Cotton Candy Lids

Missed the county fair last time it was in town? I did. No corn dogs, no cute petting zoo, no roller coasters, no tilt-a-whirl, and no beautiful, pastel toned cotton candy. While there’s not much I can do about it until next year, I am cheering myself up with this lovely little cotton candy inspired eye tutorial. I decided to use a sparkly theme for this, but you can choose matte tones if you’re fonder of those. To join me, you’ll need:

Eye lid primer (Nars Smudge Proof Eye shadow base)

Turquoise Eye Shadow (L’Oreal Bright Shadow Duos in Showy, lighter shade)

Magenta Eye Shadow (L’Oreal Bright Shadow Duos in Reckless, lighter shade)

Light pink Eye Shadow (NYX Trio Eye Shadow in Cherry/Cool Blue/Hot Pink)

Baby blue Eye Shadow (Ditto)

Indigo Eye Shadow (Instant Beauty Loose Powder in Screaming Purple)

Black gel liner (Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Liner in Blackest Black)

Lavender pencil liner (YSL Pencil liner in Purple Silk)

Black pencil liner (YSL Waterproof pencil liner in Velvet Black)

White Eye Shadow (Estee Lauder eye shadow in Tranquil Moon)

For the tools, you’ll want either sponge-tip applicators or whichever brush is more comfortable for you to apply an even wash of color. You’ll also want a couple of angled brushes. Don’t forget to include your favorite mascara (YSL Singulier Waterproof in Vibrant Black!) 

Step 1-

Totally optional, but I love how purples and lavenders look with green eyes, so I threw my contacts on!

Step 2-

Prime your lids only! You’ll want the most vibrant color here.

Step 3-

Apply turquoise eye shadow to the inner half of your eye. Try to make it even and don’t be afraid to deposit a lot of color. You want this to be bold. It’s okay if the color fades a little bit towards the middle, though.

Step 4-

Fill in the other half of your lid with the magenta eye shadow. If the eye shadow base is too dry at this point, consider adding a little more. Otherwise, work through Steps 3 and 4 quickly! My suggestion is to prime and paint one eye at a time.

Step 5-

With your brush, lightly blend the line where the two colors meet. It should turn a lovely shade of purple. You’ll want to create a gradient effect.

Step 6-

Dab some of the light pink shadow along the area you painted magenta, in the crease. Make sure the two colors blend.

Step 7-

Do the same with the inner corner of the crease and the baby blue shadow. The final effect is to have the darker shades fading into the lighter ones.

Step 8-

  Line your bottom lids using the indigo shadow. If you’re using loose powder like me, you might want to add a little primer to avoid fall out. If not, just make sure to keep a steady hand and dab off excess product before you bring it to your eye.

Step 9-

Liner your top lids with black gel liner. Be careful to keep the liner relatively thin.

Step 10-

Extend the black liner outwards, in a cat-eye shape.

Step 11-

Use your lavender eyeliner to draw in a connection between the black liner and the indigo shadow. The soft texture of the pencil should allow you to create a gradient effect between the two colors.

Step 12-

Add a small dab of white shadow in the inner corners of your eyes and sweep it over your brow bone, above the pink and baby blue. This will bring the look together.

Step 13-

Wrap things up with a sweep of black pencil liner on your water line and mascara.

Enjoy!

Throwback Thrillers: Tokidoki Cosmetics

It’s always sad when a favorite product is discontinued. But even worse than that is when your entire line gets taken completely off the shelves. That’s how I’m feeling about Tokidoki no longer producing their line of products at Sephora.

 I’m gonna be honest, not everything was mind-blowing in terms of quality, though I didn’t find anything unusable. And there was a decent handful of amazing items. What really had me head over heels for this line was… well… it was so darn friggin’ cute!!!

On to the items:

(Not Pictured) The Lion Poppa palette-

Good for neutrals with a very natural blush that would compliment most skin tones. The best part about this little palette was how slim and tiny it was, making it a travel essential. 

Tokidoki eyeliner in Sabochan and Tokidoki Punk Lash Mascara in Cactus Rocker-  

Again, these were not out of this world, but they did the job, and you got to show off the cute little packaging to your friends!

Prisma Lipgloss-

Very light hint of color and all-around pleasant texture.

