Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Ah, eyeshadow primer…
If you have trubs getting your shadows to stay where they belong, the answer might be an Enigma, as in Urban Decay’s new limited edition Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Enigma ($20).
Today I’m wearing this creamy cool matte for the very first time.
WARNING: lots of bare-faced action and crazy-pants hair ahead!
As always, thank you for watching. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
See, this is how they get ya — cold, hard numbers, baby.
When you run the numbers, $85 for each of the two new MAC Eye Shadow X 15 palettes sounds beyond reasonable — and not just reasonable, but actually wise. Considering that a Pro Palette Insert ($2), an empty Pro Palette ($8) and 15 individual shadow pan refills ($150) would set you back $160, $85 is a steal!
At least that’s what I plan to tell my husband when I go to Nordstrom later this week to “take a look” at another 15-pan MAC palette, this one recently released and filled with some of the brand’s bestselling shades (codename: Nordstrom Naturals).
“But, babe!” I’ll tell him, “It’s basically half off. I’m doing this for the good of the family.” 🙂
Something tells me I’ll be met with rolling eyes and a sigh, but whatevs.
So, these two palettes — Warm Neutral and Cool Neutral — I can’t even think about them without feeling a little gooey inside. Filled with a mix of perennial permanent collection faves and limited edition colors, they’re the two new Eye Shadow X 15 palettes from the Eyes on MAC collection, and they’re available now at MAC stores and online.
If they look familiar, gold star! You might remember them from last year. They’re essentially re-promotes of those palettes, so you may already have them.
If not, this could be a good time to pounce, and not just because the palettes are a pretty good value (the pans are the same size as MAC’s full-size 0.05-oz. refills). They’re also a good way to quickly build up your collection of MAC workhorse shades, as both of them are bristling with useful, everyday neutrals that never go out of style.
But which one? — that’s the million-dollar question.
Well, what kind of colors do you currently wear? Do you wear more cool grays, pinks and silvers, or more warm, buttery coppers and golds?
Some other things to consider…
Overall, the colors in the Cool palette seem less pigmented than the colors in the Warm palette, at least on my NC 42 skin, and I find myself building them up in layers (especially Flounce, Sweet Allure, Pick Me Up and Cozy Grey).
The Cool Neutrals seem like they’d be better suited for paler skin tones rather than deep. For that reason I haven’t been reaching for it as much as the Warm Palette.
The Warm one’s shadows pack more pigment than the Cools, and the palette has several shades that I know I can wear every day…for the next three lifetimes (like Saddle, Brule and Amber Lights).
And then there’s Honey Lust — in this case, the dicey shade. It’s definitely a chunky monkey, I know, but that’s just the way it goes with Honey Lust. Whenever I wear it, I use a wet brush, and/or gently pat it on my lids with a flat brush. Be patient, and try not to sweep it, lest you end up with shadow all over the place. It can be worth the effort, though. Honey Lust can look really beautiful when it’s packed on the lids.
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Just a quick look and some thoughts on the new 15-pan Warm Neutral and Cool Neutral X 15 eye palettes from the Eyes on MAC collection (both are available now for $85 each).
More pics and swatches coming soon.
As always, thank you for watching. I hope you’re having a spectacular day so far. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
MAC’s new Haute & Naughty Waterproof Lash mascara ($22) made it through the “AVOID EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS” dates on my calendar with flying colors, so it’s alright by me.
Yes…there really is a 10-day block of time highlighted in red on the calendar that I share with El Hub, and there really is a note on it (in all caps) that says, “AVOID EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS.”
I consider it a courtesy alert for my husband, so that he knows to prepare for possible PMS-induced mood swings, and thus stay outta my way…lest he suffer the consequences.
Haha! Kidding. 🙂
Kind of.
OK, not really.
I’ll be going along, doop-da-doo, happy as a lark with a clam, until out of nowhere — BOOM! — I’ll see a commercial about adoptable kittens or read a sad story on Facebook, and just like that, I’ll start crying.
Hence the need for waterproof mascara like Haute & Naughty Waterproof Lash.
Like the other day, I was thinking about the first time I met Tabs (it was about eight years ago) when it occurred to me that he’s not going to be around forever…
*sniffs*
I burst into tears! My baby cat is getting older. 🙁
Waterproof Lash is MAC’s latest addition to their Haute & Naughty Lash mascara line, and it’s available in a single shade, a deep glossy black called Shockproof.
Like MAC’s other Haute & Naughty line mascaras, depending on how you twist off the cap, you can load the brush in one of two ways, with either more (in this case, twisting it off from the sparkly section) or less (twisting it off from the dark blue section) product. Load the brush with extra product for thicker, fuller lashes, or with less product for less volume, but better length and lots o’ separation.
I like to create a lash cocktail, starting with two layers for length and separation, followed by a final layer with the thicker application to add some drama for yo’ mama.
The result is noticeable, but not cray (no spider lashes!), criss-crossing lashes with fullness at the base.
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Sometimes when I hold this tube in my hand, I feel the need to pinch myself.
Is it real? I wonder, giddy with excitement, or is it a makeup mirage?
Perhaps that’s being overdramatic (what, me overdramatic??), but seriously, dude, it feels like I’ve been searching for this little pink tube FOREVER.
Or, you know, like two months.
It’s just that every single time I’ve looked for it at Ulta or Sephora, it’s never been in stock. The shelf where neat little boxes of Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer should have been, has always been as empty as a ghost town.
[Cue tumbleweeds rolling by]
I know I could’ve tried to order it online, but tracking it down in a store actually became a weird personal mission of mine. I wanted the instant gratification…even if it took me a year to get.
LOL! 🙂
I’ve also been wondering, though…who are these ladies (or gents) that are hoarding this sh*t so hard that I can’t ever find a tube? Is the love for this under-eye primer so intense that people have literally cleared it off every makeup store shelf within a 20-mile radius?
Well, last week my luck turned. Miracle of all makeup miracles, I finally found one lonely box when I went to Sephora, and I grabbed that last box with a quickness usually reserved for chocolate, doughnuts, and chocolate doughnuts.
I’ve been a user now for about a week, and my, oh my — I’m on the fast-track to becoming one of those ladies who are probably responsible for this stuff never being in stock. I already want to get a backup.
Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer hoarding is a legit thing!
So, what is this stuff, and why is it (almost) better than a bag of Baked Cheetos?
Basically, it’s a brightening, moisturizing under-eye primer that you apply before concealer. Anything you layer on top of it — concealer, powder, whatever — ends up looking smoother, more natural and more like real skin.
And I think the difference when I use it is night and day, especially when you see it in person. Whenever I take the time to apply this first, I think my concealer looks much less obvious.
I also still get the full coverage that I like, but without my under-eye area looking cakey like cake batter (which happens sometimes with opaque concealers).
All the gloss without the goop. Thank you, Paul & Joe, for helping my lids to glisten without the games that often accompany gloss-tacular eyes.
Yeah, man! Eye gloss isn’t just for Victoria’s Secret Angels who stomp-walk down the runway anymore. We, too, can make it an everyday thing, thanks to Paul & Joe’s Eye Glosses (they’re also called the Eye Gloss “S”).
They have an airy, whipped consistency and a non-sticky texture, so they feel like light feather kisses, and because they dry all the way down (unlike the many glossy formulas out there that stay wet), the gloss shouldn’t shift and settle into your fine lines or creases as you go about your day pet assisting (I feel your pain).
All five of the new spring Eye Gloss “S” shades have a dewy finish and a moisturizing formula that contains jojoba seed oil, orange flower water, sodium hyaluronate and white lily extract, and they seem pretty hydrating. There’s silvery golden Secret d’Or (01), pale silvery blue Firmament (02), pearlescent purply pink Angel’s Wings (03), silvery caramel Creme Brulee (04) and silvery orange Antique Coin (05).
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Yes, I’m picturing an invisible factory staffed by thousands of flittering fairies who crush precious gems with tiny magic hammers.
This, because of the new $28 Fairy Dust Eye Shimmers by Laura Mercier.
I’m also thinking, “Ooh, shimmer!” 🙂
As it turns out, these loose eyeshadows are more shimmery than glittery — like powdered pearls — so if you want bigger bits of bling, steer your tush toward Urban Decay, or somewhere else with mounds of glitter.
To use these, there’s a flat, wide brush attached to the bottom of the twist-off cap. Just swipe the brush, which should already be loaded with pigment, directly on your lids.
You can wear them on their own, blended with other shadows, or use ’em as like a sparkly topcoat, by layering them on top of an already finished eye look.
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“En Français,” as my high school French teacher used to say! The name of Guerlain’s new spring eyeshadow palette, Les Nuées, means “The Clouds,” and when I wear it I feel like I’m floating in a blue sky surrounded by puffs of white cotton candy clouds…
Les Nuées is what I like to call a “glisten-y” eye palette, because when I buff any of the three lightest shades — the frosty white, the pale pink or the baby blue, which, truth be told, all look pretty similar on my NC42 skin — on my lids with a fluffy eye brush, I end up with glowing, almost glossy, lids.
Then I line my lash lines with the fourth shade, a deep blue, and pat it in the outer corner for depth before cleaning up any fallout (because there is a little) and finishing with mascara.
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