Archive for the 'Makeup' Category

A few of my early efforts with blue eye shadow left me gun shy for years. There was a time when blue eye looks terrified me worse than MJ’s Thriller video scared me as a kid. Nature’s rarest color isn’t always easy to work with, and even the simplest of blue eye looks can quickly devolve into hot blue messes if you don’t know which products to use and where to put them.

Enter Mally Beauty’s Nolita Navy smokey eye kit (pictured up top), a palette of blue and peach shadows with a handy black pencil liner.

It eases the process of creating simple blue eye shadow looks done with very little blending or effort. Created by celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal (she’s Filipino like me, haaay!), you may have seen the kit sold alongside Mally’s makeup line on QVC.

Each $39.50 kit comes with one cream eye shadow base, three powder eye shadows and one black pencil liner. The pans are about the same size as MAC’s eye shadow pans, and the pencil closely resembled MAC’s Technakohl liner. Value-wise, the cost breaks down to $8 for each of the five products in the kit. If you were to purchase comparable products separately from MAC, you’d pay almost twice as much.

What you get

Peach cream-to-powder eye shadow base - This peachy beige base instantly brightened my lids. It glides on and gives the shadows a surface to adhere to for all-day staying power.

Peach matte eye shadow - This peach complements the cream-to-powder base well. Wearing it along with the base creates a perfect canvas for the blue shadows and black liner. For a fresh and casual “no-makeup” look, I wear peach eye shadow over the base, line the upper and lower water lines with the black pencil and add two coats of mascara.

Royal blue shimmer eye shadow - This shimmery, mid-tone blue looks great when applied wet or dry. I wear it on the lid or as a liner.

Navy shimmer eye shadow - A very dark, highly pigmented blue with lots of fine shimmer. I like wearing it as a liner. You can also wear it in the crease, but I wouldn’t advise it if you’re a total beginner because the shade applies very dark. Used incorrectly, it can leave you looking like you just tussled with the local street toughs.

The texture of these shadows reminds me of Tarte and Lola shadows — not as fine or as buttery as Shu Uemura or Lancome, but a definite step up from most drugstore brands.

From left to right: base, peach shadow, royal blue shadow, navy shadow

Black pencil liner - The liner has medium staying power when used on the lashes and water line. I would have preferred it to be a bit more emollient than it is. For me it wasn’t easy to blend shadows on top of it, but it’s not a bad pencil liner at all.

Black pencil liner swatch

Each kit also comes with a clear snakeskin pouch and detailed illustrations on different looks.

A few eyes

I get more value out of this palette when I stick to very simple looks that don’t require a lot of blending. The few times I attempted bold, blue smokey eyes with it, my success rate dropped. I’m sure more practice would help, but I had a hard time creating dramatic blue looks with this kit.

But the kit makes simple blue looks a breeze.

Simple day or evening smokey blue eye

Get the look: Smooth cream base on the lids with fingertips. To cover entire eye lid, use a flat shader brush like the MAC 252 to apply the peach matte shade. Use the same brush to apply the royal blue shade onto the lid and then blend out any stark edges with a blending blush like the MAC 217. Use a flat, angled brush like Sonia Kashuk’s angled eyeshadow brush to apply the navy shade to the upper and lower lash lines. Line the upper water line with the black pencil liner.
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Nope, not cupcakes and pies; I’m talking about baked eye shadows.

Unlike regular pressed eye shadows, with their flat, even surfaces, baked eye shadows rise up out of the pan like shimmery muffin tops.

If you’re a fan of shimmery long wear eye products, browse through the selection of baked eye shadows now available at Sephora. Baked shadows are generally more water resistant than regular pan shadows are, and many boast shimmery satin finishes.

Before applying baked eye shadows, first prime your lids with a base like Too Faced Shadow Insurance or MAC Shadestick in Shimmersand. Using a base helps make eye shadows last longer.

Once your lids are primed and ready, use a flat shader for the entire lid, a tapered crease brush for detail work, or a dual-tipped brush like the Stila #30 Double-Ended Shadow Brush ($32), which has both kinds of brush heads.

