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Back to School Beauty: From Class to Off-Campus Party with LORAC Close Up Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial Kit

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lorac close up eye tutorial box

If happy hours, ramen noodles, party crashing, mac and cheese, Taco Bell bean burritos and Totino’s frozen pizzas are fixtures of your college life (like they were mine!), take a little look at LORAC. Their $36 Close Up Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial Kit has “I’m a [hawt] broke college student” written all over it.

I’ll never forget the first time I went to buy books in college… YIKES! I guess I didn’t get the memo about every thick, hella boring science textbook costing an arm and a leg, and maybe it was out of a desire to prevent that same kind of eye-bulging sticker shock that LORAC came up with the idea.

lorac close up eye tutorial

The kit makes it easy to go from lunch in the campus cafeteria to a look ready for dinner and a movie. For $36 you get four full-size LORAC all-star products — a primer, a mascara, an eyeshadow trio and a liner — along with a small dual-tipped eye brush and a tutorial booklet with step-by-step directions for three different looks. Bought separately, the liner, primer and shadow trio by themselves (not including any of the other cool stuff) would cost almost twice as much as the entire kit.

I actually brought the kit with me to Reno last week, and with my lash curler and concealer it ended up being the only thing I used on my eyes.

A few things to keep in mind…

The included Front of the Line Pro liquid liner almost by itself makes the kit worth the price LORAC is asking. The pen and I met last summer, and we’re still fast friends today. It’s my favorite one out there, as a matter of fact (here’s a full review).

The liner alone might make the kit worth the price of admission, but the shadow trio and eye primer take it over the top. The primer helps the super pigmented shadows, which are also easy to blend, last all day long without creasing or vanishing.

lorac close up eye tutorial

lorac close up eye tutorial movie star baked eyeshadow trio


Swatches of the Starry Eyed Baked Eye Shadow Trio in Movie Star on NC35 skin


Swatches from left: Behind the Scenes Eye Primer, Front of the Liner Pro in Black, Special Effects Mascara Primer in Grey Pearl, Special Effects Mascara in Black Pearl

As for the rest of the kit, I like everything except the brush because I just don’t think it’s up to par considering the quality of everything else. Not only is/was it scratchy, but it broke the second time I used it (the barrel from one of the brush heads fell off!). I think you and I would both be better off using any other drugstore brush.

And if you like your lashes long, the Special Effects mascara does a good job delivering that. I like the color, curl hold and length, but it could use a touch more volume. Then again, you know how I am about drag queen lashes, LOL! 🙂

Here are some drugstore makeup brushes that won’t break the bank:

Dress your look, up or down

The kit comes with directions for three looks — one natural, one featuring cat eyes, and another one with smokey eyes) — but I think it has much more potential than that.

I’ve also done a look using the primer to cover my lids, the shimmery peach shadow on the outer half, the shimmery beige on the inner half, a thick cat liner with Front of the Line Pro along my upper lash line only and ending with mascara (both on the top and bottom lashes).

Just the other day, I did another quick look with mascara and a wash of the beige eyeshadow over the primer, so I think the options are many.

If it weren’t for the crummy brush, this kit might be perfect. It gives a lot of options, you know, for lunch dates at the student union with your cute lab partner (guuurl…mine were always cute). 🙂 Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A-

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I bought this set a couple weeks ago, and I LOVE it!
    I have yet to use the eyeliner & eye primer (I want to finish up my Too Faced Shadow Insurance first), but the pricetag is worth the eyeshadow trio alone.
    aha…I think I’m going to buy a couple more soon =D

    Reply

  9. That sounds like an awesome deal, though my liquid liner skills are definitely lacking! Thanks for including the brush links too. My collection could use a major upgrade. Though I keep saying I’ll hit the MAC store the next time I’m out that way. 🙂

    Reply

    • Okay, I have absolutely NO skills when it comes to liquid pen liner either, but trust me — Front of the Line Pro (gotta get the Pro version!) makes it really, REALLY easy.

      Reply

    • Me too. I think the line often gets eclipsed by other flashier brands at Sephora (like Urban Decay or Benefit), but there’s still lots of great stuff if you look closely!

      Reply

      • Totally. When my sister saw I had a Lorac palette she was like “what are you doing w/ old people makeup?” I told her that the Croc palette was one of the best neutral palettes I have ever used! I also made her buy one!

        Reply

        • Ha ha, and I bet she totally appreciates it today!

          LORAC might not be the edgiest line out there but they’ve got pretty looks down pat. 🙂

          What other things do you like from the line?

          Reply

  11. How similar are the eyeshadow colors to some of the ones in Urban Decay’s Naked pallet? I really am a (very) broke college student, and recently made Naked my splurge, but this kit is tempting!!

    Reply

  14. I have this set saved in my sephora shopping cart right now… i was wowed by the proce when i first received an email from sephora about the kit. i’m heading to vegas on thursday and i plan to go shopping while there so i will go to one of the big sephora stores out there and pick it up along with some other goodies i’m sure. there are a couple of NARS products that i have my eyes on.

    Reply

  15. This look is SO pretty on you.

    And about the brush- they put out almost the exact same brush with the Color Me Couture eye palette when they first released it (although I think they’ve changed the brush since) and it did the exact same thing for me! (aka one of the brush heads falling off). But for awhile I didn’t really have any other good brushes, so I glued it back on and kept using it. LOL. I still have it somewhere in the back of one of my drawers…

    Reply

  17. I bought this set with a friend so we could split it up and I ended up scoring the mascara and primer for $11. What a steal! I love this primer (so underrated) and Special Effects is one of my favorite mascaras… I’m kind of a LORAC junkie. Their liquid foundations and blushes are great too 🙂

    Reply

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