The Makeup Box

Burgundy Sparkle Eye Tutorial (feat. Body Shop Shimmer Bricks 07)

—

This is a softer smoky eye that is quite subtle but multi-faceted so there are nuances of shimmery color, but nothing too loud, too contrasting, or too overpowering for your face.

As always, you don’t need to use the same product if you can’t get hold of The Body Shop where you are. I swatched all 4 shadows so you can look for similar tones as substitutes. 

You need 4 shimmery shades:

• Bronze brown
• Petal pink
• Dark eggplant
• Pale silver/platinum

Step 1: I used a brown pencil all around my upper lid and smudged it out with a finger to fill in the lids. This will be your base.

—

Step 2: Apply the rich bronze-brown along the center of the lids, leaving only the inner corners bare.

—

Step 3: Apply the petal pink shade from the inner corner outwards, overlapping some of the brown, until you reach the center of the eye. 

—

Step 4: Finish the upper lash line with some dark aubergine to the outer part of the crease/socket line. Then run along the outer halves of the lower lash line with a flat angled brush as well.

—

Step 5: Add a touch of soft silver to the inner most corners of the lids to add that contrasting cool-toned sheen. This is what will give the look its nuances.

—

Step 6: After you’re done with the shadows, apply a plum metallic pencil to the top and bottom lash lines. (I used Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in 220 Perfect Plum.) Then apply mascara to finish!

—-

Dark Golden-Eggplant Shadow

—-

Step 1: Lay down a base with an eggplant/plum metallic pencil, such as Rimmel Exaggerate in 220 Perfect Plum. Apply it thickly along the top and bottom lash lines, and then fill in the rest of the lids. Fnish by smudging out the top edges so it fades into the socket line.

—-

Step 2: Apply a dark plum or eggplant purple to the outer and inner corners diagonally, slanting up and out. I used MAC Extra Dimension Eye Shadow in Rich Core, but you can use any shimmery dark purple or plum. 

—-

Step 3: In the center of the lid where the diagonal gap is, pack on a pale champagne gold shimmer. I used Sephora Prisma Chrome shadow in Moon Beam. (I was one of those who got the mis-named/re-named batch of Moon Beams that is a pale gold instead of a pale ivory pink duochrome.) Choose any pale golden-beige shade.

—-

Step 4: Finish with a touch of gold along the inner corners of the lower lash line as well, then proceed to apply lots of mascara.

Golden Bronze Cat Eye Tutorial (88 Warm Palette)

—-

My 88 Warm Palette has been in cold storage lately, as tends to happen when you are always trying new things. This is a look you don’t need the 88 palette to create, as there are lots of similar shades in other palettes as well. 

The shades you’ll need to pick are

• A soft beige- or malt-gold that isn’t too far off from your skin tone
• A warmer, stronger amber-gold with some orange in it
• A soft burgundy with a pearl sheen (surprise; this gives the whole look more depth than just sticking with a deep bronze or brown)

—-

 Step 1: Apply the soft gold all the way from inner corners up to the brow bone, leaving just the outer-most corners of the eye clean. Run along lower lash line half-way from inner corners out as well.

 —-

Step 2: Pack the warm ambery gold onto the outer 1/3 of the lid below the socket, and then extend up to the brow bone. Notice I extended the color inwards more along the deepest part of the socket line. This will give your eye more definition instead of allowing all the bright colors to wipe out your contours.

Run the amber along the outer half of the lower lash lines as well.

—-

Step 3: Pick up a warm, rich burgundy and pack that right in the outermost corners of the lid, then also lightly sweep the remaining pigment on the brush up towards the end of your brow as well. This will make the look a lot richer and stop the eye look from going too brassy and yellow.

 —-

Step 4: Apply a black pencil along the tightline and waterline, and then use black liquid or gel liner to apply a thick flick at the outer corners. Finish with black mascara.

—-

The finished effect is polished, dramatic (how often do we wear color all the way up to our brows?), but at the same time not over-the-top because it should work with your natural skin tone. You can choose to pair this with a strong lip, but I prefer just going the natural route with this.

On Rest of Face:

• TheBalm Hot Mama blush (my favorite warm coral blush)
• NYX Iced Honey lipstick (metallic beige/nude)
• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Coral Reef (sheer coral creme)

Duo-tone Eye: Basic Cut-Crease Tutorial

—-

If you were curious about the dual-color eye I did the other day, it isn’t actually all that different from the usual cut-crease eye that I’ve done in several other tutorials.

The main things you will need are a:

• Soft black pencil (The Body Shop Black Kajal used)
• Deep, matte brown/taupe shadow (MAC Concrete Shadow used)
• 2 Metallic/Shimmery light- or mid-tone shadows that are equally matte/shimmery, and not noticeably lighter/darker than each other (L’oreal Infallible in 004 Forever Pink and 015 Flashback Silver)

Step 1: I wanted to use a really dark and really matte taupe-brown to make the shimmery colors pop and stand out more on the lids, so I first used a black kohl pencil as a base. Just smudge it on thick along the inner and outer rims of the lashes and then smudge out a little above the lashes.

 —-

Step 2: Using a flat angled brush, pick up a matte taupe brown shadow and set the black pencil with it. Smoke it out along the lower lashes. The thicker the color, the more dramatic the look. 

 —-

Step 3: The crease. Just use a pencil brush or a slightly smaller and denser brush to sweep the same matte brown shadow along the hollow arc of your socket-line.

