beautychatter

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The other day I did a Kim Kardashian inspired smoky eyes for date night with my husband. Surprisingly, it was a really easy look to do and I’ve received some comments about how to recreate this look. I apologize this is the only decent photo I managed to get before the sun went down…

1. Start with a black base and apply to the lids. I used Bobbi Brown gel liner in Black Ink; NYX Jumbo pencil is also a great alternative.

2. Use a flat eyeshadow brush to apply a matte, dark black eyeshadow over the base. Doing this in a patting motion will reduce fallout. I used Blackout from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette.

3. Using a blending brush, blend upwards into the crease.

4. To intensify the smoky look, use another clean blending brush and apply a deep purple shade over the black and continue to blend upwards. I used YDK from the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette.

5. Continue to alternate between the black and purple eyeshadow until you reach your desired look. The goal is to create a nice fade from the lids up towards to brows. Continue to blend.

6. Apply a matte eyeshadow closest to your natural skintone on the brow bone.

7. Apply a black eyeliner on upper and lower lashline. I used Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero.

8. Using a pencil brush, mix the black and purple eyeshadow and smudge on lower lash line. Smudge till desired look. 

9. Apply false lashes and mascara. I used Ardell Demi Wispies and used YSL Babydoll and Revlon Lash Potion mascara. Don’t forget to apply mascara to your lower lashes as well. 

10. On the cheeks I applied a cream blush - Bobbi Brown Rouge Pot in Powder Pink, then lightly applied Illamasqua Naked Rose blush on top. (I didn’t opt to go for any contouring with this look, but feel free to add this step in)

When browsing through IG looking for eye makeup looks to inspire my own, a little jealousy always creeps up wishing I had large almond eyes with a visible crease. Oh the possibilities!! Of course there’s nothing wrong with any other eye shape! But if you’re a hooded girl like me, you know the technique to get a smoky eye or to do a creative look takes a whole different method to master.

I mean, after all that work to create a gorgeous Arabian-inspired look, it gets wasted the second you open your eyes…

My eyes are small and hooded and it took me some time to master my own technique that works for my eye shape and what I’m comfortable with. Its also taken me many years of trial and error to find what I think are the best eye brushes (affordable ones) to create a glamorous smoky eye or just for an everyday polished look.

Many brushes out on the market cater to those who have a prominent crease (or any crease for that matter). If you’ve noticed the step-by-step instruction cards to create eye looks that usually come with a palette, it’s geared towards those with a crease or specific eye shape. I feel that those of us of different eye shapes, like hooded, small, or mono lids are left out trying to figure out the best method that flatters our eye shape best. Thank goodness for YouTube….

Here is a list of my top brushes:

1. My number one, absolute favorite for many years is my Stila #9 brush. I bought this very brush 10 years ago and it’s certainly one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. This brush does not shed. I’ve had it this long and it is in perfect condition as the day I bought it. The #9 is a long-handle, all over blending brush made of soft goat hair. It tapers to a slight point and the size is perfect to blend or create an illusion of a crease. I find many blending brushes are too large for small or hooded eyes. This brush is perfection. (Pictured above, left) $24.00 at stilacosmetics.com

2. Another excellent brush to give the illusion of a more defined crease is the Sonia Kashuk Large Crease brush from Target. It says large, but it’s smaller than many crease brushes I’ve tried and used. The only con is the bristles can feel a little stiff on some of the brushes. I’ve found that it just depends on the brush, not of the #116 brushes are stiff. The brush is dense, tapers to a point to give depth and contour the lids. (Pictured above, top right) $5.99 at target.com

3. For an all-around fluffy blending brush that to blend seamlessly is the Sephora Pro Crease brush #10. MAC 224 is comparable, but I do prefer this brush over the 224. The bristles are soft and excellent to either blend or for sweeping a wash of color on the lids. (Pictured above, bottom right) $20.00 at sephora.com

4. Sometimes on a small lid space, you need a small flat brush to pack on color on the lids. This brush, small shadow brush #15, also from the Sephora Pro collection is flat and smaller than many of the eyeshadow brushes out there. This allows you to really concentrate color in a more precise area of the lids. The bristles on this brush is also very soft. (Pictured above, top) $18.00 at sephora.com

5. Another great and affordable flat shadow brush is the Up & Up brand from Target. It’s actually named a Smudge brush, but its a very dense and soft flat shadow brush. This brush has the perfect density and size to be a multi-task brush - pack color, sweep a wash of color, brow highlight, use to smoke out eyeliner, or use to smudge color on the lower lash line. A very, very handy brush and you’re absolutely getting the most of your money. You definitely can’t go wrong with this brush. $2.99 at my local Target, currently can’t be found on the target website. (Pictured above, bottom)

6. A perfect pencil brush for us who have small eyes! It’s the Essence of Beauty crease brush (came in a duo pack at CVS). I’m not too sure how this brush fell into a “crease brush” category, but in any case, this is an excellent and perfect pencil brush. It’s very soft and tapers to a strong point for precise application. You can use to soften or smoke out eyeliner or use with an eyeshadow to smudge or smoke on the lower lash line. This is another must-have brush- so affordable and a great value. It’s certainly comparable to more high end brushes! (Pictured above, left) $5.99 at cvs.com

7. Another Sephora Pro brush, #24, the smoky eye brush is very similar to a pencil brush but comes to a strong point. The soft, synthetic bristles allow use for multiple product textures. But what I love about this brush is that it allows you to really get into the lash line to create the illusion of thick lashes. It gives definition to the eyes and makes it stand out in a subtle way. I love using this especially on my lower lash line and I dot some black shadow on the outer-third lower lash line to open up my eyes and give the illusion of larger eyes. Just like a pencil brush, you can use this to smoke out any eyeliner or use to create a thick winged liner look to elongate the eyes. (Pictured above, top right) $17.00 at sephora.com

8. Lastly, the Real Techniques Accent brush (part of the Starter set) is a super tiny synthetic brush that can be used for smudging, detailing, brightening the inner corners of the eyes, brow highlighting, smoky liner effect, or my favorite use - apply glitter either on the inner one-third of the lids or center of the lids…depends on what look I’m doing. The con with this brush is that you cannot purchase this brush alone, you have to purchase the Starter set in order to get this brush. But it’s a great brush to consider adding to your kit. (Pictured above, bottom right)

So anyone else purchased the limited edition lip gloss in Purple Royale? It’s from the Maybelline 2013 on the Runway collection. Whoa look at how intense this color looks!