Here are a few baked eye shadows that recently caught my eye:

Stila Eye Shadow Trio, $26

Pictured above, from left to right…

• Old Glow - gold, bronze, ivory shades
• Bronze Glow - rose, gold bronze, ivory
• Champagne Glow - taupe, burgundy brown, champagne

Baked in a terra cotta disk, each pan of these sheer, shimmery shadows houses three different shades. All can be used wet or dry.

For a quick and easy daytime look, choose one of the multi-colored pans and brush the lightest shade over your entire lid. Then, apply the medium shade in the crease. Finish the look by wetting an angled eye brush and using it to apply the darkest shade as a liner.

Too Faced Galaxy Glam Baked Eyeshadows, $19.50

Pictured above from left to right…

• Moon Beam - black with light green
• Deep space - black with cobalt blue
• Shooting Star - black with galactic gold
• Super Nova - black with peach and pink

Too Faced baked Italian opalescent pigments into each of their black domed shadows for that “galaxy far, far away” look. When mixed together, the shades create a shimmery blend of black and green, blue, gold or pink.

I like these a lot. They’d make great shimmery smokey eyes with a twist of color. For an easy smokey eye, layer eye shadow on top of a creamy, blendable eyeliner like MAC Smolder. A dark, creamy eyeliner helps exaggerate the smokey effect.

Lorac Starry Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio, $24

From left to right…

• Starlet - pink pearl, muted plum, dark purple
• Evening Star - silver, gray, dark gray
• Superstar - golden beige, golden tan, bronze

Create shimmery eye looks with the three color-coordianated shades in each Lorac Starry Eyed Baked Eyeshadow Trio. Apply them dry for a natural look or wet for an intense, dramatic effect.

I’m off to go running! What are you up to today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

The beauty world’s buzzing about new fall makeup collections, but we can’t forget about summer. Please pass the iced tea, and let’s see what Clarins has been up to.

The Clarins Summer Fever line continues to impress me. Sun Blush ($27.50), a shimmery loose powder, perfectly complements the vibrant teal, purple, pink and orange eye and lip product colors from their Waterproof Eye Pencils, Wonder Mint Mascara and Sun Lip Balms.

Sun Blush is a warm, terra cotta brown with lots of bronzy shimmer. It has a fine, loose powder texture that reminds me of wonderful Shu Uemura blushes like M Brown 73 (a warm, peachy brown matte) and P Gold 93 D (a shimmery golden pearl).

Applying it to my cheeks for the first time was, um, interesting. The product comes packaged in a cute travel pot that includes a mirror and puff. The puff is great in theory but takes a little practice to use correctly. It tends to pick up and deposit too much product unless you tap away some of the loose powder onto a tissue or the back of your hand. I forgot to do that when I first went to use the puff and wound up looking like one of those crazy ladies who can’t lay off the rouge. As a matter of fact, I would probably skip the puff entirely and, whenever I have one handy, apply Sun Blush with a blush brush like the MAC 116.
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So how are you doing on this fine summer morning? Do you have plans for today?

I’m rushing out the door right now to meet my friend Jen in San Francisco. She’s getting hitched this November, and I’m her matron of honor. One of my matronly duties is to help her find cute bridesmaid dresses.

Here’s the lip look I’m wearing this morning, done with Chanel Papeete Aqualumiere lipstick and Gold Light Glossimer from the Fall 2008 collection. What do you think — fun and sparkly?

Please send me good luck dress vibes… I really hope we find dresses the bridesmaids can wear again after the wedding. Everyone says that, but you never know. Do you have any tips or advice for me? I’ll have my CrackBerry in hand, checking comments while we’re up to our ears in taffeta and ruffles.

Have a great day, and let me know what you’ve been lemming lately.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Speaking of luck, let’s see how yours is today.
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Dear Makeup and Beauty Blog,

I’ve read on your blog that you take hip hop dance classes. I want to start taking them too, and there’s a place near my house, but I have a problem. I absolutely have to wear eyeliner to look presentable out in public, but I sweat a lot when I exercise. I don’t want streaks of liner running down my face, and the thought of watching myself for an hour in those huge dance mirrors without eyeliner stresses me out. Can you recommend a good eye pencil that can stand up to someone who sweats a lot like me?

