Month: September 2013

Brow Maintenance: Products

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To cap off the first week of this month’s Special Eye Makeup Feature, I will tackle the issue of brows! This is a very small thing you can do that I feel will enhance your overall look. Honestly, I am pretty low maintenance when it comes to brows. I just kind of shade them in (as you would a blank spot in a coloring book) and call it a day. If you are looking for some how-tos, here are some posts that I’ve enjoyed from other, more capable bloggers: — Ae from An Artechoke — Xiao from Messy Wands — Tina from What Tina Loves — Liz from Project Vanity This is just an overview of the tools I use, in order of my preference. I don’t have a tutorial because I literally just brush through my normal eyebrow shape and comb through with a spoolie. I don’t typically outline the outsides, because I find that I look very harsh in the face, especially since I have been blessed with the Bitchy Resting Face. So …

Quickie: Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes

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Just a short break from the eye bonanza happening on this blog currently. 🙂 Although, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has gone out of their way to let me know what they thought of it and whether or not a post was helpful for them. If you have any requests for posts, please leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do for you. 🙂 Intertubes are lip thingies from Shiro Cosmetics, aka the place to be for funny geeky people who like makeup, too. I ordered some sample colors during my last weak moment and got for shades: Nyan Cat, Why Not Zoidberg?, Team Buffy, and Sad Keanu. LOL, I mean, really. How did you think I could resist these? Anyway, I’m happy I purchased these small samples as a test run because I’m not really sure about them. I’ve had them for a while, but I don’t know, they just don’t want to seem to work well on me? Here are some photos of me wearing each color: …

1 Quad, 6 Looks: bareMinerals’ The Happy Place

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A duo’s a challenge to play around with, but a quad is a riot. One of my favorite ones is bareMinerals’ The Happy Place, which came out as part of their Supernatural Collection (I think). I saw the coral, the aubergine, the mushroom grey, and I thought, “I have to have that.” Nearly a year later, and I have no regrets! I chose this palette because it seems a bit hard to use. I know that people have been warned against pinky shades for the eyes, to avoid the inevitable pink-eye effect. However, this pink, I think, is quite special, and it comes with pretty colors that go well with it. Watch the video for the looks, and a small tutorial at the end! Let me know if this is something you are keen on seeing more of. I kind of really enjoy it, though filming is a little harder because I don’t like wasting makeup and these looks were mostly worn out of the house (the first three were taken on two separate vacations). …

Drugstore Finds: Maybelline EyeStudio LuminEyes in Khaki and Grey*

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Here’s a quick review of the Maybelline EyeStudio LuminEyes Palettes* which I got in a BDJ Box a few months ago. I got the shade Grey, but my cousin who is not a wearer of eyeshadow gave me hers, which was in Khaki and which I like a lot better. I don’t really get on with silvers and greys all that well (it depends), so I was apprehensive of this palette. It’s a five-pan palette with four shades of one color (in this case, Grey and Khaki) and a small circular pan with a white “primer.” The primer is sparkly, and you can see on the above swatch that it doesn’t really do much to enhance the eyeshadow colors. In fact, it was quite hard to apply with a brush so I tried to apply it with my fingers, which was slightly better but also ultimately a chunky experience. I look like a harlot. As I, and many people have suspected, the “primer” in the round pan didn’t really act like a primer so much …

Eye Basics: Get to know your eye brushes

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Getting into eye makeup past eyeliner and mascara can be a little daunting, especially when picking out the brushes. There are so many brushes out in the market, so here’s a rough guide I cobbled up for you, to help you out. Remember, I’m just going by my meager brush stash, and show you how I use some of the brushes I have. Obviously, you can always use these brushes outside their specific intended function. Let’s hop to it! FLAT SHADER BRUSH — for basic eyeshadow application! Use these brushes to pat on eyeshadow to minimize fallout and get maximum pigmentation. From left to right: MAC 239, Urban Decay Double-Ended Good Karma Shadow/Crease Brush (comes with Naked 2 Palette), NARS No. 3 (from the And God Created the Woman Set), Charm Wet/Dry Shadow Brush (from Sonia Travel Pro Set) My favorite of the three is the MAC 239, followed by NARS (which provides a good wash of color instead). Both the UD and Charm brushes work in a pinch, though. The density—or the fullness of …

Stash Shopping No. 3

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Hey everyone! Here’s another edition of Stash Shopping, which is when I look over my current collection and commit to use some selected items for an entire week. I’m on my third week, and it’s been fun. I actually asked the last time if you wanted to see some looks I wore using the selected items and received a mostly favorable response, so before I get into this week’s “haulage,” let me share some looks I made the past week, mostly using the bareMinerals READY 8.0 Eyeshadow Palette in The Cocktail Hour (reviewed here): Just a disclaimer, I work as a freelance writer and graphic designer, so I don’t wear makeup everyday. 🙂 For this first look, I used the coral (Spiked), the taupe-y color (Invite Only), and the purple (Swanky), in that order from the inner corner all the way across the lid. I wore this to a meeting and some errands. I used the Revlon Mineral Blush (Roseberry), and the Maybelline Lipstick (Chestnut) that was also in the box, but I topped it …

Basic Eye Diagram & My Go-To Eyeshadow Technique

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I used to teach part-time, and I find that it makes more sense to talk about history first. However, I haven’t exactly finished writing that post. Heh. So, for this day of this September Special, I wanted to share a basic “eye diagram” to sort of help you follow tutorials if you find them a little hard to do. I’m also going to post about my go-to technique for eyeshadow application, which was what I basically used when I was still exploring eye makeup. I just used to interchange the colors. 🙂 BASIC EYE DIAGRAM Obviously, there may be some differences with how each person refers to these “parts” of the eye, but this is how I usually follow tutorials and explain eye makeup to people. — Brow bone: protrusion just under your eyebrow. Usually enhanced by a light eyeshadow. — Mobile lid: part of the eyelid that “moves” when you blink. The part under your crease. — Crease: the fold of the eye. — Upper lash line: where your eyelashes grow on the upper …