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!!

Re-packaging Lip Tar, Too Faced Melted Lipstick isn't all that, DIY Cosmetics and other ramblings...

Hello my lovelies!

So, today I have a bit of a ramble... The main point being that I totally totally transformed a product that I wanted to love, but just didn't.  After one small change, I'm in love now.  

The backstory: Too Faced just released their Melted Lipstick product, and I didn't want to like it... but I do.  You all know I'm a bit of a bargain huntress, and I think there are inexpensive options that are just as good.  I'll admit I really like the delivery of Too Faced's product, and the bold bright colors are really amazing. But..... after I actually wore it for an evening it felt a little drying and I had to apply it more than I thought I should.  That doesn't mean it isn't a great product...but I probably won't buy another one.  Part of what I really like about this product is the delivery system.  It is in a squeeze tube with a fuzzy tip applicator... but even that I have a like/don't like relationship with.  It is great.... but with color this bright and opaque, I think it should be more precise.  (Bonus Mini Review achieved!)  Bottom line, I like them, but don't love them.

  

Of course I started to search the internet for an inexpensive but similar product.  I found one by LA Girls, with similar colors, but the review I read said it was more like Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar.  And I didn't like the tube it came in...the applicator was just a hard plastic slant with a hole in it.  If this product is like Lip Tar... that applicator will just be bad.  I know this because I have 8 Lip Tars.  (This brings me the long way to the point of this blog.)

I have 8 lip tars... but I NEVER wear them.  Why you ask?  Certainly not because the product itself is inferior.  Not because I dislike the colors.  It is because I hate that I have to apply them with a lip brush.  While the squeeze tube / brush seems like a good idea... it just isn't.  The lip brush lends itself to getting too much product on your lips, and isn't practical for reapplication when you are out and about.  Sure, OCC gives you a little plastic pouch to stash the mini lip brush and the lip tar in, so you can throw it in your purse (can you say gloppy mess if you don't wipe your brush off before throwing it in the pouch?)... but we all know that touch ups with a brush are just a pain in the ass.  Add a few beers into the mix, and I'd rather go without anything on my lips vs. touching up with a brush.  So yea... I never wore them.

I started thinking about the review of the LA Girls product, and how it compared them to OCC Lip Tars.... and it compared the Lip Tars to the Too Faced Melted Lipstick.... that they were actually pretty similar, EXCEPT the Too Faced product had that cool applicator.  That's when it really hit me... I didn't "like" my OCC Lip Tars because they didn't have an applicator!!!! I jumped on the interwebs and went over to diycosmetics.com and ordered 8 empty lip gloss tubes with an applicator like this:

And can be found Here:
 http://www.diycosmetics.com/lip-gloss-container-matte-silver-top/   

For $1.60 each, I figured I didn't have anything to lose.... maybe I'd ruin one of the Lip Tars and throw it away... no biggie for a product I NEVER wore.  So I took my least favorite color, Yaoi and squirted it in the tube.  It was easy to do, and just took a few seconds.  OMG.  This changed my life.  Having the doe foot wand makes this product SUPER amazing.  I excitedly did all 8 and I am totally in love!  Putting the Lip Tars into a tube with a wand makes this an AMAZEBALLS product.  The Lip Tars (when in a tube with a wand) totally kicks Too Faced Melted Lipstick in the crotch.  Ok, maybe not in the crotch... but I like it better... and OCC has SO many more colors than Too Faced's (yawn) 5.  Another benefit... the crystal clear tubes let you really see the color.  The Matte squeeze tubes don't.  Black Metal Dahlia shows it's true glory in the tube.  I forgot how beautiful that color is and can't wait for Fall to come back around so I can rock it every day (Seriously, if you don't have this color go order it NOW... with an empty tube and wand too).  The Lip Tar's aren't cheap ($18), but I might actually start buying them again.... there just isn't anything out there that can compare to the colors.  Don't like opaque color? OCC also has Stained Glosses.  Amazing colors but a little sheer... and they stain the heck out of your lips.  Oh yea, Lip Tar's are cruelty free and vegan.

Moral to this story?  Sometimes products are amazing, but how you apply them just don't work.  Don't be afraid to de-pot, repackage, etc. It very well may change your makeup life.

