The Makeup Box

How To: Make Your Own Cream Shadow from Powder Pigments or Shadows

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I mentioned last week that I’d run you through how to create your own cream/mousse shadow using powder pigments. This should work with all loose shadows, and most pressed ones as well.

Ingredients:

1. Solvent/Suspension base: Rubbing alcohol or denatured alcohol. The higher the alcohol content, the better.
2. Powder pigment: If you are creating yours from a pressed shadow, crumble it up first.
3. Binder: You can use either an oil or a silicone (dimethicone, silicone oil etc). Oils* are easier to find in general, and my recommendation is Jojoba or Mineral oil. 
4. Small empty containers like the 5gram jar I used here.

Step 1: First scoop the loose pigments into the jar you will be using. If you are using pressed shadow, make sure to crush it as much as possible as you want to minimize any lumps. If you are mixing 2 or more shades, do so while they are DRY.

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Step 2: Using a plastic pipette (optional) or just straight from the bottle, add alcohol into the powder until it is all suspended in liquid. Then use a small spatula to stir gently and mix everything until you get a smooth, liquid paste.

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Step 3: There should be a bit of excess alcohol at the surface of your mixture when you begin to start adding in drops of oil or silicone. The amount to add varies with the amount of pigments you used, and the texture. Finer, smoother pigments will require less oil and grittier feeling ones will need more. 

You should stir and add more until you start to notice the smooth liquid/paste starting to separate from the alcohol and look lumpy and curd-like. This means the binder has been incorporated well into the powders.

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Step 4: Leave the mixture to sit for a while, until the lightweight alcohol rises to the surface and all the shadow has sunken to the bottom. You can carefully tip the  jar and use some tissue to soak up the excess alcohol.

Leave overnight or for at least 3-4 hours until it’s more or less dry.

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Step 5: The finished product will look rather grainy or lumpy at the top but don’t worry. This is just the surface. If you’ve seen the surface of a jar of untouched Chanel Illusion D’Ombre, this won’t be unfamiliar to you. 

If well blended, the surface texture should feel silky and almost mousse-like. Now you can just use it the way you’d use any cream/mousse shadow.

Enjoy!

Pigment used for demonstration: TKB Sparkle Blue. (MAC Cornflower is a smoother, finer-grained and more intensely-shiny alternative.)

Ultra Violet: Intense Iridescent-Purple Shadow Tutorial

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I’ve been into a lot of strong shadows and textures on the eyes lately for some reason, so after doing red glitter, the next thing that caught my fancy was iridescent violet of course. 

This is actually a really simple look using only 2 shadows, and 2 pencils. The shape and texture (pearl-matte) are the key things for bringing out the depth in the shades, as I wanted to do a look that was monochromatic, but still had depth and contouring.

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 Step 1: To keep the look a little fresher and lighter, I dusted a pale silvery-pink iridescent powder (MAC Iridescent Loose Powder in Silver Dusk) over the cheekbones and brow bones.

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Step 2: With a slightly damp brush, I packed a deep smoky matte purple with subtle gold sparkles (Everyday Minerals Live Austin Live shadow) and swept it in an arc along the socket line, from OUTSIDE-in so the color is thickest and most intense on the outer ends. Then smoky out the top edges so there are no harsh lines.

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Step 3: Using a brighter medium-violet (MAC Parfait Amour) with slight purple-pink duochrome effect, I packed it over the lid area under the crease, blending into the deeper purple so there are no gaps or lines. Then run boldly along the lids as well.

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Step 4: The key step that subtly intensifies the look. Run a matte purple pencil (Revlon Matte Luxurious Color Kohl Eyeliner in 05 Very Violet) along the water line and beyond. Then run over with a sweep of MAC Parfait Amour to set and intensify it. As the top of the eye is so dramatic, it’s ok to go thicker and stronger on the bottom lash line to balance it out.

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Finishing touch: Add black pencil to the tightline (Milani Liquif’ Eye Pencil in Black- I’m loving this uber-black, long-wearing pencil right now), and then curl lashes and apply black mascara (Smashbox Lash DNA Mascara).

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You can pair this with a nude lip for a mysterious club look, or slick on scarlet lip gloss for an updated 80’s look!

Everyday Minerals Passion Passport and Starry Eyed Eye Shadow Tutorial and Review (aka the “Roller Girl Experiment”)
 

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It’s not secret that I like Everyday Minerals products, but I haven’t actually tried any of their shadows since they came up with the roller-ball travel containers (US$4.50). Now they seem like a good idea for traveling but how do you actually apply the shadow when you can’t dip a shadow brush in like you would with a pot?

Well, the folks at Everyday Minerals were kind enough to send me a few shadows recently for review, so what better than to take the opportunity to try it out for myself?

For this look, I used Passion Passport, a sparkly titanium grey, and Starry Eyed, a shimmery cocoa brown. 

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Step 1: First off, I definitely recommend wearing a primer beneath ANY loose powder shadow, but especially mineral ones, because this helps to both increase the vibrancy of the shadows, and minimize fading over the day.

Step 2: The contour color for the outer V and lower lash line. It’s easier to do a strip across the entire lid rather than a contour, but hey - I’m here to experiment. And it was surprisingly mess-free, although it takes time to slowly roll back and forth along your socket and pack the color on strong. You are not going to get pin-point precision, but for regular shadow application, the roller applicator works ok.

Tip: Roll in short zig-zag moves over sections of skin, rather than trying to drag the applicator all the way along your skin in one stroke. This gives more pigmentation, AND stops the roller ball from grabbing at your lashes.

 Step 3: The lid shade is the easy part. As with the contour color, move in short zig-zag strikes to cover the skin and build up to required intensity. Apply more than you want because it’s going to get sheered out when you blend later.

(I have to say I don’t love grays in general but Passion Passport is one of the nicer ones I’ve tried as it’s got plenty of sparkle but is not muddy or overly-silvery and dramatic.

Step 4: Blend the brown into the silver at the socket line to soften any edges. You may need to reapply a bit of both colors after this point as the blending will likely sheer and muddy them a little. 

Step 5: Apply black liner in a wing (I used Bourjois 16 Hour Liner Pinceau liquid liner) and run a metalic brown pencil along the lower lash line (Bourjois Regard Effet Metallise 52 Brun Inoxydable).

Then finish with mascara.

BARGAIN ALERT: 15 Piece Cool Eyes Kit on Everyday Minerals going at $20! (Regular price: $67.50)

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If you’re a fan of Everyday Minerals or just sparkly loose powder shadows in general, you need to check out this deal because you get 15 regular roller-sized shadows at US$1.33 each.

 Now, I don’t know about you but even if you’re shipping internationally, this is still a deal.

Note:

Unlike loose pigments from brands like MAC and Lime Crime, these are pure minerals (no silicones and synthetic lipids) so you will need to use an eye shadow primer for maximum color intensity. Otherwise the color may fade a little throughout the day.

But if that happens, you can always whip out your neat little portable roller containers and reapply anyway. 

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