Gel Eyeliner, how I love thee....

Hello my lovelies!  Today I want to talk a little bit about gel eyeliners.   I've found some really great ones for you... and you guys know how I love a bargain!!

Let's start with Makeup Geek's gel eyeliners.  These are such high quality... go on really well and have great staying power.  They have some really nice colors as well.  The black is one of the best black gel liners I've used and is a staple in my kit.  They run $8.99, and are better than some way more expensive liners I have.

http://www.makeupgeek.com/store/eye-products/eye-liners/gel-liner.html

They have a decent range of colors.  There are the standards such as black, dark brown, metallic dark grey, and a metallic brown/antique gold.  They also have some colors such as a metallic turquoise-y blue, a matte electric blue, vibrant purple, a shimmery mint green, a matte blood red (yes red and it is amazing), a shimmery white, and a metallic yellow (gold, but yellow).  I have a few of them and have swatched them here.  Ignore my messy swipes... this by no means is a reflection on the liner, just me being tired when I drew the lines.

In the shot above, you can see the metallic brown (Rave) on top, next down the metallic grey (Twinkle), the metallic turquoise (Fame) and a little bit of the shimmery white (Cotton Tail).  The colors are very vibrant, even if you can't tell so much by my photos.  I love Twinkle and Rave as an alternative for black.  I will say Cottontail feels a bit soft, but I find that with most gel liners that are light colors.  The softness also makes for a rockin' eye shadow base.  

Here is a little better view of Cottontail, it's a really pearly white.  Poison, the red is really fun.  I've worn it a few times and it just pops.  The black looks a little washed out with my flash, but don't worry, it is a wonderful deep dark black that is so smooth and silky to put on.  

When I ran my finger through them, the did smudge, but I rubbed a lot harder than anyone would rub their eye.  I would call them waterproof, as soap and water doesn't touch them.  You have to use an oil based makeup remover to get these suckers off.  

My next gel eyeliner loves are by BH Cosmetics.  They have some really fun colors that I enjoy and a great price point at $7.95... actually I always see them "on sale" for 50% off and a 3.95 price point.  Can you believe that?????  I haven't tried a whole lot from BH, I sort of prefer Coastal Scents and they are very similar.  However, Coastal Scents has really boring gel eyeliner colors, and only 4 or 5 of them.  Meh. 

http://www.bhcosmetics.com/products/gel-eyeliners

I picked up 4 to just try them out.  From the bottom: Fairy, a WONDERFUL green with gold undertones.  Really beautiful.  Next is Fresh, a nice metallic pop of minty green.  You guys know how I love pink eyeliner and Blow is a fantastic metallic pink almost fuchsia.   Night is an almost black indigo-ish eggplant color.  Great if you want something dark, but maybe not quite black.  

These are such fun colors.  The lighter colors are a bit soft as Makeup Geek's Cottontail is... but I'm sort of ok with that.  That makes them versatile as a shadow base or hell, just a shadow.  For $3.95 I'm going to be picking up a few more colors that were out of stock when I ordered.  These are a really great value.  

They did also smudge when I ran my finger through them.... but as above, I ran it through harder than anyone would ever rub their eyes.  The staying power is great, it doesn't fade by the end of the day.  I would call these water resistant, as just running water on them they were fine, but soap and water does take them right off.  But they are so inexpensive and the colors so great, how can you resist???

The next thing I want to talk about in the realm of gel eye liners is brushes.  Get a GOOD brush.  I have several ranging from an angled flat brush, all the way to a square flat brush.  My favorites are the bent liner brushes, and my favorite I've found is Makeup Geek's.  $6.99 ladies, yep, a quality brush for under $10 bucks.  Best liner brush ever.  The thing that makes it different is that instead of it just being a few brush hairs in a small ferrule, it is like a tiny pencil brush.  The angled ferrule makes it really easy to use as well.  You can kind of see the comparison in my picture below.  

Most bent eyeliner brushes (or non bent ones for that matter) are like the black brush I have here... just a bunch of straight skinny bristles.  Which is fine if you want to do a really skinny line along your lash line.  But in the brush with the silver ferrule (the Makeup Geek brush) you see how it looks like a little pencil.  I LOVE this brush.  It's so versatile and you get great control.   I really recommend this brush.  

Lastly, I wanted to link to a tutorial on how to do quick perfect winged eyeliner.  This is the easiest most precise way out there... Yes I can do my winged eyes freehand, but when I'm in a hurry I use this tape method.  So quick and easy.  

http://www.makeupgeek.com/tutorials/the-1-minute-winged-liner/

That's it for today!  Stay beautiful!!

Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Haul

Hi my lovelies! 
I'm sitting here at Genghis Grill waiting on my food so I thought I'd do a quick review on my lovely Makeup Geek eye shadows I just received in the mail.  I ordered the following: 

Shark Bait -  a matte medium teal
Rockstar -  a silvery nude duo chrome with a pink shift
Simply Marlena -  a lovely medium matte bright pink
Corrupt - black black black
Drama Queen - a dark purple shimmer
Razzleberry - berry red with gold sparkle
Pop Culture - medium lavender shimmer

http://www.makeupgeek.com/store/eye-products/eyeshadows/makeup-geek-eyeshadows.html?p=1

Shark Bait - feels smooth and soft in the pan, great color, but sheer.  Will have to build this one up if you want an opaque look.  It's nice to have a matte shadow feel soft and buttery to the touch.  

Rockstar - If you only buy one Makeup Geek eyeshadow this one should be it.  It is a silvery duochrome with a pink color shift.  Think mother of pearl.  It looks quite grey/sliver in the pan, but it just blends in with your skin and leaves an iridescence that makes you look ethereal.  Really beautiful... Marlena did a great job with this shadow.  Soft and buttery feel in the pan as well.  

