Tag Archives: Smashbox

Eye make-up look challenge – purple and gold

This week I am trying something a bit more elaborate.  A great friend of mine, Gisele, is doing a make up course in Brazil. She posts her practice eye make up and I decided to choose one and do my own version. I used the similar colours but made some changes and ended up with something a bit more dramatic and less subtle.

I started by applying a primer, then spreaded the gold pigment across the lid.  Using a pencil brush, I outlined the shape with the purple shadow, blending the line closer to the inner corner into the gold and filling the shape at the outer corner.  I added a couple of shades of purple to give it depth . I then blended the purple into the gold. The pigment was quite thick, so kinda “contaminated” the purple, it goes everywhere, so the purple became less intense! Eyeliner was applied, with an exaggerated flick on the outer as well as in the inner corner, creating a slick line.

TO get to this point everything was really smooth, and quicker than I thought. The final touches, however, took a while. I then applied eyeliner to my water and lower lash line, creating a very long flick, and applied some gold from the inner corner.  Finally, I put some supra colour cream to fill the gap between the top and bottom lines  flicks. Pigment was added to the brow bone for highlighting.

I had problems with my false eyelashes;  this set was a new one I tried, and it was quite cheap, it was quite stiff to mould around the lash line. Plus, I couldn’t find my duo glue and used something else, it didn’t go in properly, so  i removed the lashes and took ages looking for my glue. Found it, but my patience was gone. Then lash wouldn’t sit well, and I had to re-touch the liner, and it is a bit thick. So my lash application was far from perfect and I apologise for that, but I couldn’t deal with it anymore.

However,  I was pleased with the results, and see many colour combinations working with this one. It is quite exaggerated, and I am not sure I would wear it out anywhere, but I liked the end result it. It was particularly good training defined shapes and lining techniques. And learning to always go for good quality eyelashes – mind you, I have applied those in four friends (I bought one of those packs with ten pairs) and managed to do it beautifully; it is only when applying on myself.

Products I used:

  • NYX loose pearl powder in Oro
  • Lancome purple eyeshadow (sorry, I cannot read the name!)
  • Coastal Scents purple eyeshadow from the 88 original palette
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • NYX eyeshadow base in pearl
  • Smashbox Photo-op under eye brightener
  • Maybelline One by One volum xpress mascara
  • Kryolan supracolour in copper
  • Maybelline Studio gel liner and its brush
  • Duo waterproof eyelash glue
  • MAC brushes 208, 211, 219, 231, 239 and 275
  • A cheap pair of eyelashes (which I may avoid in the future!)

Level of difficulty:

Eye make up challenge: lilac

I really like lilacs and lavenders on my eyes. It is a great colour for brown eyes and a great trick for the morning after that heavy night – it really helps brighten up tired peepers.

This is a look I find quite discrete, although the darker line gives it a little something of “special” occasion to it.

I first applied a primer and a light eye shadow on the brow bone, inner corner of the eye and halfway the lower lash line, from the inner corner. I swept the lilac across the lid generously and applied plain white eyeshadow just in the middle of the lid, for extra luminosity.

Then I drew the line following slightly above my eye socket with a darker shadow using a pencil brush, then blending it with a small shader brush. I also used this brush to apply the darker shade on my lower lash line, one-third from the outer corner and on the upper lash line, just below half from the outer corner too.

To finish off the look, I applied mascara and a set of lashes and put some light coloured pigment on my brow bone topped off with some sparkle.

Quite an easy look to achieve, it looks very pretty and, in my opinion, not too over the top.

Products I used:

  • MAC lilac eyeshadow in Beautiful Iris
  • Lancome Ombre Absolute eyeshadow in Black Blue
  • Sephora white eyeshadow from palette
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • MAC eyelashes 33
  • Duo eyelash waterproof glue
  • ELF eyelid primer
  • Kryolan Glamour Sparks in golden
  • MAC brushes 208, 219, 231, 239 and 212
  • Smashbox Photo op under eye brightener
  • MAC eyebrow set (discontinued)
  • Maybelline One by one volum’ express mascara

Level of difficulty:

Eye make-up look challenge: white and gold

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

This week I tried to re-create this quite minimalist white and gold eyes. They are meant to be a techno-chic kinda look; to me, they look a bit futuristic and frosted. Kept thinking I should be using light blue and silver instead of gold, for a snow queen look!

I am not sure in which occasion I would, if I wore to go out with this eye make up. I quite like the white “line” in the middle,  there is plenty of shimmer, and when you close you eyes, it looks very pretty and quite unusual.

Instead of using gold leaves, I used Kryolan’s Supracolour from the Charles H. Fox shop in Covent Garden, so even though my look was quite close to the one in the book, the finish was much smoother, as Supracolour is a paste-like product.
The lashes were meant to be quite clumped, but I don’t like that look very much,  so I just clumped it a little bit.  This look is, overall, quite easy to achieve.

Products I used:

  • Charles H. Fox Kryolan Supracolour metallic in gold;
  • Eyeshadow from Sephora pallete (white and shimmery light gold)
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • Smashbox Photo Op Under eye brightener;
  • Studio eye pencil in Winter white
  • E.L.F. eyelid primer in Sheer
  • Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara
  • MAC brushes 208, 231, 239 and 263
  • MAC eyebrow set (discontinued)

Level of difficulty:

Eye make-up look challenge: purple and green

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

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:

Smashbox freebies

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

Smashbox productsAfter much procrastination to commit, I decided to subscribed to some magazines.  One of them, Elle, has sent me a Smashbox make up set as a welcoming gift.

I am very sceptical about things that come free – I have been terribly disappointed in the past – so I opened the envelope with an anticipated dissatisfaction.

I would love to say that I was proven wrong and started vehemently believing in free stuff – this is not the case, but I  can say I was pleasantly surprised with the goods I received: O-Gloss Gold, Photo Op brightener and Soft Effects Powder Eyeliner, in aubergine.

Smashbox eyeliner

My favourite one is probably the eyeliner. When I saw the “aubergine” colour, I was a bit annoyed and thought: “typical, they never give you a great staple, like black, for free!”, but it turns out that it is quite dark, and close enough to be worn as an option to black.

For me, the best use was to recycle my eyeliner, I tried it on top of my reliable albeit very tired after a long day at the office,  MAC smolder eye kohl and it looked fantastic. In the morning though, when applied on fresh eyes, it was a bit messy, as it is very loose and fine powder, and the line was a bit rough – but maybe I need to get used to the applicator. Once you get it right (it took me a few minutes,  a cotton bud and a foundation retouch below the eyes!), it looked ok.

Smashbox lipgloss

The lipgloss did what it said on the tin – it changed from a guilded gold to a peachy tone and apparently, the peach colour of this intuitive lipgloss adjusts to your skin, giving you the best match for your complexion. Lips looked nice, the colour was good for me, I really like the golden sheen and the consistency and taste of the lipgloss were alright.

As for the highlighter, it was satisfactory, but not better than my usual Benefit High Beam or my YSL Touché Eclat.

All in all, I can say that I probably wouldn’t buy them. Maybe I could give the eyeliner a go but the £17 price tag for the duo (the black is paired with the aubergine), makes me think if it is really worth it. Good to try new brands and products though, and what I will probably do is use its applicator with other eyeshadows, as quite like the idea behind it, and see how it goes!