Tag Archives: eye make up

Eye make-up look challenge: purple and green

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click to enlarge

This week I have tried what is described in the book as a “jewelled” look with purple and green. Mine didn’t turn out that jewel-like, maybe I need some extra shimmer eyeshadow (mental note!) to get extra sparkling effect…. Anyway…

I love the contrast between purple and green, always been a big fan of the combination (when I was very young I had a lime green and purple bikini!) so this really appealed to me. I manage to get very close to the result in the book (minus the super shimmer), and it took me less than 10 minutes per eye to achieve! The secret is wetting the eyeshadow, so you get extra bright colour.

A fun eye make-up look, to add a splash of colour to a black number, to compliment a purple or green one or even colour clash! For me, this is quite a versatile look, as I could easily have interchanged colours. Bearing in mind it was very quick, I see as a definite winner!

Products I used:

  • MAC eyeshadow in Expensive Pink
  • Sephora palette eyeshadows in different purple and green shades
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • Smashbox Photo Op Under eye brightener
  • E.L.F. eyelid primer in Sheer
  • Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara
  • MAC eye kohl in Smoulder
  • MAC brushes 208, 217, 219, 227, 231, 239 (eyes) and 167SE (face)
  • MAC eyebrow set (discontinued)

Level of difficulty:

Eye make-up look challenge: black and gold

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black and gold eye make up look

click to enlarge

I am very excited to be posting my very first eye make-up look challenge!

After considering my “menu”, I decided to kick off with slightly something different, dare I say, rather dramatic, although quite simple: a gold base with shadowy, geometrical black outline.

I really enjoyed the effect when the eye is closed. Now, I am not sure how much I like the pokey line once my eyes are open (which will be most of the time, right?!). As mentioned on the book, you must have perfectly plucked and groomed eyebrows if you are wearing this look, otherwise it can appear very  messy. I also think it would look great with some false eye lashes!

I really enjoyed doing it, and would maybe consider for some occasions.  I had a little bit of a problem with the line that pokes out, I drew it with the MAC’s 212 brush and shaded with the 231, after a failed attempt; it is quite hard to get the definition needed for the contrast.

Products I used:

Level of difficulty:

So, what did you think of the look? Would you wear it?

Find out what the rating means.

Eye make-up look challenge 2012

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A while back, I bought a great make up book, Rae Morris’ Makeup: The ultimate guide, which is packed with make up technique explainers and great tips in general. Although the whole book is fabulous, the highlight for me is the eye make-up looks it teaches you to re-create, step by step.

I am a big fan of make-up in general, but crazy about eye make-up and all my life, I favoured big (really, really reeeeally big and  heavy) eyes and just lipgloss. Having fallen in love with red lipstick didn’t quite go with my love of over the top, colourful eye make up, so lately I’ve been sticking to eyeliner with flick, discreet neutrals and to go out, black smokey, sometimes with some variations using a small splash of colour to blend.

This book has, in  away, inspired me to try some different looks for a few reasons: a need to fuel my passion for outrageous eye make up looks; the eagerness to learn new techniques and  ultimately, put the explanation to the test and find out  how easy (or not) it is to achieve the look on each step by step “tutorial”.

I will be trying some of the looks on the book, but also any I spot somewhere else or create myself. The first look will be coming very soon, so stay tuned.

To rate my tentatives, you will find one of this icons on each post:

Easy – pretty straight forward and not too time consuming to achieve look similar to instructions.

Medium – a bit of technique or trial+failure until I achieved look similar to instructions.

Hard – a lot of technique or trial+failure until achieved look similar to instructions.

Product review: New eyeliners head-to-head

Until a couple weeks ago, I had been lining my eyes in three different ways, depending on my mood, time and desired effect: by using eye shadow (MAC Carbon) or gel eyeliner (MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack) and a small angle brush or using an eyeliner (MAC Smoulder eye kohl).

Recently I came across a few products and decided to give them a go – and test which one delivered best results, in terms of ease of application, effect and durability.

