EOTD: Madd Style Cosmetics "Golden Greens"

I wanted to play around with a different pair of my new Quo flash eyelashes today! So I knew I had to do something with a liner. I also wanted to test out a Madd Style Cosmetics colour that I hadn't used yet, so Dr. Finkelstein (from the Nightmare Before Christmas collection) was up to bat!


Products used:

• SoBe Primed and Proper as primer (and again, I had FANTASTIC results using this primer today! I don't know what it is, but the past two times I've used it, this product has been awesome).
• NYX Eyeshadow Base "w/Pearl"
• Madd Style Cosmetics Pisces on inner 1/2 of lid
• Madd Style Cosmetics Dr. Finkelstein on second 1/2 of lid--also along the outer 1/2 of lower lash line
  
• Madd Style Cosmetics Tank Girl in outer eye/into crease--also along the outer most corner of the lower lash line
• Madd Style Cosmetics Up in Smoke White as brow highlight
• Urban Decay 24/7 Easy Glide pencil in "Zero" in water line and as top liner
• Madd Style Cosmetics Up in Smoke Black on top of that liner (on the top lash line)
• Gabriel Color mascara in Black
  
• Quo #802 Flash Eyelashes

EOTD: Madd Style Cosmetics "Smurf Eyes"

My husband keeps calling me Smurf because of the colour combo on my lids today. I like it and being called Smurf is...kinda fun?! :)

My Madd Style Cosmetics look started out like this, this morning:



And they've morphed a bit into this:

(I just extended the liner and added falsies--cause sometimes you just want to be extra dramatic on a Sunday!)

Products used:

• SoBe Primed and Proper for primer (the top picture was taken about 3 or 4 hours before the second, and NO creasing! If only I could get it that consistent EVERY time I use it!!!)
• NYX Eyeshadow Base in "White"
• Madd Style Cosmetics Sub Zero in ducts and as brow highlight
• Madd Style Cosmetics Sally (Nightmare Before Christmas collection) on 2/3rds of lid
• Madd Style Cosmetics Debaser on outer 1/3 of lid and on the lower lash line
• Madd Style Cosmetics Space Oddity in outer most corner, into crease and on outer lower lash line
• Madd Style Cosmetics Time Warp applied as liner (mixing medium used: Aromaleigh Indelible Eyeliner Sealant)
• Quo 803 Lashes (on bottom picture)

This was my first time playing with Sally. Why did I wait so long?!! It's such a pretty silvery blue!!

EOTD: Sugarpill's Lumi, Afterparty and Weekender.

Today felt like a Sugarpill kind of day.

(Click pictures for larger versions.)

Products Used:

• Sobe Botanical's Primed and Proper as primer
• NYX Eyeshadow Base in "White" for a base
• Sugarpill's Lumi on inner 1st 1/2 of lid + duct
  
• Sugarpill's Afterparty on 2nd 1/2 of lid + lower lid + lightly into crease
  
• Sugarpill's Weekender on outer eye and crease + outer corner of lower lid
• Sugarpill's Lumi as brow highlight
• Gabriel Color Mascara in Black

Close up (without flash):


Close up (with flash):

Attempt #2: SoBe Primed and Proper.

Due to the helpful email response from Lex (of SoBe Botanicals) after my first experience (chronicled here) using the Primed and Proper eyelid primer--yesterday I tried it again, but this time I used much less product.


After putting this on one finger, I just rubbed my two index fingers together and applied the product evenly on each eyelid (up to the brow) and down around the ducts and lower lash line. A little goes a LONG way, trust me!!

In order to get qualitative results I did two different eyes (one eye with MSC pigments and the other with the SoBe samples that I was sent with my order). Both had the same base (NYX eyeshadow base in White) applied over the primer and under the pigments. I photographed both eyes at three various times in the evening. I have to say, I am quite pleased with the results.

Using my two unnamed SoBe pigments:
(Edit (7:13pm): Lex let me know that the two pigments are "One of a Kind." She creates pigments (that aren't on the website) to send out in packages. Sometimes these are sneak peeks into new colours that will be posted on the site, and sometimes they're just a colour she mixed together. Neat!)

(What a terrible swatch picture. I have awful luck trying to get swatches to come out properly! I will practice with this!!)

I created this look:


I applied the light/soft pink to my lid (from the ducts all the way to the outside corner of my eyelid) with a flat eyeshadow brush. Then I applied the mauve colour in the crease/orbital bone with a fluffy blender brush. You can see that even after 7 hours--the product still looks pretty good! Yay for that!!

For the MSC eye, I did this:

I used Princess Buttah Cup in the inner eyelid (applied with a flat eyeshadow brush). Then Radar Love was applied with the same brush to the rest of the lid. I used a fluffy eyeshadow brush to apply She-Bop to the outer "V" area of my eye and pressed some Dazzle Dust on top of the She-Bop with the same fluffy eyeshadow brush. Mr. Roboto was used in the ducts and as a brow highlight (I think I used a pencil brush to apply to my ducts and fluffy blender brush to apply it to my brow). Glitter Bitches became my eyeliner (applied wet with my go-to eyeliner brush: a size 00 Galeria Winsor & Newton artist brush--then I used an angled eyeliner brush to press some dry pigment). Just like with the SoBe eye, my primer stood up to the 7 hours underneath my MSC piggies. Woo!!

I am BEYOND thrilled to have a found a product that works for me!!! For any vegans out there (or for anyone who prefers to keep animal products out of their cosmetics) curious about what to use, SoBe's Primed and Proper has my stamp of approval!!

Edit (05/21/2011): As I have said in the comments on this blog--I have NEVER been able to successfully recreate the results that I achieved during this test. -sigh- I don't know what it is. For a consistent product, Primed and Proper has not delivered (for me). If you know of any trips/tricks, I would LOVE to hear them. Today I played around with using it as a lip primer under some OCC Lip Tars--I'm not too sure how well it's worked, but the Lip Tar has stuck around pretty well so far!

Primerlessness ceases!

Today was a glorious day! I received my new vegan primer from SoBe Botanicals!

A bit of back story: I have been traumatized by companies messing up my order/not sending my orders out. The result of this trauma is paranoia about every package I ever order not getting to me. I have to say, Lex (of SoBe Botanicals) was wonderfully communicative throughout my waiting period. I had originally emailed her when I didn't receive a shipping notice. I was informed that the website automatically generates an email notice, even though international customers are exempt from actually being sent a tracking number or shipping notice. This is normal, and I'm used to it--but because of the auto-email, I was concerned. The day after emailing I heard back from Lex and she reassured me that my package was shipped in the 5th of January. By Wednesday the 26th when I had still not received my package, I emailed Lex again (see?! paranoid much?!!). She once again replied and said that harsh weather may have been the issue and she asked me that I let her know when my package did get to me. A+ for customer service, for sure! And then today I excitedly emailed her to announce that my package did make its way to me!

And here's the proof:
And the excitement doesn't end there. Upon opening the package I was confronted by this adorable packaging:

Gah!! Cute, no?!

And the insides:

Left to right: Primed and Proper, business card, two seemingly unlabeled pigment samples.

The primer, the pièce de résistance, was sealed. A nice reassurance that the product hasn't been compromised in any way,shape,or form.


And the product itself:


My first impressions of the product were very positive. I think that had a lot to do with the packaging and the way the product arrived and the communication I had received from Lex. The texture of the primer is very light and what you see in this picture was what I used for both of my eyelids. The scent of the product was nice: there was a freshness to it. When I put it on my eyelids it was a bit cool, which wasn't unpleasant. It was very smooth to apply--though I wasn't exactly sure how much to use!

Later impressions: I applied some MSC pigments over top of NYX eyeshadow base in white (all over top of the primer, of course!). The immediate results were awesome. The primer seemed to help my base stay in place, and applying pigment over top didn't give me any issues.

This is MSC's Nirvana (on the lid) with Sub Zero in ducts and as a brow highlight. Time Warp as a liner.

Even later impressions of SoBe's Primed and Proper: About an hour after application, my eyeshadow still looked great. But after two hours I definitely have creasing (more on one eye than the other, it seems). I'm not entirely discouraged by this because I wasn't exactly sure how much product to use. I will experiment using less first and then more after that.

Knowing 100% that this primer is vegan makes me very willing to try to make it work!

Edit: 11:14pm

When I received my package and let Lex know, I also told her I would be writing up a blog about it. She asked me to forward her the link and I did--also saying that she might be able to help me out with my amount of product issue. Lex let me know that she uses about half the amount I pictured for both eyes. So tomorrow I will try it again with way less product! And hooray for that--cause that means the 1/2 oz bottle will last me a long while!!

Primerless.

I am still primerless. My Sobe Botanicals package with my (hopefully) new (favorite) primer has not arrived yet. It was shipped to me on the 5th and I keep hoping that maybe it'll just take two weeks to get to me--which means it could be here ANY TIME! But I keep checking my mailbox and getting all disappointed when I find it empty. One day, maybe one day, mail won't take three weeks to get to me from America. Maybe. One. Day.

Yesterday I had an un-fun day at work and decided to try to cheer myself up with colours. One of my friends suggested I try using chapstick as a primer, just for the time being. I tried it. It worked long enough for me to take some okay pictures, but the colours blended together and creased pretty severely shortly (within an hour, I would guess) after I applied it. Maybe next time I'll try less chapstick?

It really just all depends on how long my darn package takes to get to me!! Bah! And this also depends on me actually being happy with the results of the SoBe product! So many variables.

Here is a collage I made of the look I did yesterday (see xsparkage's tutorial on youtube for the method behind the madness).

As usual, the pigments I used were MSC. And I realized after struggling with photoshop in order to make that darn collage (all by myself, mind you!!) that I forgot my tear duct colour: Xray Spex.