All posts tagged: eyeshadow

Tonal Exercise: Matte Browns

If you’ve ever taken an art class before, you’d be familiar with tonal exercises. Tonal exercises are what you use to study shade gradations. One such exercise is similar to what I have illustrated here—bars of a color, from white to dark/black, shown in varying degrees. Here are some very utilized eyeshadows: my matte browns. Starting from a non-brown but a beige-y off-white, Laura Mercier’s Vanilla Nuts is actually a shade I use(d) fairly often as a base for my entire lid and as a browbone highlight. Le Métier de Beauté’s Tamarack and Laura Mercier’s Café Au Lait are two subtle crease colors, to aid with transition and slight depth. Addiction Truffle is a warm, creamy matte brown I use for the outer corner or crease. Laura Mercier’s Coffee Ground is darker, the shade of cocoa powder. I use that for the outer corner or a really dark crease, too. Last, but not the least, Laura Mercier’s Rich Coffee, which is great for the outer corner, too, but is also a very nice dark brown …

One Week NARSissist: 5 Looks

Reviving my “One Week Series,” which I have done only twice before, using the Urban Decay Naked and Urban Decay Naked 2 palettes. In case it isn’t obvious yet, I will use an eyeshadow palette for five days, and the looks that I come up with will be cataloged here. I used to post them on five different days, but I thought that for this round, I’ll just post the looks all in one spot. I’ve picked out the NARS NARSissist Eyeshadow Palette, which I’ve reviewed here. While I love it, part of me is also ambivalent towards it. Using it for five consecutive looks will allow me to form a more educated opinion about it, I guess. Shari has reviewed it a week ago and was not impressed. I think this is a perfect palette for the series, though, as majority of the shades in this palette are part of NARS’ permanent offerings. If you miss out on the palette or don’t like the reviews but you see a look you’d like to recreate, …

Hello Waffle Cosmetics: The Tangled/Persinette Collection

I first heard of Hello Waffle Cosmetics from the subreddit, Indiemakeupandmore. The owner, Christine, is a user there and was offering a blogger discount since she was just setting up her shop. I bought a sampler pack of the Tangled collection (now renamed The Persinette Collection), as well as a tinted lip balm (Crookshanks, renamed Ginger Kitties). Christine gave me a sample of Polyp as well, which I found to be extremely generous. 🙂 But, for now, I will focus on the eyeshadows. I honestly didn’t realize that there were a total of sixteen shades in this collection. I’ve swatched them in two parts, in the order that they were packed.

Notoriously Morbid Beauty Blogger Package & Then Some

One of the stragglers from my indie makeup frenzy back in January. I was able to retrieve this package when I got back from my trip, which was late March. Currently, I think I have most of my orders from that time. I’m just missing one package from Victorian Disco, which I hope to get soon. I availed of the Beauty Blogger Package (5 samples + 1 mini jar) and got myself a few other samples, too. NM included a few free samples and a Jolly Rancher pink lemonade lollipop. It was delicious.

A Taste of THREE

One of the Japanese beauty brands I was really keen on trying was THREE. After seeing various posts by Kate, Selphia, and Belly on the eyehadow duos and quads—which, as you all know, are my weakness—I made it my mission to stop by a counter on my trip. By the way, photos from said trip to the land of the rising sun are on my “real” blog, which I use for non-beauty crapola. I ended up getting two THREE Pressed Eye Color Palette Duos, both of which weren’t the ones I intended to get. 02 Love Connection is made of gold peach and red brown. 07 Let the Happiness In is one of the newer duos, consisting of a soft mauve purple and a light brown. The duos are intended to be used in conjunction with each other, as their own shades or layered, creating a “natural three-dimensional impression.” In other words, they are subtle as fuck, but the effect also transforms your eye without anyone really noticing. Which is what I usually like to …

My Addiction Addiction: Spoils from Japan, 2014

I did it again. Here are some of the things I picked up from Addiction on my last trip to Jay-pan. With the intention of possibly picking up the new quad in Departure, I ended up walking away with three single eyeshadows (Rigoletto, Sand Dune, and Truffle), a cheek stick (Rose Bar), and a lipstick for my sister (Vamp). I’m a big fan of Addiction’s Cheek Sticks, and Rose Bar brings the number I have to 5. Cheek Sticks are multi-purpose products for use on the eyes, cheeks, and lips, but I found that all of them work best as cheek products. Rose Bar is a beautiful neutral shade that’s a great deal pinker than Tea Rose, which I already have. As for the eyeshadows, which everyone knows I can’t resist, I picked up 3, bringing the total of my Addiction E/S singles to 8. Rigoletto is a beautiful sheeny pale peach. It is absolutely gorgeous. I was not ever intending on getting this, ever, except swatching it was like a revelation. I could just …

Swatch Post: NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Kauai

I mentioned on my Instagram (follow me: @presidents!) a few weeks ago that I had finally gotten NARS Kauai in the mail, after ordering it in January. Kauai is part of their Spring 2014 collection, High Seize, and is the more coveted one of the two duos released. One side is “gold lame;” the other, “iridescent smokey orchid.” I swiped the leftovers of each shade on top of each other in the third swatch. To be honest, these shadows are pretty buttery and smooth and all of that, but I’m not sure how I can wear them without looking all blinged out. It’s pretty weird that I actually took to China Seas, essentially a blue and purple duo, a little bit better. Here’s a fuzzy swatch: The gold is kind of… flake-y? It’s pretty, for sure, but it’s a bit messy to use, in my opinion. I have to play around with it more, though. The orchid side is really pretty. You can see the undertones via sparkle in this fuzzy swatch. As of now, …