Face of the Day (FOTD)

A Salute to St. Patrick’s Day: Green Chanel Garden Party Eye

March 17th, 2008 by Karen 44 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing green? All my green tops were in need of washing (go figure), so to meet my green quota for the day I busted out Chanel’s Garden Party Quad and worked this mint green and pink eye. Gotta thwart those St. Patty’s Day pinches, ya know!

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Do you have plans for tonight? Any green beer in your schedule? I can’t go out (BOO) because I have a big work project due on Thursday. I’m sort of freaking out today because the deadline is looming, but makeup always cheers me up.

Here’s the real face of the day:
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LOL! You know how it goes sometimes! 🙂

A few close ups of the eyes…

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To get this look, I used products from Chanel, Laura Mercier, Clinique, MAC, Dior and Rimmel.

Lid
– MAC Rollickin’ Paint Pot
– Light green shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad

Crease
– MAC Perky Paint Pot
– MAC Soft Brown Matte Eyeshadow
– Pink shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad on outer half of crease (layered on top of Soft Brown Matte)
– Peach shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad on inner half of crease (also layered on top of Soft Brown Matte)

Browbone
– MAC Perky Paint Pot
– Peach shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad

Brows
– MAC Concrete Eyeshdaow

Lashes
– MAC Zoom Lash mascara in Zoomblack (upper and lower)

Lower lash line
– Rimmel Jungle Green Soft Kajal Eye Pencil
– Dark green shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad
– Peach shadow from the Chanel Garden Party Quad on inner half of crease

Undereye circles
– Dior Long-Wearing Moisturizing Concealer in 430
– Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder #2

Face
– Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer in Almond
– Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Powder

Cheeks
– Clinique Fresh Bloom Allover Colour in Peony

Lips
– MAC Sublime Culture Cremestick Liner
– Chanel Glossimer in Pink Crystal

It’s official! Dior concealer rocks when it comes to covering dark circles. Before I applied my makeup today I had some serious dark circles. I stayed up late last night, partying with the neighbor’s cat while watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians, my latest guilty reality TV pleasure. In the pics above, can you see the purple in the inner corners of my eyes (and believe me, they are pretty dark today)? LOVE. YOU. DIOR.

How’s your day been so far? Catch any leprechauns? My coffee is finally kicking in (thank jeebus!) and I’m off to work. Lemme know if you have big plans for tonight.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Laura Mercier’s Creme Eye Duo: Pink Has a New Friend

March 16th, 2008 by Karen 24 Comments

For many, Sunday is a day of rest. Let me just say that those people are lucky bastards. Except for a few brief beauty breaks, my booty has been planted in the chair at my computer desk all afternoon.

On one of my breaks I snuck away from the keyboard to play with yesterday’s Laura Mercier loot. I took a few snapshots of a shimmery eye done using Laura Mercier’s Fairytale Creme Eye Duo, a combination of two cream eyeshadows, one pink and one violet. Both produce a near-transparent wash of color.

[Continue reading…]

Face of the Day: Olive Green and Purple Eye

March 13th, 2008 by Karen 67 Comments

With Eversun Beauty Powder Blush and Strobe Kiss Tinted Lip Conditioner, MAC did not let me down. After work I spent the afternoon playing with makeup. Hey, sometimes it makes total sense to take half an hour to apply makeup instead of tackling your to-do list. Some days are like that. Check out the fruit of your girl’s lazy afternoon:

I paired Eversun and Strobe Kiss with a green and purple eye. This took a lil’ longer than my standard 10-minute makeovers. It looks subtle, but there was lots of blending and eyeliner. Time flies when you’re having fun!

[Continue reading…]

Face of the Day: A Smokey Eye with MAC Club

March 11th, 2008 by Karen 70 Comments

I had a lot of fun with MAC Club eyeshadow today. Its versatility makes it great for creating quick, daytime smokey eyes. I had about three seconds to put on my makeup this morning, and I owe this look to MAC Club. Paired with a few new products from Fafi and the N Collections, MAC Club helped me finish this look in 10 minutes.

Believe it or not, but there is a completely rational explanation (as soon as I think of it) for why my nails are different colors in this picture.

