Love for bareMinerals...

I've heard a lot about the bareMinerals brand and seen a lot of ads on TV. When the company came out with their pressed formulation, I thought like many others, I became more intrigued. Today's post is about a beautiful eye shadow quad I've had for a few months now from bareMinerals called the "THE TRUTH"quad. I heard about it first from some ladies on you tube who seemed to really enjoy it...

This quad is a gorgeous everyday neutral taupe/brown palette. The packaging is sleek, compact and made with rubberized material (can get dirty easily but you can wipe it clean with a cloth). The colors are serendipitous (shimmery white), magnetism (taupe grey with sheen), fate (plummy brown with sheen), and apropos (purple brown with glitter). There are no mattes in this palette. Fate and magnetism are gorgeous for everyday... in fact this whole palette is gorgeous and perfect for keeping in one's travel makeup case. This is a cool toned palette but the shades are neutral enough that they seem to complement my warm dark tan complexion fairly well.

This palette did cost me around $40 US - so it is a high end product... the texture of the eye shadows are quite smooth and soft (but no so soft that you have dust everywhere). If you happen to visit a bareMinerals counter, I definitely recommend testing these out - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

GREAT NEUTRAL PAIRINGS PART IV

So this is not really a neutral pairing but a combination of different eye products to create a "neutral" look. I've been wearing it everyday for the past week with my Tom Ford wicked blush and a different pick lipstick/gloss daily.

NYX jumbo eye pencil in pure gold; Rimmel scandal eyes in deep blue

Elf elements compact containing MAC eye shadows: Arena (top left); Saddle (top right); Expensive Pink (bottom left); Sushi flower (bottom right)

What I first do is use my urban decay primer potion as a base. Then I apply the NYX jumbo eye pencil in pure gold all over the lid and blend using my fingers or a blending brush. Then I apply MAC arena all over the lid and MAC saddle in the crease as a blending color. I line my lower waterline with the Rimmel scandaleyes liner in deep blue, put on some mascara and I'm good to go. In my opinion, I don't find that the Rimmel liner is waterproof despite it's claims and I also don't think the urban decay primer potion is that long lasting. The NYX jumbo pencil is definitely not long lasting on my lids (at least compared to the Milani pencils) - but at least there are no claims saying that on the package.

Regardless, below I attempted to do some swatches but it was night time so my apologies for the poor lighting.

Swatches (left to right): Rimmel deep blue, NYX pure gold MAC arena, MAC saddle & NYX pure gold with MAC arena on top

I find these colors suit tan complexions quite well and is a great "every day" look for those with blue and brown eyes.

What do you think? Do you have suggestions that would look great on darker skin toned gals? Please share...

GREAT NEUTRAL PAIRINGS PART III

So this is an eye shadow combo that I've been carrying with me in my makeup bag mainly because it's convenient and easy to use. I first heard about the Rimmel eye shadow quad in smokey brun from the lovely Lisa Eldridge when she was doing a video tutorial on you tube. I find it to be a very simple, basic neutral quad - although the shadows are quite powdery. I decided to use it with Laura Mercier caviar stick in sand glow. I really like using the caviar sticks. I don't have to sharpen the pencils and the color seems to stay put all day. How did she come up with the name "caviar sticks" though? I wonder....

Rimmel quad in smokey brun; Laura Mercier caviar stick in sand glow

With sand glow as the base, I usually mix the light lavender/taupe shade with the golden brown shade as an all over lid color. The white shade is used as a highlight and sometimes I deepen the crease or lightly line with the darkest shade. Often I use my blush/bronzer as a contour shade. The eye shadow quad apparently complements blue eyes well, but I think this combo is great for an every day quick, not-so-boring eye look.

Great neutral pairings part II

I thought I'd add another neutral pairing I just think is gorgeous...

LMDB corinthian, Laura mercier amethyst

I use Laura Mercier (LM) amethyst as a base and put Le Metier de Beaute (LMDB) corinthian on top. This eye shadow combo makes a great every day netural purple taupe look. I absolutely love it. Obviously, I added my favorite brown blending shade (Pandora's Au cafe) to my crease to blend and complete the look!

LM amethyst, LMDB corinthian, amethyst base with corinthian on top

 I purchased both my colors from Neiman Marcus online. I got the Laura Mercier pencil in a set with four other shades. I think this shade is a more subdued version of the color of the year for 2014 "radiant orchid" and a great way to pull of a "trend" look for every day... (at least in my opinion).

Hope you love it as much as I do!!!

Great neutral pairings part I

I thought I would list some neutral eye shadow pairings I've been really loving recently...

Nars Isolde duo, Milani brown deluxe shadow eyez pencil

This first combination is Milani shadow eyez 12 hour pencil in 02 brown deluxe with Nars Isolde duo. I use an eye primer (UDPP), then put the shadow eyez on my lid and blend with a blending brush. Then I apply the lighter shade of the Isolde duo to my entire lid. I apply the darker shade to my crease. 

From left to right: milani brown deluxe, isolde duo lighter shade, isolde darker shade, milani brown deluxe base with isolde lighter shade on top (all shades swatched without primer)

For some extra depth, I also apply a dark blue shade to my crease (Lumiere's midnight) and then blend the crease with a neutral brown shade (Pandora's Au cafe). During day time, I usually just line my lower lid (either with black or dark blue liner) and then finish off with mascara. 

What do you guys think? Have you tried this pairing?