Makeup Withdrawal

A Few Spring KBShimmer Shades

Friday, March 14, 2014

Good afternoon!

Today KBShimmer releases their new 2014 Spring polishes that includes a new holographic shade and cremes.

Hi folks! I'm in the process of back up old pictures and stumbled upon some makeup photos that for some reason had not been published previously, so I'll probably schedule a few to post while I'm at the beach this weekend. Or maybe I have posted them before and the memory has escaped me. Oh well. Just pretend this is new exciting stuff, ok?
Either way, it's a good thing I tend to post details to Instagram, or else I would have long forgotten what products I used.

This was from about ten weeks ago.

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder in Granite, Essence Brow & Lash Mascara
Eyes: LORAC Behind The Scenes Eye Primer, Laura Mercier Vanilla Nuts and Cafe au Lait, Mehron iNtense Carban and Red Earth, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Rampage, Jordana FabuLiner, CoverGirl Flamed Out Mascara

Tutorial: Highlighting & Contouring With Cream Products

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Hello!

Today I have an extremely long post and tutorial about how I apply contour and highlighting products that are cream in formula. Usually my goal is for a natural look that emphasizes how natural light hits the face and casts shadows. Recreating this effect is particularly rewarding for photographs as the face can look very flat and washed out through a camera. The skin also looks a bit more taut and overall the face can appear a bit slimmer, which hey - can't go wrong with that!

There are a few advantages and drawbacks to using cream instead of powder. It's particularly appealing to those with dry skin as powder can further emphasize dry patches but using another emollient product may not be the best choice if your skin really tends to shine with oil. I find using cream products to be more time consuming since I apply with one brush and then blend with another tool whereas with powder, I can apply and blend with the same brush. However, I do find cream to be more natural looking than powder

Rather than attempting to blend contour and highlight shades at the same time (a very daunting task as accidentally muddling the shades together can look horribly murky and quite dirty), I choose to apply one at a time.

I'm using Graftobian Hi Def Glamour Creme Foundation in Hazelnut to contour. It is a deep brown that is in the neutral range and suitable for most skintones (though darker skin tones and those with super cool undertones may want to use even darker or cooler shades). I'm also using a beauty sponge (such as a BeautyBlender or any of the similar sponges out there)

Here's what Hazelnut looks like. Left to right: a single streak, blended out and a smaller amount fully blended out.

What I like about Graftobian Hi Def Glamour Creme is how much high coverage it has. You only need a tiny bit of product. I've seen some tutorials out there where it looks like half the face is covered with the contouring product. However with the Hi Def Glamour Creme, I barely need a few swipes because of how much color payoff it has.

I start out with primer, concealer and foundation already in place (check this post out for the full face routine). The sponge should be damp but not soaking, I rinse it in water and then squeeze it out in a towel.

Using a concealer brush, I map out the areas for contouring with a few strokes. Again, less is more with this particular product and for the more natural effect I'm hoping to achieve. I trace right under the cheekbones, under my lower lip, down the sides and around the tip of my nose, the temples and the area closest to my hairline above my forehead. It's hard to see, but I also traced right under my jaw.

Using the bottom of the tear drop shaped sponge, I lightly bounce and pat to blend in the contouring product. I'm always advocating bouncing instead of dragging, we don't want streaks or worse; the dreaded completely caked look.

I use the tip of the sponge for the smaller areas such as the nose and under the lip. Again, light dabbing motions rather than dragging the sponge.

With contouring done, I reach for a lighter shade to highlight. I'm using another Graftobian shade, Graceful Swan which is a little lighter than MAC NC20. I'm opting for a shimmer/sparkle free product for this particular natural look. I apply product on the top of the cheekbones, the point of the chin, down the nose and a create a triangular shape on my forehead.

Naturally, I don't want to use parts of the sponge already dirtied by my contour color. Instead, I use the widest part of the sponge, where it curves. Bounce, bounce, bounce.

Here we have the completely look, before applying blush and powder.

Hope this was helpful! Please, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Products featured were purchased by me. Post contains an affiliate link. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

JOSS Affinate Holographic Shades from Color4Nails

Hello!

Today I have for you a trio of JOSS shades courtesy of my favorite online polish source, Color4Nails. These JOSS shades stand out in my collection because they are more foil/metallic than any other holographic shade I have, especially Flamingo Dancer and Tantastic Glow.

Flamingo Dancer. Two coats. A metallic pink holographic color.

Tantastic Glow. Two coats. A very interesting foil type beige/champagne holographic shade.

Alternate Dimension. Two coats. Dark coral holographic shade.

Here's an extra polish for you to feast your eyes on! This is In a Violet Haze. It's a super glass fleck polish mixed with ultra fine holographic glitter. It looks amazing over darker shades as the duochrome glass fleck really pops.

All of these JOSS shades had a really nice formula. They flowed well but offered great coverage and dried very nicely. The holographic effect was very prominent and almost "chunky" in the way the facets of the rainbow looked (as opposed to a fine, super linear holographic effect).

The three holographic shades are available now from Color4Nails for $9 each. In a Violet Haze isn't currently available but could be depending on the feedback!

What do you think of these three holographic shades and In a Violet Haze?

Products featured were press samples. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.

EOTD featuring Fyrinnae Mephisto

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Good evening! I was feeling nostalgic for my early indie shadows so I used Fyrinnae Mephisto tonight.

It's a stunner. A matte indigo base with coppery red interference. It's so pretty, it hurts to look at it. Too bad ordering from Fyrinnae is a headache and four out of every five times when I check the website, it is closed. Merp.

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Granite
Eyes: NYX Black Bean Jumbo, Fyrinnae Mephisto, MUFE 92, Stila Black Dahlia, false lashes

Hope you had a great weekend!