All About Eyes - Pixiwoo Greyscale Inspired

Hello, lovelies!

Firstly, I've decided to change titles from EOTD to All About Eyes as I feel that EOTD is a bit misleading. I do these looks whenever I'm inspired or bored and I don't actually go out with that look on, so the "TD" part of "EOTD" doesn't necessarily apply.

Why don't I step out wearing these looks? Well:
a. I typically do 2 looks at a time.
b. I mostly only do the left eye because I'm too lazy to do both and the right eye is a downright pain to photograph (I seemed to have lucked out with one or two looks and was able to photograph the right eye properly; but after that, no such luck).
c. Not all the looks I do will be "wearable."

Now that we have that out of the way... I was inspired by one of my favourite YouTube makeup artists, Pixiwoo, after having seen Sam Chapman's Greyscale tutorial; so I reached for my eyeshadows and got to work. I opted for a more winged out look as opposed to the subtler winged out shape Sam created in her tutorial. Other than that, I tried to stay true to the eyeshadow colours chosen for this look.

Again, let me preface this with the usual disclaimer: i'm not a makeup artist, just a makeup enthusiast :).

But enough chat, off to the look!

(natural light)

(with flash)

(swatches)

Products Used:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Sleek MakeUP i-Divine Palette (Original & Storm)

MAC Eyeshadow (Knight Divine & Deep Truth)

To start off, I applied the UDPP all over the lid. Then, I packed on some Knight Divine and a grey shade from the Sleek palette all over the lid up to the brow bone. This combination was also applied to the lower lash line. Then I used a champagne coloured eyeshadow to blend out the edges. As I blended out, I pushed the brush outwards and upwards to create a winged out look. Then I applied some green eye shadow from the Sleek palette to the inner corner of the lid and layered MAC Deep Truth eyeshadow to the outer corner. After that, I lightly brushed some metallic light blue to the lower lash line (on top of the grey eyeshadow combination). To finish, I lined the top and bottom lash lines with a matte black eyeshadow from the Sleek palette. Of course, you can choose to apply mascara or use falsies like Sam did. I simply forgot to use mascara and I don't have any falsies at hand. 

Anyway, hope you all liked this look! Big thanks again to everyone who's "following" my humble blog. Feel free to leave (polite) comments and I hope you guys stick around with me :).

Have a great day, everyone!

Urban Decay Primer Potion Project!

Mission: De-pot (de-tube? de-genie bottle?) the Urban Decay Primer Potion into a small container = SUCCESS!

A few things I noticed about the UDPP:

1) The plastic is really hard to cut open.

2) There is a lot of product in there! Much more than I thought there would be.

3) The consistency is actually much thicker than it is judging from what you get off the applicator.

4) Like everyone has said, this packaging is one huge waste of product.

So I took a pair of pliers and hacked away at the plastic until I had enough of an opening to scoop the product out. It was difficult and it was messy, but in the end it was worth it.

Now, you may have read my review on the primer potion and remember that I haven't really been impressed by it; but I just can't seem to bin it!

I did notice that I was getting very little product (and the consistency was thinner) when using the tube and applicator. However, now that I've de-potted/tubed/genie-bottled it, I can see that it's a much thicker product. Maybe I'll have better luck with using it now? Who knows?

Do you use the UDPP? Do you love it?

The Bases - Review

So last Friday, the fam drove down to Vancouver, WA to see my brother for his birthday. Which meant approximately 6 hours in a car. What better way to test out my bases?

L'oréal Studio Secrets Professional Magic Perfecting Base

I first read about this product from Beauty Crazed, which was given a great review by Lisamarie. 

L'oréal's blurb: Discover the secret to perfect skin texture. Introducing Studio Secrets Professional Magic Perfecting Base for instant smoothing results. Get the perfect skin texture, instantly and all day. The silky, lightweight formula glides onto skin and minimizes the look of pores and fine lines. Skin looks and feels smoothed and resurfaced. The result - a unified matte finish that's flawless.

I have to say the texture is amazing. It feels super silky and glides onto the skin well despite its thick consistency. I don't have much in the way of wrinkles and my pores aren't large to begin with (thankfully), so I can't comment on the Magic Perfecting Base's efficacy in that regard, but I did notice that my skin felt much smoother after application. 

But the best part is, my foundation applied much better with this base: it looked smoother, more even, and I ended up using less product to achieve the coverage I wanted than when applied foundation without the Magic Perfecting Base.

The only gripe I have with this product is that it does nothing for the under eye area. It doesn't make my concealer stay put longer or apply better. Looks like I will forever be cursed with dark circles.

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay's blurb says: This miracle eyeshadow primer is unmatched by any other in the beauty industry! The genie in this bottle fulfills three wishes: eyeshadow that lasts, more vibrant and lasting color, and absolutely NO creasing. 

Four words for this product: I.DON'T.GET.IT. I mean, seriously, what's with the hype? Well, yes, the eyeshadow colours did look a bit better, but not that much. It doesn't make my eyeshadow/eyeliner last that long and it looks chalky in my eyelids. It also causes difficulties when I apply my eyeshadow because my brush catches on my lids which causes more shadow deposit in some areas. I wouldn't mind so much if it were easy to blend out, but it isn't. 

I used to be in love with this product, back in the throes of love at first buy. But the more I used it, the less impressed I was. I don't know if it's a faulty batch or my faulty application skillz, but I just can't get into this product. Although, A Beauty Junkie In London says that the Sin version of UDPP (look at me, throwing down some abbreviations!) is much easier to blend than the original UDPP. So Sin is on my radar of products to try because I would really love to have a good eyeshadow primer. 

Before/After

As you can see, my foundation and blush are still in good foundation (no touch-ups, I swear!), but my eyes were a hot mess. I applied UDPP, a light eyeshadow from the Sleek Storm Palette, and Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner. If you notice, my liner has migrated south and it doesn't look good!

FINAL VERDICT

L'oréal Studio Secrets Professional Magic Perfecting Base: worth it. It makes my foundation look smoother and more even, has an amazing texture, and for $11.99 CAD, a definite bargain!

Urban Decay Primer Potion: not worth it. Yes, it makes my eyeshadow colours a bit bolder; but it doesn't make it last longer and it's difficult to work with.