FOTD: Gold Eyes and Bright Red Lips

Red lips + black glasses = win. I almost never wear my black glasses (they’re my “special occasion” glasses and I don’t want to scratch them up too much), but one of the times I’m most likely to pull them out is when I’m wearing red lipstick. It’s a classic combo and I love it.

I also wore gold eyeshadow! I’ve got a gold eyeshadow comparison post in the works, and having all my golds out made me want to put them on my eyes.

Eyes:

• Shiro Perfect World
• Baroque Versailles
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Marc Jacobs Highliner in Blacquer
• Benefit Stay Don’t Stray in Light/Medium
• Sephora Collection Outrageous Curl Mascara

Face:

• MAC Mineralize Moisture Foundation in NC20
• Benefit Boi-ing Concealer in 1
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light
• Shiro 1-Up

Lips:

• Life’s Entropy Recursion

I primed my lids and patted on Pixie Epoxy and waited for it to set. 20 seconds latter I applied Perfect World, a light gold, all over the top with a fluffy brush. I used a rounded blending brush to put Versailles, a darker gold, in the outer half of my crease. I lined my eyes with black liner, curled my lashes and applied mascara. I did pretty standard face stuff and finished off with Recursion, a bright red with a hint of orange, which I applied with a lip brush.

I really like Life’s Entropy’s lip theories. They’re smooth and super pigmented. My lips have been kind of dry lately, but I feel like it still looks good. It doesn’t cling too much to my dry patches. I lined up my samples this morning and let my husband pick which one I wore. Recursion is a super bright, almost neon red, but I still find it flattering. It’s being discontinued soon, so if you’re interested in it, you should probably pick it up now!

FOTD: Gold Eyes and Pinky Purple Lips

This is actually another face of the day from yesterday. I wanted to be extra pretty the entire day for my birthday, so this is the make up I did in the morning, and the look I posted yesterday was what I did in the evening, post-shower. I think I saw a look somewhere recently that inspired me to do this, but I don’t remember where. I just knew I wanted gold eyeshadow and pinky purple lips.

I’m almost out of my usual setting powder (MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural), so I did a little experiment to decide if I wanted to replace it or switch to an indie alternative. I did the left half of my face (the right side in the pictures) with Blackbird’s Magic Trick Super Powder, and the right side with MAC (on the left in the pictures). Then I compared the two. I had my husband inspect the two sides up close and he couldn’t tell the difference at all. I thought both sides looked equally nice, but the Blackbird feels a touch nicer on the skin and is an entire 20 dollars cheaper, so Blackbird wins. I’m gonna get a full size of it instead of another pan of the MAC powder.

Obligatory glasses pictures. I think the lip color is really fun with this pair.

Eyes:

• Shiro Perfect World
• Shiro Cake
• Marc Jacobs Highliner in Blacquer
• 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 (right half)
• Blackbird Magic Trick Super Powder in Translucent (left half)
• Shiro You’re Making Me [blush]

Lips:

• Kae Q Passionflower
• Fyrinnae Visual Kei

This look was pretty simple to pull off. I primed my lids and then patted Perfect World, a light gold, all over. I dotted a tiny bit of Cake, a white with a bit of reddish yellow shimmer, in the inner corner. I lined my eyes with black gel pencil liner, and smudged only the outer corners. Then I curled my lashes and applied mascara. I did my foundation and concealer, but then used two different powders to set it so I could compare them. I used a tiny bit of You’re Making Me, a magenta blush, on my cheeks, which I applied with my contour brush. I didn’t own the right pinky purple shade I wanted for my lips, so I started by applying Passionflower, a lavender, with a doefoot applicator, and then dotted Visual Kei, a bright pink, on top. I used my finger to blend them together until the color was even.

I’m super happy with this look. It was cheery and fun and pretty much exactly what I was going for.

Do you ever do your make up more than once in a day? I definitely do sometimes. Make up’s a hobby for me, so if I have an idea in the afternoon, I have no problem washing my face and doing my make up again.

FOTD: Heart Attack and Unveil Challenge

Having worked through my stack of sample challenge pairings and feeling uninspired, I decided to do my own sample challenge. I keep my samples in two boxes, own for the shadows I’ve already used and one for the shadows I haven’t tested yet. I randomly drew one color from each boxe and wound up with Shiro’s Heart Attack and Glamour Doll Eyes’ Unveil. I was excited because it’s one of those pairings that I instantly knew what I wanted to do with. Red smoky eye!