Collection 2000 EXTREME 24 HOUR FELT TIP LINER - Dani DutraThe Collection 200o Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner in black really caught my attention – it is unassuming, looks like a normal felt tip and the idea is really good: a pen with which you can draw your eye liner.

Having 24-hour on the label made me a bit nervous – what if I messed up and it was stuck on my face for a whole day? So it took me a couple weeks after buying to try. I was pleasantly surprised with the results; my first application was easy, the pen glides nicely on the eye lid and it is really precise. You can create nice jet black thin lines with it, and a perfect flick.

Other times it was harder, the line wasn’t perfect, but it was easily fixable with a moist cotton bud. After it dries, it really sticks, and removal requires quite a bit of scrubbing! It lasted well, when I returned home after work, it was still present, my eyes looked well lined and it didn’t run, although it was bit faded. I can see it being very useful to fill out the line after applying false eye lashes!

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner 24hr - Dani DutraThe other product I tried- and loved – is the Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama gel liner, in blackest black. I really like that it comes with a brush, and the combo works really well; the gel is smooth and glides nicely, the little brush is a great size for the make up bag and is hard enough to be good for thin and wider lines, and it really, really lasts. After a whole day at work, including a trip to the gym, the line still looked impeccable! I was very impressed!

ELF Waterproof Eyeliner Pen - Dani DutraThe third product I tried is quite similar to the first one: the Elf waterproof eyeliner pen. I felt that, although the tip was finer, thus enabling you to create extremely fine lines, there didn’t seem to be enough ink coming out, it was quite dry, I had to rub it really hard and go over the line again and again losing precision, and the final result was still faded. I took pictures, but re-touched with the Collection 2000 liner to make it proper. A shame, as the Elf product is only £1.50,was really expecting one of those “amazing finds” moments! I didn’t do an “after” shot, as I had another liner over it.

For the time being, I’ve laid off my old ways and I am alternating between two of the new discoveries. I am divided between the Maybelline and the Collection 2000. The first one has amazing staying power, and the second is so easy to apply it is almost ridiculous! However, the Collection 2000 might just edge the Maybelline (£7.99) one for its price: £2.99, which is unbelievable value for this product!

What about you? What is your favourite eye liner?

My staple make up brushes

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There was a time in my life I used to apply make up with my hands, and use shapeless foam applicators for my eye shadow. I was fifteen and those days are well and truly over.

Discovering make up brushes opened a whole new world of make up for me: they make application even, save product and are the tools that give me precision to create great make up and truly enhance my features. I then became brush-crazy and started slowly building up a collection.

All my brushes are from MAC; after having had bad brushes before, theirs was the first good brush I got that made a difference, so I stuck with them! I have about 17 brushes for face, eye and lip make up, but there are 10 of them I cannot live without and I use on a daily basis:

Face

190 Foundation brush – Really changed my life! Applies evenly, makes a small amount of foundation go a long way!

187 Duo Fibre brush – I love to use it to buff blusher and bronzer, sometimes I use it for foundation too.

129 Powder brush –  I use it for powder application and bronzer – I really love this brush!

168 Large Angled contour brush– I use this one mainly for blusher, applying on the apples of my cheek, but also under the cheekbone, to give contour that makes your face really stand out!

eye and lip

318 Retractable lip brush – I love this brush, I can really see the difference on lipstick applied with a brush, especially if they are red or other dark colour! 

208 Angled brow brush – another one I love, and use it to fill my eyebrows, which have a lovely shape, but are a bit sparse. Its hard bristles really get in there!

231 Small shader brush – Great for shading lines, but also for applying eye shadow as eye liner when a smokey effect is desired!

217 Blending brush – One of my favourites, this brush is made to go in your crease and blend – I love creating smokey eyes with it!!!

263 Small angle brush – Great for liners – super handy for corners!

239 Eye shader brush– I use this everyday, to apply eye shadow evenly on the lid.

Most of them come from brush bags MAC launches every year, mainly around Christmas, others I replaced by the full sized (and full priced!) brush or bought after seeing it being used on me during a make over at MAC. I do prefer the smaller special editions ones, as it is easier to carry them in my make up bag.

