Thursday, December 29, 2011

Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enahancing Shadow and Liner: Nude

I'm going to do a short review with a few pictures on this post

Love this little palette. The packaging is absolutely adorable! I love the lace detailing on the palette & the color combinations. It's stays closed by a magnet at the end of the palette.



I think someone got inspired by Urban Decay's Naked Palette :)

Well the shades are all shimmer. No matte whatsoever. All the colors are nice and subtle, making this look wearable for any occasion. The shimmer gives the eyes a soft "glow" to them making them stand out more. I think this would be a good palette for a romantic look! 

Color pay off is very nice, but I recommend to use with a primer/base underneath, or you won't get the greatest results. You can also apply it wet for a more dramatic effect.

Also comes with a pointed sponge tip applicator. I'm not a big sponge applicator fan, but this one is nice, especially if you don't have any brushes with you. The tip is very firm, making it easier to line your eyes with shadow, as well as using the angled side for contouring and using the flat side for lid shading.



Here are the swatches that I created. All are in order & I numbered them prior to the previous picture. All are swatched with primer underneath. I have a light-medium skin tone.


I'm going to briefly give the best name that suits the numbered shadows in the palette.

1. Shimmery pearl
 
2. Champagne

3. Peachy-copper

4. Pastel peach
 
5. Light taupe

6. Dark taupe

7. Light warm taupe

8. Dark brown

9. Black


All in all, I really love the product for traveling and having a good range of neutral shades. Packaging is a plus, and the color pay-off is well worth it.

Hope you guys like my mini review!! Well not sure if it's mini now haha :)



Subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven't yet!




Love, Ash!



Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Rainbow Giraffe Look





I was feeling pretty creative at the time. I wanted a look that I cold incorporate all the colors into one look, just for fun! You can always take away the giraffe print and lips and keep the eye lid color for a fun look out.

The looks I will create:
Rainbow Giraffe Print
Rainbow Lips
Rainbow Eyes

(Not sure why I didn't do it in order lol)
:)


Now before we start, apply a lip balm for when we are ready to do the lips. By the time we are ready to work on them, they will be smooth, making it an easier canvas to apply to.



First thing is to apply the eye area with primer. Then start making giraffe shapes with any white eyeliner of your choice. Use any picture of giraffe patterns for reference. Then fill the spots in.





We're going to create a rainbow gradient. Now start filling in the spots with the yellow shade at the top. Stop at about to the point in the picture. I'm using NYX's Single Eyeshadow in "Mellow Yellow."




Now apply a lime green eyeshadow. I'm using a lime green shade from my Coastal Scents 88 regular palette.



Now go ahead with the rest of the colors. After the lime green, I used turquoise, blue, purple, and then pink in that exact order. Make sure all the shades are blended evenly and not over blended. All the colors (except yellow) are from the Coastal Scents 88 Original Palette.

Now you see how fuzzy the edges look? We will take care of that. 
Grab a small clean brush with a round tip for hard to reach spots, makeup remover, and concealer that matches your skin tone.



Take that clean brush and and dab it in some makeup remover. Make sure you blot the excess makeup remover from the brush, so it doesn't get messy; we just want the brush to be damp. Then lightly go over the fuzzy parts of the side to make the outline more crisp.

I had an "after" picture, but it somehow got lost in my email :(

Now this is optional: if you still have some fuzzy sides that you can't get rid of, just take a little bit of liquid concealer and dab it on that brush and apply in the crevices to clean up the lines.





Rainbow Lips



Now that the lipbalm has set (if you have extra residue, just wipe it off to prevent uneven application) Apply a creamy white base to your lips. I'm using NYX's Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in "Milk." You can also use the white shade from Makeup Forever's Flash Color Palette.




I'm going to apply the same NYX "Mellow Yellow" eyeshadow to the center of the lips.
We are going to work from the inside to the out with yellow, lime, turquoise, blue, purple & pink.






Blend the colors out evenly.
Line the outer center with the lime green to make the lips look "fuller."







Apply a clear gloss over the lips carefully.




Now for the eyes!
 BEWARE: my brows look terrible! haha. Flash really can bring out the ones that you can't see in normal light. :/


Apply a white base. I'm using NYX's Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in "Milk." (I abuse this pencil ha ha :])





Once again, I'm applying that same NYX yellow shade to the inner thirds of my lids.




Now, I will apply lime to the center, turquoise to the crease, and blue to the outer V. Make sure everything is blended well. We want to give it a gradient-like effect.





Apply a purple shade to the crease, do not go under the lid. Blend UPWARDS towards the brow bone.




Now apply a light pink shade to above the purple to create a pink "halo." Then apply a white shadow to the brow bone and inner corners. Make sure everything is blended! I can't stress that enough hehe :)







Line your eyes with either a liquid black or metallic blue eyeliner. I'm using Too-Faced Metal-Eyed Liquid Eyeliner in "Twilight" which is a metallic navy blue.









  • Line your lower lashline with blue to the outer corners fading into yellow. 
  • Line the waterline with black pencil eyeliner.
  • Apply mascara & false lashes if you wish. I skipped the lashes and used Maybelline's The Falsies Mascara.





My wannabe "sexy" face haha. FAIL :)

Now we are finished!! 
I hope you like this! 

I just got an HD camcorder for Christmas, so once I figure out how to use it, I will create this look through a video!
 So subscribe to my Youtube Channel if you'd like to stay tuned for new videos!




Thanks guys
Love, Ash!



Thursday, December 22, 2011

24 Karat Gold Sugarplum Eyeshadow Tutorial

Image from EB Ornaments





 Pretty simple and fun for the holidays. You can even wear this on a regular night out!




Let's get started! 

 
 Step 1: Apply an eyeshadow base or primer to keep the shadow from creasing and fading. 

I'm using: Nars Pro-prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base






 Step 2: Apply a shimmery champagne color to your lids only. 

I'm using: Lorac's single eyeshadow in "Star Quality."







Step 3: Apply a plum shade to your crease area and outer corner. Then apply a color closest to your skin tone to your brow brown to help blend harsh edges.

I mixed a plum & a rusty shade together from my Coastal Scents Original Palette. 

Then for the skin tone color I used from the same Coastal Scents Palette.






Step 4: Apply a darker plum shade (or possibly black) to the outer V and blend.

I'm using: The dark plum shade from my Maybelline Eyestudio palette in "Amethyst Ablaze."




.

Step 5: Line your lower outer lash line with the same dark plum color used for step 4. Then line from the inner corners to the middle with a gold color.

I'm using: NYX Ultra Pearl Mania in "Yellow Gold."





Step 6:  The type of eyeliner you want to use is your choice. I used a black pencil eyeliner because I wanted a "softer effect." For a more dramatic look, use liquid or gel eyeliner.

I'm using: Beauitque Eyeliner in "Black."






Step 7: Also lining your lower waterline is up to you. If you have small-set eyes, use a peach eyeliner (I had to substitute for white) For larger eyes, use a black or brown.

I'm using: NYX's Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in "Milk."





Last step (8): Add mascara on bottom and top lashes. If you want to use falsies, then apply false lashes first, then add mascara to blend your fake and real ones together.

I'm using: Maybelline Falsies Mascara in "Blackest Black." 

I didn't use false lashes.


AND YOU'RE DONE!!

 Only did one eye, haha sorry!

Hope you like!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Coastal Scents Mica Powder Haul Plus 5 gram Jars for Storage!

I love me some CS. They are affordable & I like the wide range of items they have. So I got myself a few brushes & mica powders. I decided to split the blog into 2 posts (one for micas, the other for brushes), so It's not ridiculously long & boring for you.

Mica Powders


Sorry for the butchered image. These were taken with my phone & they like to resize themselves before sending. My actual camera batteries are dead, sorry :(
ANYWAYS


Let's name off the colors from left to right at the top: Inter Gold Sparks, Cerulean, Cellini Yellow (I emptied that mica into a container so I included that with.), Illusion Luxury Gold, Metallic Olivia, Mayan Gold (sample), Very Coral (aka True Coral), Red Blue Chrome, & Black Oxide.

Now for the glitter from right to left bottom row: Purple Punch, Silver Hologram, & Crimson.



Now for swatches & brief reviews


Each with FLASH / NO FLASH
I have a light-medium skin tone.
All used with a primer.
I will make the description short & sweet & to the point.

Inter Gold Sparks

Love this shade, I actually bought it twice! It may appear white in the bag, but once you touch it it turns into a sparkly champagne gold. It's more dense than shimmer, but it's not glittery. GORGEOUS COLOR. It's a great multi-purpose mica, because you can use it in your lotions for shimmer as well as highlights for your face and eyes or just top over dark eyeshadows to add glam.


Cerulean
A beautiful shimmery pacific blue is great for the summertime or to wear as an eyeliner on the lashline for a pop of color. It has a royal blue base with light blue shimmer. If you like bright colors, this is definitely for you.


Very Coral (aka True Coral)

This is a coral color with pink highlights. It's not an orangey coral.
This is also a great multi-purpose mica, because you can use it in a lip gloss for extra color & even on your cheeks for a shimmery glow.


Cellini Yellow

This is a very shimmery canary yellow. It almost looks like a gold color. If you apply it lightly you will actually get a nice wash of gold color. Very pigmented & vibrant with a primer.


Illusion Luxury Gold

Boy oh boy, I fell in love. This is one of my favorites. It's not chunky like glitter but slightly thicker than  shimmer. No grimey gritty feeling...It's silky smooth. It reminds me of a pirate's treasure. A little bit goes a long way for this mica powder. You don't need much at all to get the full effect.
 Blue-Red Chrome
A duo chrome mica of blue & red. Metallic finish. The light blue is the base & shines a pink (red) tone. It's absolutely beautiful. I was iffy about it at first because my thought of red and blue just reminds me of patriotic colors, but it actually looks so unique & reminds me of outerspace, like a supernova.It's very iridescent & applies on very nicely with great pigmentation.


 Mayan Gold

Meh, not my favorite gold color. It's a sheer light gold with shimmer. (I like the bright golds) I got it as a sample, so I can't complain. The one thing I will do say is even with a primer, the adhesion of the glitter is very scarce. (maybe I just got a bad batch?)  It's actually nice for people who don't want that yellow bright gold tone, but want something along the lines of a subtle gold color.


Black Oxide

It's a matte black, I'm not sure why it looks shimmery, but it's really NOT.  (I think it's caused from the previous shimmery eyeshadows that I used with the same brush before.) This powder is usually made for mixing eyeshadows, but you can also just use it as an eyeshadow. Be careful though, it's very very VERY pigmented (like MAC'S Carbon) You barely need a tap of it and you're good to go. Somehow my sample looks bigger than all the other ones *score!!*


Metallic Olivia

Another new favorite. I have lots of gold shades, but this one is more of a gold-olive tone. It's also more metallic than shimmer, hence the name, Metallic Olivia. But man is this stuff PIGMENTED. One slight touch and my finger was completely covered in rich metallic gold-olive color. This stuff will last you a while for sure. It pairs great with black, brown, orange, & green eyeshadows.



Now for the Glitters
I only have 3 but I might as well separate them since they are different from mica powders.
Left side is applied with no eyeshadow, right side is swatched with the matching eyeshadow as a base underneath for the glitter. 
All were applied with a primer underneath. (even the ones without eyeshadow as a base)



Silver Hologram

I wanted to start with this one first because let me say I'M IN LOVE! I regret not getting a bigger size!! I only got a sample *cries* This is a beautiful silver glitter that reflects rainbow colors in the light at different angles. It's almost a dupe of MAC'S 3D Silver Glitter. This will go great for parties, prom, New Years, Halloween, birthdays, or even the night out. Hell, I'd wear it on a regular day :D

Crimson

Vampy red. True to the name, Crimson. It's basically a slightly darker than fire engine red glitter. This is great for Christmas, Valentines Day, or birthdays & proms if you have a red dress. It also reminds me of Las Vegas. I would definitely wear this to Vegas. It kind of reminds me of show-girl makeup.

Purple Punch

I like this shade of purple in glitter form & also the name, very creative. It's a royal purple glitter. You can see how intense it is with the eyeshadow...gorgeous!! This can go with lots of occasions any time of the year & compliments all eye colors.

Jars


I also bought a pack of 25 jars (5 grams each) for about 5 bucks. That's a pretty good deal, despise the fact tI can't even fit a whole sample in one jar XD haha! I think I got a pretty good deal, considering I just need some containers instead of plastic baggies that tear.

Size comparison to a nickel. Shoulda' used a quarter I guess lol.



:)


Hope you enjoyed the swatches & descriptions!