Love,

Eyeliner Lover in Emeryville

Dear Eyeliner Lover in Emeryville,

Girl, I am a huge fan of sweat-resistant makeup, especially when big mirrors are involved. I know I don’t want to look at smudgy eyes and dark circles while I drop it like its hot (well, like it’s warm; this 30-something booty can’t move like it used to). I *totally* feel your pain.

What you need is a good waterproof eye pencil. I’ve road tested some different brands in dance class and my favorite by far is Clarins Waterproof Eye Pencil ($22). It’s both sweat- and smudge-proof, even when I’m sweating buckets. And the texture feels creamy and soft, so the pencil doesn’t tug at my lids (a pet peeve) when I apply it onto my upper or lower lash lines.

It comes in four lovely colors — black matte, bronze shimmer, violet matte and turquoise shimmer. I’ve worn all four in different combinations while dancing, and my fave combo is violet on the upper lash line, with bronze on the lower. The look packs just enough color to make my eyes pop.
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Would ya’ll like to meet the newest members of Chanel’s family? This here’s little Delight (she’s a sweetheart), and that over there is Gold Light. They’re both shining stars in Chanel’s fall 2008 makeup collection.

Fall may be months away, but the collection just arrived at Chanel counters nationwide. I fell in love with five of the products in this release — two of the Glossimers (Delight and Gold Light), Facettes D’Or Highlighter in Gold Fever and two of the lipsticks (Pepeete and Formentera).

Facettes D’Or Highlighter in Gold Fever

Pepeete (on top) and Formentera, Aqualumiere Sheer Colour Lipshines

In the Chanel fall 2008 sneak peak a couple weeks ago I talked about a few of the fall items — Rouge Hydrabase Lipstick in Great Copper, Jouse Contraste Powder Blush in Rose Dust and Pretty Pink Lip Definer. Here are swatches of the remaining products, all now available for purchase at Nordstrom and online through Chanel.com

From left to right: Denim Eye Definer, Simply Pink lipstick and Fantastic Plum lipstick

From left to right: Fantastic Plum, Enthusiast, Formentera and Papeete lipsticks

From left to right: Delight, Amberlight and Gold Light Glossimers

From top to bottom: Gold Fever Facettes D’Or, Almond Poudre Douce

Top row: Cristal-Dusk Irreelle Eyeshadow Duo
Bottom row: Bois Blue Soft Touch Eyeshadow, Le Bronze Soft Touch Eyeshadow

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Bobbi Brown’s makeup doesn’t always do it for me. My homegirl once described the brand as “colors for people who are afraid of color,” and I think there’s some truth to that. A lot of Bobbi’s makeup has that jury duty feel to it, ya know? — the kind of makeup you’d wear to court.

But Bobbi threw me a curve ball with the lip colors in the Mauve Collection, her new fall makeup line.

I’d been searching high and low for edgy yet wearable lipsticks and glosses in shades of purple, and these colors are, dare I say, edgy yet wearable. They’re eye-catching without going over the top, and within the colors there’s enough variety to allow you to create lots of different looks. Go on with your bad self, Ms. Brown!

Lip Color

At first I thought Pale Mauve ($22) was going to be too light for my skin tone, but once I got it on I actually really liked this light blue-purple shade. It’s light with a 60’s feel. I plan to pair it with light cheeks and a cat eye with a thick black liquid liner on my upper lash line (and a mini-dress and go-go boots, ha!).

Bobbi’s Lip Color lipsticks have a semi-matte formula that goes on a little thick, but at least it doesn’t peel away after a few hours. I don’t mind the light licorice fragrance, but I’m glad it has no taste/flavor. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Heather Mauve ($22) is a dark red-mauve, making it a great candidate for my easy-to-wear work lipstick stash. I like the texture and the color itself, but it closely matches my natural lip color, which sort of defeats the purpose of wearing lipstick. I guess it’d be useful as a base color layered beneath one of the other shades listed below. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: B

Lip Color swatches: Heather Mauve (top), Pale Mauve (bottom)

Lip Glosses

Dig out your Cure mp3’s and your smudgy eyeliner! Bobbi’s Mauve Collection Lip Glosses ($19) look demure in their petite little tubes, but these colors are equal parts edgy and sophisticated — think goth chick in stunning black suit.
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