, when the ideal of feminine strength was to create the silhouette of a linebacker, but we still have a lot to learn when it comes to securing a fair and equal working environment for women. Whatever our ideals may teach us, gender still makes a difference in the work place, even in an industry as female-dominated as cosmetology. Here are a few things for any woman to keep in mind when working toward business success:

1. Be the most qualified. There’s no substitute for getting the best education possible and putting in your time at the office or salon.
2. Open your mouth. According to Sexy Hair executive Donna Federici, “Women are more vocal, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near what it can be.” Raise your voice about the issues that you feel strongly about, and defend yourself with conviction whenever the need arises.
3. Build a network. DUWOP CEO Laura Deluisa says, “In reality, we have to support each other to succeed. We are all on the same team. Our office is about 80% female, and I believe that because of this, there is a nurturing vibe that allows everyone to grow and learn."
4. Learn the culture. Many law schools provide golf lessons to their female students, since job offers are very often made on the green rather than in the office. Often, women who work right in male-dominated environments miss out on opportunities simply because they don’t play right. Where is the real moving and shaking happening in your industry? Start thinking outside the box.

In the beauty industry, it all begins with learning your trade from the very best in the business. To get started on your career, contact a cosmetology school in Arizona.

A recent study shows that barbers and hair stylists are more apt to finding cancerous moles and lesions on the scalp than most physicians. Surveyors from the Harvard University School of Public Health interviewed 200 stylists from Houston, TX and found that more than half of them had found melanoma in their clients’ scalps, despite having never received formal training in melanoma detection. The scalp is an unusual place to find melanoma, so physicians usually don’t check there. Because beauticians deal with their clients’ scalps, they are in a prime position to make discoveries that could potentially save lives. Here are five melanoma warning signs to look out for while cutting or styling hair:

• Irregularly shaped moles with two sides that look different from each other.
• Moles with scalloped or irregular edges or borders.
• Moles with several different colors or uneven shades.
• Moles that easily bleed.
• Moles that spread out, discoloring nearby skin.

Because people rarely see the tops of their heads, you provide a service by simply drawing attention a mole in their scalp. Clients who make a trip to the dermatologist early in the development of a melanoma have a much higher chance of simply removing the growth before it turns malignant or spreads. A beautician’s career is rewarding in hundreds of ways. To get started on yours today, contact a Utah or Arizona beauty school.