FOTD: Fourth of July Red, White and Blue Cut Crease

fourth of july big Happy Fourth of July everyone! In America, I was never super into Independence Day, but living abroad makes being super American for a day more fun. So I put together an All-American red, white and blue look.

fourth of july look I feel like it’s pretty intense, but also fun and good for a holiday. Plus, I finally got around to doing another cut crease! I liked it in this case because it kept the red and the white separate, instead of them melding into pink.

fourth of july shadowsEyes:

  • Corvus Euterpe
  • Shiro What’s This Lever Do?
  • Shiro Attercop, Attercop
  • Darling Girl Superstar Serum
  • Urban Decay Primer Potion
  • Buxom Lash Mascara

Face:

  • MAC Face and Body in N1
  • Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
  • MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
  • Tarte Natural Beauty

Lips:

  • Fyrinnae 1952

After I primed my lids, I patted Euterpe, a matte creamy white, all over my lids. I then applied What’s This Lever Do?, a shimmery red, above my crease. I very lightly blended them together, and then I went back over my lid with a bit more white to keep the colors distinct. I mixed Attercop, Attercop, a sparkly navy, with Superstar Serum to make a paste and applied it as liner for my upper and lower lashes, making sure not to make the line too thick along my upper lashes so that the white was still visible with my eyes open. I curled my lashes and applied mascara. I did my usual base make up, and lightly applied a bright red blush, which I blended out with a clean blush brush. I finished the look with 1952, a warm red lip lustre, which I applied with a doefoot.

I actually really love this look. I wish I had a barbeque with lots of other Americans to wear it to! Happy Fourth everyone!

Comparison: Gold Eyeshadows

Golds swatches

DMM Aries, Shiro Perfect World, HW Tchaikovsky, Shiro Remake, Baroque Versailles / AFK Solar Flare, HW 1000 Likes, HW Amber, Shiro Mockingjay, Corvus Clio

Recently I wanted to find a dupe for Shiro’s Perfect World, my favorite gold eyeshadow, which is now sadly discontinued. I asked for suggestions on Indie Makeup and More, and realized I already had a couple of the suggested colors in my stash. I wound up pulling out all my metallic golds and decided to swatch them all to compare. (I skipped my peachy golds and yellow based golds, since that wasn’t what I was looking for.) I figured it might be useful to someone else who was also looking for a specific kind of gold.

All shadows are swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion on the top/left and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the bottom/right. The top picture was taken in indoor natural light and the bottom in direct sun, for maximum sparkle.

Gold swatches 1Dark Matter Makeup Aries, Shiro Perfect World, Shiro Remake, Baroque Versailles, AFK Solar Flare

Gold swatches 2Hello Waffle Amber, Hello Waffle Tchaikovsky, Hello Waffle 1000 Likes, Corvus Clio, Shiro Mockingjay

Aries 2Dark Matter Makeup Aries: “A light metallic gold with gold sparks. It also has an orange highlight that makes the color shift from a light to a more orange gold.” This is a pale sparkly light gold. Over primer it’s a little sheer. There’s a slight cool grey undertone to it in some lights. I don’t get the orange shift at all. If you’re looking for a sparkly gold, this is the one with the most sparkle out of the ten. (Previously reviewed here.)

Perfect WorldShiro Perfect World: “Pure, soft, slightly metallic gold.” This is my personal favorite gold. It’s description is spot on. It’s a neutral gold without noticeable undertones, and it’s very smooth and metallic. It doesn’t have any sparks. I’m super sad that Shiro discontinued it, since it’s great with my light skintone.

Tchaikovsky 2Hello Waffle Tchaikovsky: “Vibrant gold with red, silver, and blue sparks.” This is a neutral-toned gold, with a smooth metallic finish and noticeable sparkles. The sparkles mostly struck me as silver and blue. I didn’t really see red. Over Pixie Eposy it’s more densely metallic, but it looks nice over primer too. (Previously reviewed here.)

Remake 2Shiro Remake: “Shimmery gold-bronze with purple sparks.” This is a slightly warm, very metallic gold. When I reviewed it before I didn’t notice the sparks, but this time, with more experience looking at eyeshadow nuances, I definitely did, The strike me as bluey purple and are very pretty. (Previously reviewed here.)

