FOTD: Embrace Your Monolids with Smudged Cat Liner!

Hello everybody, how’s your weekend so far? I met my friend N for a drink last night, and thought I’d experiment with makeup for a bit. I saw this smudged cat liner tutorial on Jen’s site a while ago and have always wanted to see how that works on me. This is my second copycat attempt of the week, but Jen’s tutorials are just SO easy to follow and I love her take on monolids, so please bear with me!

List of products and breakdown:

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
NARS Stick Concealer in Custard (swatch and review coming soon)
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows

For my eyes, I first put Bobbi Brown Sable down in the contour area. Jen used Buck from the Naked Palette, but I wanted to see how Sable works as an eyeshadow. The result wasn’t bad. It’s darker than Buck so my contour area was a little more “contoured.” If I want a softer look I’ll go with Buck next time, but otherwise Sable rocks as a contour shade! I then did the first half of my lids with MAC All That Glitters. It’s a nice everyday shade to have, but it’s not earth-shattering per se. I appreciate how it is slightly more understated than Urban Decay Sin for example though! My brow bones were highlighted with Bobbi Brown Bone, and inner corners with Urban Decay Virgin.

Now the star of the show, namely eyeliner! I lined my upper lash line with Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black, and my lower lash line with whatever was left on the brush and not all the way in. As I have mentioned before, those with monolids are more than likely to benefit form not lining their lower lash line all the way in, as it might close their eyes. Then I took my Urban Decay Zero to add a line on top of the gel line, proceeded to smudging it out with a Q-tip (cotton bud for the non-Americans lol). I smudged the lower lash line out with Darkhorse, and the upper lash line with Creep. The twist is dragging this line out at the end, the way you would do a more dramatic cat cat, and then softly bringing the line back so that the angle doesn’t look too sharp.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes (review coming soon)
Tarte Exposed on my cheeks
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Soft Matte Bronzer to contour
Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle. Since my lips were a bit dry, I layered it on top of a lip baln, which also softened the look a little.

Here are some close-up photos so you can see the eyes better. Excuse the tiny bit of fallout at the outer corner from Creep. I didn’t see it till it was too late!

This is a very friendly way to wear cat eyes, because the line Creep creates is soft enough. I particularly recommend this to gel liner beginners. Even if you can’t create a crisp line yet, it’s OK because you will have to smudge it out not once but twice, and that covers a multitude of sins. The only thing that might be a little tricky is how to wing the ends out. The trick is to follow the angle of your lower lash line. Sometimes I line my lower lash line before I do my upper lash line for this reason. It is a very good indicator as to where your wing should go.

Some more pictures so you see it from different angles:

My hair isn’t as curly in these photos because I didn’t use mousse. I normally only do it after shampooing my hair, and then I let it be till I shampoo next! Pretty lazy :p

That’s it for today. If you want to see more monolid looks (whether it’s me being a copycat or tricks I’ve figured out myself), remember to follow Mostly Sunny on Twitter or Bloglovin’. I hope you guys are enjoying your Sunday! Stay tuned because I have some pretty exciting posts coming up (budget-friendly professional-quality brushes, NARS Spring 2012, just to name a few)!

Sunny xx

FOTD: Snow Bubble Pop K-pop Inspired Look

Hey everybody, it’s FRIDAY! Isn’t it almost the best day of the week? What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have exciting things planned or are you going to chill?

Dr. D and I made plans to go for Thai food tonight, so in the early afternoon I proceeded to take my shower, put on some makeup, and then go work at a cafe till dinnertime. When I got out of the shower however, I saw large snowflakes falling. I heard earlier today that there was a snowstorm in the Netherlands, and I knew my foolish hope of having the weather stay freezing but sunny was over. Since I had more time to spare, I decided to follow a K-pop inspired tutorial by Jen from From Head to Toe. Hyuna’s Bubble Pop was BIG last summer when I was in Taiwan, and despite the fact that the only part I could follow is “bubble bubble bubble pop bubble bubble pop pop,” the song has stuck in my head. It’s just so bright and cheerful!