I usually clean them with brush cleaner (I’ve been using the MAC one, and I am very happy with it, it lasted a long time!) and warm soapy (or even detergent!) water. A good trick I read about, on my make up bible Make Up: The Ultimate Guide, by Rae Morris, is to use a white plate and rub the brush on it, until you can see the water running clear, so that you know your brush is clean! Good tip!

Some of them have been stained by pigments, others, have seen better days and I am looking forward to buying one of their sets soon to replace the oldies!

What about you? Do you have favourite brushes and brands?

Product review: Studio eye pencil set

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I have more eye make up that I could possibly wear in my lifetime, even if I were a spider, with eight blinkers. Still, in my world you can never have too much of (almost) anything so I could not resist when I came across this 7 eye pencil set by Studio, in Superdrug.

Usually, I am a bit sceptic about cheap make up, especially those in a “Christmas gift pack”, as I’ve had plenty disappointment in the past with poor pigmentation and durability. For £6.99 (and also part of their buy 3 for 2), it sounded like too good a deal to overlook, as it is less than £1 per pencil and the colours were appealing basics.

Just to have an idea of how good (or not) they were, I tried it at home one night, after work, pretty much on top of my worn out, basic day eye make up.

The pencils are really soft and the colours really bright, even though they are not super solid when on the eye, and the shimmery ones reflect light well. I also like that the colour have rather cute names, such as “silver moonbeam”. Application was easy, the pencils glide smoothly on the lid, and following the instructions inside the box to emulate the suggested design was quite easy, taking me well under ten minutes (even though the photo on the cover of the pack is definitely not done with the pencils in question) . The green and blue colour seem to mix quite a bit, and although when side by side they are quite similar, separately they are distinctive.

Durability was standard – I went on doing my usual things at home, and it seem to stay put, but losing intensity quite rapidly. I tend to think that if I had prepped my lids properly, as I do before applying make up to go out, they would have held better. Still to see if it passes the “night out” test.

I also used the green one to draw on my face, as a pumpkin stalk coming out of my orange eye make up for Halloween, and application was easy and it lasted well.

Overall, a pleasant surprise;  a good purchase that won’t break the bank with a very versatile colour range. I found great it also came with the eye-opening basic white pencil and the classic black, which are always welcome in any make up bag. Dare I say, the black is quite close to my current MAC black liner (Smoulder Eye Kohl),  and even though it is not a like-for-like swap (the MAC one is, in my view, far superior in quite a few aspects), it seems to be an acceptable budget alternative.

I might check out more of the Studio products available at Superdrug, they have a Eye Create Large Look Book (£9.99) and  a Lash Set (£14.99) I quite fancy!

Product review: YSL Volume Effet Faux-Cils mascara

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YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils mascaraI have been using Maybelline mascaras for quite sometime now, and I find them so good that it was love at first brushing – I forgot all about my long-standing affair with the Lancome ones.

When faced with the opportunity to get the Yves Saint Laurent Volume Effet Faux-Cils mascara, I did so almost reluctantly, as I was very happy with my Falsies.

It had been sitting in my make up drawer for months, unopened and unused, so I decided it was high time to crack it open, and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils mascara brushIt does indeed give you volume, good separation and length; even though the brush is quite bushy, it doesn’t clump. It has a surprisingly nice smell (had never seen a mascara with a slight fragrance!)  and the tub is lush (although I keep confusing it with my Touche Eclat!)

Even after rubbing my watery eyes  for most of the day (the computer screen is really irritating them, as I left my glasses at home) the mascara seems to hold well, and best of all, I didn’t turn into a panda. This means it has good staying power, and even after a long day at work, simply washing your face with a good face wash won’t do, so an efficient eye make up remover is a must.

eyes with and without YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils mascara

I really like this mascara, but will this be enough for me to leave my beloved Maybelline Falsies behind? Probably not, as value for money is greater with the Falsies (£8.19) and the difference in results is little or none, but this YSL (£22.00) definitely has a deserving place in my heart – and my make up bag!