VersaillesBaroque Versailles: “Antiqued molten gold.” This is a gold with a bit of a greenish tint to it, which makes it look antique. (The pictures pulled a little warm, but the green twinge is definitely noticeable in person. You can see the difference between it and the warmer golds in the shot of all them together at the beginning of the post.) It has a very smooth metallic finish, and a hint of silvery sparks. The antique greenish quality makes it distinctive in my collection.

Solar FlareAFK Solar Flare: “A bright and sunny gold with a metallic finish.” This is an orangey yellow gold, with less sparkle to it than most of the other golds I swatched. It’s like a mildly metallic goldenrod. Over primer it’s a little sheer, so it can come across as more yellow on the eyes if you don’t use a sticky base.

1000 Likes 2Hello Waffle 1000 Likes: “Dark gold shimmer.” This is a very warm orangey gold. It darkens as it gets more opaque and metallic on a sticky base. Over primer alone, it’s sheerer and lighter. The lumps you see in the swatch are 100% my fault for not waiting long enough for the Pixie Epoxy to dry. Last time I swatched it it didn’t have that problem at all, as you can see in this swatch. If you wait for your base to dry like a smart person, it applies very smoothly. (Previously reviewed here.)

AmberHello Waffle Amber: “Dark orange-gold shimmer.” This is a very warm gold, enough to make it look almost like a rose gold or a pale copper instead of a pure gold. It’s very smooth. Over primer it’s a little sheer, but on a sticky base it takes on a nice metallic sheen.

Mockingjay 2Shiro Mockingjay: “Metallic brown-copper-bronze.” So this one is more copper than gold (and as you can see, Shiro doesn’t even call it a gold), but in direct sun the shimmer takes on a bit of a yellow gold quality. In indoor light it looks like a shiny new penny. (Previously reviewed here.)

Clio 2Corvus Clio: “A slightly blackened molten gold with a metallic finish.” This is the darkest of my golds. It’s also the least shiny. Over primer it’s more of a tan brown with a hint of gold, but it’s almost matte. On a sticky base, there’s more of a sheen, but it’s still the least metallic of all the golds I swatched. Its darkness makes it excellent as a liner. (Previously reviewed here.)

So there you are! Ten of my golds swatched side by side. Hopefully this was helpful to someone else. If you’re interested in me adding in my more yellow or peachy golds, let me know and I can look into updating the post. If, like me, you were looking for a dupe for Perfect World, Hello Waffle Tchaikovsky or Dark Matter Makeup Aries are the closest that I have. Tchaikovsky looks closer to me over primer, but Aries is closest over Pixie Epoxy. Both of them are more sparkly than Perfect World, but it’s more noticeable with Aries. So if I had to choose one, I would go with Tchaikovsky.

How often do you wear gold eyeshadow? If you want some ideas on how I use it, all my posts tagged with gold are here.

Also, I finally got around to making a swatch gallery. It’s in the menu at the left and it has all my swatches sorted by brand. So hopefully that’s helpful to you!

Corvus Cosmetics Mouseia Collection: Looks

Mouseia swatches

Erato, Clio, Calliope, Urania, Melpomene / Terpsichore, Euterpe, Polyhymnia, Thalia

Yesterday I posted my swatches of Corvus Cosmetics’ Mouseia Collection. Now it’s time for the looks. This was an interesting collection to come up with looks for, since the colors in it are very extreme. It’s pretty much all dark intense colors or super light pastels with nothing in the middle. It definitely makes it unique as a collection, but it’s a bit tricky to work with if you’re using it and only it for your looks. Several of these looking would be much easier if you supplemented with a midtone transition shade.

mouseia shadow 1Look 1: Urania, Thalia and Polyhymnia

Mouseia 1I primed my lids and applied Thalia to the inner half of the lid and Polyhymnia to the outer half of the lid and blended the two together. Then I mixed Urania with superstar serum and applied it as winged liner along my upper lashline. I finished the look by curling my lashes and applying mascara.

