All posts tagged: eye makeup

In Defense of Eye Palettes, Plus 8 Neutrals You Should Look Into

Published by

I love palettes. It’s a pretty good way to “save” some money while getting to try a lot of colors. I think my interest in art and design also manifests itself in this preference for palettes of singles, just because a well put together palette is one of my greatest weaknesses. I accumulated a lot of makeup in a short period of time, and the culprit really seems to be eyeshadow. When a brand releases a palette that puts together colors and shades that work so well with one another, it takes a lot for me to say ‘no’ to it. Eyeshadow palettes are probably the only makeup item that I feel like I ‘collect,’ just because my logic center shuts down in the presence of a gorgeous mishmash of colors and shades. Pretty. I’ve slowly been realizing that I am much more drawn to a beautifully thought-out product than to the option of customizing something on my own. I feel like I am partaking in a story that someone is trying to tell, though …

My Ocular Affliction

Published by

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 …

Quick Tips for Bright Eyes

Published by

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 …

Mascara Magic

Published by

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

Published by

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

Published by

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 …

How to Elongate Your Eyes with Makeup

Published by

This is perhaps my favorite way to do my eyes. 🙂 I like making them appear squintier and longer, because I feel like they make me look more feminine and girl-like. LOL. I just like how this technique makes me eye look! Sineady from The Makeup Chair actually already posted a helpful tutorial, which I mostly followed, resulting into this eye look: The trick is to make a gradation from a super light, shimmery shade on the inner corner, into a deep, dark color on the outer corner. The idea is to put the lighter shade in the inner area, to pull your eyes apart. Concentrating the dark shade or the shadow on your outer area will make it look like your eye is receding, thus elongating them. Easy enough to remember, right? 🙂 I used the Le Métier de Beauté Mélange Palette (reviewed here) for this look, but you can obviously use any shades that you may already have. 1. Take a shimmery cream or off-white color (Nylon Stocking) and apply that on the …