I largely followed Jen’s tutorial, replacing what I don’t have with the closest shades I have. Here is the list of products and breakdown:

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53 Light Beige
NARS Stick Concealer in Custard (swatch and review coming soon)
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder
Bobbi Brown Sable on eyebrows

The middle shade of NYX Rock and Roll was used in a half-moon shape (Jen used Urban Decay Underground which I don’t have, and this one is the only remotely taup-y shade I own at the moment). Darkhorse was used in the same shape closer to my lash line. With the tip of MAC 239, I put the gold shade of L’Oreal Metallic HiP duo in Gilded on my lower lash line (Jen used Urban Decay Honey, which is also a yellow gold), Half Baked in the inner corners and layered a bit on the lower lash line, and Smog to smoke out the outer half of the lower lash line.

I lined my upper lash line with Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black (Jen used a pencil liner for both her upper and lower lash line, but I knew a pencil liner doesn’t stand a chance on my upper lash line so I went with my usual gel liner), but the line doesn’t go up as what I usually do. Instead, it is just slightly extended following my natural eye shape. I was supposed to line my lower waterline with Urban Decay Zero, and then connect the outer corners with the line I created with the gel liner. However, I might have been a little over-enthusiastic with all that gold shadow earlier on, and I found it pretty difficult to line! After some struggle, I ended up with both my water AND lash line lined, and it wasn’t very neat. Oh well…

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes (review coming soon)
Tarte Blissful on cheeks (Jen didn’t use a blush, but I was testing this one out. Swatch and review coming soon)
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze on the top of my cheekbones, forehead, and down my nose bridge
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Soft Matte Bronzer to contour
Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle was dabbed onto my lips, creating more natural pink lips

Here are some close-ups so you can see the eyes better:

This is how the eyes look when they are downcast. You can also play spot-the-kitten with this one 🙂

I took some pictures in the usual bathroom light, but since there was still natural light I wanted to play with that too. It washed my complexion out, and I had to switch to “snow” mode on my camera to deal with the super bright white light, but I kind of like how “surreal” these pictures turned out.

So that’s my snow day Bubble Pop FOTD for you! What do you think? Do you like my regular winged-out eyeliner better or when I follow my real lash line like in this look? I need some input here! Also, are you a fan of K-pop or celebrity-inspired looks in general?

I have recently hauled quite a bit of exciting stuff that I want to share with you, so definitely stay tuned for that! Follow me on Twitter (especially if you want to see more kitty photos) and Bloglovin’. I have plans to start a Mostly Sunny Facebook page soon, and I will keep you posted when that happens!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Sunny xx

FOTD: Pretty Behind Frame — Eye Makeup Tips for Monolidded Glass Wearers

Hello everyone! Yay, it’s FRIDAY! Aren’t you relieved? What are your plans for the weekend?

Dr. D had a craving for sushi, so he invited me to go to a Japanese restaurant tonight. To show how much I valued the dinner date (fine, a large part of this was me wanting to play with makeup), I decided to make an effort. However, my eyes were still kind of red from an allergy episode a couple of days ago (I shouldn’t have rubbed my eyes after playing with my cats. My bad), so I had to wear glasses. I actually wear glasses at least 5 days a week because my eyes are extremely sensitive. Even wearing daily disposable contacts for two days in a row could make them irritated. I always had issues wearing eye makeup with glasses though. Somehow it always looked weird. Nevertheless, BunBun’s Horizontal Gradient Method tutorial (see here and here) gave me some inspiration, and I wanted to combine glasses with that.

1. I primed my eyes with a sample of Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden. I will do a swatch and review of this, but basically it is too light for my skin tone to be a good eyeshadow primer. However, to combine with glasses it is fine, since glasses cast a shadow in the eye area and make it darker.
2. I used Sin from the Naked Palette all over my lids (not going past my brow bones as usual), Smog a little lower than Sin (as you will be able to see in the closeup pictures, Smog is placed on my “hidden lids”), and Darkhorse where I usually line my eyes. I highlighted my inner corners with Virgin and brow bones with Bobbi Brown Bone. I lined my lower lash line with Urban Decay Bourbon, and then smudged the line out with Darkhorse. I also tightlined my upper lash line.
3. I used one coat of mascara (Maybelline Magnum Volum’), slathered on some Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle, and we’re done!