 —-

Step 4: As I was using a loose shadow (L’oreal Infallible Iridescent shadows 004 Forever Pink shown here) the best way to get a metallic effect is to smooth it on with your finger.

 —-

Step 5: Next is to use a soft blending brush to gently smoke out the brown crease line a bit, blending upwards above the socket line a little. If you unintentionally fade out the shimmery shade, touch up with your finger once again.

 —-

Step 6: Curl lashes and apply black or dark brown mascara to finish! (I’m still using Maybelline Great Lash in Dark Brown.)

Candy Clouds: Matte Pastel Evening Look (using Lime Crime Palette D’Antoinette)

—-

If you want to wear colorful makeup, I always find matte shades to be an fun option because they are so color-true.

Lime Crime’s Spring palette D’Antoinette is a collection of sweet, creamy pastels that are pigmented but not so crumbly and chalky that you can’t apply them with a regular shadow brush. I decided to give it a test run by creating a slightly dramatic eye so you can see for youreslf if you like the color-payoff and textures.

The palette is not cheap at $34.99, but if you are in the market for a collection of blossom-y matte pastels that are so fun for spring and summer, this is a good-quality option, and actually quite a good deal if you consider that a single 1.5g MAC pan costs $11.50 without a case, and a regular shadow costs $15, while each color here is 1.6g and costs less than $7.

The only criticism I can think of is that all 5 shades are pale, bright colors, and some people need a deeper color for defining the eye and lash line. This is NOT an idiot-proof palette. You can’t just slap on the colors in any ol’ combination and walk out the door. Unless you have extremely deep sockets, very pale skin, and full, dark lashes, you will probably benefit from having an additional deep brown, grey, or black shadow.

Note:

The hardest shade to dupe would probably be the bright peach-sorbet shade, “Macarooned”.

If you’re on a budget, you can check out some of the 120 palettes online. They have some brighter peach/orange shades that are passable alternatives. I don’t know of any exact low-end dupes at this time though.

P.S. All those social crusaders who feel a need to say your piece on brands you don’t like for whatever reason, please kindly do it elsewhere as this is a pure tutorial/review; thank you!

—-

Step 1: I ran a matte chocolate brown shadow (Revlon 009 Rich Sable) along the upper and lower lash line with a flat angled brush.

 —-

Step 2: I picked the soft bright peach (Macarooned) and packed it onto the center of the lids. 

 —-

Step 3: Then I swept the matte pastel pink (Royal Flush; this shadow is like the shadow version of MAC Saint Germain lipstick) along the inner half of the socket line above the peach shadow.

 —-

Step 4: Now with the only sparkly/shimmery silver shade in the palette, I dabbed around the inner corners of my eyes using a ring finger, and then blended it into the peach just slightly. (Mercurious; Bourjois’s little round pot in Argent, below, is a dupe if you can’t afford Lime Crime.)

Extra tip: You can apply a light wash of the silver sparkle over the other shades to transform them from matte to shimmery.

—-

Step 5: Finish by outer corners by packing the matte lavender shade (Ribonesque) in a rough in-ward facing “C” around the eye socket.

 —-

Step 6: And just because pale or bright shades all over the lids can really “flatten” your eye and sometimes make your lids look puffy, I added a bit of definition and contour back by running the matte brown from earlier very lightly along the socket line and blending it out to just a soft line.

 —-

Step 7: Finish by reapplying lavender and pink outside and above the contour line in the above shape. This helps to soften out the brown even more, and reinstates color without erasing the contours.

—-

Step 8: Apply black liquid liner thinly along the upper lash line, avoiding any flicks. This is just a base for applying a strip of false lashes. (I used Fairylash once again, and recommend you check out synthetic lashes rather than natural hair ones if you want a more dramatic, glossy look to go with the doll-like colors of this look.)

—-

Lime Crime products are cruelty-free. Visit PETA.org for more information on brands and animal testing.

Antique Gold Lids: Olive-Gold Eye Shadow Tutorial

—-

This is a makeup look that will work on mono-lids and hooded lids, as the color curves up along the eye socket. The basic technique you need to note is just stacking “V’s” next to each other with your shadows.

I used 4 shades: Black, Brown, Olive-green and Bronze

—-

Step 1: To maximize the intensity of the shadows, I first laid an olive green base on the lids (MAC Moss Scape Paint Pot). I ran it quite thickly along the lower lash line from outside in as well.

—-

Step 2: Using a small brush, stroke black shadow diagonally downwards from the outer corner of the eye inwards. It will look like a little triangle at the outer corner. Stroke black along the outer half of the lower lash line as well.

—-

Step 3: Pack a soft, warm brown beside the black diagonally downwards, and also up and in along the socket line (hollow line above your eye ball) so it makes a side-ways “V”. (See Step 1 in the numbered diagram above if you are not sure how this should look.

—-

Step 4: Pick a metallic olive green and apply it parallel to the brown you applied earlier. (I used an Antique Gold pigment and you can find a similar shade from many brands, both cheap and expensive, but MAC’s Sumptuous Olive is a reference if you aren’t sure what shade to look for.)

—-

Step 5: On the inner corners, add a touch of soft peach-bronze, like MAC Honeylust (for reference). I used a bronze I mixed myself so unfortunately I have no name for it.

—-

Step 6: Use black liquid liner to apply a simple line, extending up and out following the natural curve of the eye. Then finish by applying false lashes or black mascara as needed.