makeupbox:

Great Green Shadows for Summer 2012

I have to admit I don’t often wear green on a day-to-day basis because it tends to be such an obvious and dramatic shade, compared to pinks and purples. However, I do have some in my collection that I will pull out on occasion because they are so absolutely beautiful. 

Here are some of my favorites right now. (I did not include teal or blue-green shades in this line-up as those deserve a separate listing by themselves!)

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Neutral/Smoky Greens

• MAC Green Brown pigment - This hard-to-locate duochrome pigment is similar to Blue Brown but definitely not the same. It’s sold only in Pro stores, and has a golden-green sheen and a lighter, more orange base. TKB Trading has a mica called Dragonfly which is the same thing but being discontinued. MAC Club, Urban Decay Lounge and other similar duochrome shades are actually dupes of Blue Brown, NOT Green Brown, which is a lot more golden-toned. See it in action here.
• L’oreal Permanent Kaki - I LOVE this metallic sage green, and I think you should at least try it before L’oreal does what it always does and phases the Infallible shadows out one day. See it in action here.
• MAC Sumptuous Olive - This is an antique-bronze metallic shade in the Veluxe Pearl range, and a perfect cross between green and brown. You can wear it in place of any neutral and it can look both subtle and dramatic. Great if you don’t like or don’t want obvious color on your eyes. See it in action here.
• I Nuovi Cat’s Eye: For the Drama Mamas out there, this is like MAC Beauty Marked if you replace the red sparkles with a rich emerald green. This is not just a great liner shade because of its matte black base, but also fabulous all over for an intense smoky eye. (No tutorial available for this, sorry!)

Light/Bright Greens

• Lime Crime Seahorse Discourse - This golden acid green is as bright as I will go. Seahorse Discourse is part of the Aquataenia Mermaid Palette, and a pretty satin lime shade. It’s similar to MAC Bitter but more pigmented and with a soft pearl sheen instead of being matte. (No tutorial available yet!)
• The Body Shop 44 Golden Meadow - GORGEOUS soft green and gold duochrome. This shade is like MAC Golden Olive, but more subtle and rich, with a slightly cooler base tone. The texture is also really creamy and pigmented due to the Marula Nut Oil content. See it in action here!
• The Body Shop 08 Shimmer - This is not part of the regular shadow line although it’s usually on the racks alongside them. This is a translucent shadow that shifts to a glowing green in the light. You can layer this over ANY shadow to give it a green sheen, similar to this look. If you can’t locate Green Brown, I also suggest you get this and layer it over a medium matte brown. Barry M has an equivalent Dazzle Dust called Iridescent Green as well.
• MAC Lustreleaf - Yes, it’s that icky gritty Lustre formula and trying to get nice pigmentation with it is like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. BUT apply this with a dampened brush and see how it becomes this intense, BEAUTIFUL silver-mint green, like in the swatch above. (No tutorial with this currently!)

drugstoreprincess:

(Requested by several; please excuse my poor photography skills, as this was done hastily)

I can’t get the pictures to orientate the correct way, I’m so sorry haha.

This palette is originally $36, and is well worth the money. Currently you can find it on Hautelook for 50% off, at $18

The…

ameliabutter:

yeah! good look!

powderdoom:

manwigs:

me acting silly

My friends are so pretty & talented look look look

makeupbox:

Evergreen Metallic Winged Eyes (L’oreal Color Infallible Shadows in Permanent Kaki and Endless Chocolat)

Note: US color names vary; check out “Golden Sage Green” and “Continuous Cocoa”.

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Time to whip out some of my drugstore loves, after the recent features of high-end products!

Since I’ve been on something of a green kick recently, L’oreal Color Infallible Shadow Permanent Kaki (which had up to now been passed over repeatedly when I played around with the testers at the drugstore) suddenly caught my eye.

Now, let me first tell you not to trust what you see in the pot. The beauty of this beautifully-metallic sage-green gem only comes out when swatched on the skin.

You can wear this shade on its own as a soft wash as it’s got some good dimension to it, but I wanted more contrast, so I’m pairing it with the rich chocolate shade in the range. (Once again, this brown looks a little red in the pot, but goes on a perfect neutral dark cocoa when swatched.)

