Teeny Flower Eye Art

Last night for some reason I remembered how flower graphic eye art was a thing for a while. Though that trend calmed down, I thought it was a reasonably easy and pretty thing for me to practice.

The only thing I was missing was a paint palette/colorful liquid liners. As I somewhat expected, the Wet 'n Wild paint palettes were on sale at Walmart, and I bought the Brights one for a dollar. Woo! I set most of my products with the BH Cosmetics Back to Brazil palette, except for the white, which I used the Nyx Milk crayon.

Here are my results:

So I primed my eye with Mac paint pot in Painterely. I set my brown bone and crease with neutral shades from the Maybelline Lemonade palette.

I then lined my eyes with the L'Oreal Paradise Liquid liner. I then made my wing green by placing the green shade from the Wet 'n Wild paint palette, and then dark green to light green eyeshadow on top to set it.

I then made the flowers, beginning with the red. This was a bit time consuming, and I had to use a very steady hand. I did not  do anymore than I had to because I was afraid of ruining it.

What cinches it and makes the flowers look like flowers is the orange/yellow in the center, as well as the dashes of light green for leaves.

Overall, I would definitely do this look again. I probably won't try to make the end of my wing green, and instead just make a solid black wing for greater contrast. 

The biggest thing was selecting the right brushes, which had to be small enough to such small details. And of course...lots of practice:

Thanks for reading!  

(❦ ᴗ ❦ ✿)

Beauty Bookmark 4: Chartreuse is the New...Blue? (text post)

It's has been a while, hasn't it? I caught myself a nice little cold this past week, and spent the weekend recovering from it. I've sort of been out of the makeup/beauty sphere for as long as I've been in this funk, so naturally I missed a couple of things.

I hope you don't mind that I am opting to not include any pictures of these releases. Most of my bookmarks come from the Trendmood account, but to keep reposting pictures seems redundant. It's also time consuming and I am a very lazy person.

The last beauty purchase I made was actually one of those magnetic sewing containers, which I am going to repurpose as a z-palette. Other than that, I have not added anything to my collection. But after browsing Instagram, I have bookmarked some things. Lessgo.

1. Ace Beaute's Flair palette ($39.00). I anti-hauled this brand in the past because- as much as I liked their release- I was not convinced of the value. They just put out this new palette that contains a chartreuse, as well as rich blues, oranges, reds, and berries. Now, I am strongly tempted to make a dupe post on this, but the only thing I would not be able to dupe are the three blue shadows, because I don't own any. And if you take those away, you are left with an expanded version of their Classical Paradise palette. With that in mind, I know I personally won't be getting this, though I can honestly say the palette looks beautiful, and it's definitely inspiring.

2. Wet 'n Wild's Four New Dupe Palettes. Allegedly, these are dupes for Prism, Soft Glam, Lila (ND), and the Tropical palette (ND). To be honest, I have tried this formula and the shimmers are nothing compared to the older, softer formula. They're not bad, though, and I do think it's great that they are bringing fun color options to the drugstore. Keep on keeping on, Wet 'n Wild.

3. I also bookmarked the new The Tribe palette from Juvia's place. Another bright light green! This seems to be a color we are going to see a lot, which I think is interesting. For me, this type of color seems like either a lid or a transition color, like yellow. I have my own version of it from the BH Cosmetics Back to Brazil palette, and I have a couple of greens, browns, golds, and oranges, so this palette would be a bit redundant.

However, another interesting thing Juvia's Place is doing is making mini palettes. Now that I find to be quite, quite promising. I remember saying a while back how I wished their palettes were smaller. Hmmmmm.....looks like I was not the only one. The downside is they seem to be downsizing the palettes in order of their releases, so they're starting with the first palette they introduced, The Nubian, a super neutral palette. Like, super, super neutral. So while I love the idea of mini palettes, I know I will have to wait until Juvia's releases a more colorful one. I just hope they don't do what Natasha Denona sometimes does with their mini versions, which is to take all the interesting shades out and make a repetitive little shrug of a palette (like their mini Star palette.) Fingers crossed.

