All posts filed under: Softly Special: All About the Eyes

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 …

Makeup Removers and Me

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One thing you might notice on your journey into eye makeup doom exploration is that straight up facial cleanser won’t do it any more. You might emerge from splashing your face with water, dejected at the many, many, many glitters and smudgy crap left on your eyelids. Waterproof mascara, for example, is the bane of my makeup existence. But, don’t despair! Makeup removers are here to help. LANEIGE EYE AND LIP WATERPROOF REMOVER I don’t have a lot of makeup remover experience because I found my HG eye makeup remover early on. Laneige is a Korean brand that has recently turned cruelty-free. I was able to try a sample that Sarie scored for me, and I bought a full size after I used that up. It took me a while to repurchase this because they used to not be CF. This is a super-gentle and super-effective eye makeup remover. It does wonders on stubborn, stain-y lip colors, too. I use this on my eye and lip makeup, following it up with a facial cleanser, if …

Mascara Magic

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Or, how I make the most out of my short, uncurlable lashes. It’s been a point raised on this blog a couple of times—Why don’t you ever wear mascara? I used to go and do this extra step, but for reasons of laziness (mascaras are the worst to remove when you are tired and want to go to bed), and frustration, I haven’t been bothering. Lately, I’ve found quite the perfect solution for me. While it won’t give me va-va-voom lashes or any sort of volume that would make me want to stop trying falsies, this subtle definition is good enough for me. Are you ready? STEP ONE: CURL YOUR LASHES A bit of a given, but humor me. The Eye of Horus Mascara, I find, actually works better on my uncurled lashes, but the effect is just pretty, fluttery natural lashes. My favorite curler is by shu uemura. STEP TWO: TAKE A WATERPROOF MASCARA Waterproof mascaras tend to hold a curl much, much better. If that’s not the case for you, feel free to …

GRWM: Brow Routine + LMdB Couches de Couleur

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No one really asked for this, LOL, but I figured I’d show you anyway. Here’s a Get Ready With Me Video, in which I show you how I do my brows. I have fairly thick brows that don’t actually need much help, but they’re less substantial than I’d like them to be. I posted my brow products here, but for this post, I’ll be using my most-used item—The Body Shop Brow & Liner Kit in 02. I’ve also demonstrated Le Métier de Beauté’s Couches de Couleur method, which essentially requires you to layer on each tier of a Kaleidoscope Eye Kit (from top to bottom), in this case Northern Lights, on your eye. This creates optimal balance and contrast, due to each color’s “temperature,” and the idea is to bring attention to your actual eye and eye color, rather than the makeup. The Le Métier de Beauté signature application technique is comprised of four hues that are able to give maximum contrast to the wearer’s eye. Known as the “Couches de Couleur” (layering of color), …

Shopping for an End-All, Be-All Eye Palette: What to Look For

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If you’re on a tight budget and looking for an eye palette to meet most, if not all, of your needs, here are a few tips I can share with you. I’ll be basing it off of my Basic Eye Diagram & Go-To Eyeshadow Technique, and the premise that you are looking for a palette to use for everyday. I’ll be demonstrating this using the Urban Decay Naked 2 ($50), NARS And God Created the Woman ($65 for a set), Laura Mercier’s Artist Palette for Eyes (LE), and theBalm’s Nude ‘Tude ($36), under the assumption that you want a more or less neutral palette. I chose all of these palettes because they are either still available/permanent, or they’re LE palettes that have shades that are mostly permanent. BASE COLOR The base color is what you would put all over your mobile eye lid (area under the crease). Usually it’s a light to midtone color, but obviously you can go darker for night/smokier/sultrier looks. I split the swatches into three photos since they wouldn’t fit on …