Cromatico eyeshadow (in order: Carnivora, Soya, Adios Star, Skeletrina, Diamante, Romeo)-

These were a lot of fun! Some of them could get a little bit chalky, but like with Ulta eye shadows, it wasn’t anything a little high quality primer couldn’t fix. They also came in really exciting, vibrant colors, great for dramatic gals.

And now, my favorites, BY FAR… drum roll, please…

Tokidoki Make-up Brushes! So cute, I could die!!!! (They’re also 100% synthetic, so animal-lovers, fear not!)

Pittura Brush Set-

These three brushes are ridiculously adorable, each topped with a Tokidoki character (Donutella, Adios, and Mozarella, in order.) There is a flat lid brush that applies color seamlessly, a fluffy crease brush that is soft and blends beautifully, and the tiniest, cutest little angled liner brush. The best part about  these is that you don’t have to worry about using any kind of make-up on them and damaging them. As of yet (and I use this set CONSTANTLY, with all types of colors) I’ve been able to wash all the product off and keep my brushes looking new and pretty. 

Kabuki brush-

This beautiful kabuki brush is super soft and is awesome for applying highlighter or powder. Like the eye brushes, it cleans off very well and I haven’t experience any shedding whatsoever.

Siberia Blush Brush-

I had to track this one down and now it’s one of my favorite cosmetic trophies. This angled blush brush fits my cheek bones perfectly, deposits color evenly, and appeals to my love for all things pink. It’s so princess-y and cute, how could anyone resist? 

Marbella Permanent Eyeliner Pen

I’ve been developing quite a fondness for felt tip eyeliner pens lately. They are incredibly easy to apply (Hurrah for perfect precision!) and with them you can create much thinner lines than with liquid, gel, or pencil liners.

However, not all felt tip liners are created equal and I’m sorry to say that I was pretty disappointed by the Marbella liner.

The application isn’t as accurate as one would expect a felt tip liner would be. The line thickness will suddenly shift, making it much harder to apply than other products of the same type. The color also tends to fade mid application, looking as if you lined your eyes with magic marker.

What really killed it for me, however, was how… erm… literal the “permanent” part of the name was. Liner that doesn’t smudge is a definite plus, but I want to be able to take it off at the end of the evening. After trying to remove the product three times from my face the first time I used it, I still looked as if someone had decked me in the eyes. This was followed by the use of a hardcore eye make-up remover (twice) before the color was mostly off. I ended the evening with bluish gray rimmed eyes and oil-vision from too much remover.

I didn’t take a picture then, but from this one you get the general idea of what will be around your eyes after application. To make matters worse, this has been used only a few times, but already seems to be running out. I suppose, though, if I ever take up fake tattooing, this product might come in handy….

Final verdict: Leave it!

10 Eyeliner Tricks to Make You Stand Out

Never, in my entire history as a make-up aficionado, have I ever felt that a look is complete without eyeliner. In fact, above all other beauty products, if I only had time to quickly apply one, I would choose liner.

However, it’s not always easy to apply, especially in black, which only requires a tiny smudge to become totally, unforgiving-ly sloppy. The great thing about these looks is that you can wear them on their own or with eyeshadow. If you do wear them without shadow, I do recommend applying a heavily pigmented concealer. Having smooth, even skin will help the liner stand out, not to mention it’ll take care of any mistakes. Another technique I like employing is the use of different eyeliner mediums in one look. While some types (felt tip pen, pencil, angled brushes) are better used for making thin strokes, other types (gel, cream, concealer brushes) make filling in a space easier. Here are some of my favorite tools for creating the looks in this post:

On to the styles!

Look# 1:

Waterline eyeliner

Now, pretty much everyone and their grandmothers knows that the easiest way to use pencil liner is to use it on your lower waterline. It’s a classic, simple way to wear it, but not necessarily the most exciting. 

However, using the same pencil liner on the upper waterline, will add to the look’s depth, making your eyes appear more alluring. Some of you might be a little weirded out by this, but the trick is to use small, gentle strokes, letting this part of your eye get used to being touched. The final result is classic a classic black waterline with a little extra oomph. 

Note: I also use this as a starting point in all of the following eyeliner looks. 

