The Makeup Box

Simple Color-Contrast (feat. Catrice Cosmetics Cucuba Collection eye products)

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One more European brand I’m enjoying exploring! Catrice is a well-known German brand with tons of affordable, fashion-forward colors. This season, the Cucuba collection features delicious rich browns, warm  coppery-bronzes, interspersed with tropical mints, yellows and corals.

Here are 3 of my absolute favorite items from the collection and descriptions so you can look for similar products if you can’t get Catrice:

• Havana Drum pigment - a rich metallic bronze that goes copper on the skin
• Take It Mint pigment - a shiny mint green shimmer
• Take It Mint Liquid liner - pearly mint green liquid liner

I picked these colors because of the sharp contrast between them. You can substitute the copper and mint with any other color you want, but to get the same effect, just make sure they are not too close to one another. (E.g. try gold and lavender, green and pink, blue and bronze, etc.)

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[Requested] Hothouse Flower: Dramatic Tropical Floral Colors for a Dance Recital (inspired by Make Up Store)

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I was thinking about 2 separate requests; one for a “Hawaiian-inspired” look and one for an orchid color with a bright highlight. Both were for dance recitals, which require strong makeup that will show up and can convey expression under harsh lights.

Then I walked by Make Up Store and saw their Blossom campaign, which featured dramatic contrasting colors of navy yellow, and a peony pink, and thought “ah-ha!” 

I decided to do a cut-crease look with the same color scheme. Cut-crease looks place a strong defined line along the socket and a contrasting lighter/brighter shade on the lid so you emphasize every blink and expression (which is why it is so popular for stage performers).

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Electric Ocean: Intense Glowing Blue-Green Smoky Eye (120 Palette 2nd Edition)

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This has turned into a budget palette week!

Well, I haven’t been using them enough, and considering many of you own one or more of these, I figured I’d do a couple of looks with them. 

One of the key things about these palettes is the range of strong color options, and I picked the brightest, truest blue in the bunch, and paired it with a softer teal green. (See two circled shades above.)

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Butterfly Fields: Fantasy-Green Eyeshadow Look (with Paperself Lashes)

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I got requests for brighter or more dramatic color, and something green, so here’s one that’s kinda all those rolled into one.

Paperself stockists: http://www.paperself.com/ps%20%20all.html

I whipped out my 88 Shimmer palette for this. (I always forget I love this baby. It’s not dusty and the colors are beautiful.) But like most shadows, it’s very important to wear a primer or some kind of base on your lid for the pigments to cling to, if you want to get the most intense effect.

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Jelly Ombre Lip and Big Doll Lashes (feat. Shu Uemura Gloss Unlimited)

It’s said two-toned lips are in this season. But I’ve been doing them for so long I wouldn’t know the difference, honestly.

I don’t usually use glosses to do ombre lips, because there usually isn’t enough of a visual contrast. But when I saw a very dark shimmery wine shade in the Shu Uemura Gloss Unlimited range, I immediately thought “stained jelly lips!”

@ohporscha: It actually stayed pretty defined using the Shu glosses, because of the gel like texture. In fact I had to use my finger to spread it out when I just applied it, as pressing my lips together didn’t smoosh the glosses together.

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The Lips

In the grand tradition of the great Uemura-san himself, I swopped things around and did my lips before my eyes. Uemura believed a lip color could be applied first and thereafter be the deciding factor for the eye and cheek makeup you choose.)

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Violet-and-Moss Two-Toned Cat-Eye Makeup (Black Liner and Shadows)

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This look is SLIGHTLY similar to the elongated liner look I did recently, but it’s more of a traditional cat-eye shape, with a flick that goes upwards. 

The main point of interest is that it is colored by coating the black with metallic shadows, which gives a very interesting and intense effect. 

You will need:

• Black gel liner (I used Maybelline Lasting Drama (or Master Drama)
• A deep purple metallic shadow (Urban Decay ACDC)
• A gold mossy-green shadow (I Nuovi Moss)
• Black mascara

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