I have to admit when I saw this at the store, I thought to myself that it probably just looks intense from the outside but will swatch really sheer. Boy was I pretty surprised on how intense this color is! It’s like grape juice that turned into lip gloss. Not in a bad way. But it can be rather difficult to wear if you’re pale like me and you want to get more use from this color other than once a year. If you have a deeper skin tone or olive complexion, I can imagine how amazing it would look with just this gloss alone. *jealous*

I swatched some lipsticks in my stash and topped this gloss over to give you an idea of what colors work best (and ones no so much) to help you get the most use of this bold grape color. 

Note: to show how the color does/does not work with the swatched lipstick, I purposely did not blend the lipstick/lipgloss together. 

From left to right: Milani Rose Hip, MAC Rebel, Milani Uptown Mauve, Bobbi Brown LipColor in Plum Rose, MAC Violetta, Rimmel Moisture Renew in Berry Queen, MAC Captive

(all lipstick swatches topped with Maybelline Purple Royale lip gloss)

This gloss pairs really well with most fuchsia or blue toned pink lipsticks. It gives the lipstick itself something a little extra and is perfect to take a daytime lipstick and transform it into a great nighttime or party lip. 

On the reverse, when topped over a red or neutral colored lipstick, as you can see from the photo, it’s just all wrong and makes the lipstick look muddy. 

In a mini haul at my local Bed Bath & Beyond, I picked up some items from the Maybelline 2013 Fall collection. Fall makeup is my absolute favorite; I love the deep rich shades and warm berry red lips. 

It took me a little while to decide which ones I was going to buy because I was seriously loving just about all of them! But my favorites, hands down are the eyeshadow quads. I bought two quads and the colors are so gorgeous. If you’re familiar with the EyeStudio quads, you’ll know that the pigmentation and texture in these quads are really excellent. I just love the color combination in the fall palettes, you can really create a nice classic fall look or go a little bolder with some richer jewel tone shadows. I purchased Violet Femmes and Desert Fantasy. 

Violet Femmes quad: are all shimmer shades - pale ballerina pink, a super gorgeous pinky taupe, a rich royal purple, and a deep blackened plum. 

Desert Fantasy quad: three shimmer shades and one satin finish - a beautiful peachy gold, yellow gold, a khaki with golden shimmer (so pretty!), and a deep gray (satin finish). Oddly, the deep gray shade is the only one I felt needs more pigmentation. 

BB&B had some really nice shades as part of the fall collection display, so I picked up 4 shades: Purple Royale, Lavender Lavish, Flash of Pink, and Berry Brilliance - all limited edition colors. 

The first thing I noticed was the scent of the lipglosses! They remind me of these Japanese yogurt candies by Meiji…soo good. Omg they just smell so good! I haven’t tried these lip glosses before…boy, have I been missing out! I LOVEEEE these!! Aside from the yummy scent, they’re not sticky at all and feel creamy (but not oily slippery in any way) on the lips. Very comfortable to wear. Wearing one of them today and its lasted for quite a few hours now (topped over a lipstick) even after I ate some linguine with some olive oil. 

Photo credit: oyatsucafe.com

Purple Royale: a grape color with blue undertones (literally reminds me of grape juice) Lavender Lavish: a warm lavender pink - same shade worn by the model in the display photo Flash of Pink: a milky pale pink Berry Brilliance: a bold bright raspberry pink

Have you picked up anything from this collection? Share your thoughts below! 

Thought I'd share with you my mom's recent haul from Nordstrom. I recently had passed the Chanel counter and immediately fell in love the Chanel cream blushes. The texture is creamy, but incredibly light, blends so flawlessly and easily, each shade more beautiful that the previous. The colors are very pigmented but blends like a dream, dries to a velvety finish, making your cheeks look just about perfect. Literally makes you want to splurge "just this once" and buy them all. Seriously. It's that good. It's something you just have to feel and try on yourself to really comprehend that this needs to be on a serious wish-list.

I knew immediately that my mom would just love these...I restrained myself from making any purchases that day (I really want to go back to Paris for my next vacay lol). One day while shopping together, (more like mom shopping & me window shopping) I mentioned to her that we should visit the Chanel counter so she could check out the cream blushes. So we walked by. And tried some on. She did love them and picked up 2 shades: #66 Fantastic and #62 Présage.

 #62 Présage: a warm, apricot peach shade and has a satin finish. (used on the model in the advert) #66 Fantastic: a deep, pink plum shade and has a satin finish.

These blushes are part of the 2013 Fall Collection and is available at Nordstrom $38.00. The Rouge Coco lipstick is $34.00 (more on the lipstick below).

In her haul, my mom sweetly gifted me one of the lipsticks from the collection #57 Mystique (lip color is on the model in the advert). Mystique is a gorgeous, warm apricot (pairs perfectly with the Présage cream blush) with a slight pearlescent finish. I know there's a lot of coral/apricot lip colors out there, but I really feel like this is just a unique, one of a kind apricot lipstick. Super beautiful.