Simply Marlena - This is a fun bright matte pink.  It feels dry and chalky in the pan, but still goes on great, has amazing color payout, super blendable and easy to work with.  I say it all the time, mattes are hard to formulate... even though this feels chalky in the pan, it is not on the skin.  Really nice pink.  Very happy with it.  

Corrupt - This is the blackest black you can buy.  There is very subtle glitter in there... and I mean very subtle.  It just gives the black a little dimension.  This also feels a bit dry and chalky in the pan but wow, it is my new favorite black.  SUPER pigmented, super blendable... VERY happy with this one too!! 

Drama Queen - Very dark purple with warm shimmer.  This is like if an eggplant had a baby with Corrupt.  It's super pigmented, very soft and buttery in the pan... This is a great dark color if you want something softer than black.  You can blend it out for a soft but dark look, or build it up.  Will be great for an alternative color for a smoky eye.  

Razzleberry - Berry Red with gold glitter.  This is a really pretty matte berry red that has some fun gold shimmer.  Like the other mattes it feels dry and chalky but has great color payout, pigmentation, is super blendable and easy to work with.  Love this color and can't wait to wear it.  It's a berry red, but sort of warm if that makes sense.  

Pop Culture - Nice iridescent lavender shimmer.  This one is a nice shadow but sort of underwhelmed me.  It is sheer, and it says so in the description.  Soft and smooth in the pan, has good color payout but is VERY sheer if that makes sense.  If you want to see this on your skin at all you will need to wear a primer.  Without primer it is like a watercolor wash on your lid, which can be pretty too.  This will be a good versatile shadow that can be worn sheer for day, but built up if you want more of a pop of color.  

That's it!!!  I really like the MUG shadows.  Everything I have ever purchased has been excellent quality (Except for Neptune... I was really not happy with that one) and are a great price at 5.99.  The swatches below are without primer.  I really built up Pop Culture, but everything else was one swipe of my finger in the pan and rubbed on my skin.  Great colors!! 

  

Hi, My name is Paula, and I'm a makeup addict.

Hello!  Welcome to my first Blog!

I thought I would take my first blog post and tell you a little bit about myself, I'm Paula by the way. 

I am a 40 something single woman finding her way through life, love and health.  I live in Dallas, Texas and can't see myself anywhere else.  I grew up on the Texas coast in Corpus Christi, and lived in Austin for a while before finding my way to Dallas.  I consider myself an Urban warrior, and live downtown.  The suburbs make me a little crazy.  I like having things that I can walk to.  I don't like depending on my car all the time, I drive as little as possible.  

I have 2 sides.  (I'm a Gemini, go figure).  I work in Information Technology, but I am also very creative.  When I first took a stab at college, I was an Art Major at the University of Texas.   I wasn't a terribly talented artist compared to other students at U.T., and eventually threw in the towel.  After struggling with what I wanted to "be" for several years, I opted for a more practical education path.  I started my professional career as a medical laboratory technician.  I soon realized I was better with the instruments than anything, and that evolved to a career in Information Technology.  I have my Master's of Science in Computer Information Systems from St. Edward's University in Austin.  For many years, I turned my back on my creativity.  In the past few years, events in my life made me realize I need a creative outlet to be happy, and feel balanced.  

My makeup journey started with my mother taking me to the Clinique counter when I was 14 or so for a makeup lesson.  I didn't think much about that, I was given the basic tools needed to do my own makeup and maybe not look like a complete hot mess.  The "hot mess" days were pre-makeup lesson.  Oi!!  Later, while I was trying to figure out what I wanted to be, I worked in a department store, in the cosmetics department.  I was good at doing makeup, and thus selling makeup.  Through the years I've always dabbled in makeup, but never took it too seriously.  I was a makeup artist for a Glamour Shots type photography company and I also did stage makeup for a community theater I was involved with (Harbor Playhouse in Corpus Christi). I think makeup was my way of painting, and a face was the canvas.  

Since I began my romance with makeup in a department store, I was a makeup snob.  But, you have to understand, back in the day grocery store makeup was not so good.  Generic offerings of ANYTHING were sub par.  Sure, there were classics such as the pink and green tube of Maybelline Great Lash mascara that deserves it's cult following.... but in general, you couldn't beat the cosmetics offered at the department stores.  I've spent more money on makeup than I even want to think about.  But....In the past few years there has been a shift.  You can get really great quality makeup from the grocery store now, and generic products from food to moisturizer are stellar quality as well. 

That being said, I bug my friends all the time with my little "finds".  As sort of a hobby, I've been reading and watching video and non-video beauty bloggers.  I've found brands that I've never heard of that are amazing, and I've rekindled my romance with makeup.  (We sort of broke up for a while.)  One thing I noticed however.... and there is nothing wrong with this... BUT... most of the makeup bloggers are YOUNG.  I can't tell you how many times I've come across comments on a product review that goes something like, "These do look like beautiful colors, but I'm too old to wear them".  Seeing comments like that made me want to start my own blog.  So, here I am.  

With this blog, I want to show women of all ages that you are never too old to do something that makes you happy (I was seen sporting neon eye shadow this weekend).  I want to talk about some of the beauty gems I've found and love....Maybe do some tutorials on how to make trendy young looks work for women over 40... I'll probably talk some about my quest to get some weight off that I've put on in recent years..... Maybe discuss some life lessons I've taken to heart.  I'll say that my inspiration is MakeupGeek.com 's Marlena. She seems like such a beautiful person not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. What I like most about her is that she isn't perfect.  She's human, and not afraid to show that.  

So bear with me as this will be a work in progress and will be growing and evolving as I get my blogging chops.   I've got some things to figure out... and content to work on... but for now, hello.  Just because you are over 40 doesn't mean you aren't beautiful.