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Step 1: Because the best way to pack this binder-rich shadow (it’s somewhere between a loose pigment and a cream) is to use your fingers, work it on gently in the outer 1/3 of your lids, going up just to the socket line but no further.

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Step 2: This is where a brush comes in. Take a fluffy brush and quickly start blending the brown straight outwards into a wing. The binders in this shadow will set after awhile, so the faster you work, the easier it will be to blend.

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Step 3: Using a flat brush, apply the brown to the lower lash line as well, pulling it out to meet the bottom of the wing.

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Step 4: With your finger, carefully dab some shadow onto the inner corners. I’d usually use a brush for precision, but because it doesn’t go on well with a brush, I used my hands. Just be very careful not to smudge any shadow all over.

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Step 5: The star of the show is the green, but you won’t need to use that much of it. I just gently patted it around the center of the lids and outwards lightly into the brown. Don’t rub back and forth or you will muddy up the green and the brown. You want the green to stay very rich and “pure”.

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Step 6: Don’t forget to dab a little onto the center of your lower lids as well, BUT if you have very prominent bags under your eyes, you might want to skip this, as applying a lighter shade in the center of the lid emphasizes contours more.

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Step 7: For a touch more drama (but not too much), I applied natural-hair lashes (Ardell Wispies).

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On the nails: China Glaze Lemon Fizz

makeupbox:

Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color (Crush and Lovechild swatches and Review)

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I was recently gifted two of the new Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Colors by some wonderful friends at work, and I’ve got to say - these are so fun. 

They picked out the only two that did not contain frost or sparkles (good choice, J), along with some other things I’ll write about soon. 

• Lovechild - Muted mauve that’s almost an MLBB (My Lips But Better) shade. I hear it’s already sold out at some Sephoras in Singapore.
• Crush - Traffic-stopping, saturated hot pink creme

Format / Packaging

These lipsticks come in chubby-stick form, like fat pencils, and contain 2.8g (0.10 oz)of product each, which is slightly less than a typical lipstick (0.12 - 0.13 oz usually).

They aren’t twist-up, so you will have to sharpen them once the nubs are worn down.

Texture

Lightweight compared to most lipsticks and very much like lip balms. These aren’t as soft and smushy as I would have expected. They’re firm like regular lipsticks and easy to apply, and there isn’t much of a scent that I can detect or notice after application.

In fact, they are quite similar in consistency to MAC Casual Color Lip and Cheek Colors, but in pencil form so you can slip them into a bag or a pocket and not worry about things melting or breaking easily. 

Appearance / Consistency

These go on medium-sheer, but you can build up the color very easily for more opacity. Many chubby-sticks look like weak, tinted balms, but these definitely don’t. It might be a bit of a stretch to call them “super-saturated” despite the name though. They aren’t all that saturated compared to most lipsticks.

Shine-wise, don’t be too surprised or disappointed if they don’t look shiny when just applied. The formula causes the product to stay firm at room temperature. A minute or so after application, the heat of your lips will melt it and bring out a soft, glossy sheen.

Wear / Tenacity

Quite good. I could wear these for 3-4 hours without touching up. The problem is that these are so light and balm-like that I tended to forget I had anything on my lips at all, and just chewed/licked/smeared everything off within 1-2 hours. 

They definitely keep their original appearance better than tints or stains, which either fade or lose their sheen quickly, but because it’s quite creamy, you can’t expect them to stay on like matte or long-wearing glosses and lipsticks.

Price

Honestly, not cheap at US$19. Especially if you consider that these contain less product than the typical lipstick, and that you will always lose some product when you shave them with a sharpener. 

One thing UD can do to improve these would be to make them in a twist-up format so there is minimal waste. (Then again, if they do that, I expect they will just pass the extra cost to the consumers by charging us more for each stick.)

Verdict?

If you love the texture and finishes of MAC Casual Color pots, but don’t like dipping your fingers in or bringing a lip brush around, then these would be a good alternative. 

I have not tried any of the Revlon Balm Stains (the local drugstores need to bring these things in faster!) so I can’t do a comparison, but from what I’ve seen, the UD Lip Colors will be much more opaque and intense, and won’t provide that stain effect. 

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Note: Urban Decay cosmetics are vegan and cruelty-free.