mouseia shadow 2Look 2: Urania, Melopmene and Erato

Mouseia 2I started by priming my lids all the way around, including my lower lashline. Then I patted Pixie Epoxy onto my eyelids and waited 20 seconds for it to set. I carefully patted Melpomene onto the middle of each lid, leaving the very inner and outer corners blank. Next I patted Erato onto the outer corner and around onto the outer 2/3 of my lower lashline. Then I carefully patted Urania onto the inner corner of both my upper and lower lids. I blended it up into the purple on my upper lids and into the red on my lower lashline. I used a q-tip with some face lotion on it to tidy up the outer edges of the shadow, and then used a clean blending brush to soften as much as I could. The edges wound up being a little choppy and grungy anyways. To finish, I lined my eyes with black pencil liner, smudged it out and added mascara. (If you wanted a less grungy version of this look, I would recommend using a transition shade that works for your skintone to blend out the upper edge.)

mouseia shadow 3Look 3: Erato

Mouseia 3Noel has said that a smoky eye with Erato is one of her favorite looks, so I knew I wanted to do one for my review. I tried this using Clio to blend out the edges, but it was too dark of a gold to work as a blending color with my skintone, so I did the whole look with one color and a lot of blending. I started by priming my lids and applied Erato all over, blowing it out at the outer corners and bringing it down around my lower lashline, but stopping before my tear ducts. I used a q-tip and lotion to tidy up the shape of the shadow and blended the crap out of the upper edge. I lined my eyes with black pencil and smudged it with a brush. To finish, I curled my lashes and put on mascara. (To make this look easier, you could use a transition shade to blend out the upper edge instead of tidying it with a q-tip.)

mouseia shadow 4Look 4: Terpsichore and Euterpe

Mouseia 4To start, I primed my lids. Then I applied Euterpe all over. I placed Terpsichore in my outer corner and crease and used a fluffy blending brush to blend the two together. I also used a liner brush to apply Terpsichore to my lower waterline to brighten my eyes a little bit more. Then I did a classic cat eye with black liquid liner and finished with mascara.

mouseia shadows 5Look 5: Calliope, Clio and Euterpe

Mouseia 5For this look I actually didn’t prime my eyelids. I started by buffing Euterpe into my lids to even out the color a little bit. Then I tapped out little piles of both Clio and Calliope next to each other on the mirror I used for mixing. I placed a dot of Superstar Serum next to each pile. I mixed Clio first and applied it to the inner third of my upper lashline as well as my lower waterline. Then I mixed Calliope and lined the outer two thirds, ending in a wing. I used my brush to mix the two mixtures together and went over the middle third of the line until the transition between the green and the gold was no longer harsh. Then I curled my lashes and finished with a coat of mascara.

Mouseia LooksSo there they are! Five looks using only shadows from Corvus’s Mouseia collection. Because of the extremes of the collection, I stuck to smoky eyes or winged liner looks, but I think they turned out really nicely. Look 2, my tricolor smoky eye was probably my favorite. I’ve been trying to get a tricolor smoky eye to work for a little while now, and I feel like this is my favorite variation so far! I also really liked look number 5, with the green and gold gradient liner. Which look is your favorite?

