Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Eyeshadows in Bone and Sandstone Swatches

I have a few simple swatches of two matte neutral colors from the Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color Eyeshadow line today.

Bone

Sandstone

Bone is a matte cream color (Bone is a good name for it, actually).

Sandstone is a matte nude color.


From left; Bone, Sandstone

daylight bulb

flash

natural light

I reviewed Amethyst, Golden Orchid, and Romance here.  The formula for these seem a little different.  They are less buttery, but still very smooth.

These make great transition/blending colors (to transition from a bright or dark color on the moving lid into the crease and under the brow), and Bone makes a good matte, highlight used under the brow.  They also work well as simple nude colors to brighten the lid.

Art Prize 2013

ArtPrize is an art competition that takes place in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan annually.  There are pieces of art (entries into the competition) everywhere in the city as well as 3 museums, and it's all free and open to the public.  There is all kinds of art on display, and there is so much to see that it is impossible to see it all in one day. My mom and I went to see as much of it as we could on thursday.

I wore a beautiful scarf that my sister brought back from India (she studied there a few years ago) as a gift for me.  The colors of the scarf were the inspiration for my makeup.

Products:  Eyes--NYX Love in Paris palette in Pardon My French
                             top left color: all over the moving lid
                             bottom right color: all over moving lid (intensified the color)
                             top middle color: highlight under the brow and inner corner
                             middle color: outer v and crease
                     

NYX Love in Paris Pardon My French palette 

                         Sephora Contour eye pencil 12 HR wear in Fairytale: lower waterline
                       
                         Benefit They're Real Mascara
             
                 Brows--Benefit Browzings in Medium

                 Cheeks--Elizabeth Arden powder blush in Tearose (discontinued formula)

                 Lips--Ulta Lipstick in Wild Honey

Ulta Lipstick in Wild Honey, Sephora Contour eye liner in Fairytale, Elizabeth Arden blush in Tearose

I didn't take as many photos of art as I thought, but here are a few of my favorite pieces...

We had a great time, but were pretty tuckered out by the end of the day!

NYX Love in Paris Eyeshadow Palette in Mon Cherie Swatches and Mini Review

NYX introduced a new selection of eyeshadow palettes this past spring, but I just recently got to try a couple of the "Love in Paris" palettes which have nine shadows.  I have Mon Cherie to show you today.

These shadows are not chalky or powdery, and most are decently pigmented.  Some are more buttery than others, but they all perform better over a primer.

Swatches without primer

daylight bulb

flash

natural light

I swatched these both without and with primer (Urban Decay primer Potion), so you can see the difference it makes.

Far left row--top: shimmery reddish brown - soft, good pigmentation

                    middle:  shimmery orangey copper - soft, excellent pigmentation

                    bottom:  matte brownish black - a little stiff and slightly sheer

                   

without primer

with primer

Middle row--top:  bright pinky purple - soft, decent pigmentation 

                   middle:  glittery forest green - kind of sheer (much better with primer)

                   bottom:  shimmery pink pearl - sheer

without primer

with primer

Far right row--top: glittery navy blue - kind of sheer (much better with primer)

                      medium: white with gold iridescence - soft

                      bottom: antique warm gold - a little sheer

without primer

with primer

without primer (natural light)

with primer (natural light)

This is a lovely little palette.  It has a great selection of jewel tones, neutrals, and highlight colors.

NYX Love in Paris palettes (9 color palettes) retail for $10 (USD).

Purple Eyes of the Day

I really need to come up with better names for my EotD posts.  Maybe today should be "punchy purple" except I'm not sure how punchy this look is.  It's also on the bluish side--maybe this is what people call blurple?

Eyes:
          Revlon Cream Eyeshadow Quad in Orchids (light lavender color)

           MAC Parfait Amour

          Sea Witch from the Sephora Ariel Storylook palette

           Wet 'n' Wild Eyeshadow Single in Creme Brulee (which I recently realized is
                    just "Brulee" in english)

Cheeks:  Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer in Milk Chocolate
              Too Faced Sweethearts Perfect Flush Blush (pink color)

Lips:  Revlon Color Burst Lipgloss in Orchid

Erm, I'm not sure what my bangs are doing...

This actually started out with lighter purples (with just the Revlon cream shadow and MAC Parfait Amour), but I wanted something darker, so I added Sea Witch.

This is what I started with.

Now that I'm seeing the eye makeup in the photos, I'm not sure how much I like it.  I wish I had added a color to the crease or blended out the purple a little more.  Ah well, that's what's great about makeup--it washes right off!

from left:  Too Faced Milk Chocolate bronzer, Too Faced Sweethearts blush, Wet 'n' Wild Creme Brulee, Revlon cream shadow from the Orchids quad, MAC Parfait Amour, Sea Witch, Revlon Orchid lipgloss

Thanks for visiting, and have a beautiful day!

Lipgloss in a Skull!

So, with Halloween approaching, I've been spotting all sorts of goodies in the grocery store/drugstore to waste money on.  I found this metallic hot pink skull with rhinestone eyes that contains lipgloss! There was also a silver/chrome skull that I might have to get (if there are any left).

The mouth opens to reveal the gloss in the head cavity.  Seriously.

Totally worth the $3.00.  I found this wee treasure at Meijer (midwest grocery store chain).