End Notes:

 Just FYI, Rimmel's Show Off Lip Lacquer is pretty amazing and very similar to TF's Melted Lipstick, and OCC's Lip Tar (a la Paula) with a much smaller price tag (approximately $5-6).   The colors are a little tamer, but they have 13.  It is a really good product that I might like better than the TF Melted.

I also want to mention that DIY Cosmetics has mineral foundations that are amazing!!  I got a "sample" for $5 which is enough to fill my empty Bare Minerals container.... it is beautiful!  The website isn't the best... but I emailed their customer service department and they guided me to a color that was closest to what I wear in Bare Minerals... and it is actually a BETTER color for me.  Bargain Huntress strikes again!!! 

Texas Rangers Inspired Makeup

So, one of my besties had tickets to go see a Texas Rangers baseball game.  Of course their colors are red/blue so I felt the need to do some Rangers inspired makeup.  Here you go!

NYX HD Eye Shadow primer

NYX Eye Shadow Base in white

Coastal Scents Shadow - Chamois Nude

Coastal Scents Shadow - Icicle Blue

Coastal Scents Shadow - Vibrant Red

Sephora Long Lasting Liquid Eyeliner - Color has been discontinued, unsure of the name.  (It looks like it is the same color as Revlon ColorStay Skinny Liquid Liner in Electric Blue... which you can buy now)

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eyeliner - Chaos

Maybelline The Colossal Cat Eye Mascara in black

I used Vibrant red in my outer V, and blended it lightly in the crease. I then swept it under my eye.  I used Icicle blue on the lid and blended it over into the Vibrant Red.  Be careful and don't blend too much or you will get purple! I just lightly buffed them together to soften the lines between the 2 colors. I used Chamois Nude on my brow bone and blended into the Vibrant Red and Icicle blue to soften the line in the crease.   I did a winged eyeliner with the bright blue liquid eye liner and used UD's Chaos on my waterline.  

Since I was doing such bright colors, I kept everything matte.  My cheeks were a soft pink, and my lips a red sheer gloss.  

 Yea, the flash washed me out some... please ignore the pancake face! (And the green shirt!)  :)  

At the Game! 

I'm too old to wear that.......

NONSENSE!!!!  Today I decided to wear a little neon on my eyes.  I softened it up with a lovely grey shimmery color in the crease and under my lower lashes.  I have a soft vanilla shimmer on my brow bone with my standard black winged liner. I wore this to work today and it was totally fun.  The pink, orange and yellow are matte shades (the yellow looks a little shimmery in this photo, but I swear it isn't).  I think mixing mattes and shimmers gives a nice dimension and is a good rule of thumb, but I digress....

My point I wish to make today is that there are ways for women at every age to wear something fun and trendy. I hate it when I hear a perfectly confident, beautiful woman who is no longer in her 20's or 30's say she is "too old" for anything.  It's all about making it work for you.  Usually all that means is toning it down a bit (which is something the youngsters should probably do too, but don't).  

Maybe you love red lipstick... if you feel like you can't pull it off anymore, go with a red stain or gloss... Or a tinted balm. But keep rocking those red lips!  Do you love glitter as much as I love glitter?  Look for finely milled glitters that aren't so disco ball chunky.  My favorite look is a wash of iridescent glitter on my lids over a pearly white base.  Just simple and very beautiful in the sun.  It is a great day look.  Or go with a glittery shadow maybe just in the inner corner of your lid... or on the outer corner.  

I have a great example of a look I feel like I can't pull off anymore... (I do question if anyone can really pull it off however!)  But the dark eyes with dark lips look.  I used to rock this look all the time in the 90's.  I'd do a deep red lip with dark smokey eyes.  Yes ladies, this was before the term "smokey eye" had been coined.  But now, I feel it is too much for me.  What do I do?  If I rock dark smokey eyes, and want to do a red lip... I do a sheer red.  Easy peasy.  It just softens it up enough that it doesn't look harsh on my not 20 something face.  I found my balance.  (I will say that now I prefer a nude lip with smokey eyes... I just really like that look... even if it is a darker nude lip... meow!)

So ladies, find your beautiful.  

Take that trend you are coveting and make it yours.  You can do it, I know you can.  

Kisses, Paula