I’m pretty happy about how it turned out, so I’m going to share my two cents with other monolidded glass wearers.

1. Use a concealer. Again, glasses cast a shadow in your eye area and make it appear darker, so you need some concealer to balance that out.
2. Fill in your brows and highlight the arches. Glasses draw a lot of attention to your brows, and you need them to frame your face more than ever.
3. The horizontal gradient method works better than the vertical one (where you use a lighter color for the first half/third of your lids and go darker towards the outer corners) because a concentration of dark colors on the outer corners could close your eyes up instead. If you are myopic, glasses not only make your eyes appear smaller but also make colors appear darker. Darker colors close to your lash line that people don’t see when your eyes are open will help define your eyes, but darker colors that are very much “on-your-lids” could either be distracting or closing your eyes.
4. Less is more. I’m not always a believer of this rule (look at the 3 coats of mascara and cat eyeliner I usually do), but again, like I said, a strong cat liner or too much mascara can make your eyes look fake behind your frame because they appear to be much more intense.
5. Go easy on the lower lash line. Don’t use a stark black, and don’t go all the way in. Instead of lining all the way in, highlight a part of your lower lash line. This helps open your eyes. If you use black all the way in, you risk closing your eyes.

I know that I can contour to define my cheekbones better and so on, but I was going low-key (read: lazy) today so I skipped all that. I will make sure I find more tips for my fellow monolidded glass wearers later, but for the moment I have the basic eye part covered.

Here are some more pictures. I know this may not look like much, but trust me, it makes a huge difference!

How about you? Do you wear glasses or are you fortunate enough to be blessed with good eyesight? If you wear glasses, are there any tips you would like to share?

Have a good weekend everyone! Stay tuned and stick around!

Sunny xx

Oh and psst I just joined Twitter! The username is mostlysunnyblog, or just click on the button on the left to follow me! Let’s TWEEEET people!

FOTD: What I Wore for Christmas and Beautybay Sale!

Hey everyone!

How was your Christmas? Did you have a good one with a lot of nice presents and food overdose? My Christmas Eve was quiet, but I did see quite some friends over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so I would like to share the looks I did with you.

First and foremost is my Christmas manicure. I very seldom wear nail polish nowadays, but since D cooked on Christmas Eve and we were going over to some friends’ on Christmas Day, I thought I’d seize the chance. The polish is OPI Merry Midnight. It is from the 2009 Christmas collection, so it is rather difficult to find one now. I only found out about it this summer when I picked this shade for my pedicure back home, and I was lucky enough to find a bottle on Yahoo Auction in Taiwan (it’s the equivalent of EBay in Taiwan because it has been there for much longer). I don’t like to tease you with limited edition or hard-to-find items, so I am not going to write a separate review about it. As you will be able to see in the following picture, the polish is a jelly purple with multi-color shimmer and flakes. The first coat is stunningly uneven, un-sparkling, and uninspiring in general. I remember being so taken aback during my pedicure when the lady put on the first coat. I almost said:” you must have made a mistake! This is NOT the shade I picked out!” But after the second coat things get dramatically better. You do need more skills and experience to work with this nail polish, and I find it difficult to avoid some unevenness altogether (though nothing too concerning). Something else I don’t like so much about it is the fact that it doesn’t last as well on me as a typical OPI nail polish. I’m getting tip wear and some chips after just a couple of days, while normally OPI polishes last 3-4 days with minimal tip wear on me! I do hope OPI will bring the shade back with a better formula.

Now moving on to my Christmas Day makeup. I did a “classic” look with the Naked Palette. I used Sin on the inner half, Buck on the outer half, the lightest shade of NYX Rock and Roll on the inner corner, and smudged my lower lash line out with Gunmetal. I was also testing Tarte Exposed out and was pretty happy with it! On my lips it’s Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle.

For Boxing Day I did something a bit more dramatic. I used my L’Oreal HiP duo in 106 Sculpted. The lighter shade all over my lid, and the darker shade on the outer corner, brought into my crease, and on my lower lash line. On the inner corner is Sin from the Naked Palette, Tarte Exposed on cheek, a bit of Bali Brown to add some dimension to my face, and MAC Sweetie on lips.

I have to report that the darker shade of the duo is really rather hard to blend, and there is some fallout. The fallout isn’t too concerning at all, but the lack of blendability is a pain. The lighter shade doesn’t pull orange on me though, so I’m happy about that. I wore makeup for 11-12 hours that day, and by the end of the day I could see some fading, but it was still OK. Man, you can see the print my glasses leave on my nose SO clearly in this picture (for some reason it is worse on the left side)! I might have to start looking for a decent concealer now.

Also, I’m still looking for a way to take clearer pictures of my FOTD. As what I have told you, we haven’t had a lot of natural light in Belgium, and the flashlight doesn’t always allow colors to be captured on photos as they are. I will work on this issue, but in the meantime I hope you at least get an idea!

Last but not least, Muffin the new kitten wants to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a 2012 with a punch!

She has been with us for a bit more than two weeks now, and she is a total sweetheart! I’ll for sure introduce her properly in the blog soon. She plays go fetch just like what Brownie used to do. Can you believe that?

Lots of Christmas love,

Sunny

Oh, and pssst I almost forgot to tell you about this! Beautybay.com is having a 10% off sale till midnight Wednesday (UK time, so it might be earlier/later depending on where you live. For example, in continental Europe, it would be 1AM on Thursday). I am a registered customer, so I received an e-mail with 15% off. The promotion code is the same though (XMAS), so I guess the system just checks if you are already in it. If you have been lemming for Cargo blushes for example, this would be a great opportunity to get some! What I LOVE about Beautybay is the fact that it doesn’t rip you off. A 25-dollar Cargo blush would cost about 18.60 euros, but the rate does change a little from time to time (or even every day?). Beautybay also carries Too Faced, Urban Decay, Bedhead, Bare Escentuals, and so on. I got some stuff myself, and will show you soon!

FOTD: This Autumn, I’m Loving L’Oreal HiP Duo in Electrified

Hello out there!

I reviewed the L’Oreal HiP Duo in Electrified a couple of days ago. Since I was going to the theater with my ex housemate T and his grandmother last night, I thought I’d incorporate it in my FOTD so that you can see how it actually works on me.

I largely followed the lovely tutorial by Jen. Looking back, I could have darkened my outer corners a bit more, but since I wasn’t going to wear false eyelashes to balance the eyeshadow out, maybe the level of intensity was just enough.

This is a breakdown of the products used for today:

Bobbi Brown Sable for eyebrows
Bobbi Brown Bone to highlight my browbones
L’Oreal HiP Duo in Electrified for eyes, with the lighter shade over my lids and darker shade “wrapping” around the outer corners
Wet ‘n’ Wild Comfort Zone, the Browbone shade on the left column to highlight my inner corners
Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black
Urban Decay 24/7 in Zero on my lower lash line, smudged out with the darker color of the duo
Maybelline Volum’ Express The Falsies Waterproof Mascara in Very Black
Vichy Normaderm Drying Concealing Anti-Imperfection Stick (just to cover some spots)
MAC Cremeblend Blush in Tea Petal on cheeks
MAC Harmony for contouring below my cheekbones and jawline
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze on top of my cheekbones
Tarte Smooth Operator finishing powder lightly dusted over my face
Chanel Rouge Coco Mademoiselle on lips

(For the products I haven’t got around to reviewing, I will definitely do so at some point so stay tuned!)

Here are some pictures so you can see the eye makeup more closely (please ignore the spot on my forehead):

From an angle, you see slightly better how the dark shadow wraps around the lighter one.

This is how it looks with my eyes closed. Don’t be deceived by my eyeline though. I’m monolidded so it actually takes A LOT of gel liner on my outer corners for it to show. However, I do tend to go easy on the inner half of my eyes.

One little oppsie moment that happened yesterday was that I forgot to tap my brush before popping the shimmer brick on my cheekbones. Since Tea Petal is a cream blush, way too much shimmer stuck to the blush. I couldn’t blend it out with the brush, so I had to rub my fingers till some came off. The setting powder also helped reduce the intensity though, so it ended up looking OK. Lesson learnt: TAP YOUR BRUSH before it goes anywhere near your face!

Voila, that’s the FOTD for you. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!