The Makeup Box

Majolica Majorca Chapter 37: Getting Reunited with a Cult-Favorite Fiber Mascara (in Brown this time!) plus a Pencil that looks like a Swan Feather

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From this month, Shiseido will release a limited edition collection called “Moonlight Virgin” in 2 parts. The first includes a multipurpose “quill pencil” and a brown version of the Lash Expander Edge Meister mascara (with the dual-sided comb tip). Now me and Lash Expander mascara go way back. I used it exclusively for 3-4 years when it was just released across Asia, because it created these long, fine, waterproof doll-lashes. After a 5-year breakup (I’m never monogamous with makeup), I was quite glad to get reacquainted and grabbed the chance to find out 2 things:

• whether the mascara was as good at building length as I remembered
• whether the brown shade would show up (and look alright) with my dark hair and eyes

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Lavender-Chocolate: Soft luminous purple andbrown eyeshadow look that goes with pretty much any Lip color

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This is a color combination that is not a typical beige-toned neutral, but still goes with pretty much any lip color you want to wear. It’s also soft enough that you can use a light hand (skip step 3) and just wear it in the day for work or school.

I used just 2 shadows:

• A pale lavender (Coastal Scents Hot Pot in Ice Ballet)
• A deep rich brown (Coastal Scents Hot Pot in Rich Walnut)

Other than this, I had a chocolate brown pencil and black mascara.

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Day-Glow: Bright Spring Pastel Makeup (Easily transforms into a dramatic look!) 

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I’m a fan of pairing opalescent green lids with bright pink. For Spring/Summer, it’s one of those color combinations that’s fab-and-fresh and goes with so many skin-tones.

The same bright eyes and cheeks works with an almost neon coral-pink lip that I’m in love with, carries surprisingly well into the night if you like uber-dark Noir lips (another FANTASTIC lipstick to introduce today) but don’t want that wintry, monochromatic face. 

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Majolica Majorca Humming Book I (Swatches, Review, 2 Easy Looks and how to DUPE it with Cheaper Products!)

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I think Majolica Majorca has fabulously silky and pigmented eyeshadows. But I’m not a fan of palettes where there are a mixture of cream and powder products. Creams have different shelf lives from powders and the lip cream is most likely going to go bad before the other stuff. Also, when powder gets into cream and vice versa, everything gets ruined. 

BUT, when I saw this charming little “song book” in their latest limited edition collection and tested the 3 shadows (1 cream base and 2 shadows) alone and over one another, I concluded it was so brilliant I had to pick one up.

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Concept:

The collection is centered around a dreamy, lyrical flower garden, and the combination of shades gives you exactly that sort of look. Now you CAN possibly use each of the colors alone, but I personally wouldn’t do that. 

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Soft Mauve Pastels - Stacked Liner and Purple-toned Lips! (MAC Asian Flower)

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I’m not a fan of MAC’s Sheen Supreme Lipsticks, because I find them goopy and poorly-formulated compared even to the drugstore versions. It’s too soft so a lot of product comes off unevenly and clings to your lips in patches. 

This is more a tutorial just to demonstrate what you can do with a softer purple-toned lipstick, and here are 3 alternative products to try because they have easier textures to work with:

• If you are very pale, try NYX Power. 
• If you are fair to medium, try Inglot Lip Paint 59 or Revlon Lip Butter in Gum Drop
• If you have caramel-to-dark skin, use MAC’s Up The Amp.

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Step 1: I first packed the purple shade to the inner half of the lids, going all the way up to the inner corners of the brow. It’s going to look really weird right now, but just bear it. The whole point is to create a soft, water-color effect on your lids, and not keep the color narrowly confined below the crease.

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Step 2: Using the orange, go from the center of the lid outwards and extend SLIGHTLY in a wing-like shape. The color also goes up past the socket line, to just under the brows. What you’ll get on your eye is a sort of trapezoid shape with a flat “table-top”.

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Step 3: The trickier part is stacking the liner, but then it’s really not super hard to do. You can skip this if you don’t have a purple liner since the effect is very subtle. (That, or you can put this on your Xmas wish-list. Yes, I’m such an enabler…)

1. First apply a THICK line of the purple shade.
2. Then after it sets, apply a THIN line of black below and very close to the lash line AND under the lashes as well just so you don’t leave a pale visible line of flesh below.

I find fine brush tips are easier to control than marker-pen type felt-tips, but whichever you can get a neater line with would work. And yes, using 2 gel liners will work too though the line might not be quite as crisp as liquid.

NOTE: You CAN choose to go with either just black or purple liner, instead of stacking both, but this is more subtly dramatic.

“Galatea”: Soft Hazy Colored Wings (L’oreal Permanent Kaki and MAC Cornflower pigment)

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Perfect for any water nymph or fairy (or even a Mermaid) look this Halloween! One tip when you are doing any of these iridescent “water-color” like looks is to go for loose pigments, which can blend out sheerer without losing that iridescence and color. Much easier to use a loose brush to apply these over larger areas of your skin than a pressed shadow.

** Note on creating scales for those who have asked: I’ve seen it being done a couple of times using fish-net stockings or netting. Simply hold a strip of it stretched against a section of your face, and then use a soft face brush to dust shadow over it, like you’re using a stencil.

Colors used:

• Semi-matte grey (BH Cosmetics MS17)
• Cornflower blue/violet (MAC Cornflower pigment - NYX Ultra Mania Pearl in Jade is similar but not quite as duochrome)
• Shimmery sage-green (L’oreal Infallible in Permanent Kaki - this name might be different in different countries)
• Brown pencil (I used Bourjois, but any will work)

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Step 1: I used a smoky charcoal-grey shade like BH Cosmetics MS17 shadow as a soft liner around the eyes, pulling the brush out very slightly at the outer corners so there’s just a faint wing.

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Step 2: Using the pearlescent sage green shadow, I applied it over most of the mobile lid (below the socket line), stopping short of the outer corners.

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Step 3: Using the cornflower blue pigment, I packed it intensely onto the outer corners and along the outer edge of the socket line above the green. Then using minimal product, I blended the color up and out over the ENTIRE brow bone area and towards the temples.

THEN I went back in and added a second coat onto the lid area so it was more intensely violet-blue there.

(P.S. One good alternative if you can order online is Coastal Scents Blue-Red Duochrome Mica; it’s slightly more pink/violet than Cornflower, but has the same translucent color-shifting texture)

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