[Continue reading…]

Face of the Day: A Pink and Blue Pastel Eye

March 5th, 2008 by Karen 79 Comments

Girfriend, I’m busy frolicking today, but you know I couldn’t leave you hangin’! Pastels aren’t usually my style, but today the makeup gods chose to bestow enough courage upon me to attempt this pink and blue eye, inspired by Shiseido’s spring makeup look.

Here’s the Shiseido version:

And here’s my attempt:

Excuse the big hair. It’s looking very ’80s Jersey shore, I know, but when I wear it wavy it has a mind of its own!

To get this look I used…

Lid and crease
– MAC Rollicking Paint Pot
– MAC Parrot eyeshadow

Brow bone and in the crease
– MAC Girl Friendly Paint Pot
– MAC Frisco eyeshadow
– MAC Fafi Quad 1 – Pink Venus eyeshadow

[Continue reading…]

Shu Uemura Makeup Tutorial: Go Pastel for a Fresh Spring Eye

February 4th, 2008 by Karen 65 Comments

Last week I posted swatches of the eyeshadows from Shu Uemura’s new Spring Rebirth collection. There were five Easter egg-esque pastel colors in the group, each with an oh-so-purty white floral pattern, that promptly disappeared after I swatched ’em!

Pristine Green – light green (iridescent)
Sun Stream – light pastel orange (iridescent)
Earth Brown – warm brown (iridescent)
Spring Breeze – light pastel purple (pearl)
Yellow Elation – light yellow (pearl)

I’m not normally terribly attracted to pastel shades, but these colors are fun, easy to use, and have great color payoff. I combined them with Shu’s Tri-Color Eye Pencils (also from the Rebirth collection) and got in touch with my blossoming inner color diva.

The limited edition Tri-Color pencils, creme shadow pencils that can be used both as liner and eyeshadow base, come in two versions — cool-toned Aqua Flow and warm-toned Energy Flow ($25 each). Each “Flow” has three different colored pencil tips.

I really like these as a shadow base because they glide so easily onto lids and give the accompanying shadows a nice punch of color. The texture is thick without feeling heavy, and, remarkably, the formula lasts all day on my semi-oily eyelids. If you’ve got super oily lids, though, these might crease on ya after a few hours, so you might want to use a neutral colored lid primer beforehand! Utlimately, if you’re a fan of MAC Shadesticks, then you’ll dig these, fo’ sho.

To be honest, I rarely wear pastel colors on my eyes and didn’t really know what the heck to do with these colors! To get inspired I studied the Rebirth beauty shot…

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And here’s what I came up with!
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This was so much easier than I thought it would be!

First, grab the Energy Flow Tri-Color pencil and apply the yellow color directly beneath your brow bone, about 2/3 in from your outer brow. To the remaining 1/3, apply the orange color.

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Now, smooth out any edges with a firm, flat brush like the MAC 239.

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Next, apply the green shade from the Aqua Tri-Color pencil into your crease, going barely into the lid.

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Directly beneath the green shade you just applied, add a thin layer of the yellow color from the Energy Flow pencil, and then an even thinner line of white right next to the lash line. Use the same 239 brush to smooth away any hard edges. The end result should look like a little something like this:

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Use a crease brush to apply Pristine Green eyeshadow into your crease with a sweeping motion. For this I used a MAC 275 angled fluff brush with the pointy side facing my lash line.

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Next, grab a thin pencil brush like the MAC 219 and apply a thin line of Yellow Elation eyeshadow onto the lid.[Continue reading…]

MAC Makeup Tutorial: Russian Red, an Ode to Madge

January 22nd, 2008 by Karen 77 Comments

I’m not shy about my obsessions — Christian Bale (marry me!), the MAC 266 brush and the Terminator series (more on this later) — but by far the deepest of my frivolous obsessions is for our Madge-esty almighty, Madonna, an obsession I’ve harbored since the tender age of eight.

When I finally got my hands on MAC’s Russian Red lipstick from the MAC Originals collection, I had a minor Madonna fan freak-out moment. Madge rocked the Russian Red in her late-80s Blonde Ambition era. Remember the Express Yourself and Vogue videos? I taped them on MTV and replayed the sh*t out of both until my mom yelled at me to “turn it off!” Parents just don’t understand.

For Madonna’s Blonde Ambition Tour, Russian Red accompanied all the over-the-top costumes designed by Jean Paul Gaultier.