This was my first time using Glamour Doll Eyes’ shadow, and I found it a bit difficult to use. It took a fair bit of patting and erasing the edges in order to get it to fade gracefully. Once I did, the color was nice, but it definitely did not make for an easy to use blending color.

I pretty much couldn’t have asked for a better color combination to match with the glasses I was wearing today!

Eyes:

• Shiro Heart Attack
• Glamour Doll Eyes Unveil
• Stila Wind (In the Know Palette)
• Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Crave
• Urban Decay 24/7 Liner in Roach
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Make Up Forever Smoky Extravagant Mascara

Face:

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

Lips:

• MAC Patisserie

I primed my eyelids and patted Pixie Epoxy onto the mobile lid with my pinkie. After 20 seconds, I applied Heart Attack, a sparkly burgundy red, all over my lids, flaring it slightly up and the outer corners. I patted some along my lower lashline as well. Then I used a round blending brush to apply Unveil, a reddish brown, along the top edge of the red. I found it worked best if I applied it over the top of the red and used only a patted motion without any back to back swiping. If I swiped it even a little, it stuck in patches and didn’t apply evenly and I needed to tidy it with a q-tip. I used a warm cream shadow to blend out the upper edge of the brown and highlight under my browbone. I drew a thin line of brown-black pencil liner along my upper lashline and in between my lower lashes. Then I used a a shimmery red-toned brown liner to fill in my lower waterline. I curled my lashes and applied my mascara. For the rest of my face, I did my smoky-eye standara: foundation, concealer, powder, ruddy blush and nude lipstick.

All in all, I was really happy with this look. It turned out nicely even if it took more fiddling than I like to get Unveil to blend evenly. The colors went well together and look great with my red glasses. It also makes me sad Heart Attack was discontinued. It’s such a beautiful cool burgundy. So pretty! It definitely makes for a more dramatic look than my first reddish brown smoky eye!

FOTD: Smoky Purple Eye

I was contemplating picking up a jar of Shiro’s Shinigami in a destash the other day and figured I should do a look with my sample to help me decide. This quick smoky eye reminded me why it’s one of my favorite purples, and nudged me into picking up the full size. I’m super glad I did, because it’s on of my favorite purples and it’s from the now-discontinued Notebook collection.

I also used Perfect World, a gold from the same collection, in the inner corner.

 

Eyes:

• Shiro Shinigami
• Shiro Perfect World
• Stila Bliss (from the In the Light Palette)
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Sephora Collection Black Lace Eyeliner
• Buxom Lash Mascara

Face:

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

Lips:

• MAC Patisserie

This look was super quick and easy. I applied primer, then patted Shinigami, a sparkly purple, onto my lids and lower lashline. I blended out the edge with a dusty pink-brown matte shadow. Then I popped a tiny bit of Perfect World, a light gold, into the inner corner. I line my eyes with lack pencil liner, smudged it out and applied mascara. The rest of my face I did like usual, like a plum-berry blush and a nude lipstick.

Do you buy from destashes? How do you decide what to pick up?

FOTD: Grey Halo with Purple Liner

Since yesterday’s post was leftover from January, today I decided to kick the month off by actually doing a halo eye. Sort of. I’m still not great at halo eyes, so my eyelids kind of ate the middle part. Which sort of makes it look just like normal eyeshadow. Oh well. Perhaps by the end of the month I’ll be better.

Even if the halo part didn’t quite show up, it’s still pretty.

Glasses! Just cuz it’s been a while since I posted a glasses picture. I wish my lenses didn’t mute the purple of the liner so much.

Eyes:

• Shiro What’s That Smelt?
• Shiro Heaven Nor Hell
• Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Tornado
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Lorac Behind the Scenes Primer
• Buxom Lash Mascara

Face:

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

Lips:

• Marc Jacobs Lust for Lacquer Lip Vinyl in Kissability

For this look, I applied Heaven Nor Hell, a dark blue-toned shimmery grey, all over my primed lids and along the outer portion of my lower lash line. I patted What’s That Smelt?, a bright sparkly silver into the middle of the lid. I used Pixie Epoxy to bring out the sparkles. With Heaven Nor Hell on a blending brush, I made a rainbow shape around the pixie epoxied silver part to blend out the edges. I lined my eyes with purple pencil liner and applied mascara. I did my face make up like always, with a pretty pink blush and a slightly purple lip gloss.

While the halo part didn’t show up as much as I wanted, I still think it’s a pretty look. Do you guys have any advice on how to do halo eyes properly? I understand what they’re supposed to look like, but not how you make them look that way, so it’s kind of a crapshot whether mine will turn out or not.

FOTD: My First Attempt at Contouring

Today I attempted to contour. I literally cannot tell any difference, so I think I did it wrong. My face looks exactly the same to me. But my eye makeup is pretty!

I feel like kind of a jerk for using all discontinued eyeshadows, but they’re all pretty easily dupable, I think. Any light gold, medium brown and sparkly dark grey would work.

Eyes:

• Shiro Perfect World
• Shiro Mistrust
• Shiro Second Kira
• Darling Girl Superstar Serum
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Maybelline Great Lash

Face:

• Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream in Light
• Laura Mercier Secret Concealer in 1
• Shiro Fatality  Finishing Powder
• Shiro Revive Blush
• Nars Laguna Bronzer

Lips:

• Benefit Rocketpop

I started by priming my lids and applying Perfect World, a light gold, all over my lid. I blended some Mistrust, a medium brown, into the crease. Then I mixed superstar serum with Second Kira, a super sparkly dark charcoal, and applied it as liner with a tiny wing. I curled my lashes, applied mascara and moved on to my face makeup. I was feeling lazy, so I used BB cream instead of foundation, but I still use my undereye concealer (my dark circles have been super bad these days) and set everything with powder. I used Revive, a very pale, shimmery blush, but didn’t feel complete, so I decided to pull out some bronzer. You may have noticed a distinct lack of bronzer in my posts. That’s because I never use it! I wasn’t quite sure what to do, so I used my contour brush to sweep some in a 3 shape around the side of my face and under my cheekbones and blended it out. As far as I can tell, this did nothing. Maybe I looked a little warmer, but my cheekbones did not seem any more defined to me. Oh well. I finished with some cinnamon-rose lipstick and called it a day.

While my contouring was not a success, at least it didn’t look bad! Just not much of anything. On the plus side though, I used some more brown eyeshadow and really felt like me wearing it! Do you guys contour? Any advice?

FOTD: Red and Purple Halo Eye

Next week I’m going to be the guest blogger over on Toxid Lotus, where I’ll be posting ideas on how to use red eyeshadow. This is one of the looks that I did, originally intended for that post, but it didn’t quite turn out how I planned and wound up looking too similar to another one I’d already. So it goes here, as a red eyeshadow post preview! I was inspired by Celadon Alley’s totally awesome red and purple halo eye, but it just didn’t come out as red as I wanted, I think because my hooded lids ate all the color.

See! Lots of red on my eyelids! It’s just hiding when my eyes are open.

Eyes:

• Shiro Unforgettable
• Shiro Heart Attack
• Shiro Shinigami
• Shiro Cake!
• Stila Wind (from the In the Know palette)
• Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy
• Darling Girl Superstar Serum
• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Kat Von D Tattoo liner
• Benefit They’re Real mascara
• Maybelline Great Lash

Face:

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

Lips:

• Shiro Who Swallowed a Star
• Shiro A Girl and A Cat

For this look, I primed my eyes, then applied Unforgettable, a sparkly red, to the middle half of my lid, extending it just past the iris. I added a line of Heart Attack, a magenta-red, on either side of the center dot and traced it carefully in the crease above as well. Then I used a pencil brush to place Shinigami, a darker purple, in the inner and outer corners. I blended all three together, so there were no harsh transitions. Then I carefully added a dot of pixie epoxy to the center of each lid and patted more Unforgettable on top to bring out the sparkles. I mixed some Heart Attack with superstar serum and used it to line my lower waterline. I lined my upper lashes with black liquid liner and applied mascara to both sets of lashes. I applied a little bit of Cake!, a shimmery white with just a hint of red tones, to the inner corner and inner part of the lower lashline. I used a matte peach eyeshadow to highlight below the browbone and to blend out the edges of the darker colors. There was a lot of fallout, so I cleaned it up before I did the rest of my face make up. I used a red blush and applied Who Swallowed a Star, a bright pink-toned red tinted balm, over the top of A Girl and A Cat, a deep purple tinted balm.

I like the way this turned out, it just wasn’t what I thought it would look like. But I’m loving all the red shadow looks I’ve been doing, and I’m super excited for next week’s guest post. A week from today!

Spotlight on Notoriously Morbid’s Jupiter Rain

Today I’m doing something a little different. Instead of reviewing a whole collection, I’m reviewing an individual color in a bit more depth. I’ll start with some swatches in different lighting and over a variety of bases, and then I’ll share three ways I wear the color.

The color is from Notoriously Morbid and it’s called Jupiter Rain. Notoriously Morbid donates all proceeds from the color to RAINN (the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network). As you can see from the running tally she keeps on her website, 5 dollars from each shadow gets donated, which is great considering the purchase price is 5.50. As Carrie says on her website:

For years I have always dreamed about being able to actively donate to RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network). Now after years of dreaming, I am able to do so. Introducing Jupiter Rain found only at Notoriously Morbid.

All net proceeds from the color will be donated to RAINN monthly and a running tally will be on the color’s web page to let you know how much was donated that month and year.

I always like to support businesses that give to charities and turquoise/teal is my favorite color, so Jupiter Rain was a no brainer for me. It was the first full size eye shadow I bought!

My usual swatch. Primer on the left and Pixie Epoxy on the right in indoor natural light on top, and a close up over Pixie Epoxy in direct sunlight on the bottom.

Jupiter Rain: “A teal with gold sparkles.” Totally accurate description. Sparkly blue-green teal. While most of the sparkles appear gold, I do get a few pink one in there as well. As you’ll see below, this color pulls more green in warm light and more blue in cool light. It performs well over all the bases I tried and gets respectable coverage on bare skin. Over Pixie Epoxy it’s a bit darker and over NYX Milk the sparkles are less prominent.

Indoor light. As you can see, Jupiter Rain pulls more blue indoors and has more of a sheen than visible glitter.

Sunlight. Outside, it becomes more green and the sparkles pop out.

All in all the quality is fantastic. It shows up well over all three bases, and even look pretty over bare skin, if you’re looking for something sheerer and less in-your-face teal.

Now on to the looks!

Look 1: Jupiter Rain mixed with Darling Girl’s Superstar Serum as a colorful winged liner

This really couldn’t be simpler. I cover my entire lid area with a matte skin-toned eyeshadow and then mix together Superstar Serum and Jupiter Rain and apply it as a winged liner with a pointy brush. Colorful and simple. I love it. This is my favorite way to wear this color.

Look 2: Peacock Smoky Eye with Jupiter Rain, Hello Waffle’s Ethereal Voice and Shiro’s Doge

For this, I start by priming my entire eye area. I applied Jupiter Rain to the inner part of my lid and Hello Waffle’s Ethereal Voice, a dark purple with a little gold sparkle, to the outer corner. I blended Ethereal Voice along my crease. I used a clean blending brush to blend the two colors together. I lined my eyes with black eyeliner and smudged it out with a brush. Then I added a bit more Jupiter rain along my upper and lower lashlines. Then I applied Shiro’s Doge, a pinky-tan highlight underneath my brow, blending down into the purple, and in the inner corner. I finished with lots of mascara. Usually smoky eyes aren’t my thing, but I really like the way the colors make this one more interesting.

Look 3: Mermaid-inspired gold and teal eyeshadow with Jupiter Rain and Shiro’s Perfect World

For this, I primed my eyelid and applied Shiro’s Perfect World, a light gold, to the inner half of my eyelid. Then I applied Jupiter Rain to the outer corner and all the way around through the crease. I blended the two together where they met. The teal was a bit dark for me, so I blended out the edges and ran my blending brush over the top of the teal to lighten it. Then I applied Jupiter Rain to the outer half of my lower lashline and Perfect World to the inner half. I finished with winged black liner and mascara. Very colorful, but like usual with teals it’s not too crazy when my glasses are on.

Do you own Jupiter Rain? How do you wear it? If you’re looking for something to pick up tomorrow, when Free Day Fridays return (and Slay Me Wave 4 releases!) I definitely recommend this.

ETA: More Jupiter Rain! Brown with a Pop of Teal and Sparkly Teal Smoky Eye.