Juvia's Place

A Bright Orange and Purple Eyeshadow Combo (Great for Blue or Green Eyes!), and Tips for Wearing Colorful Shadow

June 16th, 2020 by Karen 18 Comments

I had to take a break from neutrals today because…some days you just gotta wear something colorful! It’s been sunny and warm here in the North Bay Area, and that always puts me in the mood to wear summery, bright eyeshadows.

Orange and purple — a combo for errrr-one, but particularly peeps with blue or green eyes

A single bold color on the top and another complementary shade on the bottom makes for one my favorite ways to wear bright colors, because 1) it’s not too complicated, and 2) you can really bring out your eye color.

My eyes are brown, and when I wear a combo like this one, I think the makeup really stands out, because it’s not just brown upon brown upon brown (although I do love me some browns!).

By the way, if your eyes are blue or green, try an orange and purple combo like this one. On the color wheel, orange sits on the other side of blue, so the “clash” between the two makes blue eyes STAND OUT. And purple is on the opposite side of green, which is why plum and purple POP on green eyes.

I also think this duo would pop on hazel eyes, too.

El Hub’s eyes are hazel, and although I’ve begged him to let me do his eyeshadow many, many times…he still refuses. 🙁 I guess this isn’t surprising, considering how years ago I told him that I wouldn’t marry him unless he let me curl his long, lush lashes with my lash curler. He said, “Sure, knock yourself out,” but I have yet to curl his lashes, LOL!

One of the tricks to keeping colorful eyeshadow combos wearable: choosing matte finishes

If you’re going to try a colorful, but totally wearable, combo like this one, you might want to use something similar to the Wahala Palette by Juvia’s Place, which is what I used in this look. There are 20 bright eyeshadows in it, most of them matte, which I think is one of the keys to making colorful looks like this one a little more wearable, because the matte kinda reins in the potential for it to look cray-cray/over the top.

juvias place wahala eyeshadow palette — The Wahala Palette, by Juvia’s Place

Playing with levels of shimmer for contrast

Also, if you’re wearing matte eyeshadows on your lids, try patting a high-beam highlight in the inner conner to contrast with the flat finishes on the lids and lash lines.

You know I looooove me some contrasting finishes!

Another thing to consider: play with the levels of shine on other parts of your face, too. For the past few years, highlights that you can see from space have been so popular, but I think it’s cooler to do a low-level sheen on the high points of the face (upper cheekbone, down the bridge of the nose, and atop your Cupid’s bow), especially when there’s one bright focal point on your face already.

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How to Wear Bright Eyeshadow Without Feeling Like You’re Crazypants

June 11th, 2020 by Karen 9 Comments

My three top tips for wearing colorful yet wearable eye makeup. You know I’m all about approachable looks these days!

1. Pick one bright element of your eye look and run with it

When wearing bright eyeshadow, you can dial it back quite a bit and still make a big impact.

It might seem like everyone who wears bright eyeshadow adds all the bells and whistles, combining each and every aspect of strong, bold makeup, especially if you judge by all of the Instagram-style trends that appear to be everywhere, but…ya know, just because it seems like everyone online is wearing neon orange eyeshadow with bladed brows, razor sharp tails and a blown-out rainbow-hued lower lash line doesn’t mean that’s actually happening in real life. (Side note: this is a lesson I learned along the way.)

Lately I’ve been taking a restrained approach to applying bright eyeshadow, and I think it’s more approachable and less intimidating than brights can be.

The key is to just pick one colorful element and roll with it — like, a smoky metallic green lid, or an intense spotlight of bright teal in the inner corner highlight — and letting that single statement be the life of the party, rather than combining multiple bold eye makeup elements.

The bold statement I chose for the makeup I’m wearing here is the purple smoky eyeshadow. Everything else is restrained.

2. Keep the rest of your eye makeup understated

Speaking of restraint, letting one bright eye element steal the spotlight works well when the rest of the eye makeup is kept low-key.

So, instead of adding a pair falsies the size of bat wings, go with your natural lashes and a lengthening mascara instead, and if you’re highlighting your inner corner, dial back the intensity of the shimmer and opt for a sheen or a satin finish instead.

Lastly, if you’re lining your waterlines, swap the black eye pencil for an eyeliner in a color similar to but darker than your single bright element. This will still intensify things but won’t look as harsh as black liner can look sometimes.

That’s what I did here! To complement the cool purple shadow, I lined my waterlines with a mix of brown and purple pencils (I layered the purple on top of the brown).