I remain 1,343,555,432,543 degrees of separation from Madonna, but at least I can wear her lipstick. So, in honor of my favorite pop star of all time, here’s a tutorial of a look I did with MAC Russian Red lipstick, along with other products from the Originals Collection (Daisychain eyeshadow, Ochre Style eyeshadow and Melon Pigment).

Here’s the finished look (complete with mole)! I call it the “Ode to Madge.” LOL!

Step-by-step tutorial: “Ode to Madge”

First, grab your brushes, your products and find a nice spot to work. [Continue reading…]

Be Brown, Not Boring, with MAC Originals

January 15th, 2008 by Karen 55 Comments

What can brown do for you?

If I had a nickel for every time I rocked the brown eye shadow back in the day I’d be a rich woman. Even though I’ve recently ventured into brighter colors like blues and greens, I’ll always have a place in my heart for my first eye shadow love — beautiful, basic brown.

Brown may be neutral, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Brown doesn’t mean you can get away with yawn-worthy makeup, young lady. The face of the day below, inspired by the Avarice face chart from MAC’s Originals collection, shows that brown can still be fun.

Get the look…

Eyes

Brows – MAC Concrete eyeshadow
Browbone – MAC Bare Canvas Paint and MAC Daisychain eyeshadow
Lid – MAC Groundwork Paint Pot
Outer corners – MAC Clue eyeshadow
Crease – MAC Ochre Style eyeshadow and MAC A Little Folie eyeshadow
Upper lashline – MAC Coffee eye pencil
Lower lashline – MAC Clue eyeshadow
Lashes – MAC Plushlash in Black

When I wear different shades of brown at the same time, I choose browns in the same tonal family (cool browns with cool browns, warm browns with warm browns) that don’t have a lot of contrast between them. This makes them easier for me to blend.

The only semi-difficult part about this eye look was getting the darkest brown, A Little Folie, into the crease with a MAC 219 brush, a brush I have a love/hate relationship with. Used to apply a fine line of color in the crease or underneath the eye, the 219’s pencil tip-shaped brush head doesn’t always distribute color evenly. It could be faulty design, but more than likely it’s because I haven’t discovered the brush’s sweet spot yet. Using the 219 well takes a lot of practice.

Despite the range of products I used for this look, the whole thing took about 10 minutes because there wasn’t any complicated layering or lining of the waterline (which for me can take SO MUCH TIME).

Cheeks

Cheeks – Shu Uemura Glow on Blushes in M Brown 73 and P Gold 93D.

The original Avarice face chart called for Raizin blush (a gold reddish-brown matte) and Reflects Blackened Red Glitter, but I don’t own Raizin, and Reflects Blackened Red looks terrible on me, so I opted for two Shu Uemura Glow On blushes instead.

Lips

Lipstick – MAC Rozz Revival
Lipgloss – MAC Avarice Lipglass

I’m a total klutz, so it took me forever and a day to get this red lippy going. My biggest issue? I couldn’t get the Rozz Revival to apply evenly, and because I didn’t use a lip liner the Rozz was revival-ing all over the place. I resorted to applying two layers of it and one layer of Avarice Lipglass with a MAC 316 covered lip brush. Next time I’m going to use a lip-colored pencil, like MAC Pink Treat Cremestick Liner, to make it easier!

Don’t miss…

Clue eyeshadow. When I first swatched this I wasn’t moved, but after I got it on my eye I totes fell in love. A mid-tone dirty grey with silver pearl, this eyeshadow has a pretty finish, soft texture and is very easy to work with. For a simple, subtle grey eye, I use Groundwork Paint Pot over the entire lid and then swipe Clue from the lashline into the crease. I give my lashes a quick curl, add two coats of mascara and I’m done!

Rozz Revival lipstick.When I think of red lipstick I usually think of sophisticated and serious looks, but Rozz Revival is a fresh, young and fun twist on red. With a high shine, lustre finish, this watermelon reddish pink lippie would look great with a tan! I can’t wait for summer!

Coffee eye pencil. This pencil is a fantastic deep brown with no red or orange tones. Even though it isn’t a Technakohl, I love it because it’s soft and easy to blend.

Are ya rocking the browns today, or did you go crazy with color?

I’m in the middle of my first cup of coffee and the caffeine is starting to work its magic – wheeeee! I hope you’re Tuesday is off to a fantastic start!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen