Month: September 2013

My Ocular Affliction

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Sorta. I mean, it’s not anything serious like blindness or perpetual allergies. Nothing like that, but it’s a little trying when you can’t do simple things like getting an even thick line over it. You see, my eyes are of a typical Asian hoodedness. However, they fold quite differently, like so: As you can see, the folds are uneven. Which is, I suppose, fine for general eyelining and such: But when I want to wear a cat-eye or a thick Korean-inspired line, shit ensues and I look like an asshole who can’t do her own makeup. I just thickened the line by adding another line on top of the existing one, and check out how it looks like when my eyes are open. Yikes. Asshole alert. I tried lining my wonky eye while it’s open, but while it looks good and even when my eyes are open… I turn into a stupid face when I blink! That’s literally how much thicker of a line I need to draw on one eye just so that they …

Taupe’s Top Mystery: What is it?

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Okay, so this is what happened when I tried to swatch all of my taupes. I went through most of my eyeshadows and asked myself “Is this a taupe? Yes. Is this a taupe? Sure,” and I somehow ended up with a neutral rainbow I think that’s a common issue with taupe, but I didn’t realize how arbitrary the description is to me. Apparently, everything is “kinda a taupe” in my eyes, but I digress. I tried to bunch them up into tonal categories, too, and I had a hard time. The reason why this is part of “eye month” is because taupe seems to be a universally popular color. Not counting people who are partial to just colored eyeshadow, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who actually hates or dislikes taupe. It is becoming increasingly evident that there is a taupe for everyone. I figured I could talk a bit about each color instead and think about why I find them to have taupe-y qualities. First off, though, let’s get the definition of ‘taupe’ …

Quick Tips for Bright Eyes

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There are two basic tricks for an immediate bright-eyed, Disney Princess effect, and those involve a light-colored liner on the lower lashline or an inner corner highlight. For that extra-bright, wide-eyed look, use both tricks. THE SCIENCE BEHIND A NUDE LINER The first time I found out about a bright liner on the lower lash line was when I was watching an episode of America’s Next Top Model. I wasn’t so convinced when Tyra said to use a white eyeliner, so it was a tip that went ignored—until people started talking about swapping it out for a nude eyeliner. Placing a light, neutral liner on your lower lash line makes you appear more awake because it cancels out the red on the inner rim of your eyes, without defining it the way a black or brown eyeliner would. It creates the illusion of bigger, brighter eyes, because there is continuity with the white part of your eye. This is why a light-colored eyeliner sort of creates a bigger eye look, where as a black or …

Quickie: shu uemura Tsuya Skin Youth-Infusing Eye Concentrate

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Let’s talk a bit about skin care, shall we? I wasn’t really particular with any anti-aging regimes and procedures. I just wanted my skin to be clear and mostly clean. That is, until recently. I’ve been trying to reverse the formation of wrinkles near my eyebags, because that’s where they seem to have congregated. I haven’t really been so invested in it that I’d get myself an eye cream, but when my mom went to shu uemura to replenish her Tsuya serum, we just couldn’t ignore the big advertisement for the eye concentrate. Born from the TSUYA skincare series, TSUYA skin youth infusing eye concentrate switches on a new dimension to eyes, combating factors behind “small eye impression,” which are caused by loss of elasticity in the eyelid area, drooping eyelashes and dark circles. Exploring the innermost workings of skin, TSUYA skin youth infusing eye concentrate, which not only targets the traditional signs of aging but also delivers the impression of bigger eyes and lifted lashes for stunning eyes and instant eye shadow payoff effects. …

Ace of Base: Making Eyeshadow Stay Put on your Oily Lids

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One of my greatest frustrations when I was starting out with makeup was eyeshadow. I think that’s why I was so ecstatic to find out about primers. They made crappy eyeshadow look good and stay put. I eventually found some awesome eyeshadows that work well, even without a primer, but I couldn’t not wear primer once I started. Eye primers are basically the magic glue that bonds your eyeshadow to your eyelids. If your eyelids are prone to oiling up, a good primer or base will prevent your eyeshadow from ‘creasing’—or bunching up in unattractive lines, around your eye folds—and will get you through the day with pretty flawless makeup. There are a lot of good ones out in the market today, and I’ll share with you a few of my favorites. For your standard, dries-down-translucent eyeshadow primer, my top picks are Urban Decay Primer Potion and NARS Pro-Prime Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base. These have worked the best on my eyes so far. Other alternatives are the e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer (though it didn’t agree with …

Day to Night with Urban Decay Naked Basics & a Palette Comparison

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The Urban Decay Naked Basics has been treated as though it was a savior of the eyeshadow world. It’s a 5-matte-1-satin neutral palette that works as a standalone palette or the perfect companion to either of the two über shimmery Naked palettes. The pigmentation is of excellent quality, as to be expected from Urban Decay. The colors are just a bit too light for my skin tone. I feel like it’s a bit uninspired, but that’s from someone who likes playing with makeup. If you’re looking for something that will give you a great neutral eye day after day, then this might be your best bet. Swatched, top: Crave. Swatched, L-R: Venus (satin), Foxy, W.O.S. or Walk of Shame, Naked 2, Faint The colors are gradations of a standard brown, and while this is completely usable, I’d love to have seen something more “exciting,” like the purple-toned Tease from the Naked 2 Palette. The other awesome thing about this palette is the overall portability of it. This is freaking small and handy, great for traveling, …

Nosy Beauty Vol. 12: Krysty

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For this installment of Nosy Beauty, I’m featuring one of my favorite local beauty bloggers, Krysty from Vain Jane Writes. She’s frakking hilarious and also shares my love for geekier pursuits such as literature, history, and Doctor Who. (From Krysty’s email: I cannot tell you just how happy I am to be doing this 🙂 I’m a big fan of Into the Gloss and I’m naturally nosy so features like these really make me very happy.) Hee! So let me introduce myself. My name is Krysty Choi and I’m a developer/ part-time lecturer/ freelance writer. When I’m not working I tend to vegetate by reading books or doing Spongebob marathons in bed. I also play the guitar (averagely) and the ukulele (badly). Now let me talk a bit about my makeup kit and its contents. Believe it or not, there’s logic to the stuff I lug around daily. First of all, it’s a carefully selected skin refresher kit. Nine hours in an air conditioned office is horrible for the skin. Plus, since I stare at …