Your Weekend Look: Sexy Eyes

Here's a smoky eye how-to from Ford Models and MAC. What I love is the shimmer down the center of the eyelid. Have fun!

Ford Models Beauty Tips

I am obsessed with the Ford Models channel on YouTube. Each 3- or 4-minute video features a model, sometimes a hairstylist or makeup artist, and a fabulous quick beauty tip like how to do a smoky eye or style curly hair. All the models are so breezy and perky that it's easy to like them and you could easily spend hours browsing through all the videos. Here's my favorite today, from the beautiful and funny Tomiko.

Rimmel Eye Makeup: Product Review

I love the Rimmel London ads, with Kate Moss looking all Brit rock chic. I also have a weakness for inexpensive makeup, which Rimmel most definitely is. So I finally tried some of their eye shadow and eye pencils. Here's what I thought:

First, I tried the Rimmel London Colour Rush Quad Eye Shadow in Cafe Latte. This contains a fairly matte yellow-peach as the base color, a slightly shimmery mauve, slightly shimmery raisin, and a matte chocolate color. I love the idea of creating a smoky eye with colors other than black and gray, so that was my goal with this palette.

The official description says, "Pure colour impact. Blends easily. Crease-proof." My experience was not exactly as described. I found these to be really hard, as if the powder was packed really tightly, and it was difficult to get much pigment on my brush. The texture was quite dry, almost chalky, and the color went on matte. Given the sparse pigment, I was able to layer a LOT and still not have a ton of color on my eyes. When all was said and done, I did have a raisiny-brown smoky eye, but my eyelids looked dry and chalky in a way I didn't like.

Scores:
Color selection: B
Pigment strength: C
Texture: D
Price: A

Next I tried Rimmel London Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil in Stormy Grey and Chianti. The description says, "Soft, smudgeable line. Fade resistant colour. This pencil gives dense colour application, which can be blended into the lid for a softly smudged look. A very easy to apply formulation."

As advertised, these pencils are nice and soft, not too dry, and color transfers onto the eye fairly easily with only a little pulling. I used Chianti with the Cafe Latte quad described above, and the colors were great together. Stormy Grey is nice with a gray Aveda eyeshadow that I love. (I have a thing for matching eyeshadow with liner.) Overall, I like these eye pencils a lot, and they come in very cool colors.

Scores:
Color selection: A
Pigment strength: A
Texture: B
Price: A

Finally, I used Rimmel London Professional Eyebrow Pencil in Dark Brown to fill in my brows. The website says, "Professional Eyebrow Pencil is used to enhance and refine the shape of the eyebrows. It can be used to fill gaps or lengthen the arc of the eyebrow to create the desired look." I agree. This is a nice, basic brow pencil with a hard "lead" that keeps a sharp point. There's a tiny brush on the cap that can be used for sweeping brows into shape and for smudging the pencil lines a bit.

Scores:
Color selection: A
Pigment strength: A
Texture: A
Price: A

Has anyone tried other Rimmel products? What do you think?

Mac Saves the Day

Having time off, I walked down to the mall today to browse at the beauty counters. Was looking at lovely shiny Clarins lip glosses when a salesperson with perfect smoky eyes caught my attention. Could she try out the new spring eye palette on me? Well, of course! But when we got over to the counter (which will remain unnamed), the smoky-eyed girl ceded control to a grizzled-looking woman, who put cigarette-smelling hands on my face and let me know my skin felt a bit "sticky."

Aughh! I should have bolted right then, but no, I sat through the application of the entire spring palette, an uninspired quad of pink, cream, brownish, and beige, and then through eyelash primer and I honestly don't even know how many coats of mascara. The smoky-eyed girl tried to help, I think, but in the end I literally looked like Tammy Faye Bakker. Or a clown version of her.

Politely excused myself with a promise to return after looking around. Slipped off to the bathroom to undo the damage, but the makeup wouldn't budge. Fled to Macy's, to the Mac counter, where I begged for some eye makeup remover. The heavenly Mac angel (with amazing eyes herself) gave me a Mac Wipe, which washed away the pinky beigeness and dissolved the clay-like clumps of primer and mascara. I have never been so grateful. After all that I went home and scrubbed my face, took out my contacts, and soothed my poor eyes with Juice Beauty's Green Apple Nutrient Eye Cream. Whew.

Do you have a beauty counter horror story? Post a comment and share!

I'm Blushing

Finally got Bare Escentuals A Little Sun All Over in the mailbox! Opened it and at first was a little afraid, as it looked...orange. I cannot wear orange. However, as your intrepid beauty explorer, I opened the soft fan brush and dabbed it in the mineral powder and swept it across my cheeks.

To my delight, it was not at all orange but rather a pinky bronze, and looked uncannily like an actual sun-kissed flush on my cheeks. As I looked at my face in the mirror throughout the day I liked it even more - I looked blushing, healthy, happy. Bare Escentuals has come through again, and this gets highest recommendations.

UPDATE: So I'm wearing this again, and there is a bit of orange in it. I think it's flattering. My skin is olive with yellow undertones, if this helps you make a decision about whether it would be right for you.

Eyeing springtime

Yesterday I realized that winter is officially on its way out and the start of spring is undeniable. Daffodils and crocuses are fully in bloom here in the Willamette Valley, and cherry blossom trees are turning faintly pink in preparation for their full burst of color in a few weeks.

Likewise, I am saying goodbye to winter myself. Goodbye to the short, dark days, cold, and rain and goodbye to my lethargic, disappointed winter self (it was a rough season, ladies). Hello to spring, to color and light, and to anticipation of good (no, great!) things to come.

What better way to mark the change than with some new makeup! E.l.f. (Eyes Lips Face) is a fantastic makeup brand that is so inexpensive it makes my jaw drop. I am loving spring's natural look and "safari" colors, so I bought Custom Eyes colors in Sage, Ivory, Mocha, and Golden Glow. Each is only $1.00! The refillable compact is only $4.00! The mind boggles.

I wore Sage today and love it. The quality is far, far better than one would expect from such low prices. And right now there's a coupon code on the website for a free brush with purchase! The eyeshadow brush is very good. Happy makeup shopping!