Corvus Cosmetics Mouseia Collection: Swatches

Mouseia CollectionToday I’m reviewing the Mouseia Collection from Corvus Cosmetics. Corvus is a newer company, but it’s been really well received in the online indie community. The Mouseia Collection is based on the nine muses in Greek Mythology. It’s an intersting collection, because the colors are pretty extreme. There are very pale pastels and rich deep colors without any middle of the road medium shades. It’s worth noting as well that Noel sells mirrors featuring the label art from this collection as well. As always, I swatched over Urban Decay Primer Potion on the left/top and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the right/bottom. The top picture is taken in indoor natural light and the bottom in direct sun. Mouseia LightsThe pastels: Euterpe, Terpsichore, Thalia, Polyhymnia Mouseia DeepsThe deep colors: Clio, Calliope, Urania, Melpomene, Erato EuterpeEuterpe: “A creamy white highlight shade with a near-matte finish.” The muse of song. This is a soft, creamy eggshell color, with a hint of yellow. It has a bit of a sheen but no visible shimmer. TerpsichoreTerpsichore: “A soft, pastel pink with a slight shimmer.” The muse of dance. The description of this is spot on. It’s a slightly shimmer pastel ballet pink, which makes it very appropriate for the muse of dance. ThaliaThalia: “A pastel lavender shade with a slight shimmer.” The muse of comedy. This is a very pale pastel purple with a little shimmer. Over a sticky base, the white undertones of the base come through strongly. PolyhymniaPolyhymnia: “An icy silver-blue highlight shade with a slight blue shimmer.” The muse of sacred hymns. This color was previously released as a GWP called Ice Queen. This is a super pretty icy baby blue. In some lights the shimmer looks to me like it has a hint of pink. I definitely see why its previous incarnation was called Ice Queen. ClioClio: “A slightly blackened molten gold with a metallic finish.” The muse of history and lyre playing. Clio is a very rich, mustardy gold. It’s about as dark as gold can get while still being gold. It also makes a great liner, especially with blue eyes. CalliopeCalliope: “A dark, velvety green with a light green shimmer and subtle sparkle.” The muse of epic poetry. This is a pretty, sparkly forrest green. It’s a bit sheerer over primer than over a sticky base, but not as sheer as it’s showing up in my pictures. (I’m pretty sure I didn’t apply my primer evenly for this or Urania. The far end of the swatch, that doesn’t fit into the picture was a little more opaque.) Urania 2Urania: “A near-black navy base with a strong blue and turquoise shimmer, with gold and silver sparks.” The muse of astronomy. To my eye this is a bright, super sparkly navy. I definitely am not seeing a near-black base. A sticky base makes the sparkles in this come crazily alive. Over primer, it’s sheerer, but in person it doesn’t seem quite as sheer as it does in the picture. MelpomeneMelpomene: “A very dark brown-red with a slight red highlight.” The muse of tragedy. This color is gorgeous. It’s a dark reddish-brown purple. The pigmentation is good over primer, but a sticky base makes the red highlight really shine. This color makes a fantastic liner, right on the border between neutral and colorful. I love it. EratoErato: “A dark, shimmery, metallic burgundy with a soft coppery sheen.” The muse of lyric poetry. This is a really pretty burgundy, with amazing pigmentation over just primer. A Sticky base brings out more of the coppery-red overlay but doesn’t change the base color at all. If you’re in the market for a metallic dark red, this one is great.

Overall Thoughts: I really enjoyed this collection, but it isn’t designed to stand on its own, so I would recommend supplementing with some basic blending and midtone shades. That said, the extremes of the colors in this collection make it really distinctive. A lot of companies do collections with lots of medium shades, so this would be a good one to expand your repertoire if you’ve got lots of those hanging around. The pastels all apply really easily and look creamy, not chalky. The deep colors make a gorgeous rich, dark rainbow and work beautifully as liners. There isn’t a color in the bunch that’s difficult to work with. If the colors catch your fancy, I definitely recommend checking them out. Tomorrow I’ve got the looks to share with you. It was a bit of puzzle figuring out how to make the deep and the light colors work together, but I’m really happy with the looks I came up with!

You can check out the looks here.

FOTD: Fyrinnae’s Sexy Nerd

Sexy NerdFor my second day of trying out my new lip lustres, I pulled out Sexy Nerd, a magenta with a bit of golden shimmer. I was a bit hesitant about this one because it’s both super bright and shimmery, which sounded like a lot of look for my lips, but the name pulled me in and I wound up ordering it. I’m so glad I did! I love this color. It’s so much fun and didn’t look anywhere near as crazy as I had feared. Plus, that name. Sexy Nerd for the win!

Sexy Nerd 1I used some gold and purple shadows from Corvus and a magenta blush from Shiro to finish the look off. I love how well everything came together!

Sexy Nerd ProductsEyes:

Face:

  • MAC Face and Body in N1
  • Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
  • MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
  • Shiro You’re Making Me blush

Lips:

First primed my lids and then I applied Champaggin (now renamed Golden Slipper), a gold, all over the lid. I used a thin brush to apply Clio, a darker gold, into the crease and blended it out with a fluffy blending brush. Then I mixed Melpomene, an almost black reddish/purplish brown, with Superstar serum and applied it as liner for both my upper and lower lids. I curled my lashes and put on mascara. I did my face like usual and used a very light hand to apply You’re Making Me blush, a bright magenta. Then I used the doefoot to apply Sexy Nerd, a magenta with golden shimmer, to my lips. I outlined them first with the tip of the doefoot and then filled them in, which seemed to work well.

I loved this look! Sexy Nerd turned out to be a great color on me, and I loved pairing it with the gold eyeshadow. Plus You’re Making Me blush is a really similar shade of magenta and really tied the whole look together. I was really, really happy with this.