The Makeup Box

Paradise Colors: Summer-inspired Eye look

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It’s time to jazz things up with some brighter colors, inspired by the runways. I’m doing a tropical-paradise color scheme, with lush emerald green, rich brown, and a glowing turquoise.

You will also need a brown pencil for definition and an aqua/turquoise (optional) colored pencil to echo the blue on the waterline.

I used Coastal Scents Hot Pots on the lids and Bourjois pencils, but do use any alternatives you have. You can do a look with similar colors; they don’t need to be identical.

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Step 1: Instead of following the color-wheel (blue, green, brown), I wanted a little extra contrast by putting the brightest color in the center of the lid, where it will pop against the dark brown.

Apply along the inner 1/3 of the lower lash line as well.

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Step 2: Pick up the bright aqua or blue and pack it down the center of the lid. Don’t blend it out too much as you want the color to be quite intense.

Apply the same along the center portion of the lower lash line.

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Step 3: Pack the dark brown into the outer 1/3 of the lids, and then gently run it inwards along the socket line, until you reach about the center of the lids, above the bright aqua.

As before, run the dark brown along the outer 1/3 of your lower lash lines to finish.

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Step 4: Here’s the fun part. Run a brown pencil along the upper lash line for definition and some extra contrast against the aqua blue.

On the lower lash line, I actually used a bright turquoise blue pencil (Bourjois 54 Bleu Clinquant) to match and intensify it.

Then I finished with black mascara.

Defined Metallic-Turquoise Wing (L’oreal Innocent Turquoise)

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Time for a more dramatic, defined eye! This is a shape that would work on both double- and mono-lids because the contour again follows the hollow of the eye socket. 

Feel free to replace the turquoise with any color you enjoy!

I used:

• Black liner
• Deep rust-brown (Coastal Scents Cherry Chocolate)
• Bright Turquoise Shimmer (L’oreal Infallible in Innocent Turquoise)

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Step 1: With your black liner, you want to first draw a very precise shape. The first line goes along the lower lash line from the INSIDE-OUT. Draw the line thick and make sure you get it into the roots of your lashes because you don’t want gaps there. Pull it out past the outer corners until you reach just past where the hollow of your eye socket ends.

If you’re not sure where, don’t extend it. Do Step 2 below first, then pull the lower line up to meet the upper line.

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Step 2: Run the pencil along the hollow of your eye socket (not the crease where the fold is; this should be higher and you can feel it with your fingers). Tip for beginners: Do it in 2 strokes. Start from the center of your eye out, THEN from the center of your eye in, but much lighter-handed this time. Don’t draw the line all the way to the inner corners because you want your eyes to look more “open”. 

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Step 3: Now’s the time to smudge a bit more pencil into the outer corners, within the shape you drew earlier. Then use a brush or your fingers to fade the black inwards slightly. The black should not extend past about 1/3 of your lid.

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Step 4: Now that the complicated part is out of the way, just use a flat brush to pick up a dark red-brown and carefully press or pack it onto the black pencil. Fade it inwards also, but this time, fade it in further than the pencil, to about the center of your lids.

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Step 5: For the main lid shade, pack it on very intensely from the inner corners, overlap the brown a bit as you fade outwards. Stay within the border drawn by your pencil earlier. Since I’m using an Infallible pigment, I’m just packing it on with my fingers rather than a brush. This formula works best with fingers because of the high binder content.

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Step 6: Finishing touch for the lids; reapply a little dark brown along the upper borders of the eye shape if your colorful shadow has covered it up a little. The line should be very defined and strong or this will turn into a typical smoky eye.

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Step 7: Finish the eye with black mascara and black liner along the waterline if you want.

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On the cheeks, I used a pale pink blush (Bourjois Little Round Pot Eye Shadow #15). Really, any pink you have will do.

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On the lips, I applied a soft matte pink from MAC called Pink Plaid. If you can’t find that, something like Creme Cup would work fine.

L’oreal 2012 Miss Candy Collection Top Picks - Infallible Shadows in Innocent Turquoise and Sassy Marshmallows

L’oreal’s new Summer collection is out in drugstores and after hemming and hawing over the colors, here are my recommendations.

L’oreal Infallible Shadows in 031 Innocent Turquoise and 032 Sassy Marshmallow. These are the 2 out of 3 shades that I find to be more “worth the dollar”. (P.S. I’m not a huge fan of glosses that aren’t intensely pigmented, so I didn’t pick any of those up.)

The swatches of the 2 shadows are as above; Sassy Marshmallow (left) and Innocent Turquoise (right). 

Sassy Marshmallow looks like a straight-silver here but it’s a little more dimensional than that in real life. It’s an icy blue-toned platinum with subtle specks of turquoise and pink. It might not look like it, but this is the most unique shade of the 3, and I recommend you check it out if you can. This shade can be worn translucent (the vari-colored flecks will show up more) or packed on strong.

The second shade, Innocent Turquoise is more of a straight-up bright, shimmery Turquoise. Despite the white and yellow flecks, this just pulls a pure turquoise, unlike Sassy Marshmallow. The beauty is in the fact that this is a true, intense aqua.

Recommended only if you’re on the market for just such a shade and don’t have anything equivalent.

Atlanteal (Aquataenia Palette)

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Welcome to the maiden voyage of the Aquataenia!

The team at Lime Crime generously sent me their new “Mermaid palette” for review, so I decided to give it a test-run via a tutorial instead so you can see and decide for yourself if you like how it does!

More detailed post with swatches to come at a later time.

Disclaimer: I am not paid by this, or any, company to give favorable features or reviews of products. Any opinions are strictly my own!

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Step 1: Apply the shimmery aqua shade (Atlanteal) onto the lid, within the crease area.

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Step 2: Using a smoky black (I just used my trusty Greed Palette from Wet n Wild; any black will do), apply black very lightly along the hollow of the eye socket from outside. Then blend the heck out of it.

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Step 3: With a thin brush, very carefully run the soft coral shade along the inner half of the socket line.

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Step 4: Run black liquid liner from the outside in. (Lay the flick first and then pull inwards in separate little strokes instead of trying to do it all in one single stroke.)

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Step 2: I applied mascara and then an aqua/teal metallic liner (Milani Liquif’ Eye in Aqua) along the lower waterline. This echoes the color of the lid.

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The finished look once again!

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Lime Crime products are vegan and cruelty-free.

The Aquataenia Mermaid palette retails for US$34.99.