Look# 2:

Upper line sweep

This look is good for ladies that want to draw focus away from their bottom lids. The length of the sweep can be altered to make it more or less dramatic. The use of both felt tip pen and gel liners makes it a nearly foolproof experience that’s hard to mess up. Make sure that you use a sharp, angled brush for the gel liner. Don’t forget to use an eye pencil on those waterlines!

Step 1-

Use a cream or gel liner to carefully do your top lash line. 

Step 2-

Now, instead of risking smudges, use a felt tip pen liner to make a little tapered line with an upward sweep.

Look#3:

Cat-eye liner

Next is the tried and true cat-eye liner. What differentiates this one from the above look is that instead of having the sweep be a continuation of the top line, we will be lining the eye all around and adding a slightly curvier sweep at the corners (mimicking the shape of a cat’s eyes.) 

Step 1-

Use the gel liner and angled brush to line the top, then bottom lids.

Step 2-

I prefer making the sweep as an extension of the bottom line. As you want to keep it soft, go ahead and continue using the gel liner and angled brush. 

Look# 4:

Round eye

This look is simple, yet elegant. A felt tip liner works best, as it’ll give our lines very precise edges. Using a gel or pencil liner could make this look smudgy, giving it a messy appearance. 

Look# 5:

Cleopatra Liner

Use this look to draw everyone’s attention to you! Great by itself or with eyeshadow, this look is guaranteed to get you noticed.

Step 1-

Use a felt tip liner on your top and bottom lash lines. Extend the top line to the corner at the edge of your crease, but keep it very straight.

Step 2-

Use a gel liner and angled brush to pull the line back in to your crease. Watch out for smudging!

Step 3-

Bring it close to the inner corner of your eye.

Step 4-

With a small concealer brush, connect the bottom line to the top through the corner of your eye. This works best with light, precise dabs, than with strokes. 

Step 5-

You can apply shadow in the space you created or leave it bare. Make sure to let the liner thoroughly dry or use a make-up setting spray to prevent smudges!

Look# 6:

Double liner

Another whimsical little trick for getting noticed! This one is dramatic, yet still wearable for daytime, depending on how long you extend the lines.

Step 1-

Use the felt tip liner around the top and bottom lids. Make sure you don’t quite connect them at the outer corners.

Step 2-

Using the same liner pen, extend each line, keeping both very straight. Because of the shape of my eyes, I prefer making the top one a little bit longer, but you can experiment and see which lengths suit you best.

Look# 7:

Wing Lines

This look is pretty similar to the one above, the main difference being that rather than stemming from two separate sections, the outer lines are united.

Step 1-

Use gel liner on your top and bottom lids. Give the top lid an upward curving extension.

Step 2-

With the pen liner, draw the extension back down, forming a triangular shape. From the base of it form another, smaller sweep.

Step 3-

Use the gel liner and concealer brush to fill in the gaps and you’re done!

Look# 8:

Butterfly Lines

This look is quirky and fun for a night out!

Step 1-

Follow the same steps as the cat-eye liner above, making the extended line very small.

Step 2-

Use the felt tip liner to make another, longer line under the first.

Step 3-

Finish the look off by making an even longer line under that one. Who needs fake lashes with these?!

Look# 9:

High Drama Under-Liner

(Note: Please excuse the redness of my eyes, they were getting very irritated at this point. I will NEVER recommend attempting ten eyeliner looks in one night.) Not a look for the faint of heart! This look is great for when your look calls for a little bit more “goth.”

Step 1-

Use the felt tip liner to make a very thin line over the top lid.

Step 2-

Draw the outline of the shape. Don’t be afraid to go crazy with it, but follow the contour of your eyes.

Step 3-

Use  a brush and gel liner to fill in the space. Nice and spooky, no?

Look# 10:

Thick Wing Tip

This is another very wild look that I wouldn’t wear unless I was planning on partying pretty seriously. Dusting some setting powder over these filled in looks can help keep them from smearing. 

Step 1-

Use the felt tip liner to draw the desired shape. You want to create a pointy tip that looks just like the first look we did, but much thicker. Be careful not to smudge your crease like I did!

Step 2-

Fill in the empty space with gel liner.

Step 3-

Conceal all and any mistakes! Or better yet, throw some colorful eyeshadow on your lids! Enjoy!