4. Physician's Formula has two or three new palettes coming out that are part of the Butter line. They seem to have a nice balance of neutral and color, but I will be skipping only because I don't know what the formula is like (of the butter ones) and I don't need any of the colors.

5. Christmas palettes- ones that feature green and red. So far, Give Me Glow, Linda Hallberg, and Pat McGrath Labs all have these types, but as festive as they are, I would be the type of person to enjoy them during the holiday, and then move on to something else when the festivities are over. The nice thing about the Give Me Glow Christmas Morning Palette is that you can take the shadows out, and replace them as needed, which is useful. I am also obsessed with silver for some reason, and need it on my eyelids, so if Give Me Glow can sell Santa's Sleigh as a single I would be much obliged.

6. Finally, we'll end with a very general overview of whatever the hell Colourpop is doing. Their release reminds me of the Fairy Oddparents episode where Timmy accidentally released all the Anti-Fairies into the world. Yes, Colourpop's swarm of supershock shadows are, in my mind, anti-fairies. I have no doubt that the colors and quality are good- I've read plenty of reviews. But when a release is so numerous and massive, I have no recourse but to just ignore it. I'm the type of person to just buy something when I am looking for something specific, so if CP has that, then fine. But they don't now. Is there is a reason why Colourpop is not selling a silver pressed shadow? We need to talk, CP. Don't be an anti-fairy.

Okay, I did not mean for this post to be so rambly. There is plenty I missed, like a Pizza Palette, but honestly if I don't see the potential in it, I am not going to post about it.

P.S. If I do get gift money for Christmas this year, a small little part of me is debating whether I should get a Pat McGrath palette. I know that would be super ridiculous. I know. But still....

Okay, now I'm going. Thanks for reading.

What I Wore on my Face Today

Today a couple of weird events unfolded. Rather than get into all of them, one of them I will comment on- my eyeshadow choices.

There was a choice, yes, but one I thought I'd only make when I am channeling old Hollywood glamour (imagine I rolled the rrrs here) - grey eyeshadow.

What I was going for was some kind of sultry look with minimal(ish) color and shadow.

So. I am not a huge fan of this picture because you don't see the front of my eyes and the blending going on there. Whatever. I went in with a light grey matte from a Covergirl Quad, and then I used Nabla Wild Child in the crease, outer corner, and the lid. I finally took a dark grey almost matte black from the BH Cosmetics Zodiac palette in the outer corner.

I used to be afraid of grey shadow. But now I really like the idea of it, and how grey can look like a natural shadow on the face.

What else? The highlight is a mix. I first applied (with a light hand) Mac Snowflushed, and then over that I used Wet 'n Wild The Sweetest Bling, a pale cool-toned pink.

Would I do this look again? Yeah, I would! Though I love shimmers and different colors, there is something classic about a grey smokey situation that I would replicate.

To be "fun" though, I would pair the Nabla shadow with a Nabla highlighter. I have the shade Millennium-  technically an eyeshadow- but I would use it on my face. I think that would be neat.

Other than that, nothing of real importance to note. I am doing terribly with my shopping my lip stash challenge so far....

Thanks for reading!

What's In My Eyeshadow Z-Palettes?

Currently I have three z-palettes in my collection of different sizes. For a while I used my Coastal Scents 12-pan palette as my "weekly" palette, with the other two with no other specific purpose. I decided to change things up a bit, for my own ease of use. 

Let me show you what I ended up with!

My large z-palette ended up being my favorite, visually. It contains my neutral shimmer singles, as well as non-neutral mattes. 

From left to right (top to bottom), we have:

Stila Kitten, CR Crown, ABH Soft Gold, CP 20-Something

BH Cosmetics shimmers (x3), CR Your Majesty, CR Your Highness

ABH Amber, ABH Topaz

Looxi Pumpkin Spice Life, CR Ladyship, DoC Blueberry Swirl, CP Howlin'

Vanessa's Vanity Tangy Dijon, Mac Chrome Yellow, BH Cosmetics Neon Yellow Green, Looxi Green Apple, CP Team Captain

CS Tangelo Tint, CR Empress, CP Lay Low, CP Making Moves, CS Baked Clay

CS Oatmeal Tan, CR Royal Prerogative, CR Duchess, ABH Fudge, DoC Hot Fudge

Next, we have the Coastal Scents palette, which I decided to put my more "special" shadows, which are duochromes. From top to bottom and left to right, we have:

CP Prowlin', Looxi Charmed, Fyrinnae Serendipity

Ardency Inn Rose Gold, CP Glass Bull, Looxi Bohemian

Fyrinnae Rapunzel Had Extensions, Looxi Bouhee, CP Chauffeur

Looxi Dollface, Looxi Tesla, Looxi Mirage

Last is my palette of "essential" neutral/crease/transition shades, aka "my boring palette." These are shades that I would pair with the ones in my other palettes.  A good chunk of this palette is comprised of the mattes from the Zodiac palette from BH Cosmetics. The mattes are excellent, but I was not a fan of the packaging- it really was cumbersome to use, especially in the morning.

So, anyway, let's go ahead with me doing my best to break down the shades in this palette:

The large gray pan is Nabla Wild Child, a great way to shadow the eyes. As I mentioned before, the longer, thinner rectangular pans are the BH mattes. The pink square pan is an Inglot matte. 

Then, we have CS Pumpkin Pie, CR Princess, DoC Cone

CP Hear Me Out, Looxi Durty, CR Heir

Wet 'n Wild Brulee, DoC Berries 'n Cream, and CR Angel Face

Thoughts:

I do like the choices I have given myself here, and that I feel like there is greater thought to the placement of all the pressed single shadows (63) I have. 

How does this compare to your own organization style? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!

Shop My Stash: Lip Products

Though I am no means a lipstick/lip product collector, I have ended up with far more lip products than one could ever need. That being said, I am pretty terrible about remembering to use them. Typically, I apply a lip product with color before I leave the house, and then just use lip balm for the rest of the day.

I would like to get more use out of my lip products. So I picked four out of my stash to remember to use this week.

Here they are:

 We have:

1.) A NYX liquid lipstick/gloss thing from their Steampunk collection in the shade Ignite

2.) A Stila balm in the shade Grayson

3.) A Hard Candy lipstick in the shade Nudist

4.) Maybelline Shine Compulsion lipstick in Taupe Seduction.

I also swatched them below, but not in that order.

Below, the first shade swatched is Taupe Seduction. I bought this because I am a lover of all things taupe, even if this particular shade is incredibly rosy/mauve. It is incredibly glossy, and I am hoping it will be a bit moisturizing. I have used it a bit, but not have used it long-term.

The second shade swatched is Nudist. These lipsticks from Hard Candy have a really nice formula, albeit a bit too soft. Still, I think it's an excellent color and formula, and I do feel it is a bit moisturizing.

The third "swatch" barely appeared because it is so sheer. Grayson is a gray-tinted, minty lip balm that actually works well underneath under colors as a way to cool them down. By itself, you do get a hint of gray, but only a hint.

Lastly, I'm a little intimidated by this product from NYX, in the shade Ignite. Aside from the fact NYX was borrowing heavily from Fenty's hexagonal designs, the applicator on this gloss dispenses way too much product, if you're not careful. This gloss is extremely pigmented, slightly minty, and has a great color. I feel like I was not being careful enough with it in the past, which resulted in the product getting on my teeth. I am not a fan of the level of care I am supposed to use when applying this product, but it really is an interesting product I want to get an actual full day's use of.

A testament to how pigmented Ignite is is how it blends out, compared to the other lip products (excluding Grayson). Each swatch was pretty much even, but Ignite just would not fade.

I am intrigued to see how this week will go and will follow up with my thoughts.

Thanks for reading!