3. Purposefully pull back on your base, cheeks and lip products

Yup, keeping your makeup minimal on the rest of your face also helps to keep the focus on your single bright element. You’ll want makeup that doesn’t compete with your eyeshadow, so
go for the barest of bare bases — for me, that means a sheer tinted moisturizer and a sheer cream or liquid blush (and/or bronzer).

If you want to add highlights, go for something with a glossy finish instead of a frosty or metallic finish.

And don’t forget to do your version of nude lips, of course! 😁

Makeup worn in this look

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3 Tips for Wearing Red Eyeshadow (and a 20-Minute Makeup Look)

November 6th, 2019 by Karen 18 Comments

viseart libertine — I may or may not be in my pajamas, FYI.

Fall-inspired look, TAKE TWO.

I think this one’s a little closer in terms of vibe to the Thanksgiving baking accouterments I found at Michael’s the other day… More fall, and less summer, with shimmery reddish copper lids, bronze cheeks and nude-beige lips.

I wore it to the bakery the other day… The bakery in my kitchen, THAT IS! Had this on while trying to work out the pumpkin/pecan cupcake situation (yes, this is a thing I’m working on). In a nutshell, I think I found a good balance between a spicy pumpkin cupcake, and brown sugar pecans, but that’s a story for another time…

As for this look, here are some things you may find helpful when wearing reddish copper eyeshadow, or really any shadows with red tones:

1. Full-coverage foundations make a HUGE difference

You know me; I like to wear as little as possible in terms of base products, but whenever I try to do minimal foundation/concealer that incorporates any sort of copper, coppery red or red eyeshadow, I look tired, messy and juuuuust not right. Babe, if you’ve got anything remotely red happening on your lids, then go for full-coverage foundation. A full-coverage base balances with the red eyeshadow’s POW! very nicely, methinks.

2. Tightline with a black liner

You need something like a black liner to add a visible “break” or barrier between your red eyeshadow and the whites of your eyes; otherwise, it can look kinda “off.” If black seems too harsh for you, try a dark brown.

3. Do your eye makeup first

Why? Because you want absolutely NO red underneath your lower lash line, and you’ll want to completely remove it before doing your base. Then, after you clean up, apply a concealer. I’m usually team “Skip the Under-Eye Concealer,” but in this case, I’m thoroughly on board, because, again, it can look weird if you skip it.

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What I Wore This Week: 2 Looks with Juvia’s Place Warrior III

September 26th, 2019 by Karen 7 Comments

Juvia's place warrior 3 swatches — Palette of the week: Juvia’s Place Warrior 3 ($20)

The radical rainbow in the Warrior 3 Palette by Juvia’s Place is so not in my lane, but sometimes you just gotta go for it…and hope you do enough blending to avoid looking totally bonkers! 😜

These looks were totally inspired by Lizzo’s makeup artist, Alexx Mayo. If you’re ever craving something colorful and need bold eyeshadow inspo, Alexx’s Instagram is a good place to start.

I riffed off these two Lizzo looks…

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Love looks better in C O L O R 👨🏾‍🎨 Atlanta music midtown festival @lizzobeeating Hair by @theshelbyswain Makeup @iwantalexx

A post shared by ALEXX MAYO (@iwantalexx) on Sep 14, 2019 at 4:12pm PDT

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At the end of the night sometimes it’s hard for @lizzobeeating to let go… RIP to this purple eye we did in Charlotte. 😭😭😭 Hair @theshelbyswain Makeup @iwantalexx

A post shared by ALEXX MAYO (@iwantalexx) on Sep 16, 2019 at 12:25pm PDT

With both of these looks, since there was so much color happening on my lids, I decided to offset the color by doing minimal coverage on my face.

(Also…I think it’s cool when you go ham with your eyes and contrast it with barely-there foundation!)

Look 1: “Rainbow brights”

Eyeshadow base: Kat Von D White Out Cake Pencil

Eyeshadow: Warrior 3 Palette eyeshadows in Fanti (crease), Jarawa (brow bone), Kahina and Jarawa (outer crease), Nzinga (lid)

Eyeliner: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion (upper lash line), UD Freak (inner lower lash line), UD Electric (outer lower lash line)

Brows: Urban Decay Brow Blade and MAC Brow Set in Clear

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Soft Matte Foundation Stick in NC42, MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC42

Powder: Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder

Blush: MAC Sur

Lips: MAC Love Me Lipstick in Bated Breath and Soar Liner

Mascara: MAC Extended Play Perm Me Up