Makeup & Beauty Blog

Wearing NARS Stella Lip Gloss

You gotta do a yell like from A Streetcar Named Desire when you wear this shimmery raspberry gloss…

STELLA!

“Ever asked yourself why a woman like Stella stays with a man like Stanley? This’ll tell you why!!”

I like this one a lot. It’s one of the more pigmented shades in the recently reformulated NARS Lip Gloss line, and it’s available now, along with the rest of the NARS Lip Gloss crew.

STELLA!

The 30 Days of NARS series features a different NARS Lip Gloss every day

• 30 Days of NARS: Stella Lip Gloss, Day 9
• 30 Days of NARS: Stolen Kisses Lip Gloss, Day 8
• 30 Days of NARS: Belize Lip Gloss, Day 7
• 30 Days of NARS: Angelika Lip Gloss, Day 6
• 30 Days of NARS: Sweet Revenge Lip Gloss, Day 5
• 30 Days of NARS: Supervixen Lip Gloss, Day 4
• 30 Days of NARS: Chihuahua Lip Gloss, Day 3
• 30 Days of NARS: Easy Lover Lip Gloss, Day 2
• 30 Days of NARS: Greek Holiday Lip Gloss, Day 1

Two of five new Crystal Eyeliners by Essence ($2.99 each)

Some people use coffee or tea for an afternoon pick-me-up.

Me? I like glitter liner because 1) it doesn’t give me the shakes or keep me up at night, and 2) it works almost as well as caffeine.

A little glitter on my lids or along my lower lash lines is a fantastic pick-me-up.

After lunch this afternoon (homemade tuna salad on rice cakes, which, OK, may sound weird, but it’s actually really good), I started feeling run down. I was getting the afternoon sleepies, so I thought, “needs glitter.”

I busted out Gold Rush and Twinkly Starlight, two of the five new glitter liners by Essence.

Twinkle Starlight (top) and Gold Rush (bottom)

They’re $2.99 each and new additions to the Essence line. They’re on the creamy side, too, because they have a gel base, so they’re a little easier to work with than your run-of-the-mill liquid glitter liner.

Because the flecks of glitter are different shapes and sizes, the formula looks bumpier and more textured on lids than, say, something like the Heavy Metal Glitter Liners by Urban Decay, which have tiny flecks of uniformly shaped glitter.

Twinkly Starlight (left) and Gold Rush (right)

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The new Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadows, $2.99 each

So much metallic, glittery, shimmery goodness for just $2.99! I almost can’t believe it’s true, because sometimes, when you add glitter, metallics and discount together, the formula equals “something sketchy.”

But in this case the formula equals fun.

Three of five new $2.99 Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadows

You know how I feel about sci-fi… LOVE IT! And that might be one of the reasons I like these new $2.99 Essence Metal Glam Eyeshadows. Pressed metallic shadows with a glittery overspray, their shiny, shimmery metallic finish looks kinda like Terminator-esque liquid metal/chrome.

Jewel Up the Ocean

You can wear them wet or dry, but I prefer wet because it turns up the intensity of the metallic effect (metallic-ness?). And I figure that if you’re going to wear metallics on your lids, you might as well go all out.

For me, they were a little tricky to apply at first, but once you get the hang of ‘em, I think you get a lot of bang for your buck.

I mean, shoot, they’re only $2.99.

Coffee to Glow

The trick is figuring out how to keep the fallout under control. Use a fluffy brush like the MAC 217 or 224, and you could very well end up with sheer shimmer on your lids and glitter all over your cheeks.

Now, if that’s what you want, it’s all good.

Frosted Apple

But I like to just use a clean wet finger. It gets the job done and eliminates fallout. Plus, because the finger’s wet, it cranks up the intensity of the pigments and shine.

Metal Glam, man!

I’ll wet a finger with MAC Fix+, swipe it across the pan a few times to pick up some product, and apply on my lids.

BOOM! — dramatic metal.

Can I get that coffee to glow?

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The BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Illuminators from the top down in Pearl, Moonstone, Opal and Topaz

I have mad love for all of ‘em — creams, powders and liquids — but lately I’ve been reaching for liquid and powder highlighters more often than creams.

I don’t dislike cream highlighters, though. I think it’s mostly just a phase… You know how it is.

MAC Strobe Cream — one of my faves!

It really depends on the situation and the look I’m going for. Like, some mornings when I get up and I feel like my skin looks kind of dull and blah, I’ll grab MAC Strobe Cream or BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector and apply that all over on my face first. Or, I’ll mix a bit in with my moisturizer or foundation for a dewy effect and some extra dimension.

The $41 BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Illuminators from the left in Moonstone (a pale gold), Pearl (a white pearl), Opal (a golden opal pearl) and Topaz (a golden bronzed pearl)

Again, it depends. I won’t necessarily do this when I know I’ll be taking pictures because of the way all-over shimmer shines when you add a flash up in the mix.

OH! And I’ve also recently realized that I like applying liquid highlighter to specific areas of the face using a flat foundation brush for a really pretty, casual, “I just got a facial at the spa” look.

Becca Opal Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Opal

Highlighting powders — I love! Particularly for pics, because they make it easy to control where I place the shimmer on my face. When pictures are involved, I like my highlights to be more precise, since all-over shimmer makes me look like I’m running a marathon (i.e. sweaty).

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Now THAT’s a beautiful bouquet. So delicate and girly.

The new Anna Sui Rose Cheek Color N in 602 ($36) has four flower-ful shades — apricot orange, tangerine, champagne gold and beige rose.

This one arrives in June to Anna Sui counters.