Ever since I saw Rouge Bunny Rouge Abyssinian Catbird, it has earned itself a solid place on my wish list. However, the eyeshadows in pot are rather pricey, so when the refills came out I was really happy to finally get this shade at a greatly reduced price!
Hey everyone! How’s your weekend so far? Today I went to Brussels to check out the MAC Shop MAC, Cook MAC collection. I realized there are still some shadows that I swatched but never showed in FOTDs for you, so I decided to incorporate Urban Decay Mildew eyeshadow into the look.
Despite the fact that Mildew is such a stunning shade, if I am not a bit more careful with it, it could darken my eyes. I started by tentatively patting it on my lids today, but was smart enough to leave the inner third free. I was right, if I had gone all the way in, it wouldn’t have been very flattering. Now, I probably could have used any gold in my collection for the inner third or even a peachy champagne shade, but since MAC Woodwinked is the only one in the same palette, I took the easy way. Some Smog and blending later, I’ve got myself some gold, green, and coppery eyes! I lined my lower lash line with Urban Decay Whiskey, and then smudged out with Darkhorse.
I used Tarte Exposed and Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Bronze for my cheeks, MAC Harmony to contour, and MAC Sweetie on my lips.
Some more pictures so you can see my eyes more clearly:
I took the pictures after I got home (at about 5:30. Daylight was fading fast), but I only had to blot my T-zone and reapply lipstick. Can you notice any differences in these pictures? Like the amazingly clean-looking background? I stumbled across the beauty blogging series written by the top-notch blogger Rae from theNotice. Her Tips for beauty bloggers: surfaces and backgrounds gives extremely useful pointers about picture-taking in general. So today, I hid behind the curtain of my living room for the FOTDs. What do you guys think? The images are definitely cleaner (makes me want to go back and delete all the FOTDs I’ve done so far)! Special thanks to Rae! I still have sooo much to learn!
I hope you like the look, and I’ll see you again soon!
Sunny xx
PS: I swear I’ll include NARS Mexican Rose in my FOTD very soon!
Hey everybody! If Mondays are always a little gloomy, I’m here to brighten up your day with my swatch and review of NARS Paramaribo. Please bear in mind that this is limited edition, but I just checked HQHair (where I got it from) and it’s still in stock. Don’t hesitate too much if you like what you see!
NARS Paramaribo is described as “metallic shades of brass and bronze,” but there is way more to these colors than what can be put in so few words! The lighter shade is what I would describe as a golden brass with a strong metallic finish. The best part? It flashes green! As long-time readers already know, anything that is gold or green makes me weak at the knees. Something that is gold AND green? YES PLEASE! I actually had the worst problems ever when I was trying to take swatch pictures of this shade. For some reason my camera is perfectly capable of picking the darker shade up, but not this one. After so many frustrating failed trials, I hope my photo somehow does it justice. I was a little worried the “burnished” quality of this shade will darken my eyes, but to my pleasant surprise it doesn’t! As you can see in my FOTD, it keeps my eyes awake and bright! The texture and pigmentation of this one are good (though not the best I’ve seen). I found that I needed to build it up a little on my lids, but it is true-to-pan and resistant!
The darker shade is a bronze with golden shimmer. I see some green in it, but it is one of those things that change quite a bit depending on your undertone. On some people I can barely detect green, while on others it’s much greener. The texture and pigmentation of this one are divine. It practically melts on my skin, and it makes a great crease shade because it is dark enough to define, but easy-to-blend so that it looks natural. I swatched another bronze shade I own next to it, which is Urban Decay Smog. However, Smog looks so much warmer it practically pulls mauve, which is something I didn’t expect!
Since Paramaribo is my first NARS eyeshadow duo, I am going to quickly go over the packaging. I like how sleek the black compact looks, and the rubbery feeling also feels interesting. I would normally never use the mirror, but it’s nice how a decently sized one is included. However, I can already tell it holds fingerprints and I’ve heard if any powder gets on it, it is impossible to clean it off. I wish NARS had taken a more practical approach, because a duo like this lasts forever, and it’s annoying to think it’ll just gather more and more dirt!
Bottom line: If gold/brass/bronze is your thing, you might want to get hold of Paramaribo while you still can. As far as I can tell both shades are unique enough, and they make an easy-to-use combination that I would wear all year round!
What do you think about Paramaribo? Do you own any NARS eyeshadows? Any recommendations?
Sunny xx
PS: NARS Eyeshadow Duos retail for 34 US dollars, and they are 29.80 euros plus free delivery on HQHair (there are 2 grams in each shade so it’s got significantly more product than most eyeshadows out there). I bought mine when I had a coupon code. Even if you’re not buying anything from HQHair right at this moment, I would suggest you subscribe to their newsletter so that you can be updated about the good deals that are going on!
PPS: Paramaribo is the capital and the biggest city of Suriname (located in South America). It is one of the few countries in which Dutch is spoken as an official language.
Happy Sunday everyone! How is your weekend so far? I am actually down with a stomach flu, so besides working on my blog I haven’t done much this weekend. Ah well. At least I’ll probably lose some weight over this lol
I took some photos of the FOTDs I did this week. However, since I am really unhappy about how one of them turned out and the other is an old standby, I didn’t want to do separate posts about them. On top of that, I managed to bruise a patch of skin on my nose bridge trying to get rid of a spot. Concealer worked but didn’t make it disappear entirely. I toyed with the idea of not putting any FOTDs up this week, but since blogging is a way of keeping track, I’m putting both looks in one post.
The first look was done with MAC Shale on lids, the definer shade of the right column of Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone to contour, and the Browbone shade of the right column to highlight the inner corners. The definer shade was also used to smudge my lower lash line out. It turned out weird. Really really weird, in a way that it darkened my face instead of brightening it. I guess Shale is not meant to be mixed with these two shades, or maybe I didn’t use them strategically enough.
Here is the eye closeup so you can see how bleh it is:
All in all, NOT a combination I’d do again!
The other one was an old standby with the Naked Palette. I used Half Baked on lids, Smog to contour, and Darkhorse on my lower lash line.
It’s a no-brainer, but it’s something I have always appreciated ever since I got the palette almost a year and a half ago. I do think I’m getting a little too pale to wear Half Baked well though. Can’t wait for the warm and sunny season to come!
I wore Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Peach Parfait for both looks. Swatch and review will come soon!
How about you? How would you wear a color like Shale? What is a look you tried and actively disliked recently?
PS: Jazz, the cat of Christina from The Makeup Train got seriously ill. He was taken to the vet’s and managed to make a full and speedy recovery. However, the bill is huge, so Christina started a blog sale to try to generate some fund. Please take a look if you’re interested! It’s getting makeup and helping a cat at the same time!
Sunny xx
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
MOSTLY SUNNY 