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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Oops! Disqus mess up!

Hi All!

Just a quick note to say that I "updated" my disqus commenting system about a month ago and when I did that I accidentally turned off my email notification for comments received on my blog!  I feel really bad that I was neglecting some very nice comments that my readers were leaving me.  :(

I think I've remedied the situation and hopefully now I won't be missing anything.  I always do really love seeing what you all have to say!  :)

-d

Monday, July 30, 2012

Madd Style Cosmetics: Teal Pow!

Hi Everyone!

It's time for another Madd Style Cosmetics tutorial!  Weeeeeee!  :)  For this tutorial I wanted to keep it pretty simple--so this one is perfect for people who are just starting out with loose eye shadows, for example.  I also wanted to use one of my newest teals (because I just can't get enough of teals!), Pew Pew Pow!, from the Fireworks Grab Bags that MSC released on July 4th weekend.  

For a little tip: sometimes, the way my colour matching starts is something like this:


Swatching all of the colours next to each other helps me to know they'll look good in the final product.  :)  

Now, to begin, you want to grab all of your supplies!


(Here we have: Barry M 3 in 1 Mascara in "Black"; Madd Style Cosmetics "Pop N Lock" shadow base; Pure Fusion Eyeshadow Primer; Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-on Pencil in "Yeyo"; Madd Style Cosmetics piggies (top to bottom): Vortex, Pew Pew Pow!; Xray Spex and Birfday Suit; a small fluffy blending/crease brush; Sigma Mrs. Bunny brushes: E 40, F70, E30 and E60; fine angled liner brush and Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-on pencil in "Zero".)

Next, make sure you're starting with a nice and clean eye(s)!


Take your primer and your base.  Priming is an important step because it smooths out the texture of your eye and helps to prevent your eye shadow from creasing throughout the day.  Bases, such as MSC's Pop N Lock help to make the colours you apply over them really stand out.


Put a bit of primer on your ring finger, then rub your ring fingers together.  Apply this evenly on the entire eyelid--all the way up to under the eyebrow and down around the inner tear duct.  Lastly, apply a bit of it along the lower lash line as well.



Using the same idea--apply MSC's Pop N Lock over both eyelids.  You want to concentrate this product on the lid area and blend it up toward the crease.



Here is what my eye looks like once it has been primed and based:


As a finishing step, take a white eyeliner pencil and line your tear duct as well as the outer half of your lower lash line.


 Now for some colour!  Take your small fluffy crease brush and dip it into MSC's "Vortex"--a super great navy blue with green iridescence and pink glitter (because of the blue with the green iridescence, I think of this colour as a dark teal).  Place the brush in the outer corner of your eye and sweep the brush toward the inner part of the crease.  Start out slowly with this colour--less is more, especially as you get toward the inner crease.  Focus the bulk of the colour on that outer crease and build it up a little, but keep the middle to inner part of the crease quite focused and much more thin.


The shape you're going for is something like this:

(Due to my rather "down turned" eyes, it works best for me to have this kind of a shape.  If your eyes are shaped differently than mine, you may not want this exact shape.  Do what best fits your eye shape.  It might mean making it more "rounded", but that upwards "swoop" for me helps to uplift my eye.  :))
 Once you're satisfied with the amount of Vortex in the crease, take a big fluffy blending brush and blend out the top edge of Vortex.  You want the colour to fade away as it goes toward the brow bone.


Now, take a flat shader (or concealer brush, as this one technically is) and dip it into MSC's "Pew Pew Pow!".  Apply this colour all over the empty part of the lid.  To keep the sparkle intact, you want to be sure to "pat" this colour on to the lid (rather than "sweeping" it on).  Really press it into the base and that way you will keep all of the lovely glitter.



While you have this flat shader brush out, dip it into "Vortex" and apply this colour along the lower lash line where you applied the white pencil to the outer half of the lower lid.  Be sure, as you can see me doing on the right, that you connect this at the corner of your eye to where the Vortex already is at the outside crease of your upper lid.



Next, switch to a pencil brush.  Dip this colour into MSC's Xray Spex (a neato white with a pearly pink iridescence--which I picked because of the pink glitter in Vortex) and apply this over the white eyeliner pencil in the tear duct area.  As you see on the right, blend this colour up and slightly into the inner crease to meet with Vortex.



Lastly, for shadows, take a fluffy flat shader brush and dip it into MSC's "Birfady Suit" (a light flesh toned matte).  Apply this colour under the eyebrow.  Focus it, at first, under the highest part of the brow, and then blend it under the whole brow and down into Vortex to help create that seamless blend.  If you like, you can also use this colour to help shape/clean-up that outer part of the eye shadow, as you see me doing in the picture on the right.  


All that's left is to apply a white pencil to your lower waterline, some black eye liner to the upper lid (which I focused on the outer half of the lid--I applied the "Zero" pencil to the brush and then used the brush to apply it to the lid for a more precise application than just using the pencil itself) and then some mascara!


And you're done!  Yay!  Here is the final look:


I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!!  As always, if you have any requests of certain MSC colours that you'd like to see me use, please let me know in the comments section.  Thanks for reading.  :)

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

EOTD: Madd Style Cosmetics Yellow/Green/Black!

Hi hi hi hi hi hiiii!

Yesterday I posted on the Madd Style Cosmetics facebook fan page asking everyone for suggestions on what kinds of colour combinations they'd like to see me try out.  A lovely MSC fan named Lucy requested yellow, green and black.  Immediately the wheels started turning!!

Here is the look that I came up with: 


It was pretty darn fun to put together!  I thought something as dramatic as this begged for some flash lashes and so I brought my new Red Cherry lashes out of the cases.  Woot!

Products used:

  • MTCoffinz "Under the Rainbow" eye shadow primer applied to whole lid area.
  • Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on pencil in Zero for a base on the lid.  I blended this up a bit into the crease as well.  I also applied it on the outer third of the lower lash line.  I also use this to line the upper and lower water lines and to tight-line as well.
  • Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on pencil in Yeyo--applied to the inner 2/3rds of the lower lash line.
  • Madd Style Cosmetics Oogie Boogie applied to the lid and to the outer portion of the lower lash line. (Oogie Boogie is no longer available, but any black would do--or any dark dark green.)
  • Madd Style Cosmetics Who R U applied in the crease--most heavily on the outer portion of the crease and blended more softly in toward the inner part of the crease.  This colour was also applied to the center of the lower lash line.
  • Madd Style Cosmetics Acid Bath applied to the inner portion of the crease as well as the duct and inner portion of the lower lash line.
  • Madd Style Cosmetics Pop Tarte applied above Who R U in the crease.
  • Madd Style Cosmetics Birfday Suit applied for a brow highlight.
  • Barry M 3 in 1 Intense Black Mascara
  • Red Cherry lashes #43
And I think that's it!  

What are some of your favorite ways to wear yellow, green and black together?  :)