The Makeup Box

[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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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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Candy-Bloom Pink Eyeshadow Look

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Pink eyeshadow is tricky a lot of times. If you’re not careful it can look like you have swollen, puffy eyes. There are a couple of key steps you should take note of later that can help when you are wearing ANY pink.

This look is good for:

• Monolids, hooded lids, regular lids
• Any eye color

I’m doing a demo using some individual shadow shades from BH Cosmetics. You can use whatever you have, but if you’re just starting out with pink and want a low cost option, these are a nice silky formula for a very low price.

I used a bright medium peachy pink (WM04), a purplish mauve for the socket (WS07), a dark warm brown in the outer V and along the lashline (MM06) and a pale strawberry-milkshake pink on the inner corners (WS19).

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Rainbow Dreamsicle Eyeshadow Tutorial: Layering Cream Shadows!

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I wanted to try a look where I layered cream shadows over one another, instead of layering powders with them. This is more of a colorful look for fun occasions (or that fantasy themed party). 

Great for:

• Younger lids (most cream textures are shimmery and too much of it might emphasize lines around the eye corners and brow bone.
• All eye colors; any eye look that straddle a spectrum of both warm and cool shades will work on most eye colors
• All eye shapes (yes you can wear this if you have mono-lids too)
• Dry to slightly-oily lids
• Bonus: all skin tones. Cream shadows are translucent so whether you are pale or dark-skinned, they will show beautifully and not look chalky (unless you over-apply big-time)

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Twilight-Bloom: Intense Pink, Lavender and Cocoa Eyeshadow Tutorial (88 Shimmer Palette)

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This color combination just reminded me of some exotic, poisonous bloom surrounded by dark woods.

 Good for:

• All eye colors
• Medium-fair to Dark skintones
• Double-lids (it could still work for some mono-lids if you have quite a bit of lid space, but otherwise it might not be as flattering)
• Those with little lines/dryness around the eye area (those with more mature skin can swop to completely-matte shades in similar colors)

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Soft ‘n’ Hazy: Soft Candy Shimmer (88 Shimmer Palette)

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Wearing a dark smoky color at the crease is a way to create a slightly smoky look without actually using a lot of dark shades around your eyes. 

Here’s a way to wear color in a “stacked” way that actually doesn’t look too over-the-top in real life. You can try this with all kinds of pastel shades, not just the ones I used.

For women with visible double lids, it will look the most subtle if you use a champagne, beige, peach, as the main lid shade. (I used pink.)

Using green, blue, violet, etc would instantly make the look more colorful and dramatic just because 

For women with mono or hooded lids, it’s the reverse, because your lids are tucked away and hidden, and the most visible section will be above your socket line. So this will look more subtle if you use a more neutral shade at the top, and more dramatic if you use blues, violets, green, etc above the crease. 

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Step 1: I used one of the many teal greens in the palette; I’m not going to point out EXACTLY which shade because you should just pick what you want and adjust according to your skin tone. This is like a lighter version of MAC’s Steamy shadow.

Using a soft blending brush, I swept the shadow on the upper side of the socket line. Make sure it’s not harsh. The color should be quite soft and subtle.

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Step 2: Using the same brush, and same side with the green shadow, dab a little yellow gold shimmer and then blend out the outer edges of the teal green and pull it outwards slightly towards the temples. The green should look like it fades into the gold.

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Step 3: Pick up a deep purple shadow on a pointy/pencil brush (you can use a flat brush as well but make sure to blend and soften the line out) and then apply the shadow along the deepest part of your socket line (“follow the hollow”), going from outside in.

The purple should be intense on the outside and fade off towards the inner corner.

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Step 4: With the soft fluffy brush and buff a soft pastel pink onto the mobile lid. Don’t muddy it up with the purple on the outside, but do overlap the purple at the inner corners, just to soften out the purple a bit more. 

If the purple is too strong, you can also use the teal to soften its edges.

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Step 5: Using the pencil brush again, run a little of the same deep purple from earlier along the lower lash line. Try to